Strange power supply results, any ideas?

[HeXeD]

Here's the brief story.

I am upgrading my proc/mobo for Christmas. I'm getting the A64 3000+ w/ the MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum. Since I am moving to a more power hungry setup, I decided to spend the extra money and get a better power supply. I ordered the OCZ modstream 520W to fill my power needs. Here is where it gets weird.

I have a Allied power supply 450W. (I know..supreme suckage) I decided to do my benchmarking on several games...Sandra..and I also wanted to measure my 3, 5, and 12V when under load. Whenever I upgrade I always benchmark my old setup before I put the new setup in so I can get an idea of how much more performance I am really getting. This is my first time measuring the performance of my power supply. I have used 2 different tools (MBM 5 and Speedfan), and I get the same "weird" results.

12V is at 12.40
5V is at 5.3
3V is at 1.29
-12V is at 1.29
-5V is at 2.3

Que?

I know Allied is the suckage but how the hell is my computer even running? Since I am getting the Modstream soon, this problem will go away soon, but I am still curious about these results. The above numbers are not typos, and the -12 is certainly at 1.29. I have the following hardware in the current setup:

AMD XP 2500+ (oc'ed to 2.3GHz 192x12 @ 1.95V)
Epox K3A+ (KT 333 chipset)
GeForce 6800 GT (not oc'ed besides the AGP frequency from the OC to CPU)
1G OCZ PC3200 Gold VX (2.2.2.8 @ 3.2V)
160G Samsung 7200rpm 8M cache
80G Western Digital 7200rpm 8M cache
Acer 16X DVD
D-Link 10/100 NIC
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
regular keyboard
Logitech MX1000 mouse
4 Case fans (LED fans)
1 CCFL (Blue)

Is there a posibility that these tools are just reading the information incorrectly? I would assume this would be the only reason because my OC is very stable. If I truly had these voltage levels then there should be no way I could kee my computer running correct? I've heard of the +/- 5% but 90% sounds like it is waaay off.

Any ideas?

[Nebulous]

Welcome to the Forums!

First off you already know the allied is a pos psu, but did you know the Epox boards do not read the 3.3v rail? I've had so many epox boards that epox should pay me to be their spokesperson! lol, j/k.

Anyways your concern should be on the (+) Positve voltage rails. not the (-) Negative ones. By the looks of it now those rails look pretty good considering the power supply in question. My 8RDA3I reads almost the same and I have an Enermax 365w modded. Don't rely on software to read your rails since they're not 100% accurate. A digital multimeter will show a more accurate reading. That psu should do you fine in that setup till your new toys arrive :santa:

[Susquehannock]

Like Nebulous said, just ignore the '-' values. They aren't used much any more
and as a result many systems will show a random value.

Just pay attention to the +12v, +5v +3.3v and you'll be fine.

[electrorcamd]

I also don't think the (-) matters that much. Definitely do not rely on software to measure voltages. Always try to use a digital multimeter. Software was showing my +12v to go down to 5.75v, then I checked it with a multimeter and it never dropped below 12.6v. I would also say that your psu is fine for now until you get your new setup.

[HeXeD]

Hell yeah!! 3 responses. I was expecting more of a "put the crack pipe down" response..hehe.

Thanks for the info peeps. I just got my new power supply in today ..haven't got the Proc/mobo yet :( I tested it and see the same thing so you are right on the money. I will have the new goodies in about 10 hours!

I've been frequenting this forum for a few years....but the funny thing is I never had a reason to post because my questions are always answered somewhere in the forums..just goes to show you how good a resource this place is.

Oh and btw..Happy Holidays OC'ers. Hope Santa is as good to everyone as he is going to be to me...hehe

[Susquehannock]

Hell yeah!! 3 responses. I was expecting more of a "put the crack pipe down" response..hehe.

Thanks for the info peeps. I just got my new power supply in today ..haven't got the Proc/mobo yet :( I tested it and see the same thing so you are right on the money. I will have the new goodies in about 10 hours!

I've been frequenting this forum for a few years....but the funny thing is I never had a reason to post because my questions are always answered somewhere in the forums..just goes to show you how good a resource this place is.

Oh and btw..Happy Holidays OC'ers. Hope Santa is as good to everyone as he is going to be to me...hehe

he he ... a responce like that wouldn't help any one. (crackpipe)

Glad to see someone reads through before posting a question. If everyone did
that these forums would be less than half as big. Sad how many of
the same questions get posted every few days. :(
OCing forums like these are invauable resources. My OCing journey wouldn't be near as fun if the posts in these forums weren't here as a guide.

Happy holiday! :santa2: