greenbrucelee

you wont electrocute yourself although you could damage the fan.

macgta16

hmm, that's probably not a good idea then; is there any way i can stop the fan without just unplugging it? this is partly because i dont know what its plugged into and also how its cabled, that and the noise usually doesn't start straight away, it usually starts after the PC has been on for a while, so leaving the CPU running without any cooling for that long would probably be a bad idea.

greenbrucelee

you could try the pencil job, some people have done it in the past. I would rather just hold a blade of the fan to stop it but eitherway you can try.

macgta16

Yes but trying to catch a blade whilst it's spinning is quite difficult :)

Phædrus2401

Just make sure that whatever you use to hold the fan still is non-conductive. If a metal screwdriver, say, touched the electrolytic capacitors inside the PSU it could cause them to discharge and could destroy the PSU, the screwdriver, and might hurt you.

BUT a pencil or other non-conductive item should be fine.

macgta16

OK, i've stopped the fan and it doesn't stop the noise; so when the PC booted up i listened to the PSU (as well as a very, very quiet whine; you can't hear it at all unless you're right next to the plug) and all i heard was the swishy sound of it filling the caps when windows is starting up, now once it's started up it starts making the noise. I would assume at this point it's my PSU.

macgta16

Right, i have another problem; i basically don't have enough cash to get another PSU, i know it's hard to say, but can you tell the likelihood of my PSU dying? its just i was unsure as to if the symptoms will get worse beforehand.

wrench97

RMA it to corsair see if they will cross ship the new one.

macgta16

I don't have a Corsair PSU, it's a: Coolermaster 650w PSU RP-650-PCAA-E2; plus i'm pretty sure it's out of warranty.

greenbrucelee

power supplies do make a hum. I was actually reading today that if this noise gets loud or becomes high pitched then the psu needs replacing,

wrench97

I believe the warranty on the Extreme Power model is 2 years and the Real Power Pro is 5 years.

macgta16

Ah i assume mine is a real power pro (hence the RP); are they a fairly quality PSU? the reason i ask is that i don't mind if my PSU dies, it's just if it takes everything with it that's the problem. If it is a quality PSU, do you think it's worth just leaving it until it does die? Or is that too risky even for a "faulty" PSU?

P.S.: Long shot, but the only fan i haven't tested yet is my graphics card fan, which got me wondering if it could possibly be the graphics card making the noise.

greenbrucelee

even a good power supply can take something with it when it dies, but it is more common with crap brands.

Replace it.

wrench97

No you have the Extreme Power Model. The Real Power Pro starts with RS usually.

The video card is a possibility, stop the fan and see.

macgta16

Well unfortunately i can't replace it atm because my dad thinks i'm "being obsessive", which means the only options i've got are:

1. Wait till it dies (which is a fairly bad idea because we may have to replace other components as well),

2. keep looking for the problem elsewhere; i'm still not entirely sure if its the PSU, since it only seems to start (the quiet pulsating noise) after the PC has been on for a while, and everytime i try to look for it it'll have stopped for a bit, then when ive forgot about it it'll gradually fade in again.

3. ask someone else who is fairly literate in computers to come to my house and listen for themself/bring their PSU so i can try theirs; this will possibly eliminate it being the PSU, loose connections, and i'll have their opinion on it; i cannot record the noise to show you because my mike/camera won't pick it up (too high frequency, and possibly too quiet)

i'm picking at straws here, but could it possibly be the DVD drive? it sounds stupid i know, but is it possible the noise could be emitting from that? i cannot tell where this sound is coming from without picking up another sound (if i move near the HDD's i pick up the sound of them spinning etc...), it sounds like it's coming from 3 different parts of the case when i try and listen!

EDIT: I've stopped the video card fan and it doesn't stop the noise

greenbrucelee

optical drivers dont make noises unless they are spinning.

macgta16

Ah ok, btw i'm gonna go for option 3, since i can get someone elses opinion on it, and try his PSU to fully rule out it being the PSU. If it is, i'm gonna try and RMA it; do you think i should get this one replaced or go for a better quality PSU? or is mine fairly good quality?

wrench97

The Extreme Power model is not a very good one If they will RMA it sell the replacement on eBay or Craigs list to recoup some of the cost of Corsair 650TX or 750TX(Both are the same price ATM after MIR), Providing of course that it is the PSU and it's under warranty.

macgta16

Ah ok :(, well hopefully i should get hold of chris (the guy i'm swapping PSU's with) soon so we can do the swap; a friend of mine suggested it could be graphics card coil whine, which seems plausible since all the youtube videos/sounds ive heard of PSU's whining/squealing are completely different sounding than what i'm hearing from my PC.

grimx133

I was thinking the same thing, that it could be coil whine. Try another card, see if it
disappears.