Voltage Ratings? too low? (nubius)

[ihavethenfs]

Well the 9600XT should have temp monitoring on it...so find out what your load temps on that are.


I'd check the RAM first with memtest86+ before you go and swap out power supplies

If the RAM isn't at fault then yeah it probably is the power supply, but to get an idea what are your voltages?

Get a program like SiSoftware Sandra, or motherboard monitor 5 and find out what your +12v, +3.3v, and +5v rail is running at.

If it shows the +12v rail at like 11.54 then yeah your PSU is getting way too taxed for it to be able to handle what you're doing.

My voltages are runnin as follows. I used speed fan to check them
the +12v rail is running consitantly betwen 11.59-11.70. the +5v is running at 5.11 and the +3.3v is running at 3.31. Is it time for a new psu?

 

[Nubius]

Hmm, well when it gets down to 11.59 it's getting used a good amount. Have you ran a program like Prime95 to see what that +12v line drops down to during intense usage? My old PSU would get down to 11.54 and I really hadn't experience problems, BUT at that particular time I wasn't overclocking or doing anything strenous. As soon as I got this thermaltake 560w PSU my +12v rail stays around +12v only dropping to line 11.96

What kind of problems did you say you were having again BTW?

the +5v and +3.3v rails look fine.

 

[lokivn]

I don't trust MBM or Speedfan for logging voltages. I put in a 300w temp power supply to test against my 430w normal one and logged the same 6.85v (5v) and 11.5ish (12v).

The EXACT same numbers.... permanently. Yeah.

 

[Nubius]

Yeah that's why I generally double check em with my BIOS

 

[ihavethenfs]

the problem was with my computer rebooting its self when i would be playing games, I figured out it wasnt a heating issue but buying a aerogate II. You asked me to check my voltages because you suspected a unstable psu. those #'s were at system idle, im assuming under load those #'s will drop as different things need more power...It is a 450W power supply but its a no name so it could be its just not putting out enough power. Im not overclocking or anything.

 

[Nubius]

Ahh aright.

Well you should run prime95 and watch the +12v rail in particular to see if it takes a dive. It does indeed sound like a PSU problem.

Is there a sticker on the PSU that has the ratings of each rail? +12v - 15a is what it'd look like, not necessarily 15 though

 

[ihavethenfs]

k just pulled the psu out and heres the specs...its a 480w (i thought it was a 450)

Demon 480W ATX switching power supply
AC INPUT: 115v/230v 10A/6A 60/50Hz

DC OUTPUT: +3.3v +5v +12v -12V -5v +5vsb

MAX COMBINED 28A 38A 17A .8A .5A 2A
WATTS


its all gibberish to me :-/

I downloaded prime 95 but realy have no clue how to use it :-/ mb ill find a tutorial on their site.

 

[Nubius]

You should simply install it like any other program and when it asks you to join GIMPS DO NOT select that, simply choose 'Just stress testing'

With the program open choose:

Options>Torture Test> Large in place FFT's for maximum CPU usage.

You have a rating of 17a on the +12v rail which really isn't that great so I can easily see why your computer would tax it beyond it's capabilities.

 

[ihavethenfs]

alrite well i ran it and BAM had an error within 5 mins...

[Fri Jan 28 23:22:47 2005]
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.


now i have no idea what that means, and they dont have any "index" or such to look up the error. Mb thats english to you

 

[Nubius]

Yeah that means your system isn't stable. And you said your CPU isn't being overclocked so it shouldn't be a matter of needed vcore or anything.

Have you overclocked it at one point or another and didn't change everything back to complete stock settings including Vcore?

You get that error on that specific test when your CPU is undervolted and simply put not stable...so if your CPU is running stock speed and voltages, then yes your PSU is definitely lookin to be the problem.