PSA: Turn off your computer when you're done!!

Ian · April 29, 2017, 11:25:01 PM

So I'm going to get this out of the way: yes I fucked up big time with this but I was unaware of what "Coil Whine" was until it was too late.

So after I built my computer a little over a year, I had a habit of leaving it on when I went to bed. My reasoning was that purple noise (the sound of like an AC or fan running) calms me and helps me sleep, I also sometimes have a middle of the night piss and having the lights on the computer helped me get my bearings in the dark immediately so I don't slam my head against anything. So my computer would be on for months on end without interruption. This really didn't do anything other than increase the dust build up but I get compressed air regularly so that wasn't much of an issue.

A couple of days ago I noticed high pitched chirps started coming from my computer. I checked temps, and everything ran fine so as far as actual performance, everything was normal. The noise is just downright fucking annoying, It's fucking loud as shit and hits sporadically. After testing my computer running with various fans off (including CPU fan) and my video card out, I was able to pin point the problem being my PSU. It has coil whine and based off what I've gathered, once you get it, it doesn't really ever go away. The computer runs perfectly fine but this chirping noise hits completely randomly and it's so fucking annoying and loud. Basically if I want to be free of the silence I have to buy a whole new PSU, so now I have to budget a $114 PSU before Stormblood hits in June.

TL;DR: I never turned my computer off and now I have coil whine in my PSU, either I live with an unbearable noise or I spend $114 on a new power supply.

DAS B00T x2 · April 29, 2017, 11:36:42 PM

low load operation shouldn't contribute to the possible occurrence of coil noise.

Ian · April 29, 2017, 11:38:22 PM

Nothing else describes this problem though, also I thought coil whine that dealt with load operation only occurred in video cards?

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:36:42 PM

low load operation shouldn't contribute to the possible occurrence of coil noise.

Ásgeirr · April 29, 2017, 11:41:52 PM

Christ, here i am paranoid of even turning the damn thing on

DAS B00T x2 · April 29, 2017, 11:42:26 PM

Quote from: Ian on April 29, 2017, 11:38:22 PM

Nothing else describes this problem though, also I thought coil whine that dealt with load operation only occurred in video cards?

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:36:42 PM
low load operation shouldn't contribute to the possible occurrence of coil noise.

I meant it's not because you left your PC idling overnight.
Your PSU is probably just substandard QC. Shit ain't wound properly.

Ian · April 29, 2017, 11:44:58 PM

Do you have a solution?

It's an EVGA 850W 80+ Gold. I would like to go with Corsair but I hear awful things about their PSUs.

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:42:26 PM

I meant it's not because you left your PC idling overnight.
Your PSU is probably just substandard QC. Shit ain't wound properly.

DAS B00T x2 · April 29, 2017, 11:48:01 PM

Quote from: Ian on April 29, 2017, 11:44:58 PM

Do you have a solution?

It's an EVGA 850W 80+ Gold. I would like to go with Corsair but I hear awful things about their PSUs.

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:42:26 PM
I meant it's not because you left your PC idling overnight.
Your PSU is probably just substandard QC. Shit ain't wound properly.

Short of dissecting the unit and re-wiring it yourself, no.

Ian · April 29, 2017, 11:48:59 PM

Do you have a recommendation on a replacement PSU?

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:48:01 PM

Short of dissecting the unit and re-wiring it yourself, no.

Hahahaha very funny Zonda · April 29, 2017, 11:52:53 PM

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DAS B00T x2 · April 29, 2017, 11:55:14 PM

Quote from: Ian on April 29, 2017, 11:48:59 PM

Do you have a recommendation on a replacement PSU?

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:48:01 PM
Short of dissecting the unit and re-wiring it yourself, no.

nope

big sponge · April 30, 2017, 01:03:02 AM

that's not entirely true, my psu randomly started to have coil whine and i turn the computer off every night before i go to bed. the coil whine also went away after a couple months too.

Solonoid · April 30, 2017, 01:11:24 AM

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:48:01 PM

Quote from: Ian on April 29, 2017, 11:44:58 PM
Do you have a solution?

It's an EVGA 850W 80+ Gold. I would like to go with Corsair but I hear awful things about their PSUs.

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:42:26 PM
I meant it's not because you left your PC idling overnight.
Your PSU is probably just substandard QC. Shit ain't wound properly.
Short of dissecting the unit and re-wiring it yourself, no.

This is exactly what I would do.
But I expect I'm a more experienced electrical engineer than Ian.

rC · April 30, 2017, 08:54:23 AM

Damn you must have really cheaped out on the PSU. When I had my gaming PC id leave it on for weeks straight and nothing like this ever happened.

Ian · April 30, 2017, 09:37:29 AM

Quote from: LC on April 30, 2017, 01:03:02 AM

that's not entirely true, my psu randomly started to have coil whine and i turn the computer off every night before i go to bed. the coil whine also went away after a couple months too.

The only other possibility is the capacitor, the fan doesn't spin on my PSU unless it's really heating up which has never happened to my computer before. I'm still not going to wait for the chance that it might go away.

Quote from: rC on April 30, 2017, 08:54:23 AM

Damn you must have really cheaped out on the PSU. When I had my gaming PC id leave it on for weeks straight and nothing like this ever happened.

It's an EVGA 850W Supernova, 80+ Gold. I went with best reviews on NewEgg. I heard nothing but terrible things from Corsair PSUs and this one didn't have any reviews mentioning this problem, they were all positive.

Zonda · May 01, 2017, 07:26:39 AM

Could just be a shit PSU.

