Question Seasonic 850w Titanium active pfc

[RyGuy92]

A few months ago I built a new PC. Since the build date my PSU makes a constant tick sound. While it never becomes very audible it does increase in volume minorly depending on load. It even does it when it is powered off. I contacted Seasonic to see if it was something to be concerned about, in which they replied with the following.

"Thank you for contacting Seasonic support.

I believe the faint tick you are hearing is the Active PFC at work. Most likely something is disturbing or resonating with it. However, if it cannot be heard from at arms length, i would not worry about it as it would not affect operations."

I was just wondering if this is common, or if anyone has any insight as to what would cause this. It is definitely not the fan, have checked all connections and have unhooked it and reseated it. All voltages appear fine as well.

Specs

• msi meg z390 ace
• msi 2070 gaming z
• intel i9 9900k
• corsair vengeance 3200mhz rgb
• samsung 500gb 940 pro
• seasonic titanium 850w
• windows 10 home

 

[RARRAF]

well I am no expert in this type of thing but I take it you bought the items from an online retailer I would see what there response is its obviously bad enough that you are not happy I would exaggerate the problem and see if they can help in any way.

 

[jonnyguru]

A few months ago I built a new PC. Since the build date my PSU makes a constant tick sound. While it never becomes very audible it does increase in volume minorly depending on load. It even does it when it is powered off. I contacted Seasonic to see if it was something to be concerned about, in which they replied with the following.

"Thank you for contacting Seasonic support.

I believe the faint tick you are hearing is the Active PFC at work. Most likely something is disturbing or resonating with it. However, if it cannot be heard from at arms length, i would not worry about it as it would not affect operations."

I was just wondering if this is common, or if anyone has any insight as to what would cause this. It is definitely not the fan, have checked all connections and have unhooked it and reseated it. All voltages appear fine as well.

Specs

• msi meg z390 ace
• msi 2070 gaming z
• intel i9 9900k
• corsair vengeance 3200mhz rgb
• samsung 500gb 940 pro
• seasonic titanium 850w
• windows 10 home

It's not normal. But to expand on what the Seasonic support person said: There's likely something on the same mains circuit that is disturbing or resonating with it.

You may have something else on the same mains circuit of the building feeding noise back into the circuit.

If you can test the PC on another circuit in the building, you may find that the noise goes away.

 

[RyGuy92]

It's been a few months of working at this issue and want to update incase anyone is dealing with a similar issue. The things I've tried goes as follows.

• bios update
• different outlets
• changing ventilation of the fan up and down
• reconnected all all cables
• overclocked
• gone through every power setting in bios multiple times
• bought a UPS
• Redid my cable management

I contacted Seasonic again and have been emailing them, also sending recordings. They seem confident that it's only the Active PFC and nothing to worry about. I have other desktops in the house and there PSUs that were half the price run completely silent. I'm on the verge of just buying a Corsair HX750i instead at this point. Still open to any recommendations though, since this was a very expensive unit and would rather figure out a fix if possible.

It sounds nearly identical to this

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcza1Cw3hbE