Strange "ticking" sound...

[Skeet]

Hi peeps.

Well...put a "DVD" in my recently built rig...while watching...I noticed a ticking noise, coming from the rear of the PC...hadn't noticed it before, when running games etc.

After much listening, it sounded like it was coming from either the rear fan or PSU, stopped the rear fan...ticking still.
Now, if it is the PSU, that sounds like Arcing...not good. Stopped the DVD, noise stopped, re started it...noise back.

So...what do we think....?

I cant see, any arcing or anything inside the PSU (has mesh case). That connection to the PSU is running my SATA HDD and DVD Writer, possibly a fan as well.

Cheers

Gaz

[Clunk]

Hmmm, ticking....it could just be a matter of time.

[Agent]

What brand?

Its actually fairly common in PSUs. Tagans do it when you have high voltage at your house. Anything over about 235V and you'll (well I certainly did) get it.

Its nothing to be worried about though, they are designed to take fluctuation's in voltages like that.
If its a no-brand rubbish PSU though, get it out of there now.

Are you sure its not the DVD drive though?

[DougMcDonald]

Hmmm, ticking....it could just be a matter of time.

lol.

Did you pack this PC yourself? has anyone asked you to put anything on board? Has anyone interfeared with your PC since you packed it?

[Skeet]

lol.

Did you pack this PC yourself? has anyone asked you to put anything on board? Has anyone interfeared with your PC since you packed it?

Well...I met these two boys in the Computer shop...and they asked if I could take the power supply to London, but I decided to keep it for myself...nice blokes, not geeky at all, infact they had some kind of bandana on, so obviously, very "street".

It just seems odd, that I had not run a DVD before and as soon as I did, tick, tick, tick and so on and so forth...

Its a Hiper 580W R Type jobbie...so, no not a Corsair or Galaxy etc, but a good £50-60 worth of PSU.

I did wonder, if I maybe overloading that particular power connector, as it is running the DVD RW and HDD and possibly a fan or something as well...but, thought it unlikely.

I might get another mains conditioner/RF filter multiway (Tacima £35, well worth it, I do have better ones on my HT though!), see if that makes any difference.

[Thorsson]

Hiper?? Oh dear. Thar she blows....

[Skeet]

Hiper?? Oh dear. Thar she blows....

NO..one of the new ones, not the old ****e ones.
I have monitored teh voltages with ASUS Probe and it seems very stable.

[Clunk]

Unfortunately, Hiper PSUs are just poor quality PSUs in blingy casings.

You may get years of good service from one, but if you are one of the many unlucky ones, you could well find out that it dies and takes some of the other stuff with it.

You can put a Pig in a dress, but it's still a pig.

[Skeet]

Unfortunately, Hiper PSUs are just poor quality PSUs in blingy casings.

You may get years of good service from one, but if you are one of the many unlucky ones, you could well find out that it dies and takes some of the other stuff with it.

You can put a Pig in a dress, but it's still a pig.

I see..so..if I give Overclockers a ring and tell them that they were out of order to say that the PSU would be suitable (I did phone and ask) and everyone thinks they are pants and likely to fry my whole system...reckon they will take it back?

What would you recommend in that £50-60 price range and 580W output?

EDITED: Bought from OCuk as SCAN were out of stock.

[Spud1]

Stopped the DVD, noise stopped, re started it...noise back.

That sounds like the answer to me...if the noise is only present when your playing a DVD then its more than likely to be the DVD drive or DVD thats the problem. Now if the noise was there all the time then I would suggest its the PSU - but its not, is it?

Also in the unlikely event that it is your PSU and not the drive/disc, its far more likely to be a fan in the PSU thats having issues, rather than arcing or similar..

Just test things logically and methodically, from what you have said though I would put money on it being the DVD drive or disc at fault here.

[Skeet]

That sounds like the answer to me...if the noise is only present when your playing a DVD then its more than likely to be the DVD drive or DVD thats the problem. Now if the noise was there all the time then I would suggest its the PSU - but its not, is it?

Also in the unlikely event that it is your PSU and not the drive/disc, its far more likely to be a fan in the PSU thats having issues, rather than arcing or similar..

Just test things logically and methodically, from what you have said though I would put money on it being the DVD drive or disc at fault here.

Yeah...I mean, I know sound travels...but I literally had my ear to the PSU area generally rear of the case and it was most obvious in this area.

But...I shall try some other DVD's and see what occurs...never noticed it with game discs or any other disc...very odd.

Of course, now..after so much slating of my power supply...I am trying to find reviews of it..sadly, the only one I can find is in German, but Google translate, suggests that they rate it as not bad at all..obviously not in the same league as more illustrious names, but not a bad egg.

3 Year warranty...wonder if that covers frying my system...hmm...

[GAteKeeper]

You would smell arcing, it produces ozone that has a very particular smell.

I would also suspect the DVD as well, alot of drvies have a special section in their firmware for DVD Videos to stop them spinning up to fast, that may cause it to 'tick'.

GK

[Clunk]

I see..so..if I give SCAN a ring and tell them that they were out of order to say that the PSU would be suitable (I did phone and ask) and everyone thinks they are pants and likely to fry my whole system...reckon they will take it back?

What would you recommend in that £50-60 price range and 580W output?

They wont, unless it actually goes faulty.

Do you need it to be modular?

[Agent]

Even the old Hipers got brilliant reviews though, it was just that they failed.
Quality wise, they really aint bad, provided thats been sorted

[Skeet]

They wont, unless it actually goes faulty.

Do you need it to be modular?

Mine isn't modular...its not the Blue ones with modular connections, its black..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=123&subcat=

Well...having little experience...I can't discern if modular is a requirement...I should think it would be tidier, but...mine isnt untidy.

EDIT: LOL! Asus Probe, just started it up..told me my CPU was running at 230 Degrees! Raised my eyebrows for a moment...CoreTemp tells a different, less sphincter clenching, story.

[DougMcDonald]

I've got the 580w hiper thingy, modular one, haven't had any issues (yet (2yrs so far))

It does make a little tick when powering on but i figure that's normal(ish)

I do reackon its causing my gfx card to revert to 1x pci when i push the fsb above 360 though. <= 360 runs at 16x fine, 361 it drops to 1x. Clunk suggested pushing the frequency up but this doesnt seem to help