Seasonic S12-430 Whine?

theoryzero · Post by **theoryzero** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:18 pm

Ok, I honestly tried to do a search on this first!

I got a new S12-430 a few weeks ago for my new system. I've been trying to work out the cable management and fan placement details while I wait for Conroe to arrive. I noticed last night that I could hear a distinct whine coming from my case. Through the process of elimination I found it to be coming from the PSU. To be clear, I shorted out the two pins on the 24-pin power connector to test this, so it can't be any electrical noise coming from the motherboard. Then I took the PSU out of the case and it seemed like the whine was greatly reduced. So I'm currently thinking it may be vibration related, although the whine is higher pitched than I would of expected. I almost thought it was the HDD spinning. It seems to be at it's worst when I have the case closed up.

So, what can I do? Get some of that AcoustiProducts foam? RMA the PSU? Get a fanless? I'm at a loss. I have a P180B case which has the silicon strips to isolate vibration from the PSU. I moved the PSU further into the case to keep it from vibrating with the rear grilled area, but that seems to have not made a difference. I currently have the fan pointed down, I could turn the PSU upside down so the fan is pointing up. I'd rather not open up the PSU, because if fan replacement does not help then I'm out of a warranty and can't RMA.

More specs of my system, if it matters:
- Seasonic S12-430 (latest rev? it has sleeved cables and the 6 pin PCIE connector)
- Antec P180B (latest rev)
- Seagate SATA 7200.10 320 GB
- Asus P5W DH mobo
- EVGA 7900 GTX
- Plextor 755SA
- Scythe Ninja
- Celeron 326
- Nexus 120mm B&W fans

Thanks for any help!

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 2:35 pm

RMA; a brand new S12-430 should not whine, and none of your components ring any alarm bells.

Tomasz · Post by **Tomasz** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:49 pm

theoryzero,
did you ever find a solution to this problem?
I recently noticed pretty much the same exact thing with a TruePower 380S in a Sonata case... I had been using the PSU previously and never really had any issues that I noticed.

Now, the PSU whines almost constantly when the side panel to the case is put on, but if I take off the side panel the whine goes away.

This has to be one of the strangest hardware problems I've encoutered... initially, I though the it was due to vibration and aucoustic resonance, but there seems to be some latency (on the order of seconds) from the time I put the side panel on and the time that the whine starts... not to mention that the whine becomes undetectable when the panel comes off.

Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:38 am

there seems to be some latency (on the order of seconds) from the time I put the side panel on and the time that the whine starts... not to mention that the whine becomes undetectable when the panel comes off.

Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this?

This is a just a wild guess, and probably wrong, but maybe the fan has to work harder when the side panel is on? How much intake area does your case have? Are any of the vents obstructed? It's very unusual for a fan to whine, but not unheard of. Also it could be that the side panel is "focusing" the whine, but in that case there should be no latency.

Tomasz · Post by **Tomasz** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:36 pm

It's not the fan. It's some component on the PSU that has started to make noise (the PSU is now about 3 years old... before, it did not whine at all). That's my second Antec psu that has developed some degree of coil whine over time.

The sound that is made varies somewhat in intensity between power cycles. If I put my ear to the psu, I can detect it at a low level at all times.

The whine is made more noticable by scrolling documents and webpages. Also, as I said b4, for some reason, putting the side panel on makes it worse too... the temps only rise by about 2 deg C.

burebista · Post by **burebista** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:37 pm

Well, I have another problem with S-12 430.
I have this PSU from 2 months and it's flawless, but two days ago I have cable (finally) and yesterday I noticed a high-pitched whine from my PSU.
It's not audible during the day when is some noise in chamber, but I heard it at night.
I narrow the problem to my on-board LAN: when I unplug the cable noise is gone, and when I plug the cable noise is there again.
Tonight I'll try to put a PCI network card, but meanwhile I'll be grateful to anyone who tries to explain me why my S-12 whine when I plug the cable in my on-board LAN.
Thanks.

LE: Problem is gone with a PCI card, but still I don't know why my PSU is whining with on-board LAN active...