I have a PC my brother built in '04 and, aside from the loud as fuck vacuum cleaner of a case fan it doesn't have any symptoms like that.

challengerX · May 01, 2017, 10:53:46 AM

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Aether · May 01, 2017, 11:16:07 AM

I always put my PC into sleep mode when going to bed, but my PSU has had coil whine since the day I got it. I was able to get a free replacement and it also had coil whine. It isn't terrible and I can't hear it with my headphones on so I just deal with it.

snurch · May 01, 2017, 12:28:29 PM

Quote from: Ian on April 29, 2017, 11:44:58 PM

Do you have a solution?

It's an EVGA 850W 80+ Gold. I would like to go with Corsair but I hear awful things about their PSUs.

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on April 29, 2017, 11:42:26 PM
I meant it's not because you left your PC idling overnight.
Your PSU is probably just substandard QC. Shit ain't wound properly.

corsair are a child company of seasonic, who make the best psus

evga is actually the newer kid on the block, and theyre the third best, behind corsair and seasonic

dont know what youve heard but overall the top three in order from best is seasonic, corsair, then evga

snurch · May 01, 2017, 12:30:54 PM

Quote from: Ian on April 29, 2017, 11:25:01 PM

.

also coil whine is a lottery

it has nothing to do with whether you leave your pc on or not, there are server rooms that are on 24/7 with no such problems

though you should still turn it off regularly to flush the memory

simply put you just had a bad piece of hardware; it could happen to anyone, could happen to a new piece of hardware straight from the shop or after 10 years of operation

Ian · May 01, 2017, 12:31:43 PM

My PSU is fully modular. If I buy a Corsair PSU, can I use the cables already attached to everything and just switch out the power block?

Quote from: Pepsi on May 01, 2017, 12:28:29 PM

corsair are a child company of seasonic, who make the best psus

evga is actually the newer kid on the block, and theyre the third best, behind corsair and seasonic

dont know what youve heard but overall the top three in order from best is seasonic, corsair, then evga

snurch · May 01, 2017, 12:36:04 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 01, 2017, 12:31:43 PM

My PSU is fully modular. If I buy a Corsair PSU, can I use the cables already attached to everything and just switch out the power block?

Quote from: Pepsi on May 01, 2017, 12:28:29 PM
corsair are a child company of seasonic, who make the best psus

evga is actually the newer kid on the block, and theyre the third best, behind corsair and seasonic

dont know what youve heard but overall the top three in order from best is seasonic, corsair, then evga

im not sure what the evga connectors are as ive always used corsair psus, in that case you should also buy a modular corsair psu

Ian · May 01, 2017, 12:37:44 PM

Well I always intended on getting a fully modular PSU. I was just hoping that I could just switch the blocks and not have to deal with the nightmare cable management I have.

Quote from: Pepsi on May 01, 2017, 12:36:04 PM

im not sure what the evga connectors are as ive always used corsair psus, in that case you should also buy a modular corsair psu

snurch · May 01, 2017, 12:38:56 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 01, 2017, 12:37:44 PM

Well I always intended on getting a fully modular PSU. I was just hoping that I could just switch the blocks and not have to deal with the nightmare cable management I have.

Quote from: Pepsi on May 01, 2017, 12:36:04 PM
im not sure what the evga connectors are as ive always used corsair psus, in that case you should also buy a modular corsair psu

if you did a bad job, this could be a opportunity to do a good job on cable management this time round

either way it doesnt matter, if they connect then you dont have to worry about it, if they dont the psu will come with cables anyway but you will have to reconnect the cables

snurch · May 01, 2017, 12:45:36 PM

if you want the absolute best psus, seasonic

Ian · May 01, 2017, 01:08:26 PM

It's not that I did a bad job, two out of the seven hours I spent on the build was completely dedicated to cable management. The problem is the case came with a bunch of cables for its own fan controller and it had six of those, but I wanted to use my own fan controller and I have six fans in there, and there isn't much clearance on the side.

Quote from: Pepsi on May 01, 2017, 12:38:56 PM

if you did a bad job, this could be a opportunity to do a good job on cable management this time round

snurch · May 01, 2017, 01:19:31 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 01, 2017, 01:08:26 PM

It's not that I did a bad job, two out of the seven hours I spent on the build was completely dedicated to cable management. The problem is the case came with a bunch of cables for its own fan controller and it had six of those, but I wanted to use my own fan controller and I have six fans in there, and there isn't much clearance on the side.

Quote from: Pepsi on May 01, 2017, 12:38:56 PM
if you did a bad job, this could be a opportunity to do a good job on cable management this time round

im not sure what these fan cables look like but the power cables for the rest of the pc should be the same ends male to male

challengerX · May 01, 2017, 02:24:48 PM

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Ian · May 01, 2017, 02:29:37 PM

It shortens the battery life. I only plugged in my laptop when it was absolutely low on power and I manged to keep the battery for another year past its life. Now it's completely shot and needs the charger at all times, and keeping it plugged in when it's charged will expedite that problem.

Quote from: challengerX on May 01, 2017, 02:24:48 PM

Is it bad to leave your laptop plugged in a lot?

Verbatim · May 01, 2017, 02:37:39 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 01, 2017, 02:29:37 PM

Quote from: challengerX on May 01, 2017, 02:24:48 PM
Is it bad to leave your laptop plugged in a lot?
It shortens the battery life. I only plugged in my laptop when it was absolutely low on power and I manged to keep the battery for another year past its life. Now it's completely shot and needs the charger at all times, and keeping it plugged in when it's charged will expedite that problem.

pepsi says that modern laptops will secretly decrease to 90% when plugged in with a full charge to prevent this from happening

or something like that

challengerX · May 01, 2017, 02:52:29 PM

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