PSU +12v Way Too High

[silentspeedz]

Hi, I've always been paranoid about my computer ever since my friend helped my build the first custom built pc. I am seriously not an expert when it comes to technology so anything that seems a tiny bit off seriously irritates me. I am not sure if this can be considered as normal but on my HW Monitor, it shows +12V always around 14 voltages even when idle and my +5V is around 3.1 voltages. I'm not sure if these are passable numbers but if they're not, what steps should I take to fix it? Thanks a bunch.

 

[OneOnFire]

Those voltages aren't right, you should only be seeing +/-5% on those rails http://pcsupport.about.com/od/insidethepc/a/power-supply-voltage-tolerance.htm

I would suggest replacing that power supply asap with something with the required wattage and amperage from tier 1 or 2 from this list - http://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx

If you need help in deciding how much wattage you need for your system - http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[cozmium]

Fwiw i'd personally whip out a multimeter and measure the voltages directly before sinking money in a new psu - just to make certain and to see for myself. It's not impossible it could be a mobo glitch causing it to be misreported, though if you don't have a meter certainly i'd replace it asap.

 

[silentspeedz]

Can RMA be even considered an option at all? I have the Antec VP550F 550w. I have always heard corsair and antec is the way to go when it comes to PSUs so I recently replaced my really cheap psu with this model yet it still comes out to be 14 voltages on a 12V rail. I have no idea what my voltages were in my cheap PSU that i exchanged, the only reason I returned it was cause it was so freaking loud.

My main question is, should I try RMA'ing this PSU model or is it a waste of time for me?

 

[OneOnFire]

From reading this review http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Antec/VP550F/ it seems a solid unit unless you're running it at full capacity when it starts to have problems with the voltage regulation. Also, it doesn't support the C6/C7 sleep states for Hawell processors (if you have one, although that can be disabled in the uefi/bios).

Techpowerup recommend not putting more than 450w through it "I strongly believe that restricting its maximum output power to around 450 W would increase its rating significantly. Yes, it can deliver 550 W at even high temperatures but doing so seriously stifles the performance of its +12V rail. The Cross Load test results were really bad. A lower capacity rating would significantly alleviate the aforementioned problems. Finally, the fact that I couldn't overpower the PSU by even an additional 50 W as it caused voltage regulation and ripple suppression to get out of control clearly shows that this unit's 550 W capacity is very close to the limit of this platform."

It depends on your system specs as to how much wattage you're pulling through it - if you can list your specs then should be able to provide a more definitive answer

 

[silentspeedz]

Thank you for your detailed comment.

My specs are:

CPU: AMD FX-6300 six core

GPU: AMD Radeon r7 260x oc version (MSI)

MB: MSI 970A-G43

CASE: Aero Cool StrikeX One

PSU: Antec vp-550f

RAM: Forgot the actual brand and name but I know its 2 sticks with 2 gb ram per stick.

HDD: WD 500gb

 

[ko888]

The problem is not with the power supply unit. If the voltage were really +14V for the +12V rail then the power supply's OVER VOLTAGE PROTECTION (OVP) circuit would have been triggered, shutting sown the power supply unit.

The problem is with HWMonitor not properly supporting the sensor chip on your motherboard. The solution is to use a monitoring utility (e.g. MSI Control Center) that actually reports what the BIOS would show for the voltages.

 

[silentspeedz]

Alright I downloaded speedfan to double check my +12V and it shows up to by 9.5 voltages ...

Here is a screen shot of both HW Monitor and SpeedFan

http://i.imgur.com/Qzxm5Gp.png

 

[ko888]

SpeedFan isn't any better.

Go into the BIOS settings and check the voltages there. If the utility is not reporting the same voltages as shown in the BIOS then that utility doesn't properly support your motherboard's sensor chip.

 

[OneOnFire]

I second ko888 in that you should check the readings in the bios to see what they are saying, if they are still off by that much then yeah, I would consider an RMA for that unit. Personally I would try for a refund and then get something from that Tier 1 or 2 list, but that will be up to you and your budget etc.

With an FX6300 and R7-260x OC you should pull under 450w at full load, unless you want to overclock your cpu, or add a second R7-260x later on, then perhaps get something with a bit more power.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_270x_gaming_review,8.html

 

[ko888]

I have the same type of problem with my ASUS motherboard's sensor not being properly supported by these common freeware utilities like HWMonitor and SpeedFan.

Try the freeware utility HWiNFO64. This one worked for me. Download it here: http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

I've also used commercial utilities like AIDA64 Extreme Edition that work fine.