SPCR

Hi

I'm on a mission to find out what motherboards/components make the Enermax Noisetaker (and possibly Coolergiants) whine.

For me, my IC7 makes the PSU whine. I have been unsuccessful trying to deduce which coil is the culprit.

Let's see what hardware it doesn't like

Note: I'm making the assumption that most if not all the circuitry is the same among the different power ratings.

Ran an athlon 900 on 350W Enermax (same one Mike reviewed) for a while with one hard drive, never had any whine problems.

I'm running a P4 3.4 GHz Prescott with my Enermax Noisetaker 475 (though why 475 if it's "only" 470 Watts ... go figure) - and it's as silent as ... something pretty silent .

No problems here. Maybe you've got an iffy unit?

I have a IC7 and NoiseTaker 475, no whine what so ever. Try the PSU in another system - if the whine is still there you may need to RMA it.

Update!!!

I received a Radeon 8500 that was supposed to go into my old machine.. Various driver conflicts later, and I ended up testing it in my main rig with the Noisetaker.

The Radeon 9800 and its AIW brother seems to be the culprit.

The whine is still present with the 8500 installed, however, it is significantly quieter. Unfortunately, it is still the predominant noise coming from my computer.

I don't have a NoiseTaker, but I do have an older 300W Enermax unit. I had bad coil whine with a Radeon 9700Pro as well. Actually, to be precise, it was the combination of nForce2 motherboard, Radeon, and Enermax. Take any one of these out of the equation, and the squeal goes away.

Eventually replaced the Enermax with a Seasonic Tornado. All is well now.

Mine whines with a A64 socket 939 (ASUS A8V) and a Radeon 9800 Pro.

Haven't tried to take out the video card to see if the whine goes away.

Steve

I just upgraded my rig, and the whine is still present with the Noisetaker.

A64 3200+ Clawhammer, Gigabyte K8NNXP (nForce3 150), Radeon 9800XT.

Still sticking with my 7V L1A modded Enermax Whisper

Abit IC7-G
P4C 3200-800 MHz
4x512 Mb Kingston HyperX RAM
Sapphire Radeon 9800XT
Zalman NB cooler
Zalman VGA cooler @1900rpm
Zalman 7000AlCu CPU cooler @1800 rpm
Enermax Noisetaker 780 APFC 230V only

Coil noise with or without disks, case fans and DVD attached

Just looking at what's been posted, it looks like it could be the 9800 series cards...or maybe just the second 12V rail dedicated to the card? Have you guys tried running your video cards off the same 12V rail as everything else?

(Or am I way off base and/or confused about the purpose of the separate 12V rails?)

No whining, specs in sig.

Yeah, it seems like 9500/9600/9800 Cards (tested by myself, and a friend of mine) make the PSU squeal.

For some reason, the combination of an Asus A7N8X-X w/9800XT and the Noisetaker, it does not.

I've tried putting ferrite rings on the molex cable feeding the card, but that does not change a thing. Running ATI Tool's "3D View" makes my motherboard go nuts. It has a very strang squealing that cuts in and out randomly... :\

This thread starts to worry me a bit as I was already turning to Enermax Noisetaker as my next PSU choice. I have a Radeon 9600 though it does not have a extra power connector. Probably also other than 470 W units suffer from coil whine ?

I'm using the 420W version and haven't heard any whining so far... My specs are:

Athlon XP 2200+
Asus A7N8-X Deluxe
Radeon 9600 Pro
Samsung 160GB (8MB Cache) PATA

No whine with 420 version also. Best PS I've ever owned!

I recently got a NoiseTaker 375. No whine, and almost too quiet.

Athlon XP 1800+ TBred B
Asus A7V8X-X
2 256MB DDR sticks
Radeon 64 DDR VIVO
IBM 40GB HDD

The first noisetaker 475P - distinctive coil whine, increased as I added load to the 12V line - with one hard drive almost silent with three intolerable and could have beeen heard all the way across the room.
The second noisetaker 475P - DOA out of the box
The third noisetaker, this time 475AX which I bought as a replacement to 475P, no whine.

Overall, noisetaker is an excellent PSU if you get lucky - very very quiet. If you get unlucky like me then it'll probably be your last enermax PSU. At least hats off to newegg who accepted two first PSUs and didn't say a word...

PS I did not vote because if I did I would have to vote three times, once for YES, once for DOA and once for NO...

[quote="
Overall, noisetaker is an excellent PSU if you get lucky - very very quiet. If you get unlucky like me then it'll probably be your last enermax PSU. At least hats off to newegg who accepted two first PSUs and didn't say a word...

PS I did not vote because if I did I would have to vote three times, once for YES, once for DOA and once for NO...

I'm still waiting answer from finnish company whether they start to import noisetakers or not. Other alternative would be to place an order from Germany. From past experience, I know that RMA can be pain in the ass here if the PSU is not completely dead.

Seems that Nexus is left as only alternative as Seasonic seems to be bit uninterested from european markets.

Update,

New rig consists of: 3200+ Clawhammer, MSI K8N Neo Platinum, 9800XT -- Coil whine still.


I wonder if X800's will make the PSU whine. :O

Now using an Antec SL350S w/7V Chinaflo L1A with ZERO whine.

No whine or other electronic noise on my 370 W noisetaker.
System includes XP2200+, abit nf7-s, radeon 9600 and hitachi 120 Gb 7k250.
PSU is quiet, but effect on overall noise level was slight disappointment. At the moment primary source seems to be Antec case fan (1600 rpm version @ 5 V), only slight air woosh but hearable. Unfortunately cooling is also needed.

No whine on my Noisetaker 375. Superbly quiet

ECS K7S5A and AthlonXP 2100+, 1 HD, 1 CD-RW, Geforce2 MX400.

Ned

Almost* no whine here:

Epox 8rda+, 2500+, 9800Pro, 1xhdd, 1x dvd writer, 1x 512ddram

enermax 470 Noisetaker, Active PFC, ATX 2.0

* i get some sort of whine (it's not like a whine, but a buzz or smthg) only (and ONLY) in one game, Diablo 2, and ONLY when i keep my mouse cursor on the interface of the game (inventory, stats, etc). Very, very, VERY, strange problem! In other games it doesn't whine, in windows it doesn't whine, in Prime 95 it doesn't whine. ONLY in Diablo 2 and only with the mouse cursor in certain spots on the screen.
If anyone can explain me why this is happening, i'll give him the Nobel prize, lol..

Mine 420w is whining and its driving me insane. Should I go exchange it for a new one. I read somewhere on here people said theres a new revision with easier to manage cables?

Compddd wrote:I read somewhere on here people said theres a new revision with easier to manage cables?

Yes, it is. I've got one. It doesn't have the thick shielding on the main cables, instead it has a special ring, where the cables enter the PSU:

You have the brand new 2.0 version of the noisetaker? where did you get it? How is it working out for ya?

I noticed you have the Active PFC version. Does Active PFC make a PSU quieter then one without it? The navy blue noisetakers are active pfc and the sky blue noisetakers are not active pfc I noticed.

In Europe just arrived, don't know about the US. Only the 370 and 470 Noisetakers are available for now.

It's working fine. It doesn't whine(except the Diablo 2 thing, mentioned in an earlier post of mine. It's pretty quiet so far (same as 1.3 version, i guess).

Version 2.0 is compatible with ATX 2.0 standard and has 2 more 4pin molex heads, if i remember correctly. And it doesn't have the thick shielding. That's all, i think...

Does active PFC make a difference when it comes to silence?

For what i know, no.

FYI Enermax will accept coil noise as a reason for RMA. I've talked to their technician in the US and that is what they told me.