Seasonic x1050 fan noise...

[Maximilian]

I am not sure if i have a faulty PSU or not here. When i use the "silent" mode the fan turns off, as expected, however every few minutes it will ramp up then turn off again which is extremely irritating. Using the "normal" mode the fan seems to run at full speed constantly, i cant measure the fan speed but im assuming it is full speed as its the loudest thing in my case, louder than the 5 x 700 RPM fans of varying sizes. This is all whilst there is ~100w of load on the system and the case door is off (FT02).

What gives? I thought these PSU's were silent?

 

[Maximilian]

Hmm doing a bit of digging ive found someone else with this issue:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=64112

"Just thought I'd chime in with one problem I had with the FT02 that I have not heard others talk about.

I tried out a couple higher power PSU's that admittedly may be too powerful for this case, the Corsair AX1200 and the Seasonic X-1050. When in the FT02, they ran very loud, with the PSU fan running at a very high speed, even when they were using well-under 200W. I suspect this problem was due to the vertical orientation of the PSU. This position may make some PSU's think they are running much hotter than they are actually running. Perhaps this vertical position directs a lot of heat at sensors in some power supplies.

Maybe I'm overlooking something, I dunno. If those of you at SPCR feel like checking this yourselves, I welcome you to do so.

Currently I use a Corsair AX850 in my FT02 without this problem."

So it may be that this PSU dosent like vertical orientation.

 

[rgallant]

I replaced my AX1200 for this quiet model. hahahaha

-it's silent until the fan kicks in when the system at idle heats up the air where my system sits. about 20 minutes
-it's also decoupled from the case , sitting on foam face down with the foam around the sides not blocking the fan.
-maybe 10% -15% less noisy than the AX1200 ,I was hoping for 50%.
-I don't think the fan is moving that fast on mine but just has a dirty sound to it.

-not much I can do about it at this point in time , still running 580sli so I don't like ocing the cards on my 850TX.

-thanks for posting btw I had wondered if I had a bum fan also.

 

[Maximilian]

Hmm maybe its this way by design then? A stark contrast to everything i have read about this PSU.

I did a bit more tinkering with this thing. The PSU is much quieter with the gold fan grill removed, so it seems to be airflow noise more than fan noise (if there is any difference there ). I removed the grill whilst it was set to "normal" then i placed the grill back without screwing it in again and the noise difference between grill/no grill was very noticeable.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Effects-of-Grill-Patterns-on-Fan-Performance-Noise-107

That shows honeycomb is noisier than the standard wire grill. As a test I used the 120mm wire grill from the top of my FT02 and tried it on the PSU and it was less noisy.

If this is the way the PSU is meant to be and its not just a noisy fan then i may consider replacing the grill with a standard 120mm wire one permanently, it wont look as good but will likely be quieter.

 

[rgallant]

interesting

 

[Maximilian]

Well as an update to this i returned the PSU to the retailer SCAN, they tell me "no fault was found" and want to charge me £10 for returning a "fully working" item Less than satisfied about that...

Anyways i managed to snag another PSU for a similar price to the x1050, this time its an Antec HCP 1200 (the 1050 was overkill, this is insane overkill). This thing would have been my absolute last choice for quiet operation (80mm fan wtf!?) however reviews say it isnt held back by the 80mm fan at all. Apparently it is 400rpm at low loads. So hopefully that works out better than the seasonic unit did.

 

[Maximilian]

HCP 1200 arrived and installed.

Hardwired cables = pain in the ass for cable routing

80mm fan = quiet as hell... i stick my ear against the fan grill on the PSU and i can hear a quiet electrical buzz inside the PSU, but not the fan... whodathunkit!

Overall <3 this PSU!