[Princess Garnet]

I posted this picture in another thread with a separate intention, but upon posting it, I noticed something with the voltages. My voltage for some of my rails seems low, namely the +3.3V rail but also the +5V rail.

This isn't the first time it's happened.

A good while back, I had a crash and Blue Screen while playing The Sims 3, and at another forum, we figured it was my CPU, which I thought was 100% boringly stable and hadn't had any issues at the voltage it was running at for over a year, wasn't stable (Intel Burn Test exposed it). Prior to discovering that, someone mentioned in one of my photos that my rails looked a bit low. Here are those photos from then (keep in mind these were months ago whereas the one above was last night). Someone looked over my log and said "everything points to the CPU", and someone else said not to worry (not to trust software readings or some sort if it was stable) about the PSU so I didn't.

Here are the photos from then.

Is this normal/okay? Are they too low? Are they too inconsistent? Am I risking anything? After I swapped out my GeForce 8800GT for my GeForce GTX 560 Ti, the +3.3V rail went up a little. Why? Why would the GPU influence the +3.3V rail? I soon after cleaned out my PC, including the PSU, and it went up a little more (~3.2V), but now it's apparently dropping again, or it never up to begin with and is just that inconsistent. The issue seems to effect the +3.3V rail the most, but the +5V rail seems to be doing it to a degree too.

The PSU still has warranty on it. Is this okay? I don't want to ignore it since there's no issues that I notice if there's a chance it's "bad for the hardware".

Also, here's the test paper thing I got with it (if it even means anything, I'm not sure). I noticed one of the results says "fail" on line 80.

 

[Shub]

Simple answer: software-based voltage monitoring is crap. Don't pay attention to it. If you start having problems and you suspect your PSU is the culprit, you'll need to buy a digital multimeter to measure its voltages.

 

[tr8rjohnk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shub;12976457
Simple answer: software-based voltage monitoring is crap. Don't pay attention to it. If you start having problems and you suspect your PSU is the culprit, you'll need to buy a digital multimeter to measure its voltages.

^This, or pick uo an actual psu tester, they're pretty right on. BTW, FYI, lower is better than higher.

 

[GameBoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shub;12976457
Simple answer: software-based voltage monitoring is crap. Don't pay attention to it. If you start having problems and you suspect your PSU is the culprit, you'll need to buy a digital multimeter to measure its voltages.

What he said.

 

[Princess Garnet]

So it sounds good so far? I wanted some confirmation since it was lingering in my mind. I'd rather not have a "hey, everything seems fine so it is" mindset because I know better than that. I love this PSU so I was hoping it wasn't starting to show some issues.
Quote:

Originally Posted by tr8rjohnk;12976489
BTW, FYI, lower is better than higher.

Is this because lack of voltage will become unstable rather than damage the hardware, whereas too much voltage will damage it? So, if it's not unstable, assume it's not too low and ignore the reading like I was told by the other forum?

I just seem to worry about some things.

 

[pioneerisloud]

Your PSU is fine. Software monitoring is garbage and should NEVER be trusted. My 12v rail is reportedly 8v right now. If that were true, I'd have some serious problems.

If you're unsure, get a multimeter, like already stated.

 

[Shub]

Correct, low voltages cause instability, high voltages cause damage.

 

[Princess Garnet]

Alright, thanks all.