High-pitched noise during load - 620HX

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Mav451

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I was recently retesting my OC settings for stability, and when I ran in the in-Windows Memtest app, I heard a horrible screeching noise the second I started it.

Now I don't think I've ever heard of RAM screeching, so that would lead me to believe it's either mobo or PSU.

OTOH, rthdribl has always caused a high-pitched whine from my GPU/PSU - never was sure which. I had the 620HX + 8800GT on both the DFI NF4 and the LT P35, so since the sound was present on both motherboards, I know the whine is not necessarily tied to mobo.

This would lead me to believe that my 620HX is responsible - since it is the common component in all 3 situations (NF4 GPU, LT P35 GPU, LT P35 RAM). I'll confirm it over the weekend, but I'd like to get some comments...is my PSU in trouble?
 
I have read about these Corsair units having the high-pitched noise. You should PM RedBeard.
 
Coil whine. Nothing detrimental to the PSU, but if it annoys you, RMA it. It's a somewhat common issue.
 
Thought I should update this. I opened my case a few days ago and it sounds like it's coming from the bottom (PSU) more than the center of the case. And just tonight, I upgraded to the GTX260. Guess what: the whining is at least 2-folds louder! Again, the noise occurs the second I open rthdribl.

The high-pitched noise was also heard in between test loading for 3DMark06.

So I'm guessing I definitely should look into that RMA :(
 
I'm gonna have my friend try it in his system, I think he has an Enermax 750W something something.

And just a heads up to RedBeard if he's reading this - if it does turn out to be the PSU, is there an advanced RMA option? E.g. Where you just put a hold on my CC, and send the replacement immediately? Or is this the traditional-slow, I send, wait a week, you send after a week (which results in weeks of down-time).
 
Mav451 said:
I'm gonna have my friend try it in his system, I think he has an Enermax 750W something something.

And just a heads up to RedBeard if he's reading this - if it does turn out to be the PSU, is there an advanced RMA option? E.g. Where you just put a hold on my CC, and send the replacement immediately? Or is this the traditional-slow, I send, wait a week, you send after a week (which results in weeks of down-time).
Click to expand...

Try the poor man’s stethoscope. About 2 feet of plastic tubing is all you need, hold one end to your ear (carefully of course) and probe around the inside of your computer with the other end.

You will be amazed how this can help isolate noises of all fashion.

Also useful if you think you might have a case or CPU fan going out, just place the end of the tube on the outside case of the fan (Please, not in the fan) grinding noises will be a bad bearing.

Luck;)
 
Well I used a paper towel roll. Sound gets louder as I get closer to the PSU, softer as I go away.

Yeah...there's also a soundcard between the 260 and the PSU.

260
X-Fi
PSU

If I put the paper towel roll between the X-Fi and 260, the sound is almost muted.
Between the X-Fi and PSU - it's obvious.
 
Mav451 said:
Well I used a paper towel roll. Sound gets louder as I get closer to the PSU, softer as I go away.

Yeah...there's also a soundcard between the 260 and the PSU.

260
X-Fi
PSU

If I put the paper towel roll between the X-Fi and 260, the sound is almost muted.
Between the X-Fi and PSU - it's obvious.
Click to expand...

Well, that sort of isolates the sound. On an RMA if you bought from a dealer like the Egg and you are within their time period you can get cross shipping but only if you use a credit card to cover them.

Essentially what happens is you are buying a new unit and when they receive your product back they credit your card. Never had it fail yet;)
 
Yeah it's confirmed. Took the GTX260 to my friends (he has an Enermax 750 Modu+) - no horrid screeching during 3DMark. No high-pitched noise when opening rthdribl. Now I'm wondering if this is more of a Corsair (Seasonic) problem than anything else - I'm worried about wasting time RMAing my unit and only seeing it appear again with the replacement :(

So what PSUs out there + GTX260 don't have the high-pitched noise? That's my question now.
 
Mav451 said:
Yeah it's confirmed. Took the GTX260 to my friends (he has an Enermax 750 Modu+) - no horrid screeching during 3DMark. No high-pitched noise when opening rthdribl. Now I'm wondering if this is more of a Corsair (Seasonic) problem than anything else - I'm worried about wasting time RMAing my unit and only seeing it appear again with the replacement :(

So what PSUs out there + GTX260 don't have the high-pitched noise? That's my question now.
Click to expand...

