Noisy CX-M 450: Corsair did you really build it this way?

Just built a cube PC using the Corsair CX-M 450. Several times over two days there was this very obnoxious vibration noise that would last for several minutes and then go away. I was assuming it was caused by bad fan bearings. This was a new PSU but we all know sometimes things are bad out of the box. But I decided not to do an RMA since it would cost me pretty near what I paid for the thing after the rebate to ship it one way back to NewEgg or to Corsair and, instead, replace the fan myself. Not much to lose and I would be back up and running without any RMA turn around time.

Boy was I surprised when I opened the thing up! Corsair had installed a clear plastic "T" shaped deflector of some kind on the exhaust side of the fan frame. It was blocking almost half of the outflow. I'm sure it was causing the vibration noise, acting like a musical instrument reed at certain fan RPMs.

Now I have opened many a PSU and never seen anything like this. I removed the plastic peace and reinstalled the PSU. There seems to be more air flow now out the back of the PSU than before and definitely quieter, at this point anyway. I'll leave it to run overnight to make sure the noise doesn't return.

If nothing else, you would think this plastic cover on the fan would reduce PSU internal cooling.

Well, I was wrong. Still makes the vibration noise. Fan bearings must be bad after all. I'll replace the fan.

Usually it's the fan. I had couple of units at work from various Corsair series with faulty fans but I guess it's not brand related.

I have seen such a plastic piece like this before on a couple of PSUs. Typically it is put there to make sure air flows in a particular direction/across certain components.

Like a car's radiator shroud.

EarthDog said:

I have seen such a plastic piece like this before on a couple of PSUs. Typically it is put there to make sure air flows in a particular direction/across certain components.

Click to expand...

This.

Replacing the fan seems to have gotten rid of the noise. I put in a nice Cougar fan with a hydro bearing of about the same rotational speed. It was just a matter of doing a little soldering as the stock fan had a two pin connector. It's very quiet.

And I was just looking at this PSU to replace my EVGA 500B. When I saw the title I thought it was going to be something about the unit exploding due to faulty building quality but. Just a fan doesn't seem so bad...

Fans die. It happens. The plastic part is supposed to be there. This wouldn't scare me away from buying it.

Seriously - I'd put the airflow director back in there - it was there for a good reason. That reason being to prevent hotspots inside the unit from destroying the unit.