P4 Voltage usage.

[Bad Dude]

I was just calculating the voltage I need on my system. I was wondering which rail or rail does the P4 1.6A uses? I notice Tom's Hardware did a reviews on the power supplies and I noticed the Athlon XP used the 12V rail. I was wondering if the P4 uses the same?
I also noticed that the Antec True330 was second rank and pulling 471W total. How is that possible?
My board is the Epox 4G4A+.
Thanks.

 

[Mark R]

The source of the power used for the processor depends on the design of the motherboard. Most (if not all) P4 motherboards power the CPU from 12V - this is Intel's recommendation. Some Athlon motherboards use 12 V, others use 3.3 or 5 V. AMD make no recommendation about this, although with the more powerful high-speed chips, it is easier to make a circuit run on 12 V.

You need to check with the motherboard manufacturer, if in doubt.

The Antec 380 as tested by Tom's Hardware, managed to supply 471 W in their tests before shutting down due to overload. 380 W is the maximum recommended power, 471 W is where the PSU gives up and shuts down to prevent damage - if the PSU had been run at, say, 450 W for a long time it may have overheated.