SPCR

So far I have tried Seasonic Platinum 1050W, EVGA SuperNOVA P2 1000 W(OEM Super Flower), Antec HCP1000 (OEM Delta), Corsair AX860i (OEM Flextronics), all of them have some high pitched noise.

Don't assume it's coming from somewhere else, I have eliminated other possible sources like motherboard and video card, and I put my ear right beside the PSU to confirm it.

It seems to me that the more high-end psu is the more possible it gets high pitched noise.

Any suggestion?

You seem to have tested a lot of the top end from all the good brands.

I would probably follow with The new Corsair HXi series, there are 760/860/1000W versions, made by flextronics (if im not mistaken)

It seems to me that the more high-end psu is the more possible it gets high pitched noise.

If this remains true to you, then try a lower end speced PSU, like Corsair RM series, given its not the best in terms of components/quality, a lot have had good results in terms of noise, the 450/550/650W are made by CWT and 750/850W are made by Chicony.

If it still remains with every single psu you have tested... then its a combination of your hardware, change other things maybe it will help, even if thats not the direct source of the whining.

given youve had issues with all those PSU's, my bet would be its the combination components making your PSU's wine, not the PSU itself. or maybe its weird electrical service from the wall...?

also, any dimmers on the same circuit, or just nearby?

Abula wrote:You seem to have tested a lot of the top end from all the good brands.

I would probably follow with The new Corsair HXi series, there are 760/860/1000W versions, made by flextronics (if im not mistaken)

It seems to me that the more high-end psu is the more possible it gets high pitched noise.

If this remains true to you, then try a lower end speced PSU, like Corsair RM series, given its not the best in terms of components/quality, a lot have had good results in terms of noise, the 450/550/650W are made by CWT and 750/850W are made by Chicony.

If it still remains with every single psu you have tested... then its a combination of your hardware, change other things maybe it will help, even if thats not the direct source of the whining.

The OEM of HXi series is the same as old HX which is CWT according to Techpowerup, and I have used old HX850, guess what, high pitched noise too.
Among PSUs I have tried, Antec HCP1000 which is made by Delta seems have less high pitched noise but since the psu fan is always on I couldn't tell if it's the fan noise or it's directly from the psu, and I don't like the fan is always on and making noise.

I saw another post mentioned about this too, and the guy says Corsair RM 850 does not have it, I will give it a try. Thanks.

Four different PSU designs and they all have whine?

+1 for xan's comments. Might be worth getting one of these from your local hardware store to check the AC outlet.

Is the PC behind a UPS or surge protector, etc?

Abula wrote:You seem to have tested a lot of the top end from all the good brands.

I would probably follow with The new Corsair HXi series, there are 760/860/1000W versions, made by flextronics (if im not mistaken)

It seems to me that the more high-end psu is the more possible it gets high pitched noise.

If this remains true to you, then try a lower end speced PSU, like Corsair RM series, given its not the best in terms of components/quality, a lot have had good results in terms of noise, the 450/550/650W are made by CWT and 750/850W are made by Chicony.

If it still remains with every single psu you have tested... then its a combination of your hardware, change other things maybe it will help, even if thats not the direct source of the whining.

Stay away from the CWT models. Stick with the Chicony models.

It's the first time I read of someone having my same troubles I have very sensitive ears and tend to hear electrical high pitched noise almost everywhere.
I can also hear it from notebook chargers (bricks), AC to USB chargers, a USB hub (!).

I owned a lot of low to mid end PSUs, maybe we can figure out something.
Among all the PSUs I have owned, all of them except one produce high pitched noise:

Antec Neo Eco 400M - my newest unit. The electrical noise can be heard even from almost 2 meters away, it's quite disturbing and present only when pc is on and at low loads (approx. 40-50W). In addition to that the fan is just ridiculously bad.

5 Corsair VS450 - these are actually one of my favourite PSUs: decent quality and sold at ridiculously low prices. The noise can be heard only from extremely close, and only directing my ear exactly towards the rear of the psu. Therefore once it's installed in the system it's impossible to hear.

3 Cooler Master B500 - same as the VS450, but slightly louder noise.

Cooler Master GX 550 - The only psu that doesn't have this problem at all. It's a very old model, probably more than 5 years old. It isn't certainly a high end psu, but I've always admired its ability to work correctly in very uncomfortable conditions, for example with the exhaust air from a Hyper 212P on a Phenom II X4 955 @4,3Ghz blowing directly into it, resulting in burning hot air exhausting from it. It's been working in such conditions for 4 years, and it's still rock solid.

