Guide for Selecting a Power Supply

[banzaigtv]

I just found out that there is a known issue with Corsair HX650s making chirping sounds. Is there a different power supply that you would recommend for my HPE-580t? Will the HX750 work?

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

There is no known chirpings sounds with the Corsair HX650s that I have used.  I have two of them and have moved them between different PCs without issue.

[banzaigtv]

It seems to be an issue with more recent ones. Are yours at least a year old?

[Big_Dave]

Mine are in the two year old range.

[banzaigtv]

Is yours the bronze edition? Because I have read that the issue is perhaps just in the gold edition.

Also, how can I tell the difference between the bronze and gold editions? Is the gold edition the one without the extra text at the bottom of the large numbers? I need to know so that I can be sure that I am purchasing the bronze edition.

[Big_Dave]

I don't know for sure but I suspect it's the bronze model as it 82% efficient. I have the 7 year warranty.:smileyhappy:

[banzaigtv]

I compared the two versions and it appears that I have detected the version I need. The bronze edition is the one with the extra text banner below the numbers and it's the one pictured on the Best Buy website. When you mentioned that you have an older version, I figured out then that it's the bronze edition since the gold edition is the newer version and the one with the known issue. Thanks for your help in resolving this dilemma.

[CptStubing]

Dave_G and OCBeachbum:

I just finally had some time to install the HX650 today, and am happy to report it fired right up.  So, here's hoping this is the last time I have to muck around in this god-awful case of HP's.   This really is a nice quiet PSU too.

Just a quick recap for anyone who winds up on this thread with steam coming out of your ears after trying to replace a PSU on your HP with a Truckee motherboard....

My system is an HP e9820t with a Truckee rev1.04e motherboard.  The system came with a 460w model DPS-460DB-3 A, made by Delta Electronics.  After the fan in that PSU started failing, I tried replacing that PSU with a Thermaltake SP-750M and the machine fired up with power to the devices, but the motherboard was basically non-responsive to any of the onboard ports or PCI devices (no signal from my graphics card, keyboard caps/num/scroll lock not working, although all 3 flashed initially when powering on).

After reading this thread and confirming with people here, I felt pretty confident that this motherboard is pretty finicky in a way that it just won't work with most PSUs.  The one aftermarket PSU that is confirmed to work (and now I am adding my name to the list of confirmations) is the Corsair HX-650 psu BRONZE edition.  NOTE: Corsair released a revision to this PSU without changing the model number in 2012 -- it has different power output levels than the previous revision, and is now GOLD rated.  Of everyone here, it seems that nobody has tried using the GOLD version on this motherboard.  Also, you will find quite a bit of complaining online from people about the annoying chirping sound that the fan makes in this unit -- that's the GOLD one.  If you're going to buy a Corsair HX-650 to use on a Truckee motherboard, make sure you get the bronze edition, or beware that you're heading out into uncharted waters.  You can find exact details on how to tell the two revisions of the Corsair HX-650 in one of my previous posts in this thread.

One final note on the subject.  My electrial engineer friend has a theory as to what's happening here... PSUs have some overload protection circuitry that kicks in and steps down the power output if a device is drawing too much power from them.  When you press the power button and fire up the computer, the motherboard will have a quick spike in the load it's pulling from the PSU, which could be what's happening.  Further, motherboards also sometimes have a low power mode that they can switch in to where they might cut power to certain peripherals when they aren't getting enough wattage from the PSU.  So, his theory is that the mobo has a big spike when you turn it on, causing most PSUs to kick into protection mode and lower their output, then the motherboard itself kicks into low power mode.  It might just be the case that the threshold of the original Delta PSUs is higher than most to deal specifically with this motherboard, and it also might be the case that the Corsair HX-650 BRONZE just happens to have a similarly high threshold.

Anyhow, thanks again guys.  I'm happy to turn off the big vornado fan that I've had blowing into my open case for the past few weeks and button her up.

[Big_Dave]

Hi Cpt,

Nice write up.

Did you know that some of the higher efficiency PSUs actually shut off the fan to save power?

[banzaigtv]

On the HPE-580t, are there any other psus that will work on the motherboard? Apparently I'm having issues with the order I placed for the Corsair HX650 and there are no stores in my area that have it.