Question My PSU is making a Hissing noise, but it's not the fan

[anoopbhopal]

Having some noise issues with my Seasonic X series Gold rated PSU. It sounds like a hiss. It comes and goes randomly even when the system is idle. This psu is equipped with a 0 rpm fan feature, and it's for this particular reason that I am certain that it's not fan related. Google search lead me to coil whine, however I'm not sure that's what this is.

I am using passive cooling for cpu and gpu and the rest of the system doesn't even get hot enough to even need case fans. There is only one SSD drive being used so the system is totally silent. The psu is way overkill for what I'm using it for, so by no means placed under any real stress. It is however nearly 10 years old, but used lightly throughout it's life. I have experienced no other issues apart from the noise.

I would rather not replace if there's a simple fix. If anyone can offer some advice or tips I would be grateful.

Thanks.

 

[--SID--]

What cpu and gpu is the psu powering?

 

[Aeacus]

Seasonic X series Gold rated PSU.

It's coil whine. Seasonic X-series PSUs are notorious when it comes to PSU coil whine. Not all X-series produce it, but i've seen quite a lot who do.

I would rather not replace if there's a simple fix.

Only fix is PSU replacement.

Other remedies would be increasing white noise amount in your room, masking the PSU coil whine, so that you don't hear it (or you hear it less).

 

[anoopbhopal]

Thank you for your response guys. It's powering a 4770K and a Ge force GT 1030.

 

[rcald2000]

Hi anoopbhopal. If you're stating that the noise is definitely coming from your PSU, then I believe you. My general google query of "seasonic x series review" suggests that your power supply might only come with a seven year warranty. It seems to me that you have two choices: (1) replace the unit, or (2) keep the unit and hope that no damage happens to your other PC components. Were it my computer, I would do the following: Contact SeaSonic and determine if my PSU is under warranty or not. They currently have some units that have warranties as long as twelve years, which might make for a nice upgrade. If the unit is no longer under warranty, then I would purchase a new one. With that being said, your rig is only running a core i7-4770K and GT 1030; they make both GDDR5 and DDR4 variants of that GPU btw. It's indeed possible for a top tier psu to cost more than both your CPU and GPU are worth. I don't say that to troll, but simply suggest that you be mindful of that fact.

The other thing that I would do in your situation is strongly consider purchasing a monthly $10 USD Nvidia NOW plan, so that you could game on their hardware in the cloud. The service works extremely well, and would be an enormous upgrade to your gaming experience, assuming that you have very good internet connectivity and bandwidth.

* list of games on Nvidia Now

GeForce NOW - Play Your Games Anywhere

Stream your own Library of Games.

www.nvidia.com

* membership sign up for Nvidia Now

NVIDIA GeForce NOW-Mitgliedskonto

Aktiviere dein GeForce NOW-Mitgliedskonto, um den Standardzugriff zu erhalten.

www.nvidia.com

 

[Aeacus]

that your power supply might only come with a seven year warranty

Back in 2012, when Seasonic X-series refresh was released, 7 years of warranty was exceptional and longest warranty you could've got. So, you are making the PSU look bad, by saying PSU "only" having 7 years of warranty.
Nowadays, most good quality PSUs have 10 years of warranty, while Seasonic again, leads the pack, by offering 12 years of warranty for their PRIME lineup. Still, 7 years of warranty, even nowadays, is pretty good. Especially when considering that many people buy Corsair CX series PSU that only has 5 years of warranty.

The other thing that I would do in your situation is strongly consider purchasing a monthly $10 USD Nvidia NOW plan, so that you could game on their hardware in the cloud. The service works extremely well, and would be an enormous upgrade to your gaming experience, assuming that you have very good internet connectivity and bandwidth.

* list of games on Nvidia Now

GeForce NOW - Play Your Games Anywhere

Stream your own Library of Games.

www.nvidia.com

* membership sign up for Nvidia Now

NVIDIA GeForce NOW-Mitgliedskonto

Aktiviere dein GeForce NOW-Mitgliedskonto, um den Standardzugriff zu erhalten.

www.nvidia.com

Can you tell me, at which point OP said that they are using their PC for gaming? Since i can't see any such info.

That being said, your preach about payed subscription of Nvidia Now, is completely irrelevant and offers 0 help to OP and their PSU issue. So, why even preach it? 🙄