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QPack PSU noises

B

beast

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 26, 2004
Messages
112
So i picked up a QPack from Newegg a while back. Had to send the first one back because the PSU would shut off at the slightest hint of movement (like if touched it, heh). Seems that was a common problem, so i just RMA'd it. The replacement has been working ok so far, but in some games, the PSU has started making a slight hissing/buzzing sound. As far as i can tell, the more graphically intensive the game, the more likely it is to make noise. Though it also happens on the menu screen for Painkiller though, which is a static image, so i'm kinda confused.

My question then: is it normal for a PSU to make noise? It's not the fan, and it doesn't sound like dangerous electrical arcing or anything, it's just a slight annoying buzz. It is related to what's on screen, for example, i might be in an open level, if i look at the sky, no noise, but walk up to a building, noise. If i get attacked by a bunch of things, no noise, etc.

My old case (an FIC Ice Cube) had a far smaller PSU (rated at 220W), and never gave me any problems of this kind.

Things in my case: an ATI 9800Pro, WD120gig drive, and an Optowrite DVD burner.
 
beast said:
So i picked up a QPack from Newegg a while back. Had to send the first one back because the PSU would shut off at the slightest hint of movement (like if touched it, heh). Seems that was a common problem, so i just RMA'd it. The replacement has been working ok so far, but in some games, the PSU has started making a slight hissing/buzzing sound. As far as i can tell, the more graphically intensive the game, the more likely it is to make noise. Though it also happens on the menu screen for Painkiller though, which is a static image, so i'm kinda confused.

My question then: is it normal for a PSU to make noise? It's not the fan, and it doesn't sound like dangerous electrical arcing or anything, it's just a slight annoying buzz. It is related to what's on screen, for example, i might be in an open level, if i look at the sky, no noise, but walk up to a building, noise. If i get attacked by a bunch of things, no noise, etc.

My old case (an FIC Ice Cube) had a far smaller PSU (rated at 220W), and never gave me any problems of this kind.

Things in my case: an ATI 9800Pro, WD120gig drive, and an Optowrite DVD burner.
Click to expand...

That's probably your graphics card making those noises. I have an ATI 9700 Pro in one of my desktops and an ATI FireGL the laptop I'm typing on and both make a lot of "fun" noises when doing graphically intensive stuff like gaming or CAD or scrolling through webpages.

-dan
 
Hmm, could be. The exhaust for the cooler is right under the PSU (old Artic Cooling unit). Now that you mention it, I do recall having some inteference-type noises at one point in the FIC case, but they went away after a disassemble/reassemble. Thanks, i'll play around with some other cards and hope that's it.
 
i also get sounds from my qpack psu, i dont think its normal but i havent had any problems with the sound yet because i can barely hear it
 
Btw, i finally replaced the PSU (with an Enermax Liberty 400W), and all noises have gone away. It's tight, but it does fit with my OptoWrite DVDRW drive, no special molex connectors needed. From some other reading i've done, the only conclusion i can reach is that something in the old PSU just couldn't handle the load from the 9800pro at full tilt. As a bonus, the fan on the Enermax is quieter than the old one (120mm vs the old 80mm), and doesn't have an annoying led in it. ;]
 
I put the X-Qpack PSU in my wife's PC. It meets her standards.

I've always changed out my PSU's for very silent, high efficiency models.
Using the Antec Phantom 350 right now.
 
I had the same problem that you are describing, it sounds sort of like that something could be arcing or something inside the PSU. Regardless of your interpertation it is electrical in nature, and it got loud on mine, so I sent it back for a replacement and have no problems. Just a side note, my noise developed after I opened the PSU to change the dir the PSU fan blows (up, into, then out the back of the PSU instead of down on the video card like it does stock)
 
Oh, i have no doubt that it was an electrical noise of some kind, especially after reading the link that MD_Willington posted. I have a flourescent light in my hall that makes similar noises, though much harsher/louder and at a different pitch. ;] I just figured that it would be cheaper (i didn't want to have to ship the case back again) and probably better in the long run to replace it with something that's known to be solid.

I'll probably use the old QPack PSU in another box sometime, something that doesn't play games.
 
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