PSU Voltages

jcb33 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:07

Just installed Asus Pc Probe on my new pc... and it keeps giving me a warning, saying that the +3.3V Rail is at 4.08V...... Is this ok?

Also the Vcore keeps moving between 1.392V and 1.408V Is this ok? Its a 4800 X2 CPU.

Joe42 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:25

No thats not ok, at least its certainly not within tolerance.
However i don't really trust the measurment.
Its easy to solve these problems when its the 5 or the 12 because you can easily get at them by sticking a multi metre on a molex connector, however the 3.3 is slightly more tricky.
Having said that i think the 3.3 is probably the best one to be dodgy because most of it get put through the cpu voltage regulators i believe.
You need ti take out the psu, start it up, put a load on it and measure the 3.3. Not an easy task.

Don't worry about the vcore, my asus board does that aswell a bit and it doesn't seem to matter. Again it could be dodgy measuring, i'm not sure.

What psu is it?
If its a q-tec or something then just bin it and get a real psu.

jcb33 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:28

Ug.... so what does it mean if its not acceptable

?

Im told its a HEC 480W..... i opted for a pre built system this time as it worked out cheaper than building it.... i just dont know everything inside it.... yet.... was told samsung ram and its OCZ so :rolleyes:

Joe42 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:29

jcb33 said:
Ug.... so what does it mean if its not acceptable ?

It means that the stuff its powering isn't designed to take it over certain limits. Let me just check the official tolerances, but i think its 5%...

Edit: Yup, its 5%, so 3.47 max.
Never heard of HEC...

Edit2: A little reaserch says its made by compucase.

jcb33 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:32

Joe42 said:
It means that the stuff its powering isn't designed to take it over certain limits. Let me just check the official tolerances, but i think its 5%...

Edit: Yup, its 5%, so 3.47 max.
Never heard of HEC...

Ug.... so what problems is this gonna cause....

Joe42 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:36

jcb33 said:
Ug.... so what problems is this gonna cause....

Thing is it could be the psu or the measurement. But seeing as its reading the 12v and 5v rails ok i suspect its the psu.
Difficult to say what problems it will cause as i'm not entirely certain what the 3.3v rail is for. I believe its for most of the motherboard logic such as chipset and ram, not sure about the cpu. Thankfully most of those components have their own mini regulators so they should be ok.

You need to try a different psu. I wouldn't run the system until you have a replacement psu of some sort. If its the same with another psu then ignore it.

Edit: Do you have a multimetre to hand?
If you have a sata power connector on it you may be able to measure the 3.3.
See what a few other people have to say but i think its psu replacement time.

jcb33 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:39

Joe42 said:
Thing is it could be the psu or the measurement. But seeing as its reading the 12v and 5v rails ok i suspect its the psu.
Difficult to say what problems it will cause as i'm not entirely certain what the 3.3v rail is for. I believe its for most of the motherboard logic such as chipset and ram, not sure about the cpu. Thankfully most of those components have their own mini regulators so they should be ok.

You need to try a different psu. I wouldn't run the system until you have a replacement psu of some sort. If its the same with another psu then ignore it.

Edit: Do you have a multimetre to hand?
If you have a sata power connector on it you may be able to measure the 3.3.

I have SATA Hard drives.... sadly i dont have a multimetre

Joe42 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:40

Do you have a spare psu?

jcb33 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:47

Joe42 said:
Do you have a spare psu?

Somewhere yes... just a bit weary about messing inside with it being a ready made pc.... am told its an open case waretee mind, i just looked in my BIOS, all settings, temps, volts etc are the same as in the Asus Tool, however the +3.33V Rail reports as 3.328V... which looks decent to me.... and now im confuzed as to which one is correct

Also quick off topic question.... how do you find out what make graphics you have?..... (Manufacturer, Powercolor, Saphire etc) As it just says X1900 Family, not the model, or make

Joe42 · 30 Apr 2006 at 22:53

I meant to ask you that... if it says the 3.3 is ok in the bios then panic over. I'd say its the asus thingy being dodgy. I trust the bios over the asus utilty.

To find out about a graphics card, try something like pc wizard.

jcb33 · 30 Apr 2006 at 23:00

Ah thats good news then... and seems my Graphics is generic

General Information :
Manufacturer : ATI Technologies Inc (ATI Technologies Inc)
Model : ATI Technologies Inc
Bus Type : PCI-Express
Total Memory : 512 MB
Texture Memory : 1003 MB
Processor : Radeon X1900 Series (0x7249)
Converter : Internal DAC(400MHz)
Refresh Rate (min/max) : 56/75 Hz

GPU Information :
Number of GPU : 1
Codename : R580
GPU Frequency : 499.5 MHz - [initial : 500 MHz]
Memory Frequency GPU : 594 MHz - [initial : 600 MHz]
Texels : 8000 MTexels/s
DirectX Support : 9.0c

Also says Number Of Video Cards .... 2?

General Information :
Radeon X1900 Series (Omeg... 512 MB
Radeon X1900 Series Secon... 512 MB

fornowagain · 1 May 2006 at 02:41

Joe42 said:
a multi metre on a molex connector, however the 3.3 is slightly more tricky.
however the 3.3 is slightly more tricky.
You need ti take out the psu, start it up, put a load on it and measure the 3.3.

Er what? Its on the orange wires at the end of the 20/24 motherboard connector.

Like this. Multimeter > MB header > Slide black Probe down the back of any black wires.

Red probe to these gives:

Any Orange = 3.3v
Any red = 5.0v
Any yellow = 12v

Btw it's a measuring device not a unit of measurement. (That was just nasty, have to control these impulses)

Joe42 · 1 May 2006 at 12:36

I didn't think you could get a probe into the 20/24 pin connector whilst its still plugged in. That makes life easier then.
I suggested the sata power connector because it has a 3.3v connector and can be measured whilst the system is running, however i think the contacts are too small anyway, and theres no point if you can get at the 20/24 pin connector.