Faint high-pitched hum/noise coming from psu

[cassius99]

Hello, I'm having this little humming coming straight from my psu, a Corsair HX850W, couple of months old.. it's unnoticeable when playing games or music, and even when there's silence in the room with just the fans spinning, I have to get my ear close to it (at the psu) in order to hear it, but it's there, even when the PC is turned off with just the power cable connected (i.e. just the mobo's light on), and when I turn on the PC the noise increases a bit. I took it out of the case in order to find out if it was the psu itself making the humming and actually it is. Any of you knows if this buzzing is "normal" for a psu or it should be completely silent apart from the fan noise?
p.s. I don't remember if it was there from the beginning cos as I said it is 2 months old but I started noticing this problem just since a week or two.
Any help would be really appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[thechief73]

Hello cassius99, and welcome to THW.

Just a thought, it could be that you have a capacitor that is bad or going bad. I not an expert on this so its just a thought on what the problem could be. Google capacitor whine and see if the descrition matches what you are expeirencing.

I had an Antec PSU a few years back that had a Cap. go bad, it started as a faint high pitched noise that wouldnt stop unless I swicthed off the PSU itself, it was quite like a dog whistle and slowly got to a level where it was just unbearable.

I just purchased a Corsair HX850W from Newegg about 2 weeks ago but I only tested it a few minutes to make sure it worked ok, as I have not ordered all the parts for my new PC yet, and while sitting right next to it with the case open I noticed no noise but from the fan.

I would contact Corsair and ask them what they think of the problem and if you must start the RMA process because I doubt you should be hearing any noise from your PSU. One good thing though is Corsair offers a 7-year warranty for those PSU's.

 

[cassius99]

Thanks for your answer thechief73, it was really helpful, your search led me also to Corsair Support Forums where there are explanations and tips if one's having this issue with the psu.

 

[thechief73]

Your Welcome, I am glad I could help.

Sadly I may end up in the same situation as you are in over the next few months when I get around to putting together a new PC. I have not heard of this problem with Corsairs before hopfully it is not a very common occurance.