Power Supply Chatter

[spacelord]

What is the cause of Power Supply Chatter noise?
is this different than coil whine?

I have tried 2 different power supplies in my system.

* a Thermaltake 650W.. fan was loud. its not certified 80 anything, its going back to NewEgg.

* Corsair TX650.. a couple of years old from another machine to try it out. quieter fan, pretty happy, but still has chatter.

When under load I get an electrical chatter just like this video. (not my video, but same)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eImwAOzFAg

It happens every time, with the Heaven bench mark, or BF4 for example. pretty much under GPU load.

I get the same chatter from both power supplies.

Is it possible I am underpowered?
I am running a GTX 770.
i5 Haswell 3.2 Ghz
1 SSD, and a single SATA HD.

I have been looking for another power supply to try. Can this chatter mean that I am underpowered?
Is it just plain bad luck that both chatter when under video load?

I am a bit limited in PS choice.. modular PSU will not fit in my case. That elimintated some of the seasonics I was considering.

 

[lehtv]

It's not possible you're underpowered. Your rig should run without issues on a 500W unit.

What is the exact model of your GTX 770? hile you're at it, you could just post your complete system specs.

 

[spacelord]

It's not possible you're underpowered. Your rig should run without issues on a 500W unit.

What is the exact model of your GTX 770? hile you're at it, you could just post your complete system specs.

I've added my specs to my sig. damn thing is rock solid if I can just get this chatter to go away. (knocks on wood)

 

[Name User]

Got some 550W Antec does the same thing now. Before on a Q9550/HD6850 it was quiet. Now on a 4770K and a GTX780 it makes this sound.

Funny thing is that it's louder on 2D GPU accelerated game menus (higher unlimited framerates) and even more so when monitor is overclocked to 120hz.

$100 for a new PSU? Or can I fix this by burying the caps in some goo or something?

 

[spacelord]

So is it safe to run my rig with a 500-550 W power supply? see sig.
I will never be running dual video cards.

I need a replacement, and having trouble deciding on price and features. I was looking for 650-750W.. but if a 550W will run great then I may consider a better power supply.

 

[_Rick_]

I'm running a similar rig on a 500W PSU. (i5 2500k with a light OC, and a 770 4GB, as well as 2SSds and an HDD in an external bay)

Your CPU is likely taking less energy as well, so around 400W is plenty, unless you run CPU and GPU at 100% load 24/7.

My current favourite PSU (purely from a spec/cost point of view) would be the Enermax Revolution X't 430W. Powerful enough for any single card PC, compact form factor, so it fits into any ATX case, 80plus gold, 5 years warranty, 140mm fan and less than $100 if you shop around.
Also flat cables, and detachable cables, so you can make an extremely clean build.


There's also a 530W version, if you want to get something like an R9 290 and overclock it, and exceed 300W on the GPU (or get 2x200W on the GPU) which only costs a tiny bit more. But personally I'd prefer not spending that money on something that will be likely to waste energy in idle states, because of a slightly lower efficiency at lower loads.

 

[spacelord]

I checked out some of the non-modular enermaxes and they aren't Haswell certified. I am not even sure if that is a big deal or not. I don't have room for modular in my build. its that tight.

I am considering this Antec 550w. Gold certified, 5 yr warranty, for $65 after rebates.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371071
it seems like a really nice supply for $65. $99 for the 650W version though.

 

[_Rick_]

I checked out some of the non-modular enermaxes and they aren't Haswell certified. I am not even sure if that is a big deal or not. I don't have room for modular in my build. its that tight.

I am considering this Antec 550w. Gold certified, 5 yr warranty, for $65 after rebates.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371071
it seems like a really nice supply for $65. $99 for the 650W version though.

Tightness would be mostly defined by length of the PSU (and you can always wire it up while outside - still will look cleaner than unused cables flapping about). The Antec is even shorter than the Enermax I proposed (by almost an inch), but you only get a 120mm fan, instead of the 140mm fan. Not worth 30 dollars though....

I try to stick to the more classic brands, that have more focus on speccing/designing a PSU or actually built them themselves, but with the warranty on that Antec you probably won't have issues.
550W is plenty.
Haswell certification is not something I'd be super focused on, but it can help in some corner cases. Look at pricing for the Seasonic S12G 550W, which should be a competitor with only slightly higher price, but much the same features, and including the certification.

 

[spacelord]

I have maybe an inch (or less) from the back of the Power Supply I have in there now. Where the PS cables come out of a non-modular they are clear of my video card. any further over then I am into the 1 inch clearance.. and that's where modular stuff comes out.

That Seasonic S12G looks pretty sweet. That is now a contender! thanks!

That Antec might be a rebadged non-modular Seasonic as well from the little bit of information I've gathered from Google.

edit: I just put my Kill-A-Watt (which I forgot I had) on my PC I am only drawing about 270W under load from Heaven Benchmark. That seems about right.. my CPU is rated about 70 Watts and GPU is rated 200 Watts. So even with quite a bit of margin for error, the 550W is plenty as you said.