how to lower fan noise? 700w OCZ GameXStream gets louder

[Aleki]

I think it has to do with my psu fan. my 700w gamexstream psu seems to boot up quietly for the first hour or so. but after a while, i start to notice it pumping out a slight hum, sometimes it has gotten to the point where its audible from the next room. this sound isnt a deafly screech or anything, its about as loud (if not more) as the ocz xtc ram coolers i recently bought. those two in conjunction get irritable after a while. those two are the most audible things in my case

my question is: is there anything i can do to make the fan a little more quiet without opening the psu? i would love to put a yate loon in the psu, but i dont want to void my warranty just yet as the psu is only 7 months old. i'm not sure if its just me singling out the noise of the fan, but i dont want to issue an RMA and make my computer useless for a couple weeks only to find out that they potentially all make that noise

PS: i run F@H on my comp, so its on 24/7

[cegras]

The fan in the GxS ramps up based on the current load, not temperatures, so it's quite an aggressive fan profile (I've managed to get it to spin up by a brief session of OCCT). It's a loud, buzzing noise that is consistently louder than the other parts in my case, and because of (I believe) the GxS fan spinning at a different speed than my other ones I get this beats effect (you know, two f's slightly apart giving the whee whee whee whee noise).

As for fixing this problem .. don't know. Short of opening it up, I'm not sure, and I'm not confident enough to go poking around the insides of a PSU.

[Aleki]

hah, i know exactly what you mean with the resonant drone. i just wish it wouldnt have to be so goddamn annoying. if it werent for the fact that it would kill the fan for good, i would just jam the blade and hook up another fan below it to keep it cool

[cegras]

I think once this thing runs out of warranty (fat chance, I'll probably replace it a few years down the line) I'm going to open this sucker out and slip a ball bearing fan or something similar in there.

[mpilchfamily]

If the noise is that big of a deal then you need to either replace the PSU or replace the fan. Pure and simple.

Fan replacement is pretty straight forward and easy to do. All you do is open it up. Unplug and unscrew the old fan. Get the connector off the old fan and onto the new and then plug in the new fan. Its not really that big of a deal since you don't have to go pocking around the capacitors at all.

[Aleki]

ehh, i just wished ocz spent a little more money on the fan. i wouldnt mind paying an extra 10 bucks if it meant the fan was going to be quiet!
i was curious to find out if there was a way to keep it from spinning up from load, or if simply applying grease to the fan would silence it (never had experience doing this, but i've heard some mention this with fans that didnt have much from factory).

[RyderOCZ]

What kind of Fan noise are we talking about?

Lots of air or like a bad bearing?

I have 4 units here, 600 - 1010W, none of them are loud.

[Mickey Padge]

I am pretty sure the 700W OCZ GameXStream PSU, is just a rebadged FSP-Group PSU.

I used to have one myself, but the fan would always run at 100% and is rated 39db, so I would assume you are having the same problem.

I purchased a Corsair CMPSU-620HX modular PSU, after installing it I realized the old PSU was by far the loudest thing in my case, I have such a quiet PC now! The Corsair fan control is supurb and only kicks in when it needs to.

Cheers! :D

[Aleki]

@ryder: its loud like fan motor loud. no turbulent noises coming from my unit

@Mickey: i think you may be onto something. when i start the computer up for the first time after its been off for 5 min or so, the psu is dead silent. i think it stays on at 100% even after it comes down from heavy load. isnt there a recall for that, or do all the 700gxs's do that?

[cegras]

Ryder: The fan profile + the actual fan gives it an aggressive .. whizzing noise under load. I'm perfectly aware that this is what OCZ defines as 'normal' operation for this power supply, but it really is quite noisy.

[syncrod]

mine is quiet

[RyderOCZ]

I never said anything about it being normal.

I am trying to ascertain if it is normal or not.

Based on what you are saying...the fan sounds like it is out of balance or something? Loud of course is subjective. I have a Cisco switch in here that I do not consider quiet, so really I do not hear PSU's in here much at all, but I have put my ear up to all my units, they do not have noisy fans.

If yours is noisy outside of moving some air, then it should be replaced, if you haven't opened it and it is less than 3 years old.

PM me so we can get it done.

[cegras]

I was under the impression that it was - but if grring and whizzing from the fan isn't normal, I will drop you a PM.

[Aleki]

ryder, you have a PM :)
i forgot to mention though, the sound is pretty much as cegras describes. the funny part is, after a full power down, booting it back up the fan is very quiet, but as my computer approaches load, it becomes audible. what more, after the pc goes back to idling, the fan still stays audible. i just hope that if I RMA, the replacement wont repeat the same issue :(