Power supply noise and performance loss... Related?

[glenb83]

Currently my power supply fan has been making a humming/rattling (hard to explain) sound and when I give it a slight tap it stops but will start again a few minutes later. What could this be, and is it possible it could be contributing to a sudden drop in performance (the pc runs extremely slow and takes a long time to complete commands at times.) Also, if it is the power supply fan, is there something I can do to fix it or do I need to buy a new PSU?
Thanks.

[jcnoernberg]

I used to get this on a Compaq 1130NX, it seemed to be case resonance. You could always replace the fans, but you might want to just bite the bullet and buy a new power supply. I don't see how that would effect performance as you said though.