Ode to the Corsair 950TX.

[Zoson]

I bought this PSU after my two Silverstone 1000W PSUs died(which, seriously, were the worst psu's I've ever owned). I want to say that was about 4 years ago.

This past weekend I noticed that the voltages on my 950TX are really starting to go.
Here we see a test with my old i7 970 beasting out at 4.4GHz:

12v rail has a minimum of 12.04v
5v rail has a minimum of 4.97v
3.3 rail has a minimum of 3.26v

All well within tolerances.

Now, here is a shot of my 990x beasting out at 4.6GHz:

12v rail drooping down to 11.877v
5v rail drooping down to 4.872v
3.3v rail drooping down to 3.040v

Ouch.

While the 12v and 5v rails are not out of spec yet, my 3.3v rail is already out of spec at 3.040v.

On that note, does anyone know of a good 1000W PSU that fits within: 5.9" x 5.51" x 3.34" ? Preferably modular? I've got a Seasonic X1250W but it's just too damn big.

Edit: Dug up my invoice and learned that it's only 4 years old (purchased 11/4/2010) and realized i misread my own voltage shot and it's already out of spec. I've opened a ticket with corsair since this thing has a 5 year warranty. I wonder if they have any replacements, or what they'll give me as a replacement.

 

[vick1000]

Could be the motherboard too. A new PSU would tell you though.

Are you sure about those measurements?

 

[Zoson]

Could be the motherboard too. A new PSU would tell you though.

Are you sure about those measurements?

Measurements are good. Here's all the exact same components(except gpus were 2x568ti448's instead of 2x770's) on my Seasonic X1250 that I no longer have room for:

 

[Jorona]

Mobo voltage readings are rarely accurate. I'd check it with a meter.

 

[Zoson]

Mobo voltage readings are rarely accurate. I'd check it with a meter.

I have a R3E and I have tested with DMM. The values expressed by HWMonitor are +-1% of actual DMM. Which is one of the reasons why you pay $400 for a motherboard of this quality.

Not to mention you can see the very clear difference between the old and new shots on the same hardware. Regardless of how inaccurate they are, there's a drop from 3.26v minimum measured to 3.040v minimum, which is ~7% difference.

 

[GonzoP]

Yikes now you got me worried. I have the same 11.877 for my 12V and 4.896 for my 5v, my 3.3 is 3.280 which is fine. Hmmm, if you're worried I guess I should be too. I've got the HX850 but was thinking of adding another 7970 or 280X here soon. I'd prefer not to have to get a new PSU. But I will if I have to as assuredly the second video card will tax my PSU even more.
My 12V and 5V are constant according to HWM; which is to say the current, min and max don't change. Assuming the numbers are accurate 11.877 is essentially 1% off of 12V and 4.896 is essentially 2% off. The 5v though a bigger gap is less concerning to me as the 12V as that's the line for cpu and gpu of course. I suppose I could add the second card and see if I dip below 11.7 as that would mandate a different PSU.
Zoson just to be clear is your main concern the relatively low values or the fluctuation especially on your 3.3?

 

[Zoson]

The only value that's out of spec is my 3.3v. The reason why I'm worried about that is the 3.3v rail supplies power to the northbridge, southbridge, and DRAM on a Rampage 3 Extreme. So low 3.3v can cause instability.

Your voltages are fine and I wouldn't worry at all until after you change/add gpus, and even then I'd just check to make sure they're still in spec. +-5% is the actual ATX spec, so for 12v you can droop to 11.4v before you're out of spec, 5v you can droop to 4.75, and 3.3v is 3.135v.

I wouldn't have posted this if my voltages looked like yours.

 

[GonzoP]

The only value that's out of spec is my 3.3v. The reason why I'm worried about that is the 3.3v rail supplies power to the northbridge, southbridge, and DRAM on a Rampage 3 Extreme. So low 3.3v can cause instability.

Your voltages are fine and I wouldn't worry at all until after you change/add gpus, and even then I'd just check to make sure they're still in spec. +-5% is the actual ATX spec, so for 12v you can droop to 11.4v before you're out of spec, 5v you can droop to 4.75, and 3.3v is 3.135v.

I wouldn't have posted this if my voltages looked like yours.

OK good to know, for some reason I thought it was 3% which is why I was thinking 11.7 was the yellow flag zone on the 12V, sounds like I'm OK for now.
Good luck with the PSU warranty thing.

 

[Zoson]

new supply volts are good, yay.