Question PSU fan keeps turning on

[seventhree]

I rebuilt my PC a few days ago and I've been noticing that I can hear the fan on my PSU which I had never had an issue with before. It's been bugging me since because it happens consistently every ~10 seconds for a second and then immediately turns off. I know it's built to turn on during high temp but I'm not having any thermal issues.

OS: Windows 10
Case: NZXT H700
Motherboard: ASUS Z87-A
CPU: Intel 4770K (4.3Ghz 1.25v, was blue screening at 4.5Ghz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X62
GPU: RX 570 4GB
SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 500GB
PSU: Corsair GS700

I have 2 140mm front intake fans with the rad, 3 120mm exhaust at the top, and 1 120mm exhaust at the back. PSU fan is pointing downwards towards a vent and the case has feet on it which are sitting on hardwood, not carpet. Filters are clean and CPU/GPU temps are pretty normal. It's getting old so I assume I should just get a new PSU, but I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Aeacus]

Corsair GS700 was released in 2012 (OEM: CWT) and that unit came with only 3 years of warranty, which i guess is now up. Since PSU is both old and out of warranty, here, i'd go with new, good quality PSU before your PSU dies (and takes some components with it).

That being said, i suggest getting any Seasonic unit, in 500W range. E.g: Focus 550, Focus+ 550, PRIME Ultra 550 Gold or PRIME Ultra 550 Platinum,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/bkp323,9nmxFT,KmgzK8,XndxFT/

Warranty wise:
Focus: 7 years
Focus+: 10 years
PRIME: 12 years (includes all PRIME models: regular, Fanless, AirTouch, SnowSilent, Ultra)

All 3 of my PCs: Skylake, Haswell and AMD are also powered by Seasonic. Full specs with pics in my sig.

Why 500W range and not 700W unit?
Well, RX 570 is 120W GPU, add the rest of your system at about 200W to it and max what your PC can consume under full load is 320W. That is more than enough for 550W PSU to handle.

 

[jonnyguru]

Your PSU is old as dirt. Should've been replaced a while ago. Could be the fan bearing is shot.

Seems to me that you've replaced all of your components over time EXCEPT for your PSU.

I suggest getting a Corsair CX550, TX550M or an RM550x.

Warranty wise:
CX: Five years
TXM and RMx: 10 years.

 

[Aeacus]

I suggest getting a Corsair CX550

While Corsair CX series PSU would do fine in an office PC without dedicated GPU and where PSU never sees any high loads, i wouldn't use that, at best, mediocre quality PSU in any PC that has dedicated GPU in it. TH forum is full of people who had Corsair CX PSU in their gaming rig to blow up and also frying other components as well.

 

[seventhree]

Okay thanks

 

[jonnyguru]

While Corsair CX series PSU would do fine in an office PC without dedicated GPU and where PSU never sees any high loads, i wouldn't use that, at best, mediocre quality PSU in any PC that has dedicated GPU in it. TH forum is full of people who had Corsair CX PSU in their gaming rig to blow up and also frying other components as well.

Maybe the old CX or CX-M. Totally different products then today's CX.

Corsair tends to recycle series names (like CX) across generations, but the next generation is always better than the last. The newest CX uses an LLC resonant front end with DC to DC for the +3.3V and +5V. Also has a rifle bearing fan as opposed to sleeve bearing.

It's rated to output full power at 40°C.

Review: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-cx450-psu,5678.html

 

[Aeacus]

Maybe the old CX or CX-M. Totally different products then today's CX.

Corsair tends to recycle series names (like CX) across generations, but the next generation is always better than the last. The newest CX uses an LLC resonant front end with DC to DC for the +3.3V and +5V. Also has a rifle bearing fan as opposed to sleeve bearing.

It's rated to output full power at 40°C.

Review: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-cx450-psu,5678.html

Yes, older models of Corsair CX and CXm series (with green labels) were so bad units that they ended up as low quality units (on-par with current Corsair VS series). Corsair has since improved their CX and CXm line (with gray labels) and now, they are better but not enough to be considered as good quality PSU. For comparison, all Seasonic units are either good quality or great quality (depending on the series).