I believe most units will have some sort of electrical noise (not coil-whine), if you have to put your ear next to the PSU to hear it I would say that's "normal". I have a CoolerMaster Vanguard 700W and I can only hear a faint electrical noise when I put my ear next to it, other than that I can't hear any electrical noise at all. I also made a fan swap because the stock fan was too noisy, so there's no fan noise masking any electrical noise.

You could perhaps try with an older analog PSU if the sound bothers you.

My Rosewill SilentNight-500 (Super Flower Golden Silent) has emitted no noise so far, at least that make their way to my ears, when I'm in my chair.

cerbie wrote:My Rosewill SilentNight-500 (Super Flower Golden Silent) has emitted no noise so far, at least that make their way to my ears, when I'm in my chair.

I just ordered that same PSU, hope it works out... from reading forums and internet reviews it looks like the oem is superflower which has great reviews and I can find almost no electrical noise complaints.

avoid the seasonic fanless units, i just got a 520 platinum that sounds like frying eggs and i had an x400 for a few years that had high pitched whistling and sizzling noises as well. Lots of other users out there report the same.

Right now i put my backup PSU (an old Silverstone bronze 450 SFX unit with an 80mm fan) on my system and the whooshing noise is audible but pleasant, unlike the maddening sizzle from the seasonic, which I could hear from my chair 5 feet away and even across the room on a quiet night.

Really hope the Rosewill/Kingwin/Superflower finally puts me back to blissful silence! will let you all know once I recieve it.

yes! that did the trick. completely silent. now the loudest thing i can hear is my 600rpm fan on my HR02

Cool. I almost hated saying something, given one sample in one PC, but it is my 3rd PSU for that PC, between whine and fan noises.

But, you know you can do better than that 600 RPM, right? I need my video card dumping heat back in the case to need that for my case fans, which are all that ever go that fast.

_mikey wrote:avoid the seasonic fanless units, i just got a 520 platinum that sounds like frying eggs and i had an x400 for a few years that had high pitched whistling and sizzling noises as well. Lots of other users out there report the same.

This is not universal. Many people have them and have no problem and they are still on the SPCR recommended list. It's an easy thing to do to point the blame at the PSU when it makes a noise but another component may be causing the noise in the PSU. 2015 ErP non-compliance can be one cause.

My Seasonic x400 has been totally silent from day one, several years ago. I've seen some complaints from others, but it's hard to pin them on the PSU, as opposed to other components in the system.

cmthomson wrote:but it's hard to pin them on the PSU, as opposed to other components in the system.

Well, no, the specific issue exists: I buy X/Platinum since 2009 (X750) and now I have three in various PCs.
In my experience any of them but the original X750 have some form of electronic noise (always light but audible at close distance, even when in the enclosure), since before the ErP regulation compliancy, and with a lot of different kind of hardware.
It's a quality control issue, other OEMs doesn't suffer of the same problem with the same rate (all my other PSUs but a venerable fanless FSP: BeQuiet, Super Flower, Enermax, Antec, older Seasonic, are/have been all electronic-noise free).

quest_for_silence wrote:It's a quality control issue.

Hmm, could be. My X400 is a very early model, perhaps even the first run, so it probably has higher than average build quality. Certainly it looks perfect, and it is always silent.

Most of the noise from non-mechanical components for me has come from discrete video cards and the motherboard (probably power delivery to CPU). Usually a combination of clicking or whining almost as if something was about to explode under high pressure.

The smaller fans on smaller power supplies has been my only issue with PSUs in general.

I once had a DAC that whined while it was turned off (standby).

The PSU was faulty (adapter). The PSU was outside of the unit, just a normal brick. But it was the unit that started whining, not the power brick.

I don't know why my Seasonic S12II just started whining a lot. I guess it had been increasing doing that for a while now, but now it's really bad, you know, it responds to everything my monitor/graphics card does, with noise.

I've had it before with a different computer. I don't remember. It has a new PSU now. I can't tell yet, I'm not there.

Driving me crazy currently though.

haha seem like a necro thread,

I too have a whiny seasonic, it is the early x660 660w.

Now I use a cooler master v650, it make a buzz, inaudible except really close. The fan control is rather crappy, though, so the fan is replaced. The fan control is now on speed fan under my own curve, hope it wont fried the psu lol.

I discovered that the whining becomes much less if I put more load on it.

So I am running a few cores at maximum now, as I usually do (to heat the room).

Now I don't notice it really ;D.