My Corsair VX450 fan seems loud

[dan]

I bought the Corsair VX450 based on SPCR recommendation, and am somewhat disappointed by its noise.

It DOES NOT have coil noise that others have complained about AFAIK. I do believe that the fan on it is a bit "loud" and when I stick a pencil in the grills to silence the fan, it is somewhat more quiet. The PSU though gets pretty hot to touch when I do this, even though I don't think I'm using that much electricity.

I think Corsair has 3 or 5 year warranty. I'm not sure it's worth returning just for this though. If I attempt to replace the fan it would void the warranty.

I've contemplated sticking a chopstick through the grills to silence the fan, and stick a quieter fan underneath it like a scythe fan to cool it.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi Dan,

It could be that the fan is defective? I would NOT run it without the fan, though. If it is not very old, then you might RMA it it; or decide it is okay to void the warranty and replace the fan with a quieter one.

[kuzzia]

Maybe I have experienced the same as you. The fan of my Corsair VX450w (which has a FIVE year warranty) had a fairly high-pitched whine as if you hummed a fairly high tone.

It got too unbearable so got a CX400W & swapped the fan.

But remind you that the VX450W has a noise level of 21-22 dBA according to SPCR. A couple of years ago (review was in 2007) that might've been very quiet, but I think that the noise standards have definitely changed. There was once when harddrives at ~20 dBa was considered quiet. Well, not anymore!

[dan]

Hi Dan,

It could be that the fan is defective? I would NOT run it without the fan, though. If it is not very old, then you might RMA it it; or decide it is okay to void the warranty and replace the fan with a quieter one.

it's "quiet" so I won't say it's defective. But it's not as silent as say my scythe fan spun slow on speedfan for sure

[dan]

Maybe I have experienced the same as you. The fan of my Corsair VX450w (which has a FIVE year warranty) had a fairly high-pitched whine as if you hummed a fairly high tone.

It got too unbearable so got a CX400W & swapped the fan.

But remind you that the VX450W has a noise level of 21-22 dBA according to SPCR. A couple of years ago (review was in 2007) that might've been very quiet, but I think that the noise standards have definitely changed. There was once when harddrives at ~20 dBa was considered quiet. Well, not anymore!

it could be that. i have scythe fan using speed fan i have it at 50% and it is nearly silent. by this standard the VX450 is "loud"

[GentleGiant]

I have a VX 450 and I found it was very sensitive to the temperature of the incoming air -- I had a down-blowing CPU cooler that put plenty of heat out where the power supply was sucking air in and it never was very quiet except at absolute minimum load with on-board video.

I measured temperatures of 38 deg C during typical use at the PS intake grill with a small thermometer probe clipped in place. In the SPCR review their intake temps never reached more than 33 deg C -- My setup meant the fan was running much faster at all loads than their setup.

I briefly took the power supply out of the case and held it in free air, and the noise was much lower with the system running at idle than when it was back inside the case. I considered swapping for a side-blowing CPU cooler (tower style) but I rather put that computer in my business's office where the ambient noise is high enough that the system is inaudible.

[dan]

I have a VX 450 and I found it was very sensitive to the temperature of the incoming air -- I had a down-blowing CPU cooler that put plenty of heat out where the power supply was sucking air in and it never was very quiet except at absolute minimum load with on-board video.

I measured temperatures of 38 deg C during typical use at the PS intake grill with a small thermometer probe clipped in place. In the SPCR review their intake temps never reached more than 33 deg C -- My setup meant the fan was running much faster at all loads than their setup.

I briefly took the power supply out of the case and held it in free air, and the noise was much lower with the system running at idle than when it was back inside the case. I considered swapping for a side-blowing CPU cooler (tower style) but I rather put that computer in my business's office where the ambient noise is high enough that the system is inaudible.

My antec case is top mounted PSU. I infer then that if I were to get a bottom mounted ATX case, the intake air would be ambient rather than hot above the cpu.

[merlin]

I think compared to some of the newer psus out there, the VX450 will never be nearly as quiet. Over the years depending on the person, a number have said it's quiet, but not silent. If you can, I'd say the best option is to return it and buy something from the recommended list that's known to be quieter, unless you don't mind the current noise level.

[dan]

I think compared to some of the newer psus out there, the VX450 will never be nearly as quiet. Over the years depending on the person, a number have said it's quiet, but not silent. If you can, I'd say the best option is to return it and buy something from the recommended list that's known to be quieter, unless you don't mind the current noise level.

what's your recommendation for under $100?

[kuzzia]

according to the SPCR reviews, the Cooler Master Silent Pro 500W, 600W and 700W..
they are apparently made by the same manufacturer with the same fan and such..

14 dBa below 150W, that seems nice. And modular too.

[fredogro]

Hello Dan,

I would reconsider doing a fanswap, there's a thread here on this topic that you may or may not have seen; viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45658

I plan on doing this as soon as I get the slipstream in the mail. The vx450 is by far the loudest part in my system and returning it is unfortunately not an option for me...