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In the bios the ratings are all ok I think - showing 1.5, 3.5 and 12v. When I last ran HW Monitor though under xp is was showing 8.8v for the 12v reading
In the bios the ratings are all ok I think - showing 1.5, 3.5 and 12v. When I last ran HW Monitor though under xp is was showing 8.8v for the 12v reading
Hold on, give me the values for the +12V, +5V and +3.3V. I'm not sure what the 1.5 is doing there.
Sorry -my fault entirely, typo! It should be 5.1v: V Core is 1.12, %v is 5.12v and 12v is 12.144v
HWMonitor has the Vcore at .92, the 3.3v at 3.42 , the 5v at 5.14v and the 12v at 7.86 when running XP
Paul, I was just thinking about you and wondering if you had gotten tired of fooling with me. But, is there any component in your system that has not been checked? The problem with BIOS readings is they are the most accurate, but you can only get the readings when there is absolutely no stress on the system. What happens when the system is under stress can be quite another story. Just like you saying that HW monitor has your +12V at 7.86. I can assure you that is wrong. At 7.8V on the 12V rail, the system would not boot. Didn't you get another CPU cooler? if so, which one?
Not all I appreciate all your help. The cooler is an Alaska brand- not very fancy but to be honest I don’t have much of a budget to throw at the pc at the moment. The thermal paste on the cpu didn’t look to be very even so I don’t think the old cooler was performing very efficiently as a result. Temps are a lot lower, largely 32 -42 ish which I think is mainly down to better use of thermal paste as much as anything!
I need to understand psu’s a bit better – the unit I had in originally, the HEC 300w came from my son’s system which was using the same model p7h55-E Asus board and ram to run Windows 7 without any problem. We just swapped because he bought a card so I gave him my unit to help him out.
I also don’t understand why it ran fine without crashing for a day after fitting the new 600w Alpine PSU and then rapidly went downhill again. The power outage was probably coincidental as the pc turned off - but I turned it back on once power was restored so I don’t think here could’ve been a spike. Baffling!!
UPDATE: Just been checking the replacement PSU specs a little more closely after generally looking into PSU’s. Not very encouraging!!
The power distribution on this Alpine unit is very poor with only 34A available on just one 12v rail! It has 32A on the 5v rail and 22A on the 3.5v but I’m guessing that they’re not a lot of use as it's 12v power that I need. There’s a -12v but that only has 0.5A available! What do you think – PSU as the culprit??
Paul, there is no way I can say absolutely. However, that is what it seems. Plus the PSU is not rated and not good quality. We don't even know if it will put out as many watts and volts as it claims. We also don't know if it has the protection it needs to protect the rest of your components. The cheaper PSUs can take out your whole computer if they go out. It's happened many times before. The better quality PSU's such as Seasonic, Corsair, XFX and Antec are all high quality and will put out exactly what they claim and have protection built in to protect your components. We know that from experience and because they are tested thoroughly by independent sources, and given a rating. But again, I can't say that is your problem for sure. (just as an aside, many of the brands mentioned above are made by Seasonic) While they cost considerably more than the cheap ones, they are well worth it because of the above as well as because they will last through several builds. I own 4 Corsair PSU's that have been through a dozen or so builds with no problem at all.
I would like you to get a good CPU temp monitoring program like Core Temp , which is what I use. If you can turn the fans on your CPU cooler to max. And run Prime95 Hardware - Stress Test With Prime95 You will have to watch your temps very closely. Core temp will tell you what your max CPU temp is, but DO NOT let it get that high. If it gets within 15C of that temp, stop the test. Click file and stop. It is a CPU stress test, but also checks the total system stability. Your temps will sky rocket as soon as you start the test. After about an hour or so, they will level out. I always run the blend test (AKA torture test) Try to run it for at least 3 hours. If you notice a core shut down or get messages that programs have quit working, stop the test. it will also pull a great deal more power from your PSU.
As far as PSU's you were talking about volts and amps on the 12V rail. This is a Seasonic Gold rated PSU. I know you can't but from here but this is an example of I'm talking about getting, if you can SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC F3)) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com
As an example, compare the ratings, and these are certified +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V@54A, -12V@1A, +5VSB@3.0A
I always use a single 12V rail.
Here is a Corsair HX 650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-012-_-Product
Specs +3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V@54A,
They are both modular too.
Cheers Steve - Ive ordered an Antec 550w psu that seems a pretty good rig - it has 4 sata connections and two pci express with 4 x 18A 12v rails if I remember correctly.
Those tests sound good. Don't think I'll have a chance to do them until tomorrow now as I've a ridiculously early 5.30am start tomorrow - but it sounds exactly what I need to run the system under stress, I'm assuming that XP doesn't exert the same amount of stress on the CPU as 7 does which is the only reason I can think that XP continues to run fine. So be good to see what the tests thro up!
Sounds Great. Just let me know how it goes, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.