12V Rail on my PSU

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Bullseye_blam

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 6, 2001
Messages
215
The 12V rail on my PSU (an Enermax EG465p-VE 431 Watt) runs a little low when the system is under full load. The 12V rail is rated for 20 Amps. Under load, it runs consistently at 11.92V, sometimes dipping as low as 11.86V according to MBM. This isn't very low, true, but I have seen it dip lower, particularly when I overclock my machine even more (it's currently a 2.4C @ 3.3Ghz, using 1.5500 vcore).

There's nothing I can do to help this, is there? It seems that this might affect further overclocking, and I imagine that raising the vcore will only make the problem worse.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated. :)
 
Theres nothing really you can do about it. Those kinds of dips aren't real bad. The Pentium 4's draw their power off the 12v line and so do the hard drives and optical drives and case fans and other things so its pretty taxing on it. The only thing you could do is buy a new PSU but i wouldn't recommend that unless your system is crashing on you because of the PSU.
 
Check your 12v line with a real multimeter.

The voltage monitoring hardware on mobos is never right on. Its great at showing relative changes in voltage, but it rarely ever gives the exact voltage.

But anyways, if that was the real reading its within spec. Unless it starts to dip to 11.6 or lower don't worry about it.
 
A .05v fluctuation isn't much to worry about, I get concerned when it goes over .1v fluctuation.....
 
stevewm nailed it. Grab a multimeter and ck the yellow to ground on a spare molex and see what the voltage really is. BIOS voltage readings can be inaccurate. Even if your voltages are as you indicated, I would not worry as they are within tolerance. When you rig starts to flake out on you, thats when you worry.
 
Originally posted by punisher
stevewm nailed it. Grab a multimeter and ck the yellow to ground on a spare molex and see what the voltage really is. BIOS voltage readings can be inaccurate. Even if your voltages are as you indicated, I would not worry as they are within tolerance. When you rig starts to flake out on you, thats when you worry.
Click to expand...

Quite honestly, I wouldn't use the flake out measure to determine whether or not its time for a new power supply- generally, by the time a computer reaches that point, long term damage has likely occurred in many of the components due to fluctuating voltages and out of spec voltages. I have seen many a systems running an old POS Deer that delivered a 13v to the 12v line, and the system would run for a year or two, until the caps on the mobo exploded, torched the power regulators, and b0rk the HDD's ina single instant.

Improper voltage is the precondition to a system issue, and if it is nipped in the bud, no problems will ever occur.

Anyhow, obtain the multimeter and test- I would consider a 5% tolerance my max, with no more than .1v fluctuation when loaded or unloaded (watch themulti meter at idle and under load)
 
you could mod the 12v rail on the PSU to give it more true power.
 
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