Overvolting +5 and +12 volt rails

Since my A7N8X derives the cpu core voltage from the +5 volt supply, will I get any benefit from overvolting the +5V rail by a few tenths of a volt? I installed an Antec True Control 550W psu yesterday and now have the ability to change the positive volt rails individually. I turned the adjuster for the +5V to the max and it shows 5.18V on my multimeter measured from the molex connector and 4.99V in the bios. I was hoping it would get me a higher OC potential on my 2500+, but so far it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

The Antec TC-550 replaced a Fortron FSP-350. I figured the Fortron was being pushed beyond it's limits, but it appears that wasn't the case.

if you raise the rails(+5.5/+3.3v) it should worsen your system stability. you would not gain stability and the higher overclock, instead it should go down.

i always lower the rails(to the limit to a point where it can't go any lower rails) for both Intel P3 systems and the AMD Athlon systems.

Mustanley said:

I figured the Fortron was being pushed beyond it's limits, but it appears that wasn't the case.

Click to expand...

Fortron rates their PSU @ 70% output, that 350W is officially rated to peak at 440W but that's conservative as it has been tested even further by many web sites...

[OC]This, why would you decrease voltage for increased stability? Heat? I'm curious

Tekime said:

[OC]This, why would you decrease voltage for increased stability? Heat? I'm curious

Click to expand...

i don't think it's heat.. but the understanding of the PSU rails are quite complex, that higher rails don't help stability, but make it nice and worse. Low rails and steady rails are the key to success. A good quality PSU and rail adjustments and no need for high-powered high wattage PSU.

i achieved the second highest overclock with lowest rails with P3 1000E@ 1450mhz @ 2.3V vcore + air cooled. Without rails touched, 1390 was the max, even that was not stable.

Same for the AMD Athlon tbred system. Lowering the rails helped me to gain stability.

So in effect, you're saying that a low solid rail is going to be more beneficial than a high rail which might be more succeptible to fluctuations? What about a high solid rail? Still less beneficial?

I ask because I was considering a mod on my Antec True480. The 5V sits right at 4.919 (well, in BIOS, still need to bust out my multimeter).

Tekime said:

So in effect, you're saying that a low solid rail is going to be more beneficial than a high rail which might be more succeptible to fluctuations? What about a high solid rail? Still less beneficial?

Click to expand...

based on my observations, no, high rails with steadiness don't help either. High rails bad, period, at least in my cases.

voltage rails spikes/fluctuations are bad in general. They fluctuate some, which is natural, but severe spikes are bad especially when you're at the edge in overclocking, meaning having barely enough Vcore and high clockspeed to handle the speed in intensive apps suchs as prime95 or cpu burn-in test.

steady rails are always too thing to have. and you will have to adjust yours for the best stability. I cannot speak for everybody. the level of adjusting rails may vary some for your particular overclock on your system.

I ask because I was considering a mod on my Antec True480. The 5V sits right at 4.919 (well, in BIOS, still need to bust out my multimeter

Click to expand...

i wouldn't worry about the your rail being at 4.9. It should be fine.

Cool, thanks for sharing your experiences [OC]This. True, 4.919 is still well within spec. I've seen a number of people such as macci and other pretty serious o/c'ers performing these mods. Leads you to believe it might be of some benefit, but then again I'm not cooling with ln2 or whatever