My power suply is about 3 years old, and its loud, i can hit it and it goes quite for about 5 seconds… Dust? fan need lube?
or just a new power suply?
safe to open?
Fan or loose connection.
The fan is easy to replace. Two or four screws to open the case and then typically four screws to remove the fan. You can usually find someone in town with stock on a replacement. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, take the old fan with you.
Chances are that the new fan you buy won’t have the same connector as the original. In this case, you could either;
1 Cut the old fan’s connector off and connect it to the new fan.
2 Run the new fan’s cable outside of the PS case.
Don’t go for option 1 if you don’t know how to properly connected the cables together. I’d suggest solder and shrink-wrap. A dead short in your power supply could spell disaster, but again, if I have to explain what a dead short is, maybe go for option 2, or read the next section.
However, after saying all that, you can get a BRAND NEW power supply for a reasonable price, which is always my favorite solution, cause if you get the right PS, it will be a lot quieter than repairing your old one.
[quote=“alistair”]The fan is easy to replace. Two or four screws to open the case and then typically four screws to remove the fan. You can usually find someone in town with stock on a replacement. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, take the old fan with you.
Chances are that the new fan you buy won’t have the same connector as the original. In this case, you could either;
1 Cut the old fan’s connector off and connect it to the new fan.
2 Run the new fan’s cable outside of the PS case.
Don’t go for option 1 if you don’t know how to properly connected the cables together. I’d suggest solder and shrink-wrap. A dead short in your power supply could spell disaster, but again, if I have to explain what a dead short is, maybe go for option 2, or read the next section.
However, after saying all that, you can get a BRAND NEW power supply for a reasonable price, which is always my favorite solution, cause if you get the right PS, it will be a lot quieter than repairing your old one.[/quote]
I think you have watched me do this to many times 
Don’t flatter yourself 
Funny thing is, I don’t think I’ve done one myself in over three years.
Solder? Shrink-wrap?
Replace whole power supply. Consume. Indulge. Spend.
The salesman who’s job you save may have lunch at Wendy’s and save your job too.
Trickledown Economics 101
either buy a new fan and clean out your powersupply or spend the 20-30 bucks on a new one.
I tell ya… a cheap power supply, isnt going to be very quite… and you can also expect the quality to be rather sub-par. Go on ncix, and look up a antec true power… They’re really quite, and have good clean power output.
I agree, You get what you pay for… Some times i go by weight. You get a light weight one its a pos cheap parts hardly any heat sinking. I see all these cheap ones and they last 2 months if that… Get a decent one… on the plus side of buying a good one you get proper regulated power to the main board. and your main board will not suffer from bad power.
haha, i totally don’t agree! usually you’re just paying for the brand name
i have always bought the welfarest of welfare power supplies, and they do just fine
my favorite example are those cheap discmans nowadays… they certainly don’t last as long, but when you’re paying 10 bucks a pop for them, you can break quite a few before equaling one decent one. and sometimes things happen that no discman is gonna survive, best have it happen to a cheap one
I’ve been using ones like this or simular. Good price and the big fan is quiet. I think I’ve used 6 or 7 without issue.