Inadequate Power Supply?

[pelar22]

I built this PC in March and it has always worked fine, except when I do anything CPU intensive. Then I get constant lock-ups and instantaneous reboots. I've run various memory checkers including memtest86+ and nothing has ever shown an error. However prime95 fails within seconds. Running Mother Board Monitor, my temps are 32C idle and 44C under load. My voltages however seem to be the issue. When I fire prime95 up, my Core 0 goes from 1.65 (normal) to 1.76 and higher instantly. Also my -12 line goes from -12.85 to -13.5 under load. All the rest seem to hold fairly steady.

Listed below is all the hardware in this machine. The obvious thing is my PSU says it's only good to AMD 2200+. Now I know when I bought it, it didn't say that or I wouldn't have bought the 2500 Barton. But here's where I?m' confused, my systems says it has a AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3200+ in it. Why? And since my problem obviously is my PSU, how will I know what PSU IS capable of running this machine. Using info from this site: http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=133&p=3 my PSU should be up to spec.

+3.3V@28A
+5V@50A
+12@18A

230W +3.3V, +5V
422W +3.3V, +5V, +12V

So is it a bad PSU or just an inadequate one? And if it were inadequate, what would be adequate?

---Current Hardware---
Power Supply:
Allied TRUE 450W Power Supply AL-B450E w/ Two Fans ***AMD APPROVED good to 2200+ *** UL, CSA, FCC Approved
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=17-154-010&depa=0

Motherboard: Biostar M7NCD ULTRA SOCKET A
http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbd....asp?model=m7ncd+ultra

CPU:
What I Thought I Purchased:
CPU AMD|2500 /333 ATHLON XP BARTON

What Is Detected (by Central Brain Identifier):
AMD Athlon XP 2.20 GHz, CPU String: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3200+, Processor Core: Thorton w/512K

Memory:
Corsair Value Select Dual Kits 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-2700
Timings: 2.5-3-3-8

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model WD360GD

Other Drives:
Alps Silver 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model DF354H168F
NU Technology White 8X DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DDW-082
Asus 52x CD-Rom IDE Optical Drive: CD-S520

 

[Cheetah8799]

My voltages however seem to be the issue. When I fire prime95 up, my Core 0 goes from 1.65 (normal) to 1.76 and higher instantly. Also my -12 line goes from -12.85 to -13.5 under load. All the rest seem to hold fairly steady.

If it fluctuates that much then you probably should try to at least borrow a different power supply from someone to test with your system.

 

[pelar22]

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone locally I could do that with. So I am stuck with purchasing a new PSU, I just don't want make another mistake and be stuck with 2 inadequate PSU's.

 

[Fern]

Welcome to the forums pelar22!

So your mobo reports your cpu as a 3200+. Sounds to me like your FSB is set at 200. That would explain why BIOS mis-represents your chip and why it is unstable.

Either check your BIOS, or get a free proggie like Sisoft Sandra and confirm whether it's running at 166 or 200 FSB.

Unless that 450watt is malfunctioning, it s/b more than sufficient for a rig like that.


Fern

 

[divide by zero]

Get something with at least 20A on the +12v rail. More is better.

I've heard that Antec and Enermax are good brands. I'm sure there are other good brands as well.

 

[pelar22]

Thanks Fern, I set the FSB to 166 it was on 200 like you suspected. Now my vcore voltage does not spike when I run prime95.
BUT prime95 still fails in only a few seconds.

FATAL ERROR: Resulting sum was 6.450789110103005e+016, expected: 6.450789110085529e+016
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.

Now where do I go from here? My PSU seems okay (except for the -12V rail always being close to -13V). I set the FSB to 166 and my processor thinks it's what it is supposed to be: Model : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+ What do I need to diagnose this problem?

 

[Fern]

I'd start by using a third party proggie like MBM5 to make my cpu was getting 1.65v and my ram was getting at least 2.6v

Somebody's been playing in the BIOS. Make sure the ram is at 1:1 (or 5:5, 6:6 etc) and running at 166 mhz (in synch with the cpu).

Then run memtest86. If OK, go to Prime95. If fails, up the vdimm or loosen timings and try again.

Run Prime95


Fern