Do i need a new psu ?

Ciff1

Ciff1

Ciff1

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17 Jul 2008
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Ok where do i start, my 13 yr old son has my old pc a amd 3800 x 2 socket 939 running at 2500mhz on a dfi sli lanparty expert. Problem is son was using it the other night when smart gardian started sounding off so he shut it down. Found that the chipset fan was on the way out so have replaced that with a thermaltake hr 05 sli passive cooler, but since putting everything back together the 3.3voltage from psu is only 1volt if that. The pc boots fine into windows temps are ok, could this just be psu or is the motherboard damaged ? Psu is a targan tg480-u15 modular 480watt psu. Also what wouls be a good replacement?
 
Psu is over six yrs old, bios says same lower than 1 volt and also hardware monitor says the same all other voltages are within atx specs. Do not want to ignore readings from bios or hardware monitor. forgot gpu is a 8800gt, running three hdd + few fans. Guess something like 500 - 650 watt will do.
 
That PSU I suggested is plenty for that spec.

What if its the device reading the voltage that faulty? thats why a multimeter reading/PSU tester reading is more quantifiable.
 
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Have no problem testing with multimeter, back probing method right in just orange wire parts of atx 24 pin, pins 1,2,12, 13,right? if reports less than 2.97 volts take it psu faulty? Anyothers to check?
 
Ok update, tested with digi volt meter and have a healthy 12v, 5v, & 3v. Tested across a spare molex connector and all orange wires on 24pin power supply connector. So can i safely ignore the dodgy reading of the 3.3v supply in the bios and all other monitoring software. Is this a sign that the motherboard is starting to fail or just a broken sensor on the board. Will let son loose on it again if you think this is all fine.Starting thinking of cheap amd upgrade for him i guess.
 
That was tested with the PC ON and running yeah, doing something to put it under some sort of load?
 
PC was running windows xp and sat on desk top at the time. Tested 5v and 12v from spare molex and 3.3v from the 24 pin atx connector buy pushing probes into orange cable sockets tested all 4. Did pc need be under more load?
 
Ok thx, will retest tomorrow when i'm back from work. How long would you run test for? enough to raise temps and get things nice and warm.
 
The nzxt hale90 650 is supposed to be a very nice psu at 80% gold efficiany. Seems to get fab reviews and is more a less fully modular bar the 24pin and 4+4 cpu pin
 
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