unstable power Supply?

[j3lly]

hi,

its a new powermax 400w PSU with
new soltek SL-75MRN-L nForce-2 MB

for some odd reason he 3.3v is really
low,like around 3.03v and other rails
like 12v,5v etc are flucturcting up and
down and its causing instablity

dunno what's wrong... :(
is there something wrong with my
PSU or MB or my house's power-line?

thanks

[ajrettke]

well for the fluxations on the house i'd say it's possible, but your PSU should take those out. I would guess it's a bad PSU, but it still could be the mobo. Can you test the MB or PSU with other setups?

[larrymoencurly]

AC fluctuations shouldn't matter that much because the PSU regulates itself, and the label may even say that the AC can be anywhere form 90-130V. I'm no expert, but I think that variations in the AC input voltage matter less than variations in load. Did you measure with a meter?

Is this a Powerman (Fortron, real good) or Powmax (Leadman, not so good)?

[drewthomas14]

as long as your computer is stable it doesn't matter what a program reads the rails at. if you have a volt meter check them with that.

[Hookem]

Powmax aint that good...I have had bad experiences with them, so I stay away from them...BIOS and programs that tell you voltages are usually very unreliable...The best way is with a digital multi-tester...I use a Antec ATX power supply tester to put a slight load on the power supply and check all the rails with the digital multi-tester...Then I go into the BIOS and check the voltages and compare the two...Then I have an idea what the BIOS readings should be to match what I tested them with the multi-tester...:)

[j3lly]

yep,powermax sux ass but it came with the
case,maybe i'll RMA that POS powercrap :D
it's prolly fake ass 400w

btw,i borrowed a 300w OEM PSU from a
friend,3.3v runs @3.26v->3.29v and all
other rail up to spec and running stable
but still fluctuate a bit but not as bad :)

finally got it solid @2.1g, 1.7v with stock
heatsink/fan for now and passed prime95's
torture test... until i get volcano 7+ :D

btw,my surge protector's red on-lights
blinks continusly,maybe there's some
problems with my power line...