Power supplies.....the most interesting subject in history!

[dsan@mail.com]

Bull hockey you say

Bull hockey or honkey?

[t3toooo]

I don't remember the model number but I can safely promise it's not defective. (after having the slightly annoying issue I've done my research, too bad I didn't before )

Interesting what you say about the fan kicking in. I've now heard this from several PSU's and I don't understand it. Again, why wouldn't they just make a PSU that has a continuously spinning fan that keeps things in check vs a fan that annoyingly kicks in every few minutes? And by annoyingly kicking in I mean that it goes into a higher gear obviously. If it was just spinning at a nice lower speed, it would likely not be as much of an issue

The fan kicks in if the computer is demanding more power,those energy saving features are standard and working very well on modern computers.


Writing a text in wordpad doesn't need a lot of power,If the OS is noticing there isn't demand for a lot of power the PSU (and the CPU) is throttling.
If you download realtemp or something like that you can see the currently used "mhz".
That's a good indicator on how much energy the computer needs at the moment.
This energy feature is generally called "turbo boost" (depends on the board) you can turn it off in the bios, i wouldn't recommend it because the computer would be sucking more energy constantly.

If the PSU is providing more power it gets hotter and therefore it needs to be cooled down.
Heat is the number one killer for electronic parts.

The "silver" bronze" and "gold" label for a PSU describes their efficiency.
Another important fact about a good PSU,it needs to provide the voltage in- and decrease accurately,that's why a good PSU is a important part for a workstation.


Imo,it's never wrong to have spare PSU available.
If your computer has issues it's good to test if it's the PSU that makes trouble,for example.
Luckily PSU's are lasting many years unlike motherboards you can (want) use them in 5 years again because we still have the 24 pin motherboard connector.

Regarding researching,it's annoying but something that needs to be done i guess.
The market is saturated and reviews are a way to force the industry to create usable products.
Don't know if a fanless PSU would be good idea because of the voltage margin.
I like to read neweggs reviews,this gives a good overview.
However,bear in mind,a workstation is not a office computer.

[hibidy]

Thanks. Yeah, I think this is a "gold" stamped.

[rcat]

I'm in the market for a PSU myself, and this is proving invaluable to me: http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/faq-r ... -supplies#
I'm finding it very interesting who manufactures what for who. FSP seems to be a very strong contender.

[hibidy]

Oh........."be quiet" IS seasonic

[DevonB]

It's odd, even though the computer wasn't really noisy, the thing I heard loudest was the HD I used for audio. I mean, louder than the cpu fan, louder than the PSU, it clicked...there was vibration...and that spinning sound was really obvious.

The worst part? With headphones on it was worse Anyways, I went 100% SSD now and it's just not an issue.

Heavily depends on what drive you pick. I've had dead quiet HDD's, I've had noisy sons a beaches! The WD Black's aren't too bad, at least not the 1TB I have. I have a Seagate 2TB that constantly clicks that I've never bothered to update the BIOS that I believe cures the problem. Just had to poke around the fourms and get a good idea for a quieter spinning rust drive, or really bite the bullet and get an SSD drive that's bigger and more expensive. The spinning and vibration could be to do with a cheap case. All the cases I've been picking up for years have rubber grommets on the trays where the screws attach to the drives. There are other solutions for drive vibration transference problems too. If you buy cheap cases (usually under $75, and especially if it's cheap AND comes with a PSU) you're going to have vibration issues. 0.8mm thick cases are junk and flimsy, and hence, noisy. A nice 1mm thick case is much better.

Devon

Devon

[DevonB]

I don't remember the model number but I can safely promise it's not defective. (after having the slightly annoying issue I've done my research, too bad I didn't before )

Interesting what you say about the fan kicking in. I've now heard this from several PSU's and I don't understand it. Again, why wouldn't they just make a PSU that has a continuously spinning fan that keeps things in check vs a fan that annoyingly kicks in every few minutes? And by annoyingly kicking in I mean that it goes into a higher gear obviously. If it was just spinning at a nice lower speed, it would likely not be as much of an issue

Sounds like an inefficient PSU with a smaller fan. It kicks on because it gets too hot. Stick with PSU's with 140mm fans and have better ratings. Cheaper power supplies are typically run hotter. The PSU has to convert power into something when it can't run efficiently, and that ends up being heat.

Devon

[cornutt]

I've observed that too in some "high efficiency" PSUs... instead of running the fan at a low speed that would prevent heat buildup from happening, they turn the fan off, wait until things get really hot, and then go into Pratt & Whitney mode. It's not actually saving any energy or money because the periodic high temps cause premature failure of regulators and filter caps.

[hibidy]

I don't remember the model number but I can safely promise it's not defective. (after having the slightly annoying issue I've done my research, too bad I didn't before )

Interesting what you say about the fan kicking in. I've now heard this from several PSU's and I don't understand it. Again, why wouldn't they just make a PSU that has a continuously spinning fan that keeps things in check vs a fan that annoyingly kicks in every few minutes? And by annoyingly kicking in I mean that it goes into a higher gear obviously. If it was just spinning at a nice lower speed, it would likely not be as much of an issue

Sounds like an inefficient PSU with a smaller fan. It kicks on because it gets too hot. Stick with PSU's with 140mm fans and have better ratings. Cheaper power supplies are typically run hotter. The PSU has to convert power into something when it can't run efficiently, and that ends up being heat.

Devon

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139010

140MM SILENT COOLING FAN
The Corsair CMPSU-750HX features a 140mm thermally controlled fan for increased overall airflow and heat dissipation in the power supply enclosure.

It's silent......when the fan isn't running

[hibidy]

I've observed that too in some "high efficiency" PSUs... instead of running the fan at a low speed that would prevent heat buildup from happening, they turn the fan off, wait until things get really hot, and then go into Pratt & Whitney mode. It's not actually saving any energy or money because the periodic high temps cause premature failure of regulators and filter caps.

Yup. The question is.......if I was to replace it, which one ?

[t3toooo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Oh46bc4zY

It's that one? Wow never heard a 140 mm fan that loud.

It's a shame it looks very good otherwise.

Well my X-650 is very quiet,it does make some kind of a short low chirp sound when my board changes mhz sometimes but that's not bothering me at all,beside i never knew what it was.


One guy recommended a AX760 (comments on the vid) but it's much more expensive.

Edit:

There is a comment from the video poster.

After 2 chirping HX650's, I received this replacement HX750 at no additional cost. It no longer chirped, but the fan ran at 100% when gaming. It would also randomly spin up every 5 mins.

I did end up sending this one back also, and the 2nd HX750 I received was great. Quiet fan while gaming and no fan spin up every 5 mins.

I recommend CALLING corsair or POSTING on their forum. Either-way, their support is GREAT. Thanks CORSAIR.

That's what i would do.

[Debutante]

I'm an Antec man thru & thru. Intensely quiet - I don't understand how one can have a noisy PSU - and all-round great build quality, and often multiple 12v rails (much debate to be had here)

...good read on the subject:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pow ... ,3762.html

[hibidy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Oh46bc4zY

It's that one? Wow never heard a 140 mm fan that loud.

It's a shame it looks very good otherwise.

Well my X-650 is very quiet,it does make some kind of a short low chirp sound when my board changes mhz sometimes but that's not bothering me at all,beside i never knew what it was.


One guy recommended a AX760 (comments on the vid) but it's much more expensive.

Edit:

There is a comment from the video poster.

After 2 chirping HX650's, I received this replacement HX750 at no additional cost. It no longer chirped, but the fan ran at 100% when gaming. It would also randomly spin up every 5 mins.

I did end up sending this one back also, and the 2nd HX750 I received was great. Quiet fan while gaming and no fan spin up every 5 mins.

I recommend CALLING corsair or POSTING on their forum. Either-way, their support is GREAT. Thanks CORSAIR.

That's what i would do.

Well, I hate the idea of having this one down for a while, but I believe it's under warranty so I'll give them a ring.

[hibidy]

I'm an Antec man thru & thru. Intensely quiet - I don't understand how one can have a noisy PSU - and all-round great build quality, and often multiple 12v rails (much debate to be had here)

...good read on the subject:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pow ... ,3762.html

I found this particularly amusing.......

While still in standby mode, the PSU heated to about 176 degrees Fahrenheit, spent the next six hours billowing smoke, and finally made what might be described as a trumpeting sound before dying

I hope that never actually happens to anyone else

The closest I've come to that was when my DVR blew up last week But it wasn't THAT bad.

[hibidy]

Gak, I tried to email support and there is a bug with that that won't accept your part number

Will call tomorrow.........