girlfriend is ticked my PSU is so loud, looking at moding it

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StoneTZ

Under the Man's Thumb...waaaaaa!
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Oct 12, 2009
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My girlfriend is pissed that my ocz proxstream 1000w is so loud. We can hear it from our bedroom at night, really annoying. I deal with it because I don't really care. She bitches though and that won't fly. Her idea is to shut the computer off when I'm not sitting next to it but I don't want to do that.

a new PSU isn't a great option because I live in Chile and a decent 1000w is going to cost me a fortune.

I'm wondering if I mount a 120mm to the back of the case and have it pulling out of the PSU would that be sufficient to keep it cooled? I'm not really pushing it right now (OC 920 and 1 GPU)

I don't care if it looks kinda cheese-dick, that beats listening to my girlfriend complain about it. I'd prefer to not open the (PSU) case but I'll do that if I have to too.

Any suggestions? I'm probably going to just mount this 120 and see how it goes, gotta kill the internal fan first or it's pointless. Debating opening it up or just stabbing it with a screw driver until it stops screaming. I think that's what happened to Dahmer and it worked.
 
As long as you're not pushing it too much, it could probably handle running a bit hotter. I would just open it up and splice in a resistor for each fan inside to slow them down.
 
Just find a quiet fan that fits and replace it. This is assuming it's actually the PSU that is noisy.

Just curious what are you running that you think you need a 1KW PSU? The rig in your sig isn't coming close. Just trying to future proof?
 
Your entire rig would be fine on something like a Corsair HX520, or any other quality 500-550W supply as long as it had enough PCIe connectors. As mentioned above- unless you're planning on going multi-HD or SLI later, why not downgrade your PSU?
 
Yeah swapping the girlfriend crossed my mind too. It wouldn't void the warranty on the PSU at least.
She's pretty damn sexy and I love her though, hell she even supports this habit if I compare it to her boot collection.

I got the 1000w for a couple reasons. 1) I might go 2x video cards. 2) I got a killer deal on it.

I have a couple 80mm fans I could do a test and see if they're quieter. I'm just low on supplies and equipment and it's hard to find this stuff in Chile so I'm not to big on soldering etc. Hell I've spent the last week trying to find a molex to 8 pin adapter and I'm convinced they're not sold int his country.

I'm 100% it's the PSU and not any of the other fans. I disabled all the other fans and it still has the distinctive loud sound.
 
It isn't your pump vibrating against the case, is it? Some people don't realize how loud these vibrations are. Try lifting it up/off the case and see if it stops. If it is the PSU, extra cooling could help. Are you sure it's the PSU fan (have you tried stopping it with your finger to see if it stops)?
 
checked the pump, not it for sure.

I stopped the fan but as soon as it stops the comp shuts down so it's hard to know 100% if replacing the fan would fix the problem but it looks like it's the fan from a quick finger test.
 
StoneTZ said:
checked the pump, not it for sure.

I stopped the fan but as soon as it stops the comp shuts down so it's hard to know 100% if replacing the fan would fix the problem but it looks like it's the fan from a quick finger test.
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So the PSU only runs when the fan is running? Doesn't that mean you kinda HAVE to replace the fan then? Since you can't just stop it?
 
yeah was thinking about that too. I haven't ripped it open. I don't know it might have something fancy going on. I'm ok with just killing it and wiring a 120mm outside if it will pull enough. I don't have the time to deal with it.

The more l look at this the easier I'm thinking it will be to just replace the girl.
 
Hell I've spent the last week trying to find a molex to 8 pin adapter and I'm convinced they're not sold int his country.
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They're actually not made, because the amount of amperage required for an 8-pin connector is so far over what a single Molex can supply.

I agree, it sounds like trading the girl would be easier than swapping or modding PSU. Just do that. Besides, your current one has been out of warranty for years.
 
The ProXStream like the Turbo-cools is insanely loud. Two loudest PSU's I have ever reviewed were the 1000W ProXStream and the 1000W Turbo-cool. Ear splitting indeed.
 
mavalpha said:
They're actually not made, because the amount of amperage required for an 8-pin connector is so far over what a single Molex can supply.

I agree, it sounds like trading the girl would be easier than swapping or modding PSU. Just do that. Besides, your current one has been out of warranty for years.
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does that include a double molex to 8 pin or were you talking about just single molex?

I'm looking for a 6 (two of them) to 8 pin adapter also and can't find it. It's really frustrating.

And yeah the girlfriend is past warranty but the new models are so expensive. I think I'm going to keep this one until it's obsolete.
 
I probably will when my massive downloading session gets done.

Even during the day it's annoying to sit next to it though.
Not to mention if I want to do something like folding 24/7

The internet sucks here so 30gb from steam takes a lifetime.

