[Phaedrus2129]

The wattage itself doesn't matter, but if you were badly stressing the PSU then it may have been giving too high/low voltage, which would cause the voltage regulation circuits on the motherboard and graphics card to have to work harder and generate more heat.

 

[Phaedrus2129]

Maybe it was overvolting on the +12V rail? I've seen +12V readings of 12.3V or higher causing components to overheat, though I thought the motherboard's voltage regulation was supposed to fix the voltage as it reached the board.

 

[Phaedrus2129]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo ATX specs allow the voltage to be up to +12.6v so the VRM's should be able to handle that. The VRMs are suppose to stepdown the voltage to .9-1.6v (depending on CPU, of course). So 11.4-12.6v still should be converted to the same voltage to the CPU. Since the CPU is getting the same voltage, its temps shouldn't rise (but the VRMs might).

I see what you're saying, though I think the ATX specs are looser than they need to be; 11.7V and lower causes GPU instability, 12.3V and higher I know causes GPU overheating. I guess most GPUs' VRM isn't as efficient as the mobo's.