PSU Guide

[georges]

hey.. 11.92 on the 12v line

 

[panchoman]

thats normal, you want to stay between 11.5-12.5. though under 11.8, no me gusta lol. your psu has sufficent power to serve your systems. the rest of the leads are normal right?

 

[patton45]

is there a program to monitor the total draw from the power supply ie what the cpu mobo and gpu are using. i have speed fan but i am not trusting the draws im seeing cause there toatly different from what my bios says plus i am no longer able to load speed fan it freezes my cpu lol

 

[keakar]

is there a program to monitor the total draw from the power supply ie what the cpu mobo and gpu are using. i have speed fan but i am not trusting the draws im seeing cause there toatly different from what my bios says plus i am no longer able to load speed fan it freezes my cpu lol

most times your motherboard maker has its own hardware monitor program you can download from their site. i find they are usually the most accurate monitor programs.

 

[patton45]

ya they just dont offer the total draw figures on them im trying to find the total psu draw espically on some of my dell psuthe only thins most monitoring tools offer is the 12v 5v rails cpu and other such things

 

[KennyT772]

most times your motherboard maker has its own hardware monitor program you can download from their site. i find they are usually the most accurate monitor programs.

Motherboard sensors are usually not accurate when compared to a digital multimeter. That is the true measuring stick.

ATX12V spec states the regulation for +12v is +/- 5% or .6V 11.4-12.6 is within spec.
Personally I like to stay above 11.9 and below 12.4. Overvolting is the lesser of the two evils as the power is generally a little dirtier than pure perfect 12.0 (dirty power = noise or small consistant or random changes in voltage). Undervolting is will create more problems as suddenly the device has less power available, creating instability.
HardOCP.com has a good write up about power and various effects each aspect has on your hardware.

 

[patton45]

ok so ive checked my 500 watt neo he on two dfi mobos same results 3.2v 4.75v 11.83v 4.89v so somehow i have totally jacked up this psu must have overloaded it. so anyhow its to the rma bin (so much stuff to rma) i have always loved antec im not sure if im at fault or a bad unit im thinkin of pc p&c like the quad sli sliencer.. any other suggestions nhow are the new ultras or ocz

SO MUCH FOR 80+% efficency certified

 

[Wile E]

ok so ive checked my 500 watt neo he on two dfi mobos same results 3.2v 4.75v 11.83v 4.89v so somehow i have totally jacked up this psu must have overloaded it. so anyhow its to the rma bin (so much stuff to rma) i have always loved antec im not sure if im at fault or a bad unit im thinkin of pc p&c like the quad sli sliencer.. any other suggestions nhow are the new ultras or ocz

SO MUCH FOR 80+% efficency certified

My psu reads 11.6v in software, but reads 12.0-12.1 with the multi-meter, I also have a DFI mobo. I think you need to check with a multi-meter.

 

[keakar]

My psu reads 11.6v in software, but reads 12.0-12.1 with the multi-meter, I also have a DFI mobo. I think you need to check with a multi-meter.

i agree with Wile E, if you are looking to "check" voltages then it must be done with a multi meter to get accurate readings. the software monitor readings are done by the system and going through the board, they often experience voltage drops of as much as 10% or more when showing these readings so you must understand there is a fudge factor in there, they dont show the true accurate output of the psu just a close representation of it.

earlier you asked for a program to "monitor" them so that is why i recommended the mobo site hardware monitor. monitors are for monitoring, keeping an eye on things in case of "changes" that might happen, they are usually close to being accurate but not enough to use for diagnosing problems. only look at them as rough estimates not as accurate voltage readings.

also keep in mind a weak psu will experience voltage drop under load so it is important to take readings while under loaded conditions (the psu not you lol) if you suspect a weak psu.

 

[KennyT772]

Keakar not all psu's undervolt during stressing. Some keep the same voltage but the power becomes dirty (lots of ripple), and some overvolt.

