A few basic PSU questions.

[Vectraat]

Ok, this is my current power supply: 

PSU: Seasonic MI2 Bronze Evo Edition. 750W ATX 12V

It's a 4 year old computer at this point so kinda dated....

1.) I actually think there could be a problem with it. When I play a video game (Friday the 13th) my computer will get loud and it'll be producing a lot more heat. I'm fairly certain that the sound/heat is coming from the PSU. The sound/heat disappear when I close down the game. I don't really play this game anymore so I never bothered to investigate or even test my temps. I keep my computer very clean, BUT I did notice that when I used compressed air and tried to blow out the PSU the heat/noise issue would disappear for a long while. 

2.) Some people have told me to never get anything less than Gold. I've watched 2 PSU tech videos on YouTube and read an article and yet no one discusses this. Strange. So why do I want gold instead?

I know Seasonic is a good brand but is Gold a real big deal vs Bronze? 

[seon123]

The higher wattage M12 is okay. 

The other components will also get hotter and produce more noise under load. 

The people that recommend purely based on the 80+ ratings know nothing about PSUs and should be avoided. 

All of the better PSUs are at least gold rated, but there are plenty of crappy gold rated PSUs. 

Seasonic is just as capable as any other brand of selling crap.  

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, Vectraat said:

I know Seasonic is a good brand but is Gold a real big deal vs Bronze? 

Seasonic is the most overrated Brand, for whatever reasons...

Also every brand has different quality PSU in their Lineup.

Some are only good at the upper end, some in the lower end, some don't even have something there. 

You just can't generalize anything about PSU, you have to look at each individual PSU!

 

 

 

Back to the facts:

a) Seasonic PSU are rarely quiet, especially the cheaper ones tend to get rather loud

b) Moar Watts doesn't equal less noise. This assumption is false. If you want a quiet PSU, get a quiet one

c) The higher wattage S12II/M12II (750 and 850W) are electrically OK and also Protection is OKish, though Noise not that much.

 

The difference between Gold and Bronze is pretty big becuase nobody does good Bronze stuff no more and nobody buys that because you can get Gold ones for the same price...

 

Anyway, depending on the Components, its entirely possible that the PSU could get rather loud...

[Vectraat]

Ok, can someone link me to a good article or YouTube video explaining PSU stuff? 'cause I've been disappointed with what I've seen so far.

 

Also, I feel that you guys are somewhat missing the distinctions I'm making with regard to my PSU.

 

If my computer became noisy and produced a lot of heat every single time I run F13th then I'd likely say 'Ok, this game puts my system under heavy load and thus causes my computer to produce more heat and noise as a result and It's probably normal' 

But when the increase in heat and noise doesn't occur every time I play the game and especially not after I clean out my computer and the power supply with compressed air I become suspicious.... 

When this does happen, the noise my computer makes doesn't sound normal. And again, I think this would probably happen every single time if it were normal. 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Vectraat said:

Ok, can someone link me to a good article or YouTube video explaining PSU stuff? 'cause I've been disappointed with what I've seen so far.

 

Also, I feel that you guys are somewhat missing the distinctions I'm making with regard to my PSU.

 

If my computer became noisy and produced a lot of heat every single time I run F13th then I'd likely say 'Ok, this game puts my system under heavy load and thus causes my computer to produce more heat and noise as a result and It's probably normal' 

But when the increase in heat and noise doesn't occur every time I play the game and especially not after I clean out my computer and the power supply with compressed air I become suspicious.... 

When this does happen, the noise my computer makes doesn't sound normal. And again, I think this would probably happen every single time if it were normal. 

Good PSU articles are the stickys on the top of these forums:  http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3

 

Good YouTube videos are an oxymoron.

 

And the guys above aren't missing your point.  Bronze vs. Gold are not signs of quality and you can't honestly generalize "Brand X is good" without throwing in a number of caveats. 

 

It would make sense to say the PSU fan is revving up and pushing out a lot of heat if you can visually see the PSU fan ramping up and you can feel a good amount of heat going out of the back of the PSU (keep in mind the PSU fan is an intake).

 

But this DOES NOT mean the PSU is what's producing the heat.  If you have poor circulation/ventilation in your case, it could very well be that the PSU is the only fan truly capable of moving excess heat out of your chassis.

 

Since you've told us nothing about your build except for what kind of PSU you use, it's kind of hard for anyone to give you a straight answer on the matter.

[Vectraat]

4 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Good PSU articles are the stickys on the top of these forums:  http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3

 

Good YouTube videos are an oxymoron.

 

And the guys above aren't missing your point.  Bronze vs. Gold are not signs of quality and you can't honestly generalize "Brand X is good" without throwing in a number of caveats. 

 

It would make sense to say the PSU fan is revving up and pushing out a lot of heat if you can visually see the PSU fan ramping up and you can feel a good amount of heat going out of the back of the PSU (keep in mind the PSU fan is an intake).

 

But this DOES NOT mean the PSU is what's producing the heat.  If you have poor circulation/ventilation in your case, it could very well be that the PSU is the only fan truly capable of moving excess heat out of your chassis.

 

Since you've told us nothing about your build except for what kind of PSU you use, it's kind of hard for anyone to give you a straight answer on the matter.

Specifications: (Approximately 4 years old)

*Note - Nothing is overclocked.
*Note - Runs very cool in day-to-day use even when heavily multi-tasking. I've only noticed excessive heat and noise when playing F13th. Even playing other more recent games such as Dragon Ball Super there is no extra heat/noise generation. 
-----------------------------------------
-Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87X-D3H
-Processor: Intel Cord i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz 
-RAM: Kingston 16 GB DDR3
-GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 Superclocked w/ EVGA ACX Cooler
-PSU is Seasonic MI2 Bronze Evo Edition. 750W ATX 12V
-1x Intake fan
-1x exhaust fan
-Stock fan on Intel Processor.
-1x 2 TB Seagate
-1x 1 TB Seagate
-250 GB Intel SSD
-Case: Fractal Design Define R4

-Windows 10 Home.

[Stefan Payne]

18 minutes ago, Vectraat said:

-1x Intake fan
-1x exhaust fan

60, 80, 92, 120, 140mm??

RPM??

 

Quote

-Stock fan on Intel Processor.

Well, no wonder it gets loud...

That one is garbage...

You might want to replace it...

 

[Vectraat]

41 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

60, 80, 92, 120, 140mm??

RPM??

 

Well, no wonder it gets loud...

That one is garbage...

You might want to replace it...

 

I have no idea what the MM or RPM is. Is there a way for me to find out?

And yeah, I'm aware that the stock fans aren't great, but I'm not OC'ing the processor so I don't see what the big deal is. 

[Guest]

Double check the thermal interface material on that stock CPU cooler?

 

You also didn't confirm that the noise you hear and heat you feel ("my computer will get loud and it'll be producing a lot more heat") is something you're feeling from the PSU vent or somewhere else.

 

[Vectraat]

On 4/27/2018 at 7:00 PM, jonnyGURU said:

Double check the thermal interface material on that stock CPU cooler?

 

You also didn't confirm that the hot air that you noise you hear and heat you feel ("(Friday the 13th) my computer will get loud and it'll be producing a lot more heat") is something you're feeling from the PSU vent or somewhere else.

 

How do I check the thermal interface material on the stock CPU cooler?

Honestly, can't entirely remember about the heat. I can't remember if the PSU area was hot, but I do know it was fairly warm @ the back fan exhaust. Maybe I'll have to try and do another re-test.