RmX 850 constant idle hum?

[Miketacular]

Hi everyone,

Just finished a new build that I’m super happy with. Had some trouble with the MSI X570 Tomahawk flashback but that’s not the point.

 

The PC has a low idle hum that I’m not sure qualifies as coil whine or just a fan running louder than it should? I believe it’s coming from the power supply. Is there any troubleshooting I can do for it, or is this normal? I attached a quick YouTube video of the sound. I'm confused because I'm pretty sure the RmX 850 is advertised as silent. 

 

https://youtu.be/VE58Qy-4tLU

The specs: Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850 Watt

CPU: Ryzen 5600x

Cooler: iCue H100i Elite Capellix AIO

GPU: GTX 1080 EVGA FTW

RAM: 32 gigs 3600 MHz Corsair Vengeance

Motherboard: MSI X570 Tomahawk

 

Any help is appreciated! Am I just being picky? Is there no such thing as a purely silent PC?

[Mark Kaine]

9 minutes ago, Miketacular said:

Any help is appreciated! Am I just being picky? Is there no such thing as a purely silent PC?

No, especially for a company that advertises with "quiet is ok but silent is better" (aimed at Bequiet obviously) this is not "ok"... 

 

FYI: I don't hear my Bequiet PSU at all, literally my Toshiba hard drive (which is very inaudible most of the time) is louder lol. 

[.Apex.]

20 minutes ago, Miketacular said:

Any help is appreciated! Am I just being picky? Is there no such thing as a purely silent PC?

Can't hear anything that stands out other than that high pitched noise which I'm unsure of what it is but it doesn't sound like anything is wrong.

 

You are probably being picky, all components will emit a noise and the more silent you make your PC from a fan noise standpoint, the more pronounced that electrical noise becomes.

[Stahlmann]

The RMX series are very high-quality and my own RMX 850W does not make the slightest noise whatsoever. The only thing i can hear from my PC is some GPU coil whine when under load. Your PSU is marketed as silent because the fan will only kick in when it's under heavier load. At idle the fan is off.

 

But what @.Apex. said could also be true. I never knew coil whine even existed until i really started to optimize my PC for silence. I'm now at a point where GPU coil whine is the loudest part of my PC lol.

[Miketacular]

Now you guys got me thinking it could...possibly be something else? Does that sound, sound like a whine or a fan spinning to you? I think the best option at this point it to unplug the big guy, take the panels off and start listening. 

[Mark Kaine]

46 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

I never knew coil whine even existed until i really started to optimize my PC for silence. I'm now at a point where GPU coil whine is the loudest part of my PC lol.

While I understand this line of thinking... my PC has always been rather silent - I do hear the cpu fan and the 2 noctua intake Fans, as they're constantly spinning, but that's it, and it's very silent anyway, just audible... I even made a thread recently because my MONSTER energy drink was making louder noise than my PC and I thought something was broken (I actually suspected the PSU) lmao...

 

So when I then actually had "coil whine" due to using "weird" Bequiet pcie cables... it was absolutely unacceptable, because it was *really* loud even over all the case fans that are quite audible when under load... so I really don't care if you or the manufacturers think this is "normal" or unavoidable - especially because it obviously *is* avoidable, to me this is a major fault that makes me literally sick and therefore not acceptable in any way shape or form and I would definitely seek compensation from any manufacturer who told me "just live with it" or similar... 

[Mark Kaine]

54 minutes ago, Miketacular said:

Now you guys got me thinking it could...possibly be something else? Does that sound, sound like a whine or a fan spinning to you? I think the best option at this point it to unplug the big guy, take the panels off and start listening. 

Tbh, I just listened to it... it sounds fairly normal and definitely like pc fans... (about twice as loud as mine if I had to guess, if this is idle... ) 

 

Are you sure it's the PSU, does the fan even spin? 

 

I don't hear a "hum" audio quality isn't great though, but still ok'ish I suppose. 

 

PS: btw regarding loud case fans... the case can actually make a huge difference... I had a nzxt case for a week, the fans were all extremely loud, even the noctuas... simply because the case is very flimsy made out of cheap, thin metal with no regard to sound design whatsoever... in contrast using my inwin case it about halves the loudness simply because it's extremely sturdy and the metal is *very* thick, and probably actually steel... also there aren't many openings at all inside the case (without any regard to cable management whatsoever ) which also helps to avoid amplifying of noise and vibrations from fans etc, I'm pretty sure of that! 

 

Spoiler

 

of course this has a cover usually, it's just to show the thickness of the metal being used throughout the whole case 

 

[Stahlmann]

50 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I even made a thread recently because my MONSTER energy drink was making louder noise than my PC and I thought something was broken (I actually suspected the PSU) lmao...

Haha, i had the same thing happening to me. When the energy drink was louder than my PC and i didn't know what it was

[Mark Kaine]

54 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

Haha, i had the same thing happening to me. When the energy drink was louder than my PC and i didn't know what it was

It was definitely "metallic" and "electrical"...  turns out it wasn't electrical at all but definitely "metallic"...

2 hours ago, Miketacular said:

Now you guys got me thinking it could...possibly be something else? Does that sound, sound like a whine or a fan spinning to you? I think the best option at this point it to unplug the big guy, take the panels off and start listening. 

Just let it run, even idle, and put your ear on the back of the psu - you should definitely hear something - that's the only way I can hear my psu fan at all - if yours isn't spinning that's even better to hear any weird humming... otherwise yeah, I suspect it's just the case fans, maybe the case is vibrating a bit too. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Miketacular said:

I’m not sure qualifies as coil whine or just a fan running louder than it should?

At idle?

 

Then it's not the PSU fan.  PSU fan shouldn't be spinning at all.