Seasonic S12II outputs 12.55V. Acceptable?

[sheh]

My brand new Seasonic S12II Bronze 430W output 12.55V (measured with a multimeter) under light Windows usage, which decreases under load to 12.39V. In theory it's within the 5% the specs call for but I don't know what the ripple is, so it might cross it. Either way it worries me.

I don't think I've ever seen a PSU go that high, both quality ones or cheapos. It's certainly a disappointment coming from Seasonic.

What are the worst voltages you saw from your PSUs under normal conditions? Would you consider this PSU acceptable or faulty?

 

[Flapdrol1337]

It's within spec so it shouldn't matter. If the voltage drops under load it kind of makes sense it's close to 12.6 when there's almost no load.

 

[mindless1]

It's not faulty. 12.000V or 12.6V, either way if the ripple is low it is fine and it should be given it's a S12II 430W.

Being right on the target was more important when there were chips running directly off the 5V rail, but anything running off 12V besides fans is post-PSU regulated so you'd be fine at 13V with low ripple too. I'd be more worried about 3.3V being off in this era.

 

[sheh]

Now I see 12.57V, and higher reported by the motherboard. If I'd put it on a more efficient computer (which may happen at some point) voltage would be higher. I don't have the equipment to check how much further the ripple pushes it.

I don't know how sensitive the gear connected to the PSU is, but that's what you have standards for. Why mention it in the standard if it doesn't matter? One thing I noticed that changed in ATX 2.4 versus 2.3 (from the Intel power supply guide) is that at peak 12V loading it became more strict: 10% before, 5% now. For non-peak it was always 5%.

I am curious to know what voltages other people see, particularly with Seasonics.

 

[mindless1]

Ripple generally goes up as load increases towards max PSU capacity. Check reviews of that PSU.

 

[WilliamM2]

I am curious to know what voltages other people see, particularly with Seasonics.

My Seasonic M12II 620

12v = between 12.092v - 12.144v.
5v = 5.016, never varies.
3.3v = between 3.392 - 3.41.

3.3 seems a little on the high side, but I don't lose any sleep over it. Been running fine for 2.5 years without any issues.

 

[sheh]

mindless: Yeah, but I can't check it directly on the specific PSU I have.

William: Thanks. That looks much better, though yes, 3.3V a bit high. Does it stay like that regardless of load? And do you know what's the power consumption of your computer under idle?

 

[WilliamM2]

The lower voltages are running Prime95, the higher voltages are what I see at idle.

Not sure what the idle load is, but I'm sure this is more power than I need. This PS was actually bought for my previous C2D which drew more power at 3.6Ghz.

Current system is a 2500K @ 4.4 GHZ, stock voltage. Although most the time it's running at 1.6Ghz idle. 8GB memory, a lower end AMD 6690 video card, 2 HD's, 1 SSD, and two DVD-RW's. Could probably get away with 500w.

 

[teejee]

I wouldn't be too worried if you have high quality PWR's on the motherboard and graphic card. As mentioned, just the fans are powered directly by the 12V. But you OC quite a lot so who knows...

 

[sheh]

I don't think I need to consider if I should be worried or not with a PSU, especially one from a known company. Probably power using devices are made to withstand more than the standard says, but who knows. Maybe it shortens their lives. And the output voltage isn't a static thing, it's affected by various factors: ambient temperature, varying loads on the 12V and other rails, ripple which I can't measure. Maybe tomorrow I'll use the PSU on a less power hungry computer and the voltage will jump an extra 0.1V.

My decision was to replace it or get a refund. The local store chain I bought it from were doing trouble with a replacement or refund. I talked with Seasonic directly, and after some difficulties making the initial contact, ultimately their Taiwan office offered to do a direct replacement with them, so that was nice. By then, though, I managed to get the local store to refund. In a way, too bad. Other than the voltage it looked like a nice PSU, and maybe, probably, a replacement would be better voltage-wise.

 

[mindless1]

^ then why did you ask us? Kinda feels like a waste of time, topic.

 

[thescreensavers]

If its within spec then you have no need to worry, as you saw Seasonic stands behind their products as they wanted to send you a replacement.

Any quality computer product is made to work within the spec.

12.55 volts is within 5% spec which means there will be no ill effects to any devices plugged into this PSU.

Worried about ripple?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Seasonic-S12II-Bronze-430-W-Power-Supply-Review/1590/8

Yea again nothing to worry about.

If you want to get closer to 0% buy a non entry level PSU. but until then you have had one of the best entry level PSUs you can get.

 

[sheh]

mindless: Opinion, and to see what voltages others get.

screensavers: 12.57V as well, and would be higher under different conditions. That HardwareSecrets review doesn't mention the specific voltages, but the lowest wattage test is 92W DC, which is about twice as much as my computer used under light/idle load.

HardwareInfo tested 12.36V for 50W load (2009 test setup). Higher than most, but still 0.2V lower than what I saw. Mine was probably defective.

At 22W load they measured the highest 12V voltage of all the PSUs they tested. But even that is lower than what I saw at twice the load.

 

[mindless1]

^ No it was not defective. It is expected that voltage may be a little high if you use a higher wattage PSU on a low wattage system, it was still within ATX spec., and there was no problem suggesting it needed replaced. That is not opinion.

There was no problem. Humans like nice round numbers. Honey badger don't care. :biggrin:

 

[bononos]

mindless: Opinion, and to see what voltages others get.

screensavers: 12.57V as well, and would be higher under different conditions. That HardwareSecrets review doesn't mention the specific voltages, but the lowest wattage test is 92W DC, which is about twice as much as my computer used under light/idle load.

HardwareInfo tested 12.36V for 50W load (2009 test setup). Higher than most, but still 0.2V lower than what I saw. Mine was probably defective.

At 22W load they measured the highest 12V voltage of all the PSUs they tested. But even that is lower than what I saw at twice the load.

Its not defective because its still within spec (if only just barely 12.6 max).
I think many psus will have a higher 12v reading when idling on current pcs since they take up very little power nowadays. But I don't recall many reviews testing that scenario of power consumption.