Do I need a new PSU?

[Zed]

Afternoon guys,

I have been having problems with my rig locking/freezing during gameplay. It then recovers (I think someone mentioned a VPU somewhere in a graphics card thread.) It is quite annoying. I personally thought it must be the graphics card but OCUK reckon it is the PSU.

Now for the specs:

An Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 which comes with a Seasonic 350w continous and 450w max output. Asus A8R-MVP running an AMD 3200 Venice, 2x512Mb ram, 1 WD 250Gb SATA2 16MB cache drive, 4 80mm case fans and 1 120m Arctic Cooling HSF. The graphics card is the powercolor X800 GTO16 and i am running USB keyboard, mouse and a webcam.

The forum suggested I check the PSU use on this website http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp#footnote4

Using the above specs and a DVD RW and factoring in a 20% surge compensation and 20% capacitor aging (surely a non issue on a rig about three weeks old and 50 hours of PSU time), I get 333w. OK, close but the Seasonic is supposed to be 350 continous and 450 max for a *short time*.

Now to go and fork out GBP60 or GBP70 on the off chance that it might be the PSU as opposed to a faulty GPU card is asking a lot.

Anyway I can check on the power load using software? Asus have a PC Probe software which monitors volts and temps. What can I use to load the GPU whilst watching the volts other than licking my finger tips and hoping for the best?

Thanks guys.

Zed

 

[Zed]

PSU readings

Hi again,

Sorry for the delay, but was out and about. Using the Asus PC Probe II, my 3.3V rail reads 3.31;
5V reads 5.09
12V reads 11.73
VCore reads 1.44

What I have noticed when I set alert levels and logging during a Hiden and Dangerous2 session is that the 12V can drop to 11.6 although it will fluctuate between 11.6 and 11.73 (11.63 and 11.67 being the readings).

The Vcore also fluctuates between 1.38 and 1.49 with the AMD 3200+ Venice core nominal spec being 1.42 although it generally reads 1.44 on PC Probe.

Now, is the 12V reading within normal levels or must I send it back. After all, the 5V rail gives an extra 0.09V whilst the 12V is always a minimum of 0.27V under.

What also concerns me is is the relatively "extreme" fluctuations in VCore of 5% over and 2.8% below. I understand that the software probably has some sort of error factor so am deferring to anyone's expertise in this area.

Also, the Powercolour X800 GTO16 temps are in the 52C-54C. Is that OK?

Thanks