Low Voltage

[Rouen]

This needs a new thread because its a new topic now.

Can low voltage from a PSU damage RAM and/or a hard drive? To the point where it works, but is several times slower then its normal performance?

 

[FadingTheory]

Low voltage cannot damage RAM. However, it can cause the RAM to perform poorly. Performance should jump right back up after a voltage increase.

I may be wrong though...

 

[Rouen]

Well, my extremely poor system performance occured after my PSU went bad, the video card wouldn't function right, the screen was always distorted. And windows would take several minutes to load, as opposed to the usual 12 to 15 seconds from the time i hit the power to the time the desktop appears. The PSU was replaced, the video was ok. However, system performance has not changed. I believe low voltage damaged something in my computer. I need to figure out what it is.

 

[Wayniac]

In regards to RAM, no, I don't think low voltage can damage it. Your computer will just not be able to work like it should and you'll probably either get the blue screen of death, or your computer shuts down. Just up the voltage, and you'll be fine. Be careful not to up it too far though.

 

[Rouen]

I replaced the weak one, the Thermaltake Silent Power 420W with an Antec True Power 430 Watt. The voltage is much better and much more steady. However, even with this PSU, the performance has not changed. The question, why?

 

[Rouen]

Sorry for Double Post.

I know the CPU is getting plenty, I overclocked it from 3.0 to 3.3. However, system performance has not changed. I cannot multitask, I cannot run any other program when playing a game. The FPS is affected, by lagging on fixed intervals of a second and a half, FPS drops from 100 to 20. I also get errors that I ran out of Virtual memory. I think load times are slow because its data for RAM is going to the hard drive. Load times for web browsers like Firefox, AIM, and MSN, are very high, and I can only run one or two at once.

 

[Wayniac]

Did you overclock you said? When you do that you raise the FSB and also the RAM speed, correct? Your RAM might not be able to take it. If this is the case, you'll need to either loosen timings, resort to dividers, or don't overclock using the FSB.

 

[Rouen]

My Corsair can take any kind of overclocking, Corsair XMS 512MB DDR400, with timings of 2-3-3-6. How can I loosen the timings of my memory anyway?

EDIT: I know I can change the timings, but HOW should I? Make the timings longer or shorter? Some of them were like 8 clock cycles. I forget now, I'll have to write it down.

 

[Rouen]

Cas was 2.5
Ras was 4
Ras to Cas was 4
Recharge delay was 8
Burst Length was 8
I turned overclocking off. IT boosted FSB from 800 to 883, and CPU speed from 3.0 to 3.3 GHZ. I only have one stick of 512, so the overclock of the FSB wouldn't matter. Anyway, addition help is appreciated

 

[jolancer]

if you go to /controle panel/system/advance/performance settings/advanced/proccessor scheduel and mem usage - thy are both set to (programs) right? and Virtual mem is not disabled right?