Loud PSU (three different ones)

[Mean Deuce]

I'm on my third PSU (two Corsair VX 450's and now a Seasonic S12II 430). Every one that I've had makes an awful loud "clicking" sound from the PSU fan. I can't seem to figure out the root cause as my components aren't too demanding.

C2D Wolfdale E7200
Wireless PCI card
Sata HDD
DVDRW
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L
ATI HD2400 256MB Video Card


The system seems to be stable, its just LOUD. Like I can hear it upstairs loud. Any ideas besides just a bad string of PSUs? I can't believe Newegg would send three bad ones in a row.

 

[aevm]

Very weird... Are you absolutely sure it's the PSU fans that make the noise, and not some case fan, or even a hard disk? Yeah, 3 bad PSUs in a row is not very likely, especially with those brands.

 

[mike99]

To see if it IS the fan, push a piece of rulled up paper or any other suitable plastic/paper item into the fan grill and stop it turning. If the noise doesn't stop you'll need to check further. Could be hard drive, more sound from rear of PSU than through side of case. Have you opened your case and tried to identify the source?

Mike.

 

[Mean Deuce]

I'm pretty sure its the PSU fan. Its not the processor fan. I've already replaced the stock CPU fan with a nicer one. The loudest part of the computer is right at the PSU fan. I know what a clicking HDD sounds like, this is not quite the same. I thought it might be the case fans, but I don't think its them. I will try your paper trick. I also can dump the PSU into my bro's case and see if it does the same thing attached to his motherboard.

 

[mike99]

But have you PROVED it's the PSU fan? It's unusual to have a noisy/clicking PSU fan, to have more than one, witha different brand would be like winning a National Lottery. If you put a screwdriver blade against a hard drive you can put your ear against the handle and use it like a stethoscope to identify the source of the noise. You could also disconnect hard drives and optical drives to isolate the source of the noise.

Mike.

 

[Grimmy]

Heh... shoving something in the PSU fan isn't exactly a good thing to do.

The way I'd go about it, is to disconnect everything, and just power up the PSU.

Then add one case fan till I found the sound that was annoying. And if its the PSU fan... again, I'd be surprised.