Antec true controll

[klipschman]

Hi all, My power supply recently went south on me so I did a bit of research and bought what sounded to be the best. I have grown tired of getting less than the best only to replace it later. That said I bought the Antec True controll 550. Seems nice and all. The dual fans keep everything a shade cooler, I like that. The true controll came with a sleeve that fits in a 5 1/4 bay in the front with a fan speed knob and three small screws to adjust 12v 3.3v and 5v. Antec's manual only explained that these screws allow for fine tuning to within +/- .03v? did I read that right? Either way what good will that do for me? Toms Hardware suggested that this feature is, how did they put it? "an overclockers dream"? I dont remember exactly. Anyone out there know what it will do for me, and if so what are the desired settings?

Little info: P4 3.0e @3.47 vcore 1.48 9800 pro @ 425/351. Kingston khx4000k2 1 gig dual channel @ 2.7 v claims cl3 but cpu-z sais cl 2.5

also I am running 5:4 which puts it(memory) at 185fsb if I remember right. this is the fastest stable overclock I have gotten to date, will not work 1:1 at this speed but I would like to get the mem back to at least 200 again. Should I increase the voltage to 2.75? Should I go to 1.51 on the p4 putting it to the full 10%first? I am more than a little nervous to go any further, as bat boy was telling me that 1.5 is danger danger will robinson for the p4 e. Are there any warning signs to look for before you get to that voltage that will let you know not to go there?

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Man overclocking is fun and addictive.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Klipschman

 

[ZachM]

To adjust the rails get a digital multimeter. Run Prime 95 or some other program that puts full load on your processor and RAM. Stick the multimeter probes into a molex connector. Adjust each rail to its rated voltage. You can get the 5v and 12v readings from a molex. For the 3.3v it's easiest to read from one of the orange wires on the auxilary plug. Click for a pic.

 

[Mr.Radar]

See the orange link in my sig for a full pinout of all PSU power cables.

 

[CrashOveride]

You adjust the voltages on the PSU to get it to send exactly (or somtimes a teeny tiney bit more) 5v, 12v, and 3.3v to the rest of the computer. You need get those voltages (when adjusting) from a multimeter (digital is usually easier here) like ZachM said.
To decide if you need/want to adjust your voltages via the little potentiometers the PSU has go download MBM5 (google should find it for you easily) and check the voltages through there. If they are what they are at or above what they should be (within say 5% is perfect) then you should probably just leave them. If they are below (simply below at all or more than 5% below - esp the latter) you might want to adjust them. First check with the multimeter to make sure that they are actually what you thought - somtimes the problem isn't the PSU's supply but the motherboard or connection btwn the motherboard and PSU. If the multimeter says the PSU is supplying less than (or more) what you want then go ahead and adjust very, very slowly and carefully. If you turn it up/down too much you could perminently damage your components.

The memory and CPU voltages are adjusted in the BIOS (not the PSU), and I don't know intel stuff so I won't comment there. For memory 2.8v is the very safe maximum but a lot of memory will last at 3v or more. For instance BH-5 is rated at 3.6v maximum by Winbond. It really depends on the memory and how far you want to go with it.

 

[AntecRep]

Plus or minus 5% of the voltage ( so 4.75 to 5.25 as an example).

AntecRep

 

[klipschman]

Thanks everyone. "I understand"( in Dom Deloise voice from the movie "The End").

And of course the core and mem voltages are set via the bios, or uguru in my instance. I was just wondering if I should bump those up higher now. I am at 1.48 for the p4 which uguru shows as 1.44. I think I remember reading somewhere that mobo usu takes about .05 off the top, that right? Bat Boy was saying it may be dangerous to bump up the p4e that high, though I read that 10% is safe? Putting the safe zone @ 1.513?? I am running the mem @ 2.7 the default was 2.65 so you say I can go to 2.75 without to many worries?

Tell me someone understands my reference to the movie "The End"

Thanks again,
Klipschman

 

[CrashOveride]

And of course the core and mem voltages are set via the bios, or uguru in my instance.

Just making sure, didn't want you trying to find some way to turn it up with the PSU... some people

 

[klipschman]

Just making sure, didn't want you trying to find some way to turn it up with the PSU... some people

Hey, I totally understand what you mean by making sure. I have seen some pretty amazing things done from misunderstanding directions. My workmates have done some pretty dumb stuff, telling me that is exactly what I had told them to do. I just sometimes get a knee jerk reaction to prove that I am not a total idiot, even though I frequently can be. And I am here asking you for advice so...I understand, totally.