Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Is my PSU dying?
Heya, so i noticed yesterday that there was a screeching sound coming from my case when playing games and its very audible (might have been there longer), after some testing and pretty much putting my ear to things, the case fans are fine and so are the waterpumps for cpu and gfx, i think its my psu thats making the noise, it only happens during high load so its weirding me out. The psu is rather old from Corsair 750w that has served me for many years without much of a problem.
The sound is high pitched but seems to go down if i put v-sync on or otherwise limit my fps but its still there. I assume at some point it will completely fail, but meanwhile can it cause more damage?
The sound is high pitched but seems to go down if i put v-sync on or otherwise limit my fps but its still there. I assume at some point it will completely fail, but meanwhile can it cause more damage?
Comments
Could be a failing fan in the PSU. Are you able to listen near the exhaust from the PSU and see if that's it? PSU failures are kind of weird, they can either be very minor and basically just kind of fail to boot, or they can be catastrophic (I literally had one explode with tendrils of lightning shooting out of the back of it and then plumes of smoke, ended up destroying my mobo in the process). Frankly it's one of those things you don't want to take risk with.
Personally I would suggest trying to listen and see if its the PSU fan, if it is, just replace the PSU and make sure you get something high quality. PSU is not something you want to skimp on at all.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
If it served you well for many years probably it's time to change it anyway.
If you want a new power supply, then here you go:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151118
Coil whine doesn't necessarily mean it's dying, but it's highly annoying.
A new PSU will probably fix it because you're replacing the whiny coil. Basically, the copper wiring that coils around the ferrite core gets a little loose and vibrates at a harmonic that you can hear. You might be able to fix it with hot glue or I've heard sometimes nail polish, but if you're not familiar with electronics I wouldn't recommend an open psu as a good way to get familiar.
Here's some info from Corsair: http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2013/september/coil-whine. They talk mostly about capacitors and transformers, but chokes are made extremely similar to transformers as far as coils and cores, and they generally are given roughly 100% less thought.
A fan is a cheap enough repair, but if it's inside the PSU, I absolutely would not open it up to fix a fan unless you have some electrical training. There's a lot of voltage stored inside in capacitors, even when it's unplugged - enough to hurt you if you aren't careful. I have accidentally arc welded screwdrivers to cases and vaporized copper cable by not being careful.
And for the price of sending it out to be repaired, unless you have a friend that will do it for a case of PBR, buying a new PSU (the one Quiz linked is excellent, I have one myself in a build) will likely cost as much or less than a repair shop will charge.
Thanks for the info and help everyone.
100% this, do NOT screw around inside a PSU unless you know what you're doing. You can very easily kill yourself. Please please do not tinker with this.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche