A new Corsair 450VX power supply is making a high pitched rattling noise when I scroll around in a full screen web browser. Putting constant load on one of the CPU's cores turns that into an almost steady high pitched whine. The whine is inaudible from about 6 feet away, but loud enough to be annoyi...

I'm thinking it was either a Windows Update or I damaged my motherboard or video

Trying a new/different Windows installation should settle the software/hardware question.

Sorry to waste your time everyone. I just tried the old PSU and it's doing the same thing. It must be a coincidence that this started when I changed PSUs.

Is the 3.3v line being more like 3.56v reason to send it back for replacement? Could it be bad for my motherboard?

Thank Devonavar.

I've never used one before. The cheapest I can find online is $60.

Thanks everyone. Are these voltages ok? (according to my BIOS) +5v 5.02 +12v 11.79 -12v -11.70 -5v 0.00 +3.3v 3.56 +5v 4.89 See if you can monitor your voltage in the BIOS, it's not the most accurate of readings but if one is way off it could lock you up. I'd beware of the 5v, since SocketA processo...

It never gets past the bootup screen (like this one ). It doesn't freeze - the progress-bar-ish thing at the bottom keeps moving. I gave up after 10 minutes on my last attempt. Windows boots fine in safe mode. Changed from a Just PC 450 to a Seasonic S12-330. Athlon XP 3200+ Abit NF7-S 2.0 motherboa...

I wonder how we can change all that... would enough people posting links to better info make a difference?

BTW: Thanks everyone for setting me straight. You've saved me 25-40 dollars. I think I'll probably buy either that Fortron 300 or the Seasonic 330.

Thank you burebista. This is amazing. Somebody should pester the people who run the PSU calculator until they correct it, because A LOT of people are using it as a definitive reference. Seriously, it gets linked to on most PC hardware forums I've found. On the custom system builders forums I've been...

Interesting. Thanks, jaganath and EsaT. This should give much more realistic values: http://web.aanet.com.au/SnooP/psucalc.php Recommended for generic brand: 407 w Recommended for decent brand: 229 w Woah, is it really true that I could be running 2 instances of Prime95, downing a torrent, burning a...

Hi fabre, thanks. I tried the PSU calculator. With the new specs I listed above, "Surge Compensation" at 10%, and "Capacitor Aging:" at 25% (that should last me 5 years, right?) I get 351 watts . I put in a USB device (have a gamepad), SATA disk (might get one someday), and DRD-RW (ditto). EDIT: and...

Will use it with old system for a while: Athlon XP 3200+ Abit nForce 2 motherboard 2x 512MB PC3200 CL3 ram nVidia GeForce FX 5700 SoundBlaster Live 5.1 7200 rpm PATA HD old sony CD burner My new specs might be: Athlon X2 3800+ 65W Abit/Asus nForce 5x0 motherboard 2x 512MB PC4200/5300 CL4 nVidia GeFo...

Thanks

Ok, that Fortron looks good. But the higher watt versions of it are in tier 3 on xtremesystems.org power supply rankings. Is that ranking any good? Should I try to stay at tier 2?

EDIT: Wow, return/failure rate of 0.7% with Fortron

I'm on such a tight budget that earlier I would have said I couldn't afford even $50 for a PS. But then I read some power supply advice and reviews... So as long as I'm paying more for a decent PS, I might as well buy a quiet one - I'm tired of the jet engine (literally, people call my PC that) I'm ...