Slight PSU Buzzing noise. Does not happen at RMA center.

[Ghostface1994]

Hey guys,

So i bought a Antec 550W PSU, and i am getting a slight buzzing noise from it. Although not very significant, I thought I'd RMA it. Took the PSU to the service center, worked fine after half an hour of stress test, no noise at all. The person there told me to get my full PC to test it, so i bought it and we put it on another load test for around half and hour, no sund what so ever.

I take it back home, sounds there again. And i made sure its the PSU and not anything else. Unplugged all the fans too. PSU makes the sound even on standby. Again, the sound is not very significant. Can be heard when the room is silent tho.

So i tested this on different sockets in my house with and without a UPS and surge protector and with differnet power cables. Still there. Immediately take it to the service center. The noise stopped. So the person at the service center does an extensive trouble shoot with anothe rPSU and using my PSu on other systems, removing grpahic card, blah blah. Nothing. I also went ahead and changed my Cabinet thinking the PSU might be causing vibrations in the cabinet structure or something. Still the same.


Now, I'm a little worried. The PC itself works fine, and I DO NOT have any random crashes/restarts/frame rate drops. Could it be the electricity being supplied at my house? I mean ive been PC gaming for 10 years and its been fine, or is it normal and should i ignore it?

Spec: Antec VP550w PSU
GTX 960 4GB
AMD APU a10 6800k
8GB RAM

 

[Gingerbread]

Definitely sounds like an electricity problem at your house to be honest..

 

[plaintuts]

its probably fine then,

you have a different setup/ambient temp/case fans/cpu cooler than the RMA center test bench, so they really cant replicate what causes it.

 

[nukemaster]

You can get interactions between other devices as well.

I have an Antec EA430 on(because it does not fit the case) my media center for some testing and it makes a very faint coil whine. This very same sound can get into my speakers when 2 computers are connected to them and the media center is connected to the incoming cable line.

It may well ground currents flowing between the different devices(it is impressive we can get good sound out of systems that could be considered very noisy to begin with). It has been this way for years(with the original 300 watt power supply.) without issues. The noise is very quiet and even when it gets into the sound it is very quiet and you would have to turn the speakers up very loud to be bothered by it.

Ad to this the 60hz hum from the cable line for TV(again, quiet, but still noticeable if you turn the speakers up loud enough.).

I have seen other switching power supplies make audible noises as well in monitors and printers.

Overall, aside from being an annoying sound, I have never had issues with it.

 

[Ghostface1994]

You can get interactions between other devices as well.

I have an Antec EA430 on(because it does not fit the case) my media center for some testing and it makes a very faint coil whine. This very same sound can get into my speakers when 2 computers are connected to them and the media center is connected to the incoming cable line.

It may well ground currents flowing between the different devices(it is impressive we can get good sound out of systems that could be considered very noisy to begin with). It has been this way for years(with the original 300 watt power supply.) without issues. The noise is very quiet and even when it gets into the sound it is very quiet and you would have to turn the speakers up very loud to be bothered by it.

Ad to this the 60hz hum from the cable line for TV(again, quiet, but still noticeable if you turn the speakers up loud enough.).

I have seen other switching power supplies make audible noises as well in monitors and printers.

Overall, aside from being an annoying sound, I have never had issues with it.

Answers a lot.

But the sound is there also when I plug it in any other socket in my house, i.e the CPU is oin a different place with a different surface with different gadgets/objects around it.

 

[nukemaster]

I honestly do not think it will cause issues, but I do understand the concern.

You could try to ensure the computer is not connected to anything else that has its own power(including the monitor. So fire it up get into Windows and then disconnect that from its power). I have not honestly bothered to track down coil noise most of the time because I have too much crap connected to the same computer.

You could just be on a different section of power grid and have more line noise compared to the shop that was looking at the system.

At some point I am going to see if disconnecting everything from my media center changes it or not. In my case if I place any level of load on the computer, the noise goes away(and it has always been this way). I have had video cards, boards and power supplies all have various amounts of coil whine over the years and none of it ever caused issues.

 

[Ghostface1994]

I honestly do not think it will cause issues, but I do understand the concern.

You could try to ensure the computer is not connected to anything else that has its own power(including the monitor. So fire it up get into Windows and then disconnect that from its power). I have not honestly bothered to track down coil noise most of the time because I have too much crap connected to the same computer.

You could just be on a different section of power grid and have more line noise compared to the shop that was looking at the system.

At some point I am going to see if disconnecting everything from my media center changes it or not. In my case if I place any level of load on the computer, the noise goes away(and it has always been this way). I have had video cards, boards and power supplies all have various amounts of coil whine over the years and none of it ever caused issues.

Thanks a lot bro. Asnwers everything. I can now sleep in peace. I was really creeped out on the fact that i may have to open up the PC again and physically handling compnents of a PC kind of scares me , cause I always have a fear they are delicate as fuck. Connecting cables is even more scary due to the tight fits and I keep thinking im doing it wrong. Yes, I am a little paranoid.

Thanks once again.

 

[nukemaster]

PC parts while sensitive can take quite a bit.

Some of the harder to install parts like memory and new power supply connectors are that way to get a nigh tight fit.

You do have to watch out when boards overhang the last set of screws when making connections, but for almost everything else it is pretty safe.