PSU coil whine

[DrZDO]

I recently got a new mobo, and overclocked, and even more recently (my noticing it, at least) my box has been squealing. It's not loud, and it's very high pitched. I put my ear next to everything, and it turns out it's the PSU. I ran some searches, and found out it's likely coil whine.

Does it imply that the PSU is being very stressed? Are there any relatively easy fixes? I suppose I might want to upgrade anyway, but I'm curious. Thanks.

 

[Gbaby1008]

Coil whine is created by transformers, typically under load. I dont think there are any fixes for it except getting a new psu.

 

[DrZDO]

Aight. I might get a new seasonic s12-500 then. In the meantime, I made a muffler tube for the psu exhaust from a cut up paper towel core. It's reduced the noise quite a bit!

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Try changing your clock speed just a bit. I remember reading something about it basically causes some kind of resonance or interference at specific speeds. I'm not quite sure about that part. But at the very least, clock it down for a bit, as it won't hurt to try...

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I have the same kind of noise coming from my game machine. Why type of PSU do you have? I always thought it was my motherboard.

My CPU is running stock speeds.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: DrZDO
I recently got a new mobo, and overclocked, and even more recently (my noticing it, at least) my box has been squealing. It's not loud, and it's very high pitched. I put my ear next to everything, and it turns out it's the PSU. I ran some searches, and found out it's likely coil whine.

Does it imply that the PSU is being very stressed? Are there any relatively easy fixes? I suppose I might want to upgrade anyway, but I'm curious. Thanks.

Transformers can/will make noise but in your case I do think it's a toroidal coil. Capacitors filter the ripples out of voltage, cleaning it up. When they fall out of spec, dirty voltage makes it's way to the toroidals and they can whine. Seasonic is good but don't over look Enermax, Enhance(GH series) or the GLN series Fortrons.

If your PSU is over three years old (out of warranty), open it up and post what you find.

P4 mainboards are known to have talkative toroidals, with no real solution but a large dot of hot glue on each side where it meets the board.
toroidal/inductor coil pic http://www.islproducts.com/images/coil_inductors.jpg

Not sure where it comes from on VGA cards but bumpping an OC up or down a bit can reduce or eliminated whine from this source. Holding a stiff tube to one's ear can help in isolating the source.

Re.transformer noise. This thread is worth the read.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=37&threadid=1850230&enterthread=y


...Galvanized

 

[DrZDO]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
I have the same kind of noise coming from my game machine. Why type of PSU do you have? I always thought it was my motherboard.

My CPU is running stock speeds.

If you want to know where the noise is coming from, open your case and listen to everything. In my case, the noise was loudest by far at the rear PSU vent, so it was easy.

It's an Antec Smartpower 2.0 400w. A slighly more powerful psu has been on my eventual upgrade list, and after this it became immediate. I ordered the seasonic last night (nice price from zzf).

Thanks for the advice, people.