As MikeC mentioned, it is possible that the new PSU made the system sufficiently quieter that you are now noticing a HDD seek noise which was previously masked by your old (louder) power supply? I am unsure why the fan controller in a PSU would repeat any activity (such as checking temperature) on a 15-minute interval. Since the only moving part in your PSU is the fan, any skidding noise made by the PSU would have to be made by the fan. I have never heard of fans making a skidding noise (unless the fan is somehow rubbing up against something).
My advice:
* Do not remove the warranty sticker on the PSU (at least not yet).
* Visually inspect the PSU -- is it dented in such a way that the fan might be rubbing against the PSU case? Also shine a flashlight at the fan and try to see if anything appears to be touching the fan.
* MikeC suggested listening with your ear next to the hard drive until you hear the skidding noise. Is the noise coming from your hard drive? You could also try listening with your ear next to the PSU for the skidding sound. Placing a finger on the hard drive(s) and the PSU might help locate the noise as well, since any skidding is likely to be accompanied by vibrations.
PSU cheaper and as good as S12-430?
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As others have said, I'd be very surprised if it was the PSU. Are you sure something else wasn't making that noise all along, and you just couldn't hear it over the noise of your old PSU? I've made exactly the same mistake in the past after replacing a couple of no-name case fans with some 5-volted Acoustifans - thought they were whining but it turned out to be the fan on my crusty old GeForce MX440...
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SilentPower
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:41 am
Just tested them out and it seems to be my hard drive 
I disconnected my hard drives and waited but the PSU never made any noise. When I connected my hard drive it made the noise within 10 minutes. Man I hope it's not going to crash. It's weird because it started making the noise when I connected this PSU, but I know a PSU cannot possibly make a hard drive start making noises. I never heard anything before and the older PSU wasn't that extremely loud. Oh well who knows. Now I have to do some hard drive testing and see if it's starting to fail
I disconnected my hard drives and waited but the PSU never made any noise. When I connected my hard drive it made the noise within 10 minutes. Man I hope it's not going to crash. It's weird because it started making the noise when I connected this PSU, but I know a PSU cannot possibly make a hard drive start making noises. I never heard anything before and the older PSU wasn't that extremely loud. Oh well who knows. Now I have to do some hard drive testing and see if it's starting to fail True, even at the low fan speeds prevalent in S12 PSU's any bearing noise or fan defect should make a noise more often than once every 15 minutes (considering the fan will usually go through one full rotation in roughly 1/1000 of that time).Even so, this every 15-min weird sound symptom is not like any fan anomaly I've ever heard (and I've heard many, believe me!) or even heard about.