Is 11.8V on 12V rail safe?

[Dadrian Daedalus]

I am currently using a corsair Vs450 psu on a build with the following specs:

Core i5,gigabyte B75 mobo,4+4=8 gb ram,3 HDDs,750ti gpu.

Usually the voltage on the 12V rail of this psu stays at around 12.1 V under normal circumstances,however I have observed that whenever i start some cpu-intensive application such as a game,it drops to around 11.8V and hovers around that level for as long as the application is running.However as soon as the application is stopped it goes back up to ~12V.The voltage readings were taken using HWinfo64 and hwmonitor.
Is it safe to continue using this psu in this situation?Can running a system at 11.8v cause any kind of damage to it in the long run?I know that the readings provided by monitoring apps may not be 100% accurate,but i can't help but feel concerned about this as the voltages provided by the 12V rail often have a direct impact on a system's stability.

I am aware that Corsair's vs series psus are generally regarded as unreliable,and so i intend to change it in the foreseeable future.But as of now due to financial constraints,i may have to continue using it for a couple of months longer.Therefore i'd really appreciate if someone could shed some light on this matter.

Here's a screenshot of the voltage readings:

https://imgur.com/a/R4hYC

 

[Aeacus]

Your +12V rail is within ATX PSU standard of +/- 5% (11.4V - 12.6V) and for now you're good. Though, do replace the Corsair VS-series out since it is low quality PSU. For replacement PSU, i suggest getting any Seasonic unit, in 500W range. E.g: S12II-520, M12II-520 EVO, G-550 or Focus+ 550,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/bkp323,TgW9TW,fZyFf7,DPCwrH/

Focus+ is the newest PSU line from Seasonic and it comes with 10 years of OEM warranty. Other listed Seasonic PSUs come with 5 years of OEM warranty.
All my 3 PCs: Skylake, Haswell and AMD are also powered by Seasonic. Full specs with pics in my sig.

Here's also the link to an ATX PSU standard if you're interested in reading it. Voltage regulation is at page 12,
link: http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/atx12v%20psdg2.01.pdf

 

[MeanMachine41]

The Corsair Vs-450 PSU did not come with good capacitors and voltage regulation was a bit ify however your rail voltage is within spec so you should be OK. +or- 5% is the accepted tolerance on the 12V Rail.

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

Thanks to both of you for replying.I have a seasonic s12II 620 psu in one of my systems and it has been very stable for the most part-however psus manufactured by them tend to be somewhat pricey at where i live.

For this pc,i was thinking of opting for a corsair CX series psu such as a CX 450 later on.Are they quite as reliable as the seasonic units?Do they have lower grade capacitors like the VS series psus or better quality japanese caps like the ones found in S12II models?

 

[Aeacus]

Corsair CX and CXm series are mediocre quality units. Better than Corsair VS series but worse than anything from Seasonic lineup.

I'll take Corsair CXm 550 as an example.
Older models of Corsair CXm series (with green labels) were so bad units that they ended up as Tier Four in PSU Tier list. Corsair has since improved their CXm line (with gray labels) and now, they are better but not enough to be part of Tier Two. All Seasonic units are either Tier Two or Tier One.
PSU Tier list: www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

While CXm series are cheap, you won't get solid build quality and all Japanese caps as you can get with many Seasonic units. Here's one in-depth review of CX550m,
link: https://www.hardwareinsights.com/corsair-cx550m-farewell-group-design/

Corsair CX550m does provide some good results but it also provides some bad results. Like hold-up time that is way lower than the ATX standard specifies it to be. CX550m has hold-up time of 11.20 milliseconds while the ATX standard for hold up time is a minimum of 16 milliseconds. For comparison, Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium (best 650W PSU money can buy at current date) has hold-up time of 30 milliseconds.

And it's just not the hold-up time, there are other, more apparent things that doesn't make it good quality unit. One of them is the very noisy sleeve bearing fan used in it. At minimum, you're looking 39 dB(A) from the fan, which can rise up to 43.1 dB(A). It's like having 140mm Noctua industrial 3000 RPM fan in your PC running at max speeds.

Since CX550m it has nice list of good things and also bad things, it's a mediocre quality unit (Tier Three). If there were more bad than good (including price) it would be a bad unit and vice-versa.
I, personally, wouldn't use it. While it can be used just fine for an office PC that never sees any high loads and also where the PSU noise isn't that important. But for home use in a gaming PC, where PC longevity and noise are important factors, i'd use and also suggest using better quality and more silent PSU.

Different persons have different standards (some have higher standards while others have lower standards) and it's up to every person to decide how good of a build quality components are safe to use in their PC.
Since i care a lot about all my PCs, i won't put a mediocre quality unit into my PC that fails to meet ATX PSU standards set in place for all OEMs to follow, so that the PSUs are safe to use and doesn't damage other components.
In fact, i've gone above and beyond regarding PSUs in my PCs. Some may call me nuts that i payed €206.80 for a PSU that sits in my Skylake build (Seasonic SSR-650TD) while i would've been safe with a PSU that costs €69.70 (Seasonic SS-520GM2). While that can be true and i could've saved a lot of money, i feel safe and comfortable that my main PC is powered by the best offered by Seasonic.
I won't suggest expensive PSUs when the budget is way restricted. But i still suggest getting a PSU that at least meets all the ATX PSU standards, even if it's fully wired (like Seasonic SS-520GB).