I have a Corsair CX750M PSU and I have some of the infamous "coil whine." I know you can test a power supply out of a system by jumping the startup signal wires, but could I hook the PSU up to a test open-bench system to see if I can narrow down the sound to a single component, because I'm guessing I won't get coil whine without some load. If that was possible is it smart to replace components in a PSU, like a transformer or capacitor. Or would I be in danger of frying a system by hooking up a PSU, after attempting some repair and screwing up, to a system?
*I get more audible coil whine in Windows 10 than in Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 or Fedora 25 by the way. *I'm a college student so low budget + multimeter = budget solution? *I've worked with hybrid car batteries so I know to be careful with this stuff ;)
...Why?... Anyways... if {the power supply is new} then { return it }else{ if {the noise is new} then { get rid of it. You don't want your PC to die. The system should not eat more than 400-450W, so any decent 500W power supply from an actual quality manufacturer will be fine. } }
Either way, don't try and break something in it. You don't know what it may take with itself when it dies...
If you can't rma it, try tossing a lump of silicone glue on the coils to help dampen the coils' vibrations, don't go changin the components unless you're an electronics pro.
Thanks all for the advice, I'm going to talk to BestBuy to see if I can get a copy of the old receipt, but since I bought it with a gift card from a return I don't know how much help I'm going to get.
So just search from "electronics silicon" on amazon or something like that?
P.S. It might have been good to mention that I have a few old PCs I was planning to take the PSU out of to tinker with before cracking open the Corsair.
Its super unlikely that you'd find a replacement transformer with the same turns ratio, as well as can handle the same amount of current. Also, capacitors don't create coil whine.
Your best bet is to use "hot snot" (hot glue/selastic) and apply it to the output inductors (there's usually 1 very large one, or there can be multiple smaller ones) because those are the ones to most likely be creating the coil whine noise. If you do this, make sure none of the glue gets onto the pcb, because some are/can become conductive, causing lots of issues inside of your PSU. Also beware that opening your PSU WILL void your warranty, so if you can RMA it, do that first.
unless they are getting very hot then something like hot glue works just as good. The whole idea behind it is to use the material to limit how much the coils whine.
Alright, should I just pile glue on top of the output inductors then? I don't get how that would stop the coil whine ("vibrations" from what I read) other than weighing the part down.
So is Corsair just a bad brand and the rest are ok? All information I've found on this kind of thing is usually misleading because it's usually just marketing...
