[quegyboe]

hey all, I just wanted to know when it becomes dangerous to run a system due to power levels? My +5v line is running @ 4.84 at full load, do you guys think that's a potential problem? I'm planning to get a new PSU soon, but should I make it a priority?

P.S. The PSU is a 250w US-CAN

[larrymoencurly]

4.84V is only a 3% error, and a few days ago my digital meter disagreed with my mobo by that much over the +3.3V rail.

I guess a really good 250W PSU can power an Athlon XP 2000+, but my piece of junk (no protection against shorts, no +12V regulation, lots of radio noise) couldn't run my 1.3 GHz Duron K7S5A with nothing but a slow video card in it for more than 30 seconds at a time.

[quegyboe]

So your saying I should be ok? I know this PSU is a decent quality PSU, since it maintains better power leves than my friends 300w PSU and he only runs a 750Mhz Duron. For me, I'm just worried that my PSU could damage my hardware. Someone told me that underpowering computer components could damage them. Any truth to this?

[RonnieG]

You only have a problem if it dips to 4.75V.

Try doing the 5V booster cable mod. Get some thick wire and solder it BEFORE the input inductor:




Make some sort of connector, preferably a beefy screw-in type:



Solder another wire to the PSU board's 5V terminal:

[larrymoencurly]

Computer PSUs usually just shut down when they fail -- usually, but I don't know if there will be a brief surge when that happens that makes the voltage go way up.

When you use this 250W PSU with a slower mobo, what voltages do you get (measured with meter)? If it goes up 1% to 2%, then maybe your Athlon XP 2000+ is overloading it.