I recently bought a new Zalman ZM1000-HP to replace an old PSU which seemed like it was about to die and to be the first component of the new PC I hope to build in the next 6 months or so.
Based on the glowing review it got here I was expecting it to be completely silent, instead the first one I bought made a noise halfway between an out of tune radio and an old seeking harddrive. I thought it might be picking up noise from elsewhere in my case, particularly as the noise seemed to occur at broadly similar times to hard drive noise, but picking it up so it was no longer touching the case didn't seem to make any difference.
Needless to say I sent it back to the shop. However I've just received the new one which seems to be suffering from exactly the same problem. It's constantly emitting a mid-to-high frequency clickey-scratchy noise which gets louder under load. (It's maybe a tiny bit quieter than the last one, but not much).
I figure one problem usually means you were unlucky in what you received, a second normally means something else is going on...
Has anyone else had similar problems? Any ideas what components inside my PC could result in the PSU making such funny noises?
I'm basically at the point of giving up on this old PC anyway and relying on my laptop until I buy the new one, but given this PSU is supposed to be in the new one, I'd quite like independent confirmation that it works OK so I can return it within the 30 day period in which the shop I bought it from will pay postage if it does not.
Thanks in advance,
Tom
Zalman ZM1000-HP Problems
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee, Devonavar
have you tried turning on the 5v Noise Filter? I have a ZM850-HP and it makes a low buzzing noise on standby unless that switch is flicked.
I have noticed since switching from my HX620 -> ZM850-HP a high-pitched, intermittent "whee" sound occasionally coming from around where my CPU is, but that could simply be because I've made my PC's fans more quiet and so I could be hearing additional noise I didn't notice previously when my fans were louder.
I've also noticed that when I'm putting load on the PSU (eg. when playing 3D-intensive games like Crysis), the ZM850-HP seems to emit a medium-pitched whine - it's definitely not from the fan spinning up as the noise character is different.
For normal day-to-day usage it seems to be silent enough that i can't hear it however.
I have noticed since switching from my HX620 -> ZM850-HP a high-pitched, intermittent "whee" sound occasionally coming from around where my CPU is, but that could simply be because I've made my PC's fans more quiet and so I could be hearing additional noise I didn't notice previously when my fans were louder.
I've also noticed that when I'm putting load on the PSU (eg. when playing 3D-intensive games like Crysis), the ZM850-HP seems to emit a medium-pitched whine - it's definitely not from the fan spinning up as the noise character is different.
For normal day-to-day usage it seems to be silent enough that i can't hear it however.
I get chatter when it's off even when the 5v noise filter is on, but admittedly it's only really audible from very close.
The chatter when it's on and under load is clearly audible above my fans and harddrives from my desk chair though. And hence is rather irritating.
It does sound like it's of a similar character to what you describe though.
The chatter when it's on and under load is clearly audible above my fans and harddrives from my desk chair though. And hence is rather irritating.
It does sound like it's of a similar character to what you describe though.
CFP, I just finished building a new system using the Zalman ZM1000-HP in an ANTEC P182 case with a Gigabyte HD4870X2 graphics card, and I had exactly the same symptoms that you described. Fortunately I managed to fix the problem.
At first the sound characteristics made me think that the noise was coming from the hard drive. However I noticed that I heard it every time I dragged a window on the desktop or scrolled the screen in Internet Explorer, making the hard disk less likely as the source. After doing some Googling for ideas and listening to various parts of the computer I pinned down the ZM1000-HP as the culprit.
From what I'd read it seemed likely that the noise was coming from one or more inductors/coils inside the power supply. I think it's called a magnetorestrictive effect, and I believe the noise is caused by a rapidly varying current through the coil making it vibrate. In my case I assumed that the current drawn from the power supply by the graphics card was fluctuating as the display on the monitor changed.
Anyway, I didn't want to RMA the supply so I took its cover off to look inside. I didn't count them but there were maybe 10 - 12 coils in the supply, large and small. Interestingly, most of the larger coils had a blob of white sealant applied somewhere on their windings, which was presumably intended to stop them buzzing. However the sealant did not come close to touching all the windings on any coil.
