Multimeter shows 5V @ 5.6-5.7v. Bad?

[amdhunter]

System specs:
Ultra 500w X-connect
MSI K8T NEO-F Socket 939
AMD CBBID 3000+ @ 2250MHz (1.45v)
G.SKill 1GBZX (512x2) Dual Channel (2.7v)
36GB 15K/16MB Hitachi Ultrastar
36GB 10K/8MB Hitachi Ultrastar
160GB + 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Maxtor IDE
SB AUDIGY/ADAPTEC PCI/PCTV Tuner
2 80mm LED Fans + 2 80mm fans.

OK, so I put my new multimeter to work and tested on several molexes.
Results were similar on all under load (all drives defragging with OO defrag)
12V lines : Stable at 12.1v
5V lines : Stable @ 5.6-5.7v <--- WHY?
3.3v : Didn't test, dont know how. :/

At idle, the voltages don't budge much. Votages were rather stable, which came to a surprise to me. I heard a lot of weird issues with Ultra supplies. This supply has been in use over a year now, and though it tends to get hot, hasn't really been troublesome at all, but I am now worried about that really high 5v line.

What would cause this? I did have an unusual amount of RMA's on my Hitachi drives, (3x last year) and now I am wondering if this has played a part at all?

Any suggestions/comments?
Also, does it take a minimum amount of posts to get an Avatar here?

[infinitevalence]

It could have had something to do with your RMA's it does not look like overloading the pus just looks like you have a rail that is way out of spec. Pop out the psu and test the voltages with no load attached and see if the drop back to normal if they do then you could be looking at overloading after all. If you use a peice of wire to short the green and a ground (black ) it will power up the psu.

[amdhunter]

It could have had something to do with your RMA's it does not look like overloading the pus just looks like you have a rail that is way out of spec. Pop out the psu and test the voltages with no load attached and see if the drop back to normal if they do then you could be looking at overloading after all. If you use a peice of wire to short the green and a ground (black ) it will power up the psu.

I will give that a try early tomorrow and report back. Definitely seems like something is weird. I am amazed at how wrong the bios reports are. They are off by -.6v.

I am glad I bought this multimeter now. :) Any way to test the 3.3v line?

[infinitevalence]

Yellow == 12v
Red == 5v
Orange == 3.3v

[SolidxSnake]

I will give that a try early tomorrow and report back. Definitely seems like something is weird. I am amazed at how wrong the bios reports are. They are off by -.6v.

I am glad I bought this multimeter now. :) Any way to test the 3.3v line?


yeah, heres my post from before on testing points:

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=3707935&postcount=57

So basically, use the AUX connector for 3.3, and molex for the rest.

[amdhunter]

Tested the supply by bridging the green and black (was scared as hell too for some reason, LOL) and the 5v is steady @ 5.6v. It's like load or no load the PSU doesn't budge at all.

Shouldn't it fluctuate back and forth, at least a little bit? The 3.3v is @ 3.4v also, so that should be ok.

Should I worry about the 5v being hot all the time, or be happy that I got a stable PSU?

[infinitevalence]

Thats to high, i would contact ultra and try to get a warranty replacement. You could cause extended damage to your system with that type of voltage.

[SolidxSnake]

Tested the supply by bridging the green and black (was scared as hell too for some reason, LOL) and the 5v is steady @ 5.6v. It's like load or no load the PSU doesn't budge at all.

Shouldn't it fluctuate back and forth, at least a little bit? The 3.3v is @ 3.4v also, so that should be ok.

Should I worry about the 5v being hot all the time, or be happy that I got a stable PSU?


did you put a load on it? Test it with the computer ON and LOADED. Then try it

don't load for TOO long, however



CRAP nvm, just re-read the thread.

"Reading the thread is for idiots" as one of the mods edited my post in a thank you to the OCForums mods before... stupid me =/

[amdhunter]

Thats to high, i would contact ultra and try to get a warranty replacement. You could cause extended damage to your system with that type of voltage.

Its been running a year with no problems, except for the weird hitachi drive that was RMA'd 3 times. Same drive/model though, so I dunno if it was just that line.

I have since replaced it with a 15k/16MB cache drive. I will contact ultra and see what they say though. If they offer a cross-shipment option, I may just go ahead and PSU (depending on what they say.)

Thanks'

[johan851]

A hard drive would probably be more sensitive to that type of thing than anything else...everything else is going to act like it's overvolted, and you might get some extra clocks out of your graphics card. Maybe.