Noisy PSU

  • Thread starter Thread starter Martin
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Martin

Spec:
Athlon64 3400+
Asus K8V-SE Deluxe, motherboard
1GB RAM
Samsung spinpoint 120GB HD
Sapphire Radeon 9600 128MB graphics
Qtechnology 350W 120mm PSU

I built this PC about 2 months ago, but recently the PSU has been getting
noisier. It emits a constant 'whine' that changes depending on cpu load.
The changes in noise are particularly obvious when using the scroll wheel on
the mouse. Oddly, if I disable the AMD 'Cool & Quiet' feature, the noise
disappears, but the processor then runs very hot. The 'Cool & Quiet'
feature drops the clock speed and voltage when idling, keeping the processor
cooler, like variable underclocking. So the noise appears when there is
less load on the PSU!

The PSU is a good quality model, but I don't know if a replacement would fix
the problem?

Regards,

Martin
 
Martin said:
Spec:
Athlon64 3400+
Asus K8V-SE Deluxe, motherboard
1GB RAM
Samsung spinpoint 120GB HD
Sapphire Radeon 9600 128MB graphics
Qtechnology 350W 120mm PSU

I built this PC about 2 months ago, but recently the PSU has been getting
noisier. It emits a constant 'whine' that changes depending on cpu load.
The changes in noise are particularly obvious when using the scroll wheel
on the mouse. Oddly, if I disable the AMD 'Cool & Quiet' feature, the
noise disappears, but the processor then runs very hot. The 'Cool &
Quiet' feature drops the clock speed and voltage when idling, keeping the
processor cooler, like variable underclocking. So the noise appears when
there is less load on the PSU!

The PSU is a good quality model, but I don't know if a replacement would
fix the problem?

Regards,

Martin
Click to expand...

Are you sure it's not just that when Cool n' Quiet is off that you can't
hear the whine over the CPU fan? Have you put your ear up against the PSU
outlet?
 
Spec:
Athlon64 3400+
Asus K8V-SE Deluxe, motherboard
1GB RAM
Samsung spinpoint 120GB HD
Sapphire Radeon 9600 128MB graphics
Qtechnology 350W 120mm PSU

I built this PC about 2 months ago, but recently the PSU has been getting
noisier. It emits a constant 'whine' that changes depending on cpu load.
The changes in noise are particularly obvious when using the scroll wheel on
the mouse. Oddly, if I disable the AMD 'Cool & Quiet' feature, the noise
disappears, but the processor then runs very hot. The 'Cool & Quiet'
feature drops the clock speed and voltage when idling, keeping the processor
cooler, like variable underclocking. So the noise appears when there is
less load on the PSU!

The PSU is a good quality model, but I don't know if a replacement would fix
the problem?

Regards,

Martin
Click to expand...

Are you _sure_ it's the power supply and not the
motherboard?

A replacement could easily solve the problem but the odds
are better to choose a different brand. Not that there's
necessarily anything wrong with that brand (that I know of)
but if it's design combined with your ambient temps and
system load are causing it, the best best is a different PSU
make and/or model.
 
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