Motherboard or PSU clicking (capacitor?)

[Digerati]

Either way it was that stupid cheap PSU!

Yeah, it often is.

And honestly it was only giving me around 450W on average at load, and if you add up the wattage req. of my system it comes right at 500, so who knows if my GTX 460 was getting all the juice it needed to run at full tilt

Full tilt is the key phrase here. Those should be rare occurrences, but when the demand is there, all devices have to pull their weight.

But look at it this way, now you have spare supply to test fans.

 

[MindoverMaster]

But look at it this way, now you have spare supply to test fans.

True dat. I have a flimsy little MaxPower 300W that use to test fans and old HDDs to hear if they spin up. Just need to jump 2 cables, and you can power it on by the switch in back. Need to jump the green and any black cable.

 

[Digerati]

Need to jump the green and any black cable.

There is no color coding standard. Unfortunately, the ATX Form Factor Standard for PSUs only "recommends" - it does not require. And sadly, not all PSU makers follow the recommendations. So you cannot go by color, you have to go by pin number, which is standardized, or use a tester, such as the FrozenCPU Ultimate PSU Tester. These testers, while not conclusive, are handy to keep on hand to verify if PSU voltages are present or not and you don't have to fumble with shorting pins (or accidentally shorting the wrong pins) when testing fans and drives.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Or just get something like this:

NEW 24-pin Power Supply Jump Start Connector

 

[Digerati]

Yeah! That would work to ensure the correct pins were shorted. But I like the warm fuzzy the tester gives me that all my voltages are there, and with that FrozenPC model, within tolerances too (although it does not measure ripple or other anomalies). But also, these testers have an integrated 10Ω "dummy" load which is better for the PSU, even though it is not a "realistic" load. Thus it keeps a load on the supply for a more accurate measurement, and it provide a safer method of measuring live voltages than using a multimeter.

Now whether the cost is worth the investment in a tester or not I guess depends on how often you need a warm fuzzy a PSU is working. I keep a tester in my toolbag in the truck.