New PSU, couple of "issues"

[AlexaKitty]

So I finally got that Fractal Design ION+ 860P PSU that I was talking about. The cables were as advertised -- very flexible, installation was a breeze.

 

The PSU works, PC hasn't caught fire yet. However there are two things:

 

1. It makes this weird "sizzling" noise, like acid in soda but much quieter: https://i.officialalexm.com/ShareX/20210205_171846.mp4

Not sure if this is coil whine or what. It gets a bit louder under load, while making some ocassional "single click" sounds (like when you press on a mouse but dont let go, only one click sound). Again, nothing has exploded yet after running an OCCT power stress test for a while.

 

2. There is a weird smell coming from the PSU under load, kind of like burnt plastic. I looked around on the forums and found this:

 

 

Not sure if I should worry about this then, but I want to know if this is normal regardless. The cables are all plugged in all the way and nothing is arcing/sparking/catching on fire in the PSU itself, so I doubt it's something I did. Note that my brand new RM850x smelled exactly the same.

 

I want to know if I should worry about the noise. Really don't feel like RMAing to potentially get the same "issue", especially if it's probably just harmless coil whine. I hope it is.

[BetteBalterZen]

That weird smell is normal for new PSUs. The smell should go away after a couple of days. 
I just got a new PSU aswell, the HX1200i from Corsair. It also smelled kinda bad the first 24 hours but now I can't smell anything. 

 

About the weird noises, I'm not so sure... 

[AlexaKitty]

3 minutes ago, BetteBalterZen said:

That weird smell is normal for new PSUs. The smell should go away after a couple of days. 

I just got a new PSU aswell, the HX1200i from Corsair. It also smelled kinda bad the first 24 hours but now I can't smell anything. 

That eases that worry. Still not sure about the noise. At idle, it's like in the video I posted. While gaming, it's a tad louder with ocassional faint clicking sounds. But not enough for me to even notice while having headphones on. Is this just PSU coil whine and is it harmless? I'm thinking those "clicking sounds" might just be the flux burning off, but then again I never dealt with soldering before so I know nothing as to how it sounds and smells.

[BetteBalterZen]

1 minute ago, AlexaKitty said:

That eases that worry. Still not sure about the noise. At idle, it's like in the video I posted. While gaming, it's a tad louder with ocassional faint clicking sounds. But not enough for me to even notice while having headphones on. Is this just PSU coil whine and is it harmless?

To be honest, I found it hard to hear, the noises in the video. Coilwhine is normal though, or, not harmful but annoying for sure. 
I know some people have RMA'd their new hardware because of coilwhine and got replacements. Maybe you can aswell. 

[AlexaKitty]

Just now, BetteBalterZen said:

To be honest, I found it hard to hear, the noises in the video. Coilwhine is normal though, or, not harmful but annoying for sure. 
I know some people have RMA'd their new hardware because of coilwhine and got replacements. Maybe you can aswell. 

It's not annoying so I don't see a reason to RMA tbh. I'll keep using my PC and gaming as normal, and if the clicking sounds & smell doesn't go away within a few days then I'll start to worry.

 

I still want people to chime in with their answers to this. Any help is appreciated, I get pretty paranoid when it comes to power supplies as they power my entire two thousand dollar system...

[BetteBalterZen]

2 minutes ago, AlexaKitty said:

I still want people to chime in with their answers to this. Any help is appreciated, I get pretty paranoid when it comes to power supplies as they power my entire two thousand dollar system...

Yes for sure. I hope others here will give their opinions aswell. 

[AlexaKitty]

@LienusLateTipsApologies for the mention, but I would appreciate your take on this whole thing. If the noise and clicking is a cause of concern.

[AlexaKitty]

Okay, this is how it sounds like while playing MC with shaders (about 240W on the 3070 and 75W on CPU): https://streamable.com/y3lqzk

Is this coil whine?

[jonnyGURU]

9 hours ago, AlexaKitty said:

Note that my brand new RM850x smelled exactly the same.

Because it's normal.

 

[AlexaKitty]

7 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Because it's normal.

 

Yes I ended up realizing that, I'm more interested in knowing if that noise from the PSU is coil whine or not. I hope it is.

[Juular]

28 minutes ago, AlexaKitty said:

Yes I ended up realizing that, I'm more interested in knowing if that noise from the PSU is coil whine or not. I hope it is.