I'll take CWT made Corsair CX550m as an example,
review: https://www.hardwareinsights.com/corsair-cx550m-farewell-group-design/

Corsair CX550m does provide some good results but it also provides some bad results. Like hold-up time that is way lower than the ATX standard specifies it to be. CX550m has hold-up time of 11.20 milliseconds while the ATX standard for hold up time is a minimum of 17 milliseconds. For comparison, Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium (best 650W PSU money can buy at current date) has hold-up time of 30 milliseconds.

And it's just not the hold-up time, there are other, more apparent things that doesn't make it good quality unit. One of them is the very noisy sleeve bearing fan used in it. At minimum, you're looking 39 dB(A) from the fan, which can rise up to 43.1 dB(A). It's like having 140mm Noctua industrial 3000 RPM fan in your PC running at max speeds.

Since CX550m it has nice list of good things and also bad things, it's a mediocre quality unit. If there were more bad than good (including price) it would be a bad unit and vice-versa.

TH's review of Great Wall made CX450 does have some improvements over older CTW made unit, like better rifle bearing fan. But some downgrades as well, like hold-up time which has fallen from 11.20 ms to measly 9.10 ms. Also, inrush current has also increased from 24.72A (CWT made) to 29.93A (Great Wall made) where lower inrush current is better.
However, as said in TH's review, you can't pick if you get CWT or Great Wall made CX/CXm unit. But that doesn't matter since both versions are still, at best, mediocre quality units.

I, personally, wouldn't use it. While it can be used just fine for an office PC that never sees any high loads and also where the PSU noise isn't that important. But for home use in a gaming PC, where PC longevity and noise are important factors, i'd use and also suggest using better quality and more silent PSU.

Different persons have different standards (some have higher standards while others have lower standards) and it's up to every person to decide how good of a build quality components are safe to use in their PC. But keep in mind that PSU is the most important component inside the PC since it powers everything.

Since i care a lot about all my PCs, i won't put a mediocre quality unit into my PC that fails to meet ATX PSU standards set in place for all OEMs to follow, so that the PSUs are safe to use and doesn't damage other components. In fact, i've gone above and beyond regarding PSUs in my PCs. Some may call me nuts that i payed €206.80 for a PSU that sits in my Skylake build (Seasonic SSR-650TD) while i would've been safe with a PSU that costs €69.70 (Seasonic SS-520GM2). While that can be true and i could've saved a lot of money, i feel safe and comfortable that my main PC is powered by the best offered by Seasonic.
I won't suggest expensive PSUs in builds when the budget is way restricted. But i still suggest getting a PSU that at least meets all the ATX PSU standards (unlike Corsair CX/CXm), even if it's fully wired (like Seasonic SS-520GB).

 

[jonnyguru]

Yes, older models of Corsair CX and CXm series (with green labels) were so bad units that they ended up as low quality units (on-par with current Corsair VS series). Corsair has since improved their CX and CXm line (with gray labels) and now, they are better but not enough to be considered as good quality PSU. For comparison, all Seasonic units are either good quality or great quality (depending on the series).

I'll take CWT made Corsair CX550m as an example,
review: https://www.hardwareinsights.com/corsair-cx550m-farewell-group-design/

Corsair CX550m does provide some good results but it also provides some bad results. Like hold-up time that is way lower than the ATX standard specifies it to be. CX550m has hold-up time of 11.20 milliseconds while the ATX standard for hold up time is a minimum of 17 milliseconds. For comparison, Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium (best 650W PSU money can buy at current date) has hold-up time of 30 milliseconds.

And it's just not the hold-up time, there are other, more apparent things that doesn't make it good quality unit. One of them is the very noisy sleeve bearing fan used in it. At minimum, you're looking 39 dB(A) from the fan, which can rise up to 43.1 dB(A). It's like having 140mm Noctua industrial 3000 RPM fan in your PC running at max speeds.

Since CX550m it has nice list of good things and also bad things, it's a mediocre quality unit. If there were more bad than good (including price) it would be a bad unit and vice-versa.

I said CX. Not CX-M. They're completely different units. The CX-M has a double forward front end.

Different persons have different standards (some have higher standards while others have lower standards) and it's up to every person to decide how good of a build quality components are safe to use in their PC. But keep in mind that PSU is the most important component inside the PC since it powers everything.

We're talking about a guy that's been using a 10 year old PSU that wasn't very good to begin with.

Since i care a lot about all my PCs, i won't put a mediocre quality unit into my PC that fails to meet ATX PSU standards set in place for all OEMs to follow, so that the PSUs are safe to use and doesn't damage other components.