I applied a line of silicone sealant (Dow Corning DC 3140 to be exact) to all of the coils, making sure that the majority of the windings were touched by the sealant. I let the sealant cure overnight (it turns to a hard rubbery consistency), and when I reassembled the power supply and my system the next day the noise was gone, along with some other minor rustlings and buzzes that I'd assumed were coming from elsewhere.
The DC 3140 sealant I used was specifically made for use on electronics and it has excellent voltage and temperature characteristics, but I suspect that any silicone- or urethane-based sealant or caulk would do the job just as well.
By the way, although the power supply was the culprit in my case it appears that this kind of noise can also be generated by coils elsewhere in the system, for example on the motherboard or in the graphics card. A neat trick to help isolate the exact source of a hard-to-pin-down noise is to use a plastic bendy straw as a listening tube.
Hope this helps,
Jammer.
At first the sound characteristics made me think that the noise was coming from the hard drive. However I noticed that I heard it every time I dragged a window on the desktop or scrolled the screen in Internet Explorer, making the hard disk less likely as the source. After doing some Googling for ideas and listening to various parts of the computer I pinned down the ZM1000-HP as the culprit.
From what I'd read it seemed likely that the noise was coming from one or more inductors/coils inside the power supply. I think it's called a magnetorestrictive effect, and I believe the noise is caused by a rapidly varying current through the coil making it vibrate. In my case I assumed that the current drawn from the power supply by the graphics card was fluctuating as the display on the monitor changed.
Anyway, I didn't want to RMA the supply so I took its cover off to look inside. I didn't count them but there were maybe 10 - 12 coils in the supply, large and small. Interestingly, most of the larger coils had a blob of white sealant applied somewhere on their windings, which was presumably intended to stop them buzzing. However the sealant did not come close to touching all the windings on any coil.
I applied a line of silicone sealant (Dow Corning DC 3140 to be exact) to all of the coils, making sure that the majority of the windings were touched by the sealant. I let the sealant cure overnight (it turns to a hard rubbery consistency), and when I reassembled the power supply and my system the next day the noise was gone, along with some other minor rustlings and buzzes that I'd assumed were coming from elsewhere.
The DC 3140 sealant I used was specifically made for use on electronics and it has excellent voltage and temperature characteristics, but I suspect that any silicone- or urethane-based sealant or caulk would do the job just as well.
By the way, although the power supply was the culprit in my case it appears that this kind of noise can also be generated by coils elsewhere in the system, for example on the motherboard or in the graphics card. A neat trick to help isolate the exact source of a hard-to-pin-down noise is to use a plastic bendy straw as a listening tube.
Hope this helps,
Jammer.
Re: Zalman ZM1000-HP Problems
Mine ZM850-HP does same high frequency chirping/squeaking noise when the load oscillates. It's definitely related to oscillating CPU load in my case because it always happens when DxO batch runs. Also happens when DxO resizes photos in review window. Very annoying and after some digging around seems to be the second nature of recent Zalman 750/850W PSU's. But, to be honest, the other brands are not free of that, either. In that light I don't actually know what to do next, because the replacement, same or other brand, could be even worse.cfp wrote:I recently bought a new Zalman ZM1000-HP to replace an old PSU which seemed like it was about to die and to be the first component of the new PC I hope to build in the next 6 months or so.
Based on the glowing review it got here I was expecting it to be completely silent, instead the first one I bought made a noise halfway between an out of tune radio and an old seeking harddrive. I thought it might be picking up noise from elsewhere in my case, particularly as the noise seemed to occur at broadly similar times to hard drive noise, but picking it up so it was no longer touching the case didn't seem to make any difference.
Needless to say I sent it back to the shop. However I've just received the new one which seems to be suffering from exactly the same problem. It's constantly emitting a mid-to-high frequency clickey-scratchy noise which gets louder under load. (It's maybe a tiny bit quieter than the last one, but not much).
I figure one problem usually means you were unlucky in what you received, a second normally means something else is going on...
Has anyone else had similar problems? Any ideas what components inside my PC could result in the PSU making such funny noises?
I'm basically at the point of giving up on this old PC anyway and relying on my laptop until I buy the new one, but given this PSU is supposed to be in the new one, I'd quite like independent confirmation that it works OK so I can return it within the 30 day period in which the shop I bought it from will pay postage if it does not.
Thanks in advance,
Tom