Also, why not put the links in your sig into just linked text. Heres the code

[url=http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=42853]Guide to proper case airflow design[/url]
[url=http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=41238]Guide To Cleaning The Dust From Your PC[/url]
[url=http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=40319]Guide to building a computer desk for under $50[/url]
[url=http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=30165]Guide to computer assembly and troubleshooting[/url]

 

[keakar]

Keakar not all psu's undervolt during stressing. Some keep the same voltage but the power becomes dirty (lots of ripple), and some overvolt.

if you look again you will see i said a "weak" psu will undervolt during stressing not a normal one.

 

[KennyT772]

Again that is not always the case. All units perform differently man. Some units loose voltage, others do the opposite. Either way the rarest is that the unit will produce right around 12v, but with large amounts of ripple. Ripple is the one thing that always increases with load.

 

[panchoman]

most times your motherboard maker has its own hardware monitor program you can download from their site. i find they are usually the most accurate monitor programs.

ditto. i love the biostar utilities

 

[panchoman]

hey keakar, kenny and wile e, got a psu question for all you psu guys.
have owned 2 psus so far, antec smartpower 550, one thing i noticed was that it stored enough power within it to power my system for about 5 seconds, like my cpu fan could do atleast maybe 100 rotations with the power stored in it. now that POS fried my hdd, got it rmaed, antec discontinued it long back and gave me a neo he 550 with pfc. now this thing doesn't store any voltage, system wont get any power from it. the only big difference between the 2 psu's was that the neohe has active pfc and the the smart power did not have any pfc. would i be right in concluding that active pfc is the cause of this?

 

[georges]

i think something is up

what's up guys.... the saga continues...
while multitasking, my vcore A which i presume is the CPU which is supposed to be at 1.4 is hopping between 1.45 and 1.51, on top of that the 12v is going from 11.97 to 11.79, is this s a prob??

 

[patton45]

ok so ive used a volt meter and im almost the same exact reading as my mobos tell me. and i know my volt meter is good so im ordering a new psu and rma the current one. cpu-id is tellin my the core is movin by .05 which is more movement than i normally see i mean a few thousandth of a volt is one thing but 5 hundreths is that normal for a core?

 

[panchoman]

11.79 is a little low, but still livable, you're fine till 11.5. its going to hope a little as cool n quiet kicks out and your cpu goes under load and draws more power.

 

[panchoman]

ok so ive used a volt meter and im almost the same exact reading as my mobos tell me. and i know my volt meter is good so im ordering a new psu and rma the current one. cpu-id is tellin my the core is movin by .05 which is more movement than i normally see i mean a few thousandth of a volt is one thing but 5 hundreths is that normal for a core?

well its going to draw more power when its under load and especcially cool and quiet kicking in and out causes a big jump in voltages. its normal i think. what are your voltages?

 

[patton45]

cool and quite lol do you guys actually use that? i dont i never do. my k8v se delux has a turbo option and it oc the proc automaticaly but its the only comp i use it on. my volts on this psu are 3.21 4.76 11.84 4.85

at least they are constant i have the pc under 100% load for 1 hour and am seeing more stable volts still low psu volts i think the thing is just worn from overloading it for a few years its 2 years old and its kept the proc over clocked with sli 7900gtx ram and ht oc too then once i put the 8800 on it seemed to really strain ive since swaped back to single 7900gtx the system is stable but it goes unstable as soon as i go to8800 or sli

 

[panchoman]

i never used it and dont plan to, my cpu's always at 100% oced at ~2900 50% single core fah client 50% gpu client.

 

[patton45]

do you game much or just f@h
i want to set up a gpu client but i am still hoping for 2900 or 8800 support

 

[panchoman]

8800 support, not going to happen. 2xxx series? next gpu client that comes out is going to support the hd2k series. im a light gamer, get around to playing maybe 1 round of age of empires a week. do some oblivion and stuff over the summer though.

 

[georges]

thanks for the help

thanks for the help, i called e-power and when i gave em the specs for my system, he actually recommended a 650-700w power supply. And the turbo fan switch is supposed to increase th voltage to the 2 fan wires that connect to the case fans. the fact that the switch was not responding meant either the PSU was faulty or the load on it was too much for it to operate normally. Anyway, they asked Newegg to refund it free of charge. I am getting the 700 tonight i will let u know... thanks for the all the help.

 

[panchoman]

getting another e-ower georges?

 

[toxicity1234]

wow this is an amazing write up. thx for the information