Slight Whine with PSU

[Sleepingforest]

When I turn on the PSU (and not the PC itself), there is a high pitched sound, even without the fan on. My older relatives are totally incapable of hearing it. When the rest of the system is on, it's not really audible. Is this enough reason to return it? It's a Seasonic 650X with the newer ribbon cables.

 

[2.71828183]

I have that exact same PSU, and yes, it whines. I RMA'd the first one I got, which was plainly audible and very irritating (it's for a silent build, plus it lives in the same room I sleep in, and the whine doesn't stop when the computer's off). The replacement I got was marginally better, but not by a whole lot.

If you can't live with the whine, I'd recommend a return instead of a replacement, because you might get one the same or worse. Unfortunately the research I've done leads me to believe that coil whine is a pretty common artifact of high-end efficient power supplies, so I don't have any recommendations for where else you can turn.

I decided to live with mine: I put it in a Define R4 case and additionally muffled it with a blanket (no, seriously: it's quite effective, and I have it arranged where it doesn't block airflow). Eventually I'll build something more permanent to block noise out the back of the case: the damping material on the case is very effective at attenuating whine noise on the front and sides.

Eventually I may decide to open it up and pot the coils in epoxy. I'm not quite ready to void the warranty yet, though, and I may never bother if I can attenuate the whine satisfactorily some other way. It's frustrating that the manufacturer doesn't address this, though: maybe I'm just weird, but I'd gladly pay a $20 or $30 premium for potted coils and a no-audible-whine guarantee.

 

[VirtualLarry]

but I'd gladly pay a $20 or $30 premium for potted coils and a no-audible-whine guarantee.

Perhaps a missed market opportunity that some of these companies should look into. YellowBeard?

 

[Avalon]

I've had an X650 for about a year. It had pretty bad coil whine when I first got it and I was pretty upset, but the whine went away after around 3-6 months.