The lack of 16ms hold up time and high inrush is not going to damage any PC components. And the higher in-rush current doesn't impact the PC. It impacts the PSU. If the PSU is engineered for the higher in-rush, then its a moot point. The fact that Aris goes into detail about how high in-rush is bad, but doesn't study the circuit beyond measuring the actual in-rush just shows some naivety about PSU design.

I won't suggest expensive PSUs in builds when the budget is way restricted. But i still suggest getting a PSU that at least meets all the ATX PSU standards (unlike Corsair CX/CXm), even if it's fully wired (like Seasonic SS-520GB).

Umm.. You do realize that the Seasonic S12II (SS-520GB) is not as good as the CX, right?

It's double forward, is group regulated (doesn't even have DC to DC for the +3.3V and +5V) and uses a cheap HY-510N housekeeping IC that lacks some important protections (OCP and OPP). It's a 10+ year old platform with mediocre voltage regulation to boot.

You can pick and choose what Intel specifications you want your PSU to have, but at the end of the day, it's how the PSU performs and protects your hardware that's most important. Low hold up time just means the PSU will shut down if there's a brown out. But a lack of protection means that a short that causes a load on the PSU will go unchecked until wires are melting and/or the PSU blows up.

Even the Seasonic Prime has issues with OPP. The OPP trip point is 150% of the PSU's rated power! No OPP should be set that high.

EDIT: FWIW, I'm this guy: http://www.jonnyguru.com

 

[Aeacus]

.

Yes, i know who you are and due to that, i'm not going to start arguing with you over CX units since your PSU knowledge far exceeds mine. I just pointed out few aspects of it which doesn't make any CX and CXm series PSUs any better than mediocre quality unit in my books.

Speaking of S12II (SS-520GB), the platform is about 9 years old (based on earliest review of that unit) and you, yourself (or OklahomaWolf) did review the S12II-520 with high marks back then (with score of 9.7) where it being the best group-regulated PSU ever made. As far as S12II-520 missing OCP and OTP goes, back then, those two weren't mandatory protections on PSU. What were mandatory, Seasonic also added. Oh, S12II series does have OPP (source).

Here, i'd really like to go over your S12II-520 review again but after your site got overhauled, all the old reviews got deleted which is a huge loss. Any chance of bringing the old reviews back?

Btw, OPP isn't only the SS PRIME issue. That issue is with all brands/OEMs where OPP threshold point is set way too high. Problem here lies behind outdated ATX PSU standard which doesn't specify the exact mark at which point OPP has to kick in or has the activation point quite high (don't remember which one it was). Here, ATX PSU standard itself needs modernization.

 

[jonnyguru]

Yes, i know who you are and due to that, i'm not going to start arguing with you over CX units since your PSU knowledge far exceeds mine. I just pointed out few aspects of it which doesn't make any CX and CXm series PSUs any better than mediocre quality unit in my books.

Speaking of S12II (SS-520GB), the platform is about 9 years old (based on earliest review of that unit) and you, yourself (or OklahomaWolf) did review the S12II-520 with high marks back then (with score of 9.7) where it being the best group-regulated PSU ever made. As far as S12II-520 missing OCP and OTP goes, back then, those two weren't mandatory protections on PSU. What were mandatory, Seasonic also added. Oh, S12II series does have OPP (source).

Here, i'd really like to go over your S12II-520 review again but after your site got overhauled, all the old reviews got deleted which is a huge loss. Any chance of bringing the old reviews back?

Btw, OPP isn't only the SS PRIME issue. That issue is with all brands/OEMs where OPP threshold point is set way too high. Problem here lies behind outdated ATX PSU standard which doesn't specify the exact mark at which point OPP has to kick in or has the activation point quite high (don't remember which one it was). Here, ATX PSU standard itself needs modernization.

The old reviews are slowly being migrated, but Tazz has had health issues that dig into his time.

Unfortunately, Intel can't be held to task for every aspect of a PSU. Not that they shouldn't, but because they have zero resources for it. It's a sector with no net profit for them, so it's treated as a red headed step child with no full time work force.

Yes, the S12 has OPP, but the PSU blows up before it kicks in.

I know the OPP issue because Corsair PSUs are typically spec'd with a 125% OPP. For AX, Seasonic pushed back and said they couldn't do it. They insisted that the OPP spec be changed to 150%, which was done reluctantly just to get product pushed out the door.