there's something wrong with the 3.3 Volt line on my mobo and i dont know what

[LoTeX]

I would recommend at least a 400watt or higher PSU for any Athon XP based system.

really? damn. I tried to search amd site for any information about xps power requirement but couldnt find any. and what about that GF4 Ti? it'll prolly need some power as well.

 

[Rey_Nemaattori]

if you want to reduce load disconnect some devices like your cd-rom or floppy. i think you should also take off the side panel and keep it off to improve airflow. heat is just as bad as higher load, and could be the problem.

It's better to insert more fans. Opening the case makes it vulnerable to dust etc. And often it increases the noise level.
Couple of fans running @ 5-7v at proper places make a lot of difference...

really? damn. I tried to search amd site for any information about xps power requirement but couldnt find any. and what about that GF4 Ti? it'll prolly need some power as well.

Check my sigh, i'm running all that + 4 HDD's(all 7200 rpm's) with a cheapass 350 Watt PSU. I'm not really having troubles with power drops. Actually, i just noticed my 12V 3,3V and 5Vsb line are slightly overpowered...

I think it depends on the quality of your PSU.

 

[buckman341]

yeah well as far as i knew antec was pretty high quality. especially the true power which has independent power lines.

i dropped the CPU clock down to 1500 Mhz from 2000 Mhz and it didn't really make any difference.

does anyone know what runs off the 3.3V volt line from the PS? what hardware in particular?

 

[Cappy]

Yea im totally satisfied with the Enermax PS .My voltage never drops below 3.3920

 

[buckman341]

Drawing too much power from the 5v line with devices such as CD burners, CDRW, DVD and other drives can reduce the output of the 3.3v line below what is needed for devices on the motherboard.

thanks for the info.

as i understood the "true power" line of antec PSUs you aren't supposed to run into that problem. since the power lines are independent of each other, drawing too much off of one wouldn't affect the other lines. that was a major selling point for the product anyways

thats why i was thinking maybe just that one power line is wearing out, or is damaged. the other ones, 12v and 5v are still perfect.

anyways thanks again. as soon as i get the cash i'll probably upgrade to a 450 or 500 watt PSU.

 

[maudie]

Hi,

I have to say this, even if I am a year behind the thread:

My 3.3 V rail had suddenly started to hover around 3.002 V, even going down as far as 2.96 V according to ASUS Probe.

It was the only problem. 5 V was very close to 5 V (and exActly 5 V when CPU usage was ~100% !), 12 & vcore also 11.9 / 1.74

The upshot is:

The advice to clean the motherboard is GOOD ADVICE. TRY IT FIRST.

I cleaned out my machine with a paint brush and some good ol' lung air (cough cough). I even cleaned inside the PSU.

Well, when I powered back on, the 3.3 V rail was reading 3.232!

I must have got rid of some volt-sucking dust somewhere. (and the case was not even as dusty this time as I have seen it before)

So, I say it (shout it) again: CLEAN YOUR CASE OUT FIRST, then decide whether you need a new PSU !

Edit: Oh yeah, after cleaning, 12V=12.4, vcore=1.74-1.75, so these also rose a bit. 5 V still hanging around 4.8 when idle.