It is.

[Mark Kaine]

18 hours ago, AlexaKitty said:

That eases that worry. Still not sure about the noise. At idle, it's like in the video I posted. While gaming, it's a tad louder with ocassional faint clicking sounds. But not enough for me to even notice while having headphones on. Is this just PSU coil whine and is it harmless? I'm thinking those "clicking sounds" might just be the flux burning off, but then again I never dealt with soldering before so I know nothing as to how it sounds and smells.

The clicking noises is probably some kind of regulation, or possibly protection being triggered - the Bequiet I had did it all the time, very unsettling, and not 'quiet' at all, and I do believe it maybe was some sort of defect, because it did it *all the time* and the psu ran also *very* hot, basically could have made fried eggs on it lol... no weird smell however... 

 

Considering you also have coil whine on top of it, I'd try to return it and get a different psu perhaps - although soft cables are nice I guess... I got a corsair rmi now, it doesn't do weird clicking noises*, it's very cool (30-40 C), it doesn't smell and there's no coil whine... 

 

I would really try to exchange your PSU tbh 

 

*the missing clicking sounds weird me out a bit ironically, because I was under the impression that's for "inrush current protection" and as said the Bequiet did it *all the time* (which is why I think it was defective or just not well thought out) 

 

 

18 hours ago, BetteBalterZen said:

Coilwhine is normal though, or, not

 

idk, I had 3 PSUs in the last two years, none of them had coil whine, I'm pretty sure even the 20 year old PSUs from my "retro" PCs don't have it, although it's hard to say because the fans are so incredibly loud usually haha, it'd drown out any possible "coil whine" me thinks... 

 

My 3070 has slight coilwhine, but really only while benchmarking, I usually play with Vsync / 60 fps so it never occurs during normal gaming thankfully - however due to this I believe coil whine in GPUs is more normal than in PSUs (my 1070 FTW2 did it too, at unlocked framerate, depending on the pcie cables used, funny enough) 

 

 

I'm just saying if it's annoying to the user it shouldn't be something they "just have to live with".... though that doesn't seem to be an issue for the OP? 

 

Id be more concerned about the clicking noises... tbh, that seems really weird, as it did with that Bequiet PSU... *click click click*... **clack**  *click*.... *click*

 

how in the world is that 'normal' 

[AlexaKitty]

I can't hear the clicking unless I get really close, and it doesn't seem to be happening anymore. The PSU isn't hot at all. Seems to me like it was just flux burning away that made that noise.

I can live with the coil whine, tired of taking this thing apart every other week.

[jonnyGURU]

5 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

idk, I had 3 PSUs in the last two years, none of them had coil whine, I'm pretty sure even the 20 year old PSUs from my "retro" PCs don't have it, although it's hard to say because the fans are so incredibly loud usually haha, it'd drown out any possible "coil whine" me thinks... 

Newer PSUs are going to be more prone to making magnetics noises.  With newer and newer energy efficiency requirements and new safety requirements, they're making it so the circuits have to be way more complicated than they were even just 5 years ago.  Inrush current relays, bleeder resistors, lower switching frequencies, burst mode.....  Certification bodies took what pretty much is a solid state device and made it a noise factory.

 

[Mark Kaine]

51 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

Certification bodies took what pretty much is a solid state device and made it a noise factory.

That describes to 100% that "straight power" PSU I had lol...

 

It even did it during games, loading a level, move camera around, etc?  *click, click, click*   it had many different click sounds for sure...! 

 

Which I understand is probably "by design"  the problem is the impression you get as ordinary user is "that thing is most definitely broken..."

 

Btw so the RMi (650w) doesn't have inrush current "protection" ? It's very silent turning it on, and turning it off the only sound it makes is some weird "fan noises" which my old "pure power" PSU did as well (it's probably really just the fan slowing down and stopping) 

 

Now I wish it had this inrush protection, on the other hand not having these click sounds is a big plus in my opinion and the pure power didn't have it either and there were no issues, even after power outage - which happens like once every 5 years here, but it does happen... 

[AlexaKitty]

Ok but I think I wasn't specific about the "click" sounds. They're barely a click, it's like when you press on a mouse but don't let go. It's also effectively inaudible unless I put my ear right next to the PSU. And as I said they seem to have stopped. I highly doubt it's inrush current protection triggering off. The PSU isn't hot either, even with zero RPM fan under a stress test.

