Fortron 350W and my 12v rail at 11.56

Xymurgy · Aug 23, 2003

Hi, got a new Fortron 350W and put it on my refurb'd BH7. I noticed that OCing is kinda whacky, it's stable to 128, but at 129 it BSODs within 10 seconds of windows (pumping up the vcore +5% allows me to stay longer, but that'd be a total +15% voltage and the CPU is getting 1.7v at that point).

In Hardware Dr, it says that my 12v rail is doing b/w 11.56 and 11.62. Also, my 5v rail is doing 5.11. Is this a bad PSU? Is it possible for my refurb'd mobo to report voltages completely wrong? The 3.3 and DDR volts are reporting dead on.

Thanks for any help.

Tismedt · Aug 23, 2003

I had a similar problem with a sparkle psu. I tried tweaking the pots a bit inside but never got a happy medium. When the 12 v rail was good the 5 v was way too high at 6.1. If you know how try tweaking the pots inside, if not send it back for a replacement. Every now and again a bad psu will slip past the inspection and make it to market.

BTW where did you get it.

larrymoencurly · Aug 23, 2003

It's possible for a brand new mobo to report somewhat inaccurately. I once measured a 6% difference between one any my 0.4% meter, and somebody else saw a 6.99% discrepancy.

stan03 · Aug 23, 2003

what are you running off of that psu, don't fortrons have kinda weak 12v rails?

Daemonfly · Aug 23, 2003

I'd measure actual voltages with a multimeter to make sure.

Of course, it's always possible to catch a bad PSU - even the good companies can let them slip through. If it does turn out low on the 12v, return it for a new one.

Xymurgy · Aug 24, 2003

Thanks for the replies, but I don't know how to tweak anything with them, and don't have a multimeter. This is also a used mobo.

I'm thinking of sending the PSU back. I got it from Newegg.

whatever2003 · Aug 24, 2003

11.50V on +12V is nothing to fret about. It is perfectly normal. Intel specs are asking for +-5% and your PSU is in that range so what is the problem. You need more juice on CPU, increase the voltage there, that is all that is.

larva · Aug 24, 2003

Abit motherboards are horribly innacurate on the voltage measurement. If you don't want to use a voltmeter on your rig you won't know anything about the actual voltages. There is nothing wrong with the supply, and it is outputing no less than 11.9V, and more likely 12 on the nose.

Lithan · Aug 24, 2003

Yeah, borrow a mulrimeter (a GOOD one... not a cheap 10-20$ one like I bought), and test the lines directly.

Fortrons have surprisingly strong 12v lines. Running a system with 5 drives, 3x 6.75" fans and a 12v cpu, My software measures my 12v at 11.85-11.98 I haven't done a meter measurement because I've never gotten around to borrowing a good one. I have the 530watt version, but besides the extra weight and fan, I don't really notice any different from my 350watt version.

Xymurgy · Aug 24, 2003

I did some testing. I put the Fortron in the system in my sig and the 12v still came out at the same settings. I put my old Dell's 250w in my new system and the 12v improved considerably (up to 11.8). And I'm able to boot (and stay) in windows at 129 fsb.

I'm leaving the Fortron out and my 250w in to see how much more stable the system is. Any other comments?

Thanks for the comments so far.

dustybyrd · Aug 24, 2003

I did some testing. I put the Fortron in the system in my sig and the 12v still came out at the same settings. I put my old Dell's 250w in my new system and the 12v improved considerably (up to 11.8). And I'm able to boot (and stay) in windows at 129 fsb.

I'm leaving the Fortron out and my 250w in to see how much more stable the system is. Any other comments?

Thanks for the comments so far.

1st, the software voltages can be wrong in both directions and differently wrong for each psu...

2nd, when you plugged the dell psu in did you plug in everything else in it as well? or just the cpu ram and video card...

are you using this psu for your rig in your sig?

if so...this psu is fine for p4's up to 3.2ghz (maybe more...but not always)...

vk85 · Aug 24, 2003

I've got the exact same problem with my Fortron 350W power supply, also purchased from newegg.com. My +12 rail is reading between 11.56V and 11.61V.

Abit motherboards are horribly innacurate on the voltage measurement.

I've got an Abit NF7-S rev 2.0 :-/

Anyway I'm gonna try the PS in another computer and see what it reads, and if I can I'll try to pick up a multimeter.

Xymurgy · Aug 25, 2003

The 250w (from the Dell) is completely plugged into my CDROM, harddrive, etc. Just like the Fortron was.

For my sig's rig, I'm using a Antec True 430. There's too may cables and tubes in it so I'm trying not to take it out.

Fortron 350W and my 12v rail at 11.56

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