voltage on +12V rail is too high?

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scottmso

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
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I recently put together a system with a (cheapo) ECS 945GCT-M/1333 mobo, Intel C2D E7200, GeForce 8800GS, and a 480W Antec TruePower II power supply. While trying to troubleshoot some issues with the computer acting weird on occasion when it powers on, I noticed that the +12V rail runs from 13V-13.4V, and the +5V rail runs around 5.4V or so. I know this PSU has 2 +12V rails but I don't know how they are separated; I tested one of the Molex connectors as well as one of the PCI-E videocard connectors and got the same results.

Is this something that I should be concerned about? There isn't a lot of stuff in this system: only the 65W C2D processor, 8800GS videocard, 2 hard drives, DVD+RW drive, and 2 casefans. Is there anything that I might be doing wrong that would cause this? This is the first PC I've built myself in a couple of years, so I don't know a whole lot about how all the newer power supplies work. There is only the 24-pin mobo power connector and the 4-pin +12V connector on the board...given that this is a cheap ECS board might the lack of proper connectors have something to do with it? I remember I helped my brother build an Athlon X2 system not too long ago and that it had an 8-pin connector on the board.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks :)
 
I'm pretty sure it's not the fact that your board uses a P4 connector, as all three of the systems in my sig do, and none of them have this problem.
 
device manager said:
Unless you're using a DMM to measure voltages you're most likely seeing inaccurate readings. Testing your power supply's voltage: Software vs. Multimeter

Those TP's are known to have Fuhjyyu caps that emit magic fluid. It could cause undesired ripple, out of spec voltages, and high pitch whines. Read more.....

Personally I would recommend that you scrap your current psu in favor of a high quality 80+ psu such as the Corsair VX450 or Antec EA-430 $30 AR @ Newegg
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nope, the readings were all done with a digital multimeter...I haven't even looked at the mobo's readings.

how good is Antec about warranty? The PSU is about a year and a half old and still under warranty; do you think that they would replace my PSU because of the voltage issues? isn't the tolerance for PSU voltage 5% or so?
 
scottmso said:
how good is Antec about warranty? The PSU is about a year and a half old and still under warranty; do you think that they would replace my PSU because of the voltage issues? isn't the tolerance for PSU voltage 5% or so?
Click to expand...

Antec is pretty good about warranty. 3 year warranty on their PSUs.They'll probably replace it since it is a Truepower II PSU and all. The Trupower I and II as well as the Smartpower line of PSUs were well known for dying under heat. load, time, or a random and varying combination of the three.
 
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