What's wrong with my power supply?

yamil98

Reputable
Dec 20, 2014
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4,510
Sometimes my power supply goes crazy and makes a lot of noise, and the only way to fix it is to turn it to the side,
Here's a video so you can see,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ1kcJSFYkE

Everything works fine, but what could be causing this? I have a corsair cx500 watt psu, I have a amd 3.8 ghz quad core cpu and a 750 ti graphics card.
Is it because I don't have enough wattage? Or is there a problem with the PSU itself?
 
It appears the PSU fan is making the noise. This is a fairly common issue.

If the PSU is still under warranty, then it may be able to be returned for replacement.

If the PSU is out of warranty, then the PSU fan can be replaced. Caution! Fan replacement should be done by someone who is confident and careful working inside a PSU as there is a risk of electric shock, even when the PSU is disconnected from the mains.
 
In the short term, no. It is just the fan bearing which is wearing out and it does not directly affect the output of the PSU. It is more of a distracting noisy nuisance than anything else.

The only real concern would be when the fan stops rotating altogether, then there would be no air cooling for the PSU. But this may not happen for quite some time. When the fan stops rotating, the PSU will tend to overheat. If the PSU overheats it's protection should trigger and cut off power to the rest of the computer. This loss of power from the PSU may cause some data corruption in memory and/or on HDD's/SSD's, but otherwise should not damage components, usually; but this depends on how quickly and gracefully the PSU protection operates.

If you can put up with the fan noise, then there is no immediate concern about the PSU. Just ensure the fan is still working (the fan noise is a good indication that it is still working). However, ultimately it is recommended that something be done about replacing the fan or the PSU as the fan will stop due to complete bearing failure/seizure.