OT, but I was very pleased with my HX520W too. It was the third PSU in the same build, as the previous Seasonic S12IIs had both buzzed audibly. I have since used Nexus almost exclusively when building (couple Values, several NX5000, now one RX5300), and none of them have buzzed, despite being Bronze certified and almost budget-priced.

The Whining Components thread could use these experiences, I'm sure.

No, unfortunately, the RPM seems regulated by the PSU temperature with no control over them, but the controllers seem to do a good job (the SPCR review has a good section on this). Before I was using 12 to 7V fan adaptors with the fans powered by molex connectors. Thinking about it, having the fans temperature controlled could also be a reason for my PC's decreased noise. The only problem I have now is that I notice the noise from my Samsung F4 HD, which I couldn't before.

Thanks. From a quick look at Wikipedia, I understand that the Dell PSU might be distorting the sine wave shape of the voltage. Would a fancy surge protector with an EMI/RFI filter be of any help here or would it be a waste of money?

Tomasz

I think you should replace "despite" with "due to" in your sentence
It looks like I'm not the only one who thinks high-efficiency PSUs are more noisy. Here's a quote from the Corsair "Product Guru":


http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showpost.ph ... ostcount=5

And another quote in support of the above:



I found both quotes in a very interesting thread at Australia's Whirlpool forum:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1731077

I think it was a comment on your speculation(s). I don't personally think high efficiency has resulted in increased noise, as I've heard many buzzing power sources and electronics before 80 Plus certification even made its first appearance. It is just, as Mike said, more obvious now.

The Corsair support person's statement is just common sense: sensitive electronics are sensitive. It's a matter of building them well enough, if we define well enough as being able to compensate for increased sensitivity while fulfilling high standards of efficiency. Nexus has done that consistently, in my limited experience, whereas Seasonics still pop up from time to time as buzzers, despite premium pricing.

As I have always had the good fortune of using grounded sockets and the same UPS, I can safely say those aspects of my "experiments" have been controlled, so it has been down to the PSUs to buzz or not to buzz.

If you have other PSUs that do emit interferences, then the PC PSU is not to blame. There must not be any to begin with, regardless if you use a Monitor or a water boiler.

Often those interferences are amplified by old/non-standard or damaged cabling.

Let me just note I never had a buzzing problem with two other PSUs in the same environment.