Testing Your PSU Rails

[Zaphodicus]

Completely stable ..

thanks

[Zaphodicus]

Originally Posted by TheCleaner

Zaphodicus, your rails are well within spec, and aint fluctuating much, so i cant see it being a PSU problem.. but, what are the rails like between idle and heavy load.

they are completely stable at all times including highest load I can supply

thanks

[Zaphodicus]

well .. placing an S3 card is has proved i need a new AGP card .. the S3 cards I tried (3 in all) would blue screen and dump on shutdown .. I then went to replace the AGP card and it no longer works .. so there yas go .. I'm typing this in 640 *480 16 colours .. .. theres a cheap ATI card at my local dealer and it will let me use the 8* AGP capabilities of this board .. so lets hope for no more problems ..
thanks guys

[jumanji969]

Wow, that guide is so amazingly helpful. I really needed something idiot proof like that to get me into measuring the voltages and such. Great guide.

[Zaphodicus]

Originally Posted by TheCleaner

Zaphodicus, your rails are well within spec, and aint fluctuating much, so i cant see it being a PSU problem.. but, what are the rails like between idle and heavy load.

Thanks for your help people ... the system was still awful even after using the S3 card and uninstalling al previous nvidia drivers ... zero'd the drive again while still running the S3 card and upon getting things up I find its all stable.. am now using the $80 (Australian$.. and that pretty cheap) Gigabyte Radeon 9200se 128 meg 64 bit yada yada..and all seems Ok.. so it was niether the card or the PSU .. as far as I can tell anyway... ....will slowly install my stuff and watch to see if the problem reacures ..

I'll post again if I start having probs

[WordFaith]

good thread
someone mentioned that it all could be summed up in 10 words... well it can but expanding and adding pictures makes it much more user friendly.

I just tried my rails and am pleased to say that software was reading low on mine also.

[webstien]

My voltmeter says my 12 volt fluctuates A LOT.

From 11.76 to 11.93 volts.

Whereas my 3.3 is solid @ 3.35Volts
and my 5 volts is 4.93-5.08volts.

Does the voltage on the highend powersupplies stay constant or fluctuate like this also?

This is a cheap case power supply and it only has 12Amps on the 12volts, isnt that horrible if i want to overclock?
Should i switch out this piece of junk?

[Transnone13]

No, high quality Psus pretty much don't budge. Mine doesn't . Your's is prolly 5%-10% flux vs mine which is 1%. I''ve used a multimeter and llike I said, they don't budge.

BUT it is average to have the 5v and 12v rails fluxuatue more than the 3.3v; especially when they're adjusted using the same pot.

Originally Posted by TransNone13

11.87 actual = 12.15
4.98 actual = 5.15
3.28 actual = 3.35

[webstien]

interesting, this may be what has been causing me troubles with this computer ...

[Transnone13]

I doubt it's that simple. But your 12v isn't too hot.

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by webstien

My voltmeter says my 12 volt fluctuates A LOT.

From 11.76 to 11.93 volts.

Whereas my 3.3 is solid @ 3.35Volts
and my 5 volts is 4.93-5.08volts.

Does the voltage on the highend powersupplies stay constant or fluctuate like this also?

This is a cheap case power supply and it only has 12Amps on the 12volts, isnt that horrible if i want to overclock?
Should i switch out this piece of junk?

Check the guide, it's time to upgrade.

[Shyfty]

Thecleaner thanks for the descriptive guide...I am quite new to all this, but having fun learning. My overclocking has not been as productive as I had originally hoped and several people suggested that my stock PSU may be part of the cause. Could you look at the attached screen shot and tell me what you think? Do I need another PSU? Please say yes I want to buy something!
Thanks,
T.

[Susquehannock]

Is that correct? Says your CPU temp is -48c.

[D_unruled]

so em, whats the AUX for?

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by Shyfty

Thecleaner thanks for the descriptive guide...I am quite new to all this, but having fun learning. My overclocking has not been as productive as I had originally hoped and several people suggested that my stock PSU may be part of the cause. Could you look at the attached screen shot and tell me what you think? Do I need another PSU? Please say yes I want to buy something!
Thanks,
T.

By all means buy something! As according to these, you can take the money you were saving for a new PS & use it for Christmas gifts for your GF or whatever.

[Shyfty]

So you dont think I have any PSU problems? Sorry, I wish I was confident enough to make this assessment myself...Looks pretty stable? I was a little concerned about my 12v rail fluctuations and my 5v rail sits above the recommended voltage.

Noone can tell me how to reset my winbond sensor for the CPU...no it is not that cool..pretty good though..check out the ASUS Probe thumbnail in my post above!

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by Shyfty

So you dont think I have any PSU problems? Sorry, I wish I was confident enough to make this assessment myself...Looks pretty stable? I was a little concerned about my 12v rail fluctuations and my 5v rail sits above the recommended voltage.

Noone can tell me how to reset my winbond sensor for the CPU...no it is not that cool..pretty good though..check out the ASUS Probe thumbnail in my post above!

Only way to be sure, check with multimeter at idle & at load.

[TheCleaner]

where you say actual.. is that the reading with a multimeter?, if thats the case, those rails arnt 'terrible' as such, but they are overvolting, which is better than undervolting in most cases, but can reduce life of components.

I recommend getting your eye on a specific 'good' PSU, then bargain hunting for the best price.. check davids thread

also, can you list the amp ratings for each rail on that psu

btw, to stop that MBM5 saying -48c.. go to settings>temperatures

then in the first dropdown box, select cpu, the in the one under it, test all the different winbond sensor, by choosing one, clicking apply, then looking at the new CPU temp on the dashboard. You will know when its the right one because temps will be in 30-50 range

[Shyfty]

Thank you so much!!! I will let you know how it turns out this evening!!! This overvolting problem is likely why I have a high vcore reading in my software... yes actual= multimeter testing.

How can I test my Vcore reading with a voltmeter??

[TheCleaner]

i think its different for every board, so i doubt theres a specific way, maybe go to the mobo volt mods section.. theyl probs know

here
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...play.php?f=216