Reminds me of when I had to wait for 4 hours to download Netscape about 15 (that long?) years ago
 
Yeah if I were in the US I'd just walk down and buy one and swap it out. Down here though I can't even buy a decent PSU. I had someone in the US bring this down for me. I can get some POS chinese thing for like 200 bucks but that's not worth it to make it quiet.

I can buy a pound of lemons for 8 cents here though. Seriously.

I just updated the sig, I've got 4 hard drives but that doesn't suck down too much power. I might be converting over to 2x 5850's which would eat up some more power. Even then I could probably get by with less.
 
duct_tape.jpg


You decide where the duct will do the better job silencing noise. :D
 
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7921/duc-47/8092mm_to_120mm_Fan_Adapter_-_Black_FG01-0100-AKS.html?tl=g47c121s442&id=PNPsPc87

Get something like this and splice the power wires off the stock 80mm fan into a connector for the 120mm fan. It sounds like the PSU has a protection circuit to kill itself if the fan stops so you'll need a fan hooked up to it. In a review pic I could see the wires going to the fan so you can probably snag them and cut the wires without opening the case and then crimp spade terminals on the wire ends. Since that will probably void the warranty anyway you might just open the case to make it easier.

I think we need pics of the gf in order to form a valid opinion on the matter. PM me if NSFW :D
 
I think I'll put the duct tape on the PSU and keep her.

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StoneTZ said:
does that include a double molex to 8 pin or were you talking about just single molex?

I'm looking for a 6 (two of them) to 8 pin adapter also and can't find it. It's really frustrating.

And yeah the girlfriend is past warranty but the new models are so expensive. I think I'm going to keep this one until it's obsolete.
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you realize that, depending on the card, COULD just plug a 6pin pci-e into your 8pin pci-e.

that psu is loud cause it gets so hot and the fan (80mm) is so tiny. pcpc ideology at it's finest! if you just put in a quieter fan it'll die for sure. your solutions (aside from buying a new one) are to put in two quieter fans, or one larger, quieter, fan.
 
I think I'm going to just deal with it.

I tried the 2 6pin and it was a no go. It's dumb because the other 2 are just grounds right? Should be fine. Oh well.

It won't fit a 120 directly inside of it so I've gotta put it outside which scares me or hope that it can handle a quieter 80mm.

I might throw it up on the Chilean forums and see if someone wants to trade for a quieter PSU. I like my gigantic no need to worry if I upgrade to 4 gpu's PSU though.
 
Would shipping be too much if you got someone to buy a Corsair 850tx or 750 in America and then shipped it to you?
 
It's horrendous, to ship a motherboard that weighed 5 lbs cost me like 50 bucks and took 3 weeks. That is a motherboard, I imagine a PSU would be quite a bit worse.

I have a friend coming to visit in a month. I might just deal iwth the noice until then and have him bring the new PSU in his bag. He is busing over from Lima though and that's about 50 hours he'd have to lug my PSU around haha. I don't know, I'll figure something out. Maybe swap it with someone.

Tempted to just slap the 120mm on the back but if it frys my PSU or worse I'll cry. Frying parts in the US is money, frying them here is more money and weeks without a computer.
 
King Icewind said:
Hmm...water cool the psu?! :D looks interesting, but probably not worth it.
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Haha I thought about that. I could make a custom waterblock or something. The thing is (I think) that PSU's put out a ton of heat. That owuld make sense. When they're at the back and just exhaust out no big deal. If you put it in the loop you would have to add another rad and it might be even worse.

Also it would probably be cheaper to buy a PSU here and swap it than WCing it. It's an interesting idea though. I'll check to see if anyone is selling a PSU first.

edit: to clarify, I was talking about a 120mm fan on the back of the PSU and disable the internal fan. Possibly one pushing on the inside too just to be safe. I wasn't referring to WCing the PSU in my first post when I said 120mm.
 
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HaHa wtf is a cheese-dick? anyways i would never let a girl come in the way of my Rig or gaming not worth it. just becareful with the OCZ psu and when you get a chance really grab a better quality psu
 
two things:

get a psu with a 120mm fan in it already and don't rig up something, I don't see why you need a 1kw psu?

why can't you just turn the computer off at night if you aren't using it?
 
sounds like it's easier to get a new girlfriend then a power supply. That should be a much cheaper option too.
 
Your rig is overkill for 24hr downloading if that's all it's doing. Too bad you don't have a laptop/netbook/old tower in another room for that.
 
StoneTZ said:
I think I'll put the duct tape on the PSU and keep her.

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You made it sound as if your girlfriend was some psycho troll who had hairy boils all over her (by choice!) and you were helping only out of purely humanitarian reasons. But the evidence says she's the exact opposite, so whazza matter with you for not obeying her every wish? Do you realize what you have and how much a favor she's doing for you by even letting you talk to her???

I'd try another fan, provided you're handy with electricity and know how to electrocute yourself (so that you don't electrocute yourself). Otherwise try lining the computer case with a thin layer of fiberglass or sponge -- both side panels, including the one that rarely gets removed.
 
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