PSU fan rattle noise

[AnthS]

Last year in October I built my first PC. I have a PSU with a hybrid mode which I've read should help with the life span of the fan. Thing is whenever the fan starts or stops it makes a rattling sound (my 2nd hand 1660 did this as well and I've seen a surprising amount of posts with this issue on various GPUs). I was hoping that after some time it would get better or even stop, but it's still the same as day one.

 

I've been playing Dorfromantik over the past few days without headphones and the sound is driving me nuts (I can hear it over the fans). Although the PSU manual states "...have a built-in fan control IC, which utilizes hysteresis to optimize how frequently the fan switches on and off" the fan starts and stops every ~10 secs.

 

Disabling the hybrid mode solves this (fan doesn't stop spinning so it just makes the sound when I turn the PC on/off).

 

So my question is how much would turning off hybrid mode affect the life span of the fan?

[Guest]

When is the big reveal that tells us what PSU you're using?

 

[Gorilla Warfare]

Specs?

[AnthS]

20 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

When is the big reveal that tells us what PSU you're using?

 

Oh boy didn't expect a response from you! It's a Revolt Pro 850W.

[AnthS]

2 minutes ago, Gorilla Warfare said:

Specs?

3800XT, 3080 and the PSU is a Revolt Pro 850W.

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, AnthS said:

It's a Revolt Pro 850W.

Hmm...  No proper reviews with good tear down on that PSU.  Not even a Cybenetics report.  All I know is it's made by Seasonic.  But that doesn't mean anything really, I'm afraid.  What kind of fan is in it?  What IC does it use for the fan controller?  To truly have a hysteresis, you need an MCU for a fan controller.  Most PSUs use a simple thermistor controlled analog IC.

 

Has anyone actually torn one of these down?  Maybe I missed it.

 

[AnthS]

6 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

What kind of fan is in it?

 

I really don't know. And I wouldn't want to take it out and open it up, not because I'm not comfortable with doing this, but mainly because I just installed custom cables over the weekend and it was a real pain to get them to sit properly as they very rigid.

 

My fear is that somewhere down the line the fan would die and I won't be able to notice this. Although even in more demanding use cases the fan would start and stop quite often and never ramp up. I also have a case with pretty good airflow (P500A).

[Juular]

18 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Has anyone actually torn one of these down?  Maybe I missed it.

There's a photo on Phanteks web site and this review, looks like a stock Seasonic Focus. Edit: with some double-PSU-merging stuff going on on the modular panel.

[AnthS]

@Juular Thanks! From the photos in the review it looks like I could replace the fan (but I guess that would void the warranty). Part ID is HA13525H12F-Z but I can't seem to find any in Europe. Maybe I'll give it a shot and contact Phanteks directly to see if they can send me one. Or do you think I can find a replacement fan from another company that would work?

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, AnthS said:

@Juular Thanks! From the photos in the review it looks like I could replace the fan (but I guess that would void the warranty). Part ID is HA13525H12F-Z but I can't seem to find any in Europe. Maybe I'll give it a shot and contact Phanteks directly to see if they can send me one. Or do you think I can find a replacement fan from another company that would work?

Don't replace the fan.  If you think it's defective, you warranty the PSU.  If you're not happy with the fan performance, you get a better PSU.

 

6 hours ago, Juular said:

There's a photo on Phanteks web site and this review, looks like a stock Seasonic Focus.

So it probably does NOT have hysteresis like as advertised.

 

I swear, working with Seasonic has given me PTSD.  Last night, I actually had a dream that I went to work for another company and they told me that I would be managing a new PSU, but we had to use Seasonic and I quit on the spot and walked out of the office. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Juular]

17 minutes ago, AnthS said:

From the photos in the review it looks like I could replace the fan (but I guess that would void the warranty).

I guess just RMA'ing the PSU is not an option ?

[AnthS]

@jonnyGURU Since yday I've turned off hybrid mode and I can't hear the fan over my other system fans so I'll probably just leave it like that. If the fan will die I will proceed with warranty then.

And that's why I quoted the claim about the hysteresis, as I thought it was false advertising seeing how fast the fan would stop then spin up again.

 

@Juular I'd rather not. I bought it from a shop in Germany and I live in Romania. Don't have another PSU as placeholder while RMAing as well.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, AnthS said:

@jonnyGURU Since yday I've turned off hybrid mode and I can't hear the fan over my other system fans so I'll probably just leave it like that.

Yeah.  Just leave the fan running at low RPM and you should be fine.  Seasonic's fan controller is just god awful.

 

[AnthS]

@jonnyGURU Got one more question (sorry for bugging you :D). Do you know if it's ok to enable/disable hybrid mode while the PC is on? I've been enabling/disabling before powering on the PC but if I could do it while it's on I could just leave it on while in idle as it never spun up and disabling it when I play games or export a video so it stays on.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, AnthS said:

@jonnyGURU Got one more question (sorry for bugging you :D). Do you know if it's ok to enable/disable hybrid mode while the PC is on? I've been enabling/disabling before powering on the PC but if I could do it while it's on I could just leave it on while in idle as it never spun up and disabling it when I play games or export a video so it stays on.

Yeah.  It doesn't matter.  You can pound on that button all day if you want. 

 

[Juular]

On 4/13/2021 at 11:42 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Seasonic's fan controller is just god awful.

Quote

industry’s leading Smart and Silent Fan Control (S2FC)

What's the industry they're leading out there ?