 

I still don't seem to be receiving a definitive response on the noises. Is this 100% coil whine and can I just ignore it?

If it gets worse when I install a high TDP GPU for example I can just RMA the unit, but for now I'd like to use this thing for the next 2 years or so without switching crap around in my PC every week.

[AlexaKitty]

Managed to capture some of the clicking sounds, turn your volume way up: https://streamable.com/srwxdv

 

I might just RMA this thing... watch it have the exact same issue.

[jonnyGURU]

1 hour ago, AlexaKitty said:

Managed to capture some of the clicking sounds, turn your volume way up: https://streamable.com/srwxdv

 

I might just RMA this thing... watch it have the exact same issue.

I don't hear clicking.  I hear buzzing.  Like a recording of a cricket on high speed.  Is that the noise you're talking about?  If so then, yes.  That's coil whine.  RMA it and you'll have the exact same noise.

 

[AlexaKitty]

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

I don't hear clicking.  I hear buzzing.  Like a recording of a cricket on high speed.  Is that the noise you're talking about?  If so then, yes.  That's coil whine.  RMA it and you'll have the exact same noise.

 

Guess I'll live with it, just got done with a playing sesh and nothing exploded. Can't notice it unless I specifically focus on it. ty

[BetteBalterZen]

14 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

The clicking noises is probably some kind of regulation, or possibly protection being triggered - the Bequiet I had did it all the time, very unsettling, and not 'quiet' at all, and I do believe it maybe was some sort of defect, because it did it *all the time* and the psu ran also *very* hot, basically could have made fried eggs on it lol... no weird smell however... 

 

Considering you also have coil whine on top of it, I'd try to return it and get a different psu perhaps - although soft cables are nice I guess... I got a corsair rmi now, it doesn't do weird clicking noises*, it's very cool (30-40 C), it doesn't smell and there's no coil whine... 

 

I would really try to exchange your PSU tbh 

 

*the missing clicking sounds weird me out a bit ironically, because I was under the impression that's for "inrush current protection" and as said the Bequiet did it *all the time* (which is why I think it was defective or just not well thought out) 

 

 

 

idk, I had 3 PSUs in the last two years, none of them had coil whine, I'm pretty sure even the 20 year old PSUs from my "retro" PCs don't have it, although it's hard to say because the fans are so incredibly loud usually haha, it'd drown out any possible "coil whine" me thinks... 

 

My 3070 has slight coilwhine, but really only while benchmarking, I usually play with Vsync / 60 fps so it never occurs during normal gaming thankfully - however due to this I believe coil whine in GPUs is more normal than in PSUs (my 1070 FTW2 did it too, at unlocked framerate, depending on the pcie cables used, funny enough) 

 

 

I'm just saying if it's annoying to the user it shouldn't be something they "just have to live with".... though that doesn't seem to be an issue for the OP? 

 

Id be more concerned about the clicking noises... tbh, that seems really weird, as it did with that Bequiet PSU... *click click click*... **clack**  *click*.... *click*

 

how in the world is that 'normal' 

True. My old HX750w and my new HX1200i don't have coilwhine aswell but I know some people have reported theirs do, new and old PSUs. 

[AlexaKitty]

My CX 650 didn't have coil whine, or none that I could notice, but it gave me a ton of GPU coil whine.

 

This one has barely noticeable coil whine, but in turn reduces GPU coil whine significantly, the ripple is way improved, and the unit overall is of higher quality.

 

I think I'll take the tradeoff.

[AlexaKitty]

I tried RMAing it, because I had another user tell me he hears absolutely nothing from the same PSU after 2 months of use.

 

My supplier who tested the PSU also says there is no sound coming from it, even when applying 850W to the thing.

 

I have been using this surge protected power strip: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B002OJYK5G/

I plugged it into my existing power strip, which in turn is plugged into the wall outlet.

 

Could all of this be the actual cause of the coil whine? Could my surge protector cause it?

 

I removed the surge protected strip and am only using my original strip now, waiting for the PSU to come back so I can test bench it and verify it.

[AlexaKitty]

If I get an UPS, like the CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD 1500VA/900W (Is this a good UPS), would this help?

 

I plan to only have my tower connected to it and the rest to the power strip.