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[MasterFul]

My thermaltake purepower dual fan thing just burnt out i guess cuase it wont turn on my pc . I put in a spare 400 watt generic powersupply that came with my x-blade case and i was wondering if this is gona burn out too and if there is a way to monitor its health ?

 

[Insomniak]

Uh...you can check voltages in your BIOS or get a Windows utility, such as EVEREST to do it for you...

...I recommend just shelling out the $$ for a good quality PSU. That'll cut your worry level down quite a bit.

 

[MasterFul]

how do i know whether teh voltages are ok or not?

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: MasterFul
how do i know whether teh voltages are ok or not?

He already told you...

Originally posted by: Insomniak
Uh...you can check voltages in your BIOS or get a Windows utility, such as EVEREST to do it for you...

...I recommend just shelling out the $$ for a good quality PSU. That'll cut your worry level down quite a bit.

 

[ts3433]

They should show little fluctuation and be within 5% ATX tolerance levels (best way to verify this aspect is through a multimeter). As said before, though, shelling out more money for a good PSU is a really good idea.

 

[MasterFul]

where would it be shown in EVEREST ?

 

[Insomniak]

Computer > Sensor

There should be a field called "voltage values" which has readings for your PSU rails.

 

[MasterFul]

Voltage Values


CPU Core 1.51 V

+5 V 4.97 V

+12 V 12.93 V

+5 V Standby 5.00 V

VBAT Battery 3.47 V




what does this mean??

 

[Insomniak]

Whats your 3.3v rail reading? Those look fine.

Those are the voltage readings for a lot of the hardware in your PC.

The CPU Core is the number of volts your processor is currently using, in this case 1.51

The +5v, +12v, and +3.3v readings are for the rails from your power supply. A PSU (Power Supply Unit) has three different well-regulated transistors called "rails". These supply voltage to your PSU in three different amounts: 3.3v, 5v, and 12v. The 3.3 and 5v rails supply most of the microprocesors, such the CPU, motherboard chipset, etc. The 12v mainly supplies devices with motors in them, such as Hard Drives, Optical Drives, Case Fans, etc.

The 5v line also supplies some power to devices with motors.

Modern graphics cards are starting to require some voltage from the 12v rail as well.



Anyway, as long as your rails are within 5% of what they're supposed to be, your PSU is ok. This means:

12v should be between 11.4 and 12.6
3.3v should be between 3.135 and 3.465
5v should be between 4.75 and 5.25


Your 12v and 5v are fine. Depending on your 3.3v, you may be good to go.

Bear in mind that 5% is the absolute limit. I like to have my rails within 2.5% myself. I'll let you do the math on that.

Anyway, that's your crash course on PSU voltages. Enjoy

 

[ts3433]

Your +12V reading's a little high, though if it's not fluctuating much it's probably OK and just being overreported. Still, it might behoove you to check it with a multimeter just in case.

We'll wait for the 3.3V reading.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: ts3433
Your +12V reading's a little high, though if it's not fluctuating much it's probably OK and just being overreported. Still, it might behoove you to check it with a multimeter just in case.

We'll wait for the 3.3V reading.

It's less than 1% - I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: ts3433
Your +12V reading's a little high, though if it's not fluctuating much it's probably OK and just being overreported. Still, it might behoove you to check it with a multimeter just in case.

We'll wait for the 3.3V reading.

It's less than 1% - I wouldn't worry about it.

I've made an arithmetic mistake before with something like this, but I think 12.93 is actually about 7.75% above 12.00. 1% higher would be 12.12.

(EDIT: Looks like you made the same silly error that I did--you turned it into a 13V rail.)

 

[Amaroque]

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: ts3433
Your +12V reading's a little high, though if it's not fluctuating much it's probably OK and just being overreported. Still, it might behoove you to check it with a multimeter just in case.

We'll wait for the 3.3V reading.

It's less than 1% - I wouldn't worry about it.

12v @ 12.93v is not 1% It's more like 8% But you need to use a multimeter if you want an accurate reading anyway.

I wouldn't accept that on my 12v rail.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: Amaroque

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: ts3433
Your +12V reading's a little high, though if it's not fluctuating much it's probably OK and just being overreported. Still, it might behoove you to check it with a multimeter just in case.

We'll wait for the 3.3V reading.

It's less than 1% - I wouldn't worry about it.

12v @ 12.93v is not 1% It's more like 8% But you need to use a multimeter if you want an accurate reading anyway.

I wouldn't accept that on my 12v rail.

Whoops! My big mistake! Thought he was showing 12.093v! Sorry!

Yeah, that 12v rail is a bit too high. I would get a quality PSU with better rails in there if possible.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I was just thinking, what is the real danger from a too-high 12V rail? Over-taxing/overheating the linear regulators used on some devices to regulate/step-down the voltage to something usable, and killing them? Because there aren't any chips that are being powered directly that would fry due to an overvoltage, like TTL logic might be from the +5v rail, are there?

 

[stevty2889]

Higher voltage=higher current flow = more heat and you do know that heat kills electronics right? In any case I wouldn't keep that generic PSU for very long. Replace it with a quality brand, fortron, enermax, antec, OCZ, and there are some other good ones. I had a thermaltake PSU die on me, so I won't use them anymore, for anything other than a backup.

 

[MasterFul]

where does it say the reading for the 3.3v?