Soft Crackling in PSU?

#1 Posted by killacam (1131 posts) - 3 months, 3 days ago

Hello friends. I recently built my first PC due in large part to the kind people of these here forums (a billion thanks for your help). However, I had to send my first PSU back as it made a loud crack sound on first startup, then continued to make a quiet, high-pitched but soft crackling noise while occasionally just shutting down. I just finished setting up with my new PSU (Corsair TX750M) and though none of the major issues from the last PSU are present, the crackling noise is still there. It's erratic, and seems to be most noticeable when the system is under load. Right now it's not even happening, but it is there more often than not. Is this normal? I can't bring myself to believe two PSU's in a row could have the same problem (though they are the same brand...). Help me Giantbomb!

#2 Posted by fleabeard (15 posts) - 3 months, 3 days ago

That's not normal at all.

#3 Posted by killacam (1131 posts) - 3 months, 3 days ago

I think it stopped... After I installed all my drivers and updates. Hmm.....

#4 Edited by Devildoll (615 posts) - 3 months, 2 days ago

are you talking about coil whine?

it can sound in a couple of different ways, but here is an example, search for more on youtube , "coil whine"

it can happen when the graphics card is under load, you'll get one little chirp per frame rendered.

so the sound will change as you look around and your fps changes.

it doesnt have to be the psu that makes the sound btw.

its not dangerous, but some people find it anoyying.

#5 Posted by killacam (1131 posts) - 3 months, 2 days ago

@devildoll: Hmm no, haven't heard that one. But a new sound has taken the place of the crackling (actually, the crackling is still there.. Just super light). I think it's the fan because it sounds more physical, and only happens when playing a game or installing something. Not sure why the fan would make that much noise. Just as long as the risk of this thing taking out my entire build is super low, I can deal. Not sure how warranty would even handle that...

#6 Posted by Ubersmake (683 posts) - 3 months, 2 days ago

@killacam said:

@devildoll: Hmm no, haven't heard that one. But a new sound has taken the place of the crackling (actually, the crackling is still there.. Just super light). I think it's the fan because it sounds more physical, and only happens when playing a game or installing something. Not sure why the fan would make that much noise. Just as long as the risk of this thing taking out my entire build is super low, I can deal. Not sure how warranty would even handle that...

That sounds likes a hard drive thing. What kind of hard drive do you have? If it's an SSD, this won't happen, because there aren't any moving parts. But if there's a standard HDD in your system, you should back all your stuff up from that drive, because it might fail sooner rather than later.

#7 Edited by killacam (1131 posts) - 3 months, 2 days ago

@ubersmake said:

That sounds likes a hard drive thing. What kind of hard drive do you have? If it's an SSD, this won't happen, because there aren't any moving parts. But if there's a standard HDD in your system, you should back all your stuff up from that drive, because it might fail sooner rather than later.

Well I have both, but I'm running games off the SSD. It's definitely coming from the PSU though.

#8 Posted by Poppduder (387 posts) - 3 months, 2 days ago

@devildoll: I'm pretty sure that's the worst sound in the world.

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