Voltages and stability

[Voodoo Rufus]

Most people have problems when their voltages run too low. I'm worried mine are running too high.

With my previous mobo, an A7N8X, I taxed the +3.3/5 lines heavily because it used those to power the CPU, and adjusted the rails manually based on idle load to the +5% limit. Now I use a DFI which has an ATX12V connector so my system is taxed much less. I glanced at MBM and it showed abnormally high voltages. Breaking out my DMM and testing at the 20pin molex, I get these results:

+3.3: 3.3V
+5: 5.25-5.3V
+12: 12.1V

I'm wondering if my +5 could be causing some issues with overall system stability as I have random lockups and reboots quite often. I'm thinking I should lower it just to be safe, to the 5.2-5.25 range.

Any opinions?

[OCS911]

my +5 rail always between 5.08 ~ 5.10V, try to keep it lower and see if your system still reboots, also check your overclocking too

[Voodoo Rufus]

I've been running below max OC for a while, playing with different settings to see if I could acheive system stability. Took the +5 do 5.2-5.25, I'll report if I get the same results.

[Nebulous]

Hmm, I have my Fortron 530w adjusted with a DMM:

12v= 12.60
5v= 5.35
3.3v= 3.6v

Running my P4 3.2E @ 4.4Ghz prommy cooled on a P4C800 Deluxe. Not 1 single problem. I've been running it like this for ages.

I also have a modded Enermax 465w on my DFI NF3 UT 250GB with rails @:

12v= 12.45
5v= 5.4v
3.3= 3.5

Not 1 single problem here. Have you added any new hardware?

[Voodoo Rufus]

Nothing that would cause problems. Replaced the Ti4600 with a 5700Ultra which seems to dissipate much less heat than the GF4. Other than that, no.

[Nebulous]

Hmmm, Ok have you tried swapping psu's? Could be the psu itself is running out of steam trying to keep up. My 365w enermax's 3.3v rail just took a dump down to 3.12v. This is even afer i modded it to run 3.45v with a VR.I have no clue why, but my guess is one of the components inside failed. Even tho the psu powers up normally, with a DMM my 3.3v rail is history. My 5v and 12v rails are normal.

Most likely 1 or more of the psu's components is failing, even tho it reads ok with the DMM.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Nope, nothing changed. I've had a failed PSU before, and it started losing regulation over voltages, swinging a half volt at a time. It took my ram with it.

I've been having mainboard incompatibility issues between my XP-M and the mobo for over a month now.

[Nebulous]

Ahhhh. Well I hope you don't get one of those failures again. Sry I can't be more help.

[yanz]

i would check your mobo visually for bad capacitors, they should be flat at the top and not bulged or leaking.


http://www.badcaps.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=17

[Voodoo Rufus]

No bad caps here. This mainboard has a known incompatibility with XP Mobile as a result of a non-optimized bios as far as I can tell, which is the root of the problem.