Bad no load PSU screeching

[Bitter]

I've got a 600W OCZ power supply, it's nice and quiet and seems to do fine except that it screeches and 'whines' loudly when there's little to no load on the system. I can hear my mouse pointer move, super annoying so it's been relegated to my test bench. I'm not afraid of opening it up, but besides replacing components is there anything to dampen the noise, our old friend silicone glue? Also which components would be the likely source of noise? I know that on graphics cards and motherboards the chokes can often be a source of that noise, likely the same in the PSU? And yes, I am confident it's the PSU, it's the only common component across about 4-5 different configurations I've used this PSU with even in different rooms, different circuits, even different towns.

[LukeLinusFanFic]

My guess would be a bad fan/fan bearing? 

I don't know if I'd risk opening it myself though

[Turtle Rig]

5 minutes ago, SwagMaestro said:

My guess would be a bad fan/fan bearing? 

I don't know if I'd risk opening it myself though

I agree, its the fan.  Can you RMA her or is it out of warranty.  You can take apart the PSU and change the fan but I don't recommend doing this.

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, SwagMaestro said:

My guess would be a bad fan/fan bearing? 

I don't know if I'd risk opening it myself though

The fan?  Really?  How is the fan going to change it's sound with the movement of the mouse? 

 

It's probably coil whine, but check to make sure you're computer is plugged in with a proper Earth ground.

25 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said:

Can you RMA her or is it out of warranty.  

Considering OCZ went out of business five years ago... Seriously doubt it has any warranty.

 

52 minutes ago, Bitter said:

I've got a 600W OCZ power supply, i

OCZ never made a quality 600W.  And it's got to be at least five years old.  So you might want to do yourself a favor and throw it away and get something from this decade.

 

[Bitter]

5 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

OCZ never made a quality 600W.  And it's got to be at least five years old.  So you might want to do yourself a favor and throw it away and get something from this decade.

I might toss it for a B stock EVGA modular sometime in the next few months, I really need a modular in my ITX system and then retire the non modular 500W to the test bench system. It matches my OCZ ram so well though...at least the RAM works well and doesn't scream at me.

 

[Turtle Rig]

OH man, I wasn't aware OCZ wen't out of business.  No wonder there is no OCZ stuff anymore. I would try a different PSU, as that is more simple then having to RMA your board.

[Bitter]

I know it's not a board issue unless all 4 boards I've used with the PSU all make the same exact noises lol. No chance on RMA'ing a H87, Z87, and H55 board haha. I'll just grab a better PSU at some point, the EVGA in my HTPC is nearly silent under all conditions so I'll replace it with a higher efficiency unit that's modular and retire the current non modular to test bench duty.

 

Are the EVGA G3 550 or 650 regarded as good units? I was thinking of something like this https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0550-Y1

Reviews of the 650 seem positive but bag on a lack of connectors which isn't really an issue in my ITX use, they also have issues with the fan being noisy which is something I can't have in my HTPC system. I can fit a longer unit, should I go with the G2 instead? Something besides EVGA?

[seon123]

8 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Are the EVGA G3 550 or 650 regarded as good units? I was thinking of something like this

If you don't care about noise, and don't care about protections, they're good. If you aren't completely deaf, and you prefer safer PSUs, then it's not good. 

What country are you buying from?

[Bitter]

USA, I would in fact prefer a safer quieter unit but I don't have unlimited money either. I can budget $75 toward a different/better PSU. I currently am using https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=100-W1-0500-KR that PSU which I bought at the start of 2015 making it the newest PSU here...sadly.
 

Turns out I bought the OCZ PSU in 2009, I guess a decade is a good service life lol.

[seon123]

24 minutes ago, Bitter said:

USA, I would in fact prefer a safer quieter unit but I don't have unlimited money either. I can budget $75 toward a different/better PSU. I currently am using https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=100-W1-0500-KR that PSU which I bought at the start of 2015 making it the newest PSU here...sadly.
 

Turns out I bought the OCZ PSU in 2009, I guess a decade is a good service life lol.

What are you powering? 450-550W is likely plenty. 

You can get the Formula or Whisper M for under $75. They are nice and quiet PSUs. 

[Bitter]

Currently powering nothing that needs more than 500W, but I don't know what I'll be powering in the future so I'd like something in the 500-600W range to have headroom if needed. The Whisper looks really nice for the price, BP-WG550UMAG-7FM is $80, I can stretch $5 on the budget.

[Bitter]

Getting ready to buy that Bit Fenix Whisper M in 550W and just wanted to run it past the helpful people here (no sarcasm, you're all great). I'm going to be swapping parts between cases in my CM Elite 130 which inverts the PSU to pull outside air so case temp has no bearing on PSU temps which is a nice thing. I'm going to be running a Z87 Mini ITX board (Asus Z87I-Deluxe) with an i7 4950HQ that will be overclocked to 4+Ghz (probably) and may later on be upgraded to an i7 4980HQ. Graphics card is and will be for the time being a GTX 960 4GB  w/ some overclock (EVGA FTW SSC ACX ABC123), there's also a single 120 fan, SSD, Blu-Ray drive, and at least one 3.5 HDD with possibly several 2.5HDD's added later on. Externally I need to power some things over USB like keyboard/mouse, USB 3.0 hub with several flash drives sometimes, the usual stuff.

 

PSU calculators don't list mobile processors so I'm using a 4770 with a 4Ghz OC as the CPU and figuring for the worst case scenario of 100% load 24/7 (it runs prime95 in the background). I'm seeing figures of 473W, 398W, 376W, which averages out to 415W. Are these or is that average a realistic number? It seems like 550W would be fine assuming I don't swap in some crazy stuff, but I've seen figures for the 4590HQ and 4980HQ CPU's drawing upwards of 150W when overclocked, with an air cooler in the CM Elite 130 I would not be able to dissipate that kind of heat but with a single 120 liquid cooler I certainly could and we all know how overclocking goes you just keep pushing it till it breaks lol. Assuming I do OC on liquid and say peak out at 150+ W, would the 550W Whisper M still be a good budget choice PSU or should I step up to the Whisper M 650W? Is there a different CPU I should pick in the PSU calculators that would give me a more realistic number for an OC'd Crystalwell CPU?