Zalman 850W Buzzing?

aSASa · Post by **aSASa** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:04 pm

Well, based off of reviews, especially those on this site, I purchased this. I was happy to see the fan was quiet. Very quiet. But then, I heard the lovely buzzing.

Its terrible. If I move a window around, scroll on the internet, play games, etc... it buzzes. It also causes my GPU to buzz, which my old Enermax did not.

So, please, tell me what you say in the review "NO BUZZING AT ALL" when there is an absolute ton of buzzing. Don't tell me its defective, or that would mean 3 defective units in a row.

Zakhal · Post by **Zakhal** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:41 pm

I have had the buzzing on all psus. Including seasonic and zalman. On zalman though it has been most noticeable.

Blacktales · Post by **Blacktales** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 8:45 pm

Unfortunately, as far as i can tell from my own experiences, it's really difficult to predict whether or not you will experience the buzzing as some combination of GPU/PSU/MB/Software will give you different results.

I have the same problem on my own computer : with my A8V deluxe anytime there is a smallish load on the CPU, flash animations on a web page or 3D games running.... i can hear the same buzzing sound. It did the same with the 3 PSUs (No name/Antec SmartPower 450/Currently VX450) i used on this system but it is not the motherboard itself that makes the noise but the PSU itself everytime.

I gave up on trying other PSUs so i guess my motherboard is to blame. I don't wish to build another computer right now (missed the last low price train a few months ago, and actually do not need another computer at this time) so for now i bought a silverstone psu muffler to block as much noise as i can. With the additionnal dampening i put in the bottom chamber of my p182, it blocked quite a bit of noise. It still is noticeable but far from annoying.

Then again, make sure it actually is the psu that is making the noise. In other cases, i was faced with buzzing computers and though it seemed to be coming from the PSU, the motherboard or GPU were to blame. It sometimes really is difficult to determine the origin of the sound.

Happy tinkering !

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:56 am

Hello,

Buzzing seems that it may be caused by an interaction between components -- your video card and/or motherboard may be causing the PSU to buzz; or vis versa.

aSASa · Post by **aSASa** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:48 pm

Well it does this with both a 8800GTS 512mb + GTX 260 216 SC.

This old Enermax I had made no noise until a fan started dying.

Can someone recommend me a better one? I've read that the Antec 850W is silent. [ 80mm fan, though ]

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 5:42 pm

Hi,

As others have mentioned, you have no need for even a 400watt PSU -- it may be buzzing because the load is so low for it's capacity? And it still could be the motherboard that is causing the buzz with that PSU.

Another possibility would be to replace the fan in the old PSU.

Mech0z · Post by **Mech0z** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 4:30 am

I have a 8800gts 512 and my corsair psu is always making a whine, but its all the time. but thats properly a coil problem,

aSASa · Post by **aSASa** » Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:28 am

Thanks for the responses. The main reason I'm going for such high wattage is because in the Corsair graphs and your own testing, they show that at about 350 watts, the fan begins to spin up, and by 400 watts, the fan becomes loud.

The HX620 and 520 get loud at just 350W. I assume that I will get near this amount at max load. I'd prefer a bit more room for upgrades, and when my system is under load I would expect the fan to keep spinning at the same low speed as it was when in idle.

Since I have a Stacker 830 [ I know, bad choice for low noise. I didn't expect to care about noise when I bought it. ] every bit of noise can be heard outside of the case.

I was hoping that you could review the HX1000 because it starts at a much higher noise rating, but stays there until 500W.

I didnt make that, but it seems like a pretty accurate representation of the noise levels.

I'd much rather hear fan noise than buzzing. So someone, please tell me a quiet power supply that is quiet upto 400W and under $200. I've looked up everything, but all of them have a con. I also see under youtube 'reviews' that the HX520/620 have coil whine as well :/.

My brother bought some cheapy Thermaltake 500W and with my GTS 512 its completely silent. [$50!]

EDIT: Oh, and it must be modular. The Stacker has the worst cable management ever seen to humanity. [ I even have the tray with a cable management hole, but the cables cant fit through the side without being crunched, anyway! ]

EDIT2: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mQa79pWC0 ... annel_page
sounds a lot like mine.

aSASa · Post by **aSASa** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:43 pm

Nothing?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:28 pm

Hi,

I think you need to get a Kill-A-Watt meter and actually measure the power consumption of your computer. I think that 250watts is about as high as it will go -- and that is the AC input, so the DC consumption (which is how the PSU's are rated) will be less than that.

aSASa · Post by **aSASa** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:12 am

So what should I buy then?

Out of question:
Silverstone Strider - Ticking fan [ They tell me its because I should have bought the ST60F instead of ST70F because me system was drawing less than 50 watts

]
Corsair HX / TX - Squealing caps
Zalman HP - Buzzing +/or squealing caps.

Okay, some ideas.

Enermax Modu82+ 625W [ I think it squeals.. based off of youtube review ]

Enermax Infiniti 650W [ No clue about this one ]

Antec Signature 650W [ Supposedly still squeal ]

OCZ ModXStream 700W [ Really only 600W or she goes boom ]

Silverstone Strider 600W [ Worth giving Silverstone another chance? ]

Seasonic M12 600W

nicodevil · Post by **nicodevil** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:57 am

Hi,

I allways god buzzing on my computer, I never think it could come from PSU or GPU ! I was allways thinking it came from the onboard sound card that is located on the chipset and so it's so close from the main data flux that you can ear the computer breath !

Did you notice if the buzz stop when you play really quiet music or a blank sound ?

To stop the buzzing on my 2 last computers, I disable onboard sound card and use a old pci sound blaster... really ! But maybe it's not related to your problem...

aSASa · Post by **aSASa** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:27 pm

I dont know if the "Supreme FXII" or w/e its called on higher end ASUS mobos counts as onboard.

But I'll try as soon as possible.

Zalman 850W Buzzing?

Zalman 850W Buzzing?

maybe ?