It's not about the model of the PSU, it's simply a small defect. Chances are that you'd be pretty much guaranteed a replacement that doesn't have the issue if you RMA it.
 
Zero82z said:
It's not about the model of the PSU, it's simply a small defect. Chances are that you'd be pretty much guaranteed a replacement that doesn't have the issue if you RMA it.
Click to expand...

The really sad part is the fix is so easy, but if you break open the case POOF, there goes your warrantee:(
 
I had the same problem with a 450VX I bought. Returned it for another unit that did the same exact thing; now I have an Antec Neo 500 that is silent. Will not be buying any Corsair PSU's in the future.
 
Mine does this too. It's not annoying enough to drop 15$ to ship it to Corsair for an RMA... And be without a system for 2-3 weeks waiting on the return.

Shit sucks... I know...
 
Wow Corsair doesn't do advanced RMA's? That is a serious blow for their reputation to me.
 
Mav451 said:
Wow Corsair doesn't do advanced RMA's? That is a serious blow for their reputation to me.
Click to expand...

Very few manufactures are set up for advanced RMA, they don't do credit card business because they don't do retail sales.

eVGA is an exception, there is nothing they won't do to make you happy;)
 
Actually RedBeard PMed me to set it up. That was on Sunday, so I'm hoping I get a return email soon - either from RedBeard or a Corsair rep. I guess we'll see how this goes :|
 
Mav451 said:
Actually RedBeard PMed me to set it up. That was on Sunday, so I'm hoping I get a return email soon - either from RedBeard or a Corsair rep. I guess we'll see how this goes :|
Click to expand...

I'm working on it for you - sorry for any delays, we're a bit swamped now. But rest assured I'm on it.
 
Well got the 620HX from the advanced RMA today. As expected, I still hear the noise during rthdribl :|

Confirmed with oZone3D's "Soft Shadows" test as well.

Guess for now I'm gonna have to live with the high-pitched b.s. for now, or go buy my friend's quiet PSU, the Enermax Modu82+.

But yeah, pretty disappointing to say the least. Great service on getting the advanced RMA definitely. Just totally sigh on the problem repeating itself (which I was kind of expecting anyway, but gave the benefit of the doubt). Oh wells.
 
It could be an inductor on your motherboard. They're the rings with wire wrapped around them. Get some plastic heat shrink and using a heatgun or solder iron shrink some of it on there. It solved my squealling problem
 
I have a 620HX on the way. I'm not seeing anything about the Corsair in your link. What am I looking for?
 
Heh, here you go:

Ohh I am loving this Modu82+

No more coil whine when I move my mouse around!

Components include:

E8500
DFI LT X38-T2R
Radeon 3850

Any Radeon (3850/3870) would squeal with my HX620

Swapped over to the Modu82+ 625W and it's quiet again!
Click to expand...

I've bolded the key portions.
 
Oh wow, this brings back bad memories. This issue turned into a fiasco for me that made me distrust Corsair when I RMA'ed an HX620 in summer 2007. They sent me an advance replacement, but they never marked it as a warranty return, so I had to pay extra taxes since they shipped it to Canada through UPS. I had expressed my concern about being unnecessarily charged at the time I submitted the RMA (every Canadian knows UPS is a blatant ripoff for cross-border shipments), but they assured me that I would not have to pay for their shipment to me. I never got a refund for the charges, after months of emails and phone calls from different personnel promising me that it would be taken care of.

Anyway, I went through several HX620 units, and they all suffered from a high-pitched squeal under heavy graphics load. I posted an audio file of the sound on the Corsair message boards -- it's comical how it screeches and wails and whistles according to the on-screen graphics in 3dmark03. I loved the power supply in every other respect, though.

I swore to myself that I would never buy another Corsair product, but I've already bought four Corsair memory kits since last summer. It's the only brand I've ever trusted for quality, high-performance memory, going back to when there was no competition in the enthusiast market.

I settled for an Enermax Infiniti 720 power supply, but I had to go through a couple of those units as well, because the temperature-controlled 135mm fan would start to rattle loudly at low RPM and drive me mad. I was actually looking for ways to raise the temperature in my case to keep the PS fan from slowing down! The irony was that the quieter my case was in terms of fan noise (it was already fairly quiet as a modded Antec Solo), the more clearly I could hear all kinds of electrical and other faint mechanical noises!

