[SOLVED] PSU Buzzing

[Skripted]

My PSU has this wierd buzzing sound after a few hrs of use. It's like a low, vibration-ish buzz that, at first, would go away after a minute or two, but now it's persistent. For now I've shutdown the PC and powered off the PSU. Should I replace it asap?

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the exact model of your PSU and how long have you had it in service?

 

[Skripted]

What is the exact model of your PSU and how long have you had it in service?

It's a VTX Cougar 500w Bronze and I've had it for a year and 7-8 months. My build was originally integrated graphics only but in december I slotted in a 1650 in it. I didn't have enough money to buy a PSU so I decided to not replace it. Is this a sign for me to replace it now?

 

[Skripted]

What is the exact model of your PSU and how long have you had it in service?

For reference, this is what it sounds like (apologies if the too low)

View: https://youtu.be/PeiBjtFWI8s

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's a very low quality power supply as you can verify through dual means. It's very hard to tell anything from that video, all I really hear is a short burst of what almost sounds like something shorting. So it's probably not representative of what it actually sounds like as that's likely something you did to make noise in the background. Aside from that, there doesn't seem to be anything to hear even with my quite high end sound system turned way up.

One, there are no professional reviews of it despite there having been plenty of time for it to have been reviewed between now and the time that unit was released. Generally if a unit is worthwhile, even a lot of rather budget units, the company will send review samples out to the various tech sites for review OR reviewers will be interested enough to purchase it with their own budgets in order to review it. When that doesn't happen it's USUALLY because the unit isn't worth bothering with.

Secondly, it's ranked pretty low on the PSU cultists tier list, and the majority of what's on there is ranked pretty accurately. There are a few discrepancies on there in my opinion but this unit's placement isn't one of them in my opinion. Cougar has a few halfway decent power supplies sold under their brand name, but not many, and this isn't one of them. My recommendation would be to replace it if you value the rest of your hardware.

I'd use these two resources to help determine which units might be an acceptable fit for your system.

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

Article - [psucultists] PSU tier list rev. 14.8 (Final Update Jul '21)

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.8 (outdated) Last Update: 12-07-2021 Legend : Gray - EoL/obsolete and/or otherwise not recommended for purchase. Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs) Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Satan-IR]

It's a VTX Cougar 500w Bronze and I've had it for a year and 7-8 months. My build was originally integrated graphics only but in december I slotted in a 1650 in it. I didn't have enough money to buy a PSU so I decided to not replace it. Is this a sign for me to replace it now?

I couldn't hear anything akin to a buzzing in the video .

I wouldn't really try and see what that PSU is doing if I were you. I'd replace it with a good quality unit as soon as possible and keep the system off in the meantime or refrain from heavy loads/gaming.

Don't know the rest of your components but though you have a 1650 (which can do with a proper 250W PSU) I would get a good 450-550W PSU. Good quality PSUs usually have at least 5-7 years warranty (because they usually last longer than that) and that way you can use the PSU for your next rig or maybe GPU upgrade down the line, in 2-3 years maybe?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, a good 550-650w unit would be my recommendation. Not because that graphics card and hardware needs it, but because if you happen to get the chance to upgrade the graphics card in the next few years to something a little more capable, at least you wouldn't end up having to again buy another power supply AND it would run a lot quieter with what you have now because it would be very unlikely for it to get into thermal territory where the fan gets aggressive.

Right now, if you're in the US, this would be a good budget option.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-17 14:52 EDT-0400


But if you want a really decent quality unit without breaking the bank and can spend a bit more, this would be a much better choice.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: EVGA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.89 @ Amazon)
Total: $77.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-17 14:55 EDT-0400


Anything of any quality that is lower capacity than those, is priced just as high, so you might as well be looking at units in the 550w to 650w range anyhow if you're going to pay 55.00 and up anyhow.

 

[Skripted]

I couldn't hear anything akin to a buzzing in the video .

I wouldn't really try and see what that PSU is doing if I were you. I'd replace it with a good quality unit as soon as possible and keep the system off in the meantime or refrain from heavy loads/gaming.

Don't know the rest of your components but though you have a 1650 (which can do with a proper 250W PSU) I would get a good 450-550W PSU. Good quality PSUs usually have at least 5-7 years warranty (because they usually last longer than that) and that way you can use the PSU for your next rig or maybe GPU upgrade down the line, in 2-3 years maybe?

Alright, thanks for the advice! I'll try to see if

 

[Skripted]

It's a very low quality power supply as you can verify through dual means. It's very hard to tell anything from that video, all I really hear is a short burst of what almost sounds like something shorting. So it's probably not representative of what it actually sounds like as that's likely something you did to make noise in the background. Aside from that, there doesn't seem to be anything to hear even with my quite high end sound system turned way up.

One, there are no professional reviews of it despite there having been plenty of time for it to have been reviewed between now and the time that unit was released. Generally if a unit is worthwhile, even a lot of rather budget units, the company will send review samples out to the various tech sites for review OR reviewers will be interested enough to purchase it with their own budgets in order to review it. When that doesn't happen it's USUALLY because the unit isn't worth bothering with.

Secondly, it's ranked pretty low on the PSU cultists tier list, and the majority of what's on there is ranked pretty accurately. There are a few discrepancies on there in my opinion but this unit's placement isn't one of them in my opinion. Cougar has a few halfway decent power supplies sold under their brand name, but not many, and this isn't one of them. My recommendation would be to replace it if you value the rest of your hardware.

I'd use these two resources to help determine which units might be an acceptable fit for your system.

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

Article - [psucultists] PSU tier list rev. 14.8 (Final Update Jul '21)

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.8 (outdated) Last Update: 12-07-2021 Legend : Gray - EoL/obsolete and/or otherwise not recommended for purchase. Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs) Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue...

forums.tomshardware.com

Thanks for the advice and PSU recommendations! As a final question, would it be damaging to my components if I used it under light load (e.g. just Web Browser and Discord/Zoom) because the earliest I might get a replacement PSU will be about in a week.

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is like asking if it's ok to continue driving your car because it "only" has a "light knock". Broken is broken. It's also somewhat like asking if it's ok to run a mixture of diesel and gasoline in your gasoline engine, because you only have five gallons of regular gas.

So, yes, it's "probably" ok for light usage, but when a PSU or any component starts making unusual noises, the writing is generally already on the wall and you need to be aware that no matter what, regardless of any other considerations, continuing to do something when you know some part of it has a problem, is simply a risk. Rolling the dice so to speak. Likely it will be fine, but there are no guarantees. The PSU is the most important component in the system and is about the only component that can take out EVERY SINGLE other component all at once, aside from maybe the motherboard if a major short happened.

More important is that you don't replace one poor quality PSU with another one. Otherwise, there is little point in bothering to do it.

 

[Skripted]

This is like asking if it's ok to continue driving your car because it "only" has a "light knock". Broken is broken. It's also somewhat like asking if it's ok to run a mixture of diesel and gasoline in your gasoline engine, because you only have five gallons of regular gas.

So, yes, it's "probably" ok for light usage, but when a PSU or any component starts making unusual noises, the writing is generally already on the wall and you need to be aware that no matter what, regardless of any other considerations, continuing to do something when you know some part of it has a problem, is simply a risk. Rolling the dice so to speak. Likely it will be fine, but there are no guarantees. The PSU is the most important component in the system and is about the only component that can take out EVERY SINGLE other component all at once, aside from maybe the motherboard if a major short happened.

More important is that you don't replace one poor quality PSU with another one. Otherwise, there is little point in bothering to do it.

Alright! Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Darkbreeze]

👍