The Enermax unit I ended up keeping also emits a noise under graphics load, but it's muted and tolerable.

I was thinking that maybe there was a problem with my particular motherboard (P5K Deluxe) that somehow influenced or amplified this problem, because I couldn't find any other complaints on the internet at the time. I'm glad to be able to commiserate with other people suffering from a squealing pig getting stuck in their computer.

Good luck with it!
 
Here is one to try, IF you have a full slot PCI audio card try pulling it out and see if you still have the noise.

If the noise goes away switch to the newer PCIE card. So far the biggest offender I have found are the larger Creative sound cards and a few others based on a similar design.

From what I have seen so far certain motherboards may be a bit low in the PCI voltage department and when loaded cause a imbalance in the total load.

I’m working on some science to prove this however from practical testing pulling the older full sized PCI sound card has worked more times than not.
 
When you're diagnosing a problem, you want to simplify the troubleshooting process by quickly eliminating as many variables as possible and stripping down the system .

In my case, I removed the power supply from inside the case and ran it externally to confirm that the power supply was indeed the source of the noise.

I had thought that maybe the video card was drawing too much power for the rail, but the noise persisted with a lowly PCI card for video.

If the problem is vibrating coils that can be fixed with some glue, then it should be an easy tech repair by the company, and easily preventable in newly manufactured units.
 
Mav451 said:
Those are on the mid and top right-hand side of the mobo. The noise is coming near the PSU/X-Fi region (bottom left corner).

Ugh some quick google searches on 620HX and I stumble on this jewel at SPCR:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forum...3&sid=c5ab2e1282efbb7463930dbaf28cda07#405363
Click to expand...


Ahaha, another vindication for me. I just visited that link now. When I RMA'ed my Infiniti 720 in-person last year, they looked at me like I was crazy. I thought that maybe I was uniquely unlucky, because there were zero complaints about rattling fans. Quietness is a very high priority for me, and I had to get tortured by rattling and squealing in power supplies that were universally praised as being quiet.

My next computer will be a remotely located server rack!
 
hardBBQ said:
When you're diagnosing a problem, you want to simplify the troubleshooting process by quickly eliminating as many variables as possible and stripping down the system .

In my case, I removed the power supply from inside the case and ran it externally to confirm that the power supply was indeed the source of the noise.

I had thought that maybe the video card was drawing too much power for the rail, but the noise persisted with a lowly PCI card for video.

If the problem is vibrating coils that can be fixed with some glue, then it should be an easy tech repair by the company, and easily preventable in newly manufactured units.
Click to expand...


On the surface you are correct however you also need to determine if the coil oscillation is the result of not enough or no damping material or is it a result of a load imbalance on the PSU.

If the coil actually the problem then damping material is fine but if the noise is a symptom simply masking the symptom doesn’t solve the problem.;)
 
You're right. I did try numerous combinations of devices in various rail configurations at that time to rule out load-balancing issues. I tested several HX620s, and they all squealed. Meanwhile, I didn't find any complaints online about noise with this model.

I see now that many people complain about coil whine in power supplies. It's sad that this is a problem, especially in highend products.

After my experiences, I will onlly buy power supplies locally, in order to deal with quality control problems more efficiently.
 
It's great to see I'm not alone. I'm hoping that PSU reviews in the near future will actually begin considering this as a major part of reviews. I find it funny that not a single "official" review out there mentions the squealing. Not SPCR. Not JohnnyGURU. You have to think that at least one of these places would have mentioned it by now.

Seems the only real place to find any kind of "dirty secrets", if you will, will be personal accounts by users and not reviewers.

And before somebody mentions it again - the GPU was tested in my friend's case and PSU: there was 0 noise there. So please stop with the "oh noes it's the GPU" nonsense, it's already been eliminated.
 
Perhaps this problem is a lot more widespread than it would seem, which is certainly a conclusion I could draw from my experiences last year with power supplies from different sources all over North America.

Maybe people just aren't noticing coil whine over higher ambient noise from other computer components or the general environment, or from speaker sound.

Or maybe many people just don't care to notice. Before LCDs came on the market, I was amazed at how just about every average computer user would have their CRT screens running at 60Hz with the picture not even properly sized on the display. Then LCDs come along, and they're amazed with the quality, while I'm horrified in comparison with my Diamondtron CRT. I'm still using a CRT, the FW900. I've got two now. I guess I'm a little bit too picky. :)
 
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