whats a normal range for 12v rails? mines around 11.5-11.7, urs?

id say that you want it above 11.8

mine 11.67 but i have a thermal take power supply so...

what happens if it drops down like that?
i dont haev money for a new one lol

Mines at 11.5. How much performance do/ would you really lose? Anyone?

Are these measurements from software, or a multimeter?

If they truely are that low, that's bad. My 6800gt, for example, has a tolerance of .1v, so it's pissed if you go lower than 11.9 or higher than 12.1. So if you're half a volt off on a regular basis, you've got problems. It's bad for your hardware to undervolt it.

software from asus probe, im not going out to spend money on a multimeter, and even if i did get 1, where would i poke those neg/pos sticks

From software. My battery is dead on my multimeter, I haven't had time to get to wally world and buy another yet. Do you think these voltage readings, if true, could cause problems on an ATI 9800PRO?

ive never had a problem with my x800xt pe

I killed off a 6600GT with low voltages. So I sucked it up and got a 500Watt Antec SmartPower. Now my 12V line is at 12.16V....

I'm Picky, pc warning will alarm at 11.8
according to the multimeter my software is usually about 0.05ish off
so not to bad.

But I've already fried most a system with rails that were at 11.7 so I dont care to risk that on a system worth 5 times as much.

PSU FAQ
Digital Multimeters (quality ones) are as little as $20. They will come very handy later on in life, almost a priceless item IMO.

I don't understand why people dont take their PSU's seriously. I think Tbone2sk once said "if you PSU sucks, then your whole rig sucks". I would spend the money on a digital multimeter to verify that your PSU can handle your system.

All of my rails are within 2% to 3% of their rated specs, that's with both software and a digital multimeter. And people say Aerocool is a bad PSU company. Their PSUs have gotten great reviews and the things weigh a ton, which last time I checked, are a good indicator of their quality. Plus, it's so shiny......

So you can actually fry a system with low volatges? How is that?

yea i find that hard to believe. although... some componants need a certain voltage to work right, like Zener Diodes need a certain voltage to operate then you can fluctuate the current through them. it doesnt hurt it if the voltage is too low, it just wont work. although if you put a very low negative voltage to it, you eventually reach a breakdown point. thats true w/ all diodes i believe. eh, its been a while since i took that engineering class lol (last semester haha)

The PSU is the most important part of your rig, and besides keeping you from your max oc you can get stabiliy problems at stock, and can harm your components from either too much or too little voltage. 2% is recommended, with up to 5% fluctuation being "safe". Even if your psu is at 11.5v, as long as it is steady at that value and doesnt change you should be fine, but the closer to rated rail value the better. Its the fluctuation and spikes that kill the components - a rock solid 12v rail at 11.5 is very unlikely to harm anything, but if it spiked between that same 11.5 and 12v it could be very dangerous.

Oh, and dont go by software. Digital MMs are very inexpensive if you just want to monitor dc voltage like a computer to a couple decimels. You dont need all the extra stuff if you are only gonna use it on your pc. Everyone should have one, or at least have tested their system with one before IMO.

dang ppl you'll pay hundreds on CPU, coolers, motherboards, and even a case...yet you wotn fork over the cash for a PSU...my dual setup (humm that's still listed in my sig) started acting a little unstable, so i bought a new PSU, now instead of 11.9-->11.75 under heavy gaming load i get 12.06-->12.08 (yeah it goes up and ill be damed if i know why...)

Too many PCs have died from PSU problems, get a $5 multimeter (i paid less than $3.25 for mine after tax actually)....who cares its VERY easy to use, cost next to nothing compared to components and could save your PC....

(oh and $20-50 multimeters are great but nto really required for the average user...for measuring my PC voltages this $3 one does just as good as the $40 dad got tired of me borrowing )

Mine was 10 bucks at harbor freight tools(great place btw, check em out if you like more then just computers )...radio shack had a very similar one for like 50 bucks
It does 7 functions with various settings for each functions. Cant beat it for 10 bucks - pic and info here

Ding ding ding!!! Nail on the head!

You can get a multimeter for nothing! If you own a PC, ANY PC, you can afford (and really should have) a multimeter. And above that, you can do a lot of damage with an undervolt, just like you can with overvolting, and it can definately cause problems or reduce your max OC.

When they rate something at a certain voltage, it's not just a suggestion. There's a reason they rate it that way. Will a 12v device work with 2v? Prolly f'in not. What about 5v? Prolly still no. 11? Maybe.

If it's undervolted, it'll run fine -most- of the time most likely, but not at peak performance. Here's the catch though. When you OC, you're going to be running AT peak all the time, that's the whole point. OCing is taking your PC to the edge and looking over all the time. So if you're teetering on that edge, something as little as .2v could easily cause a noticable lack of performance.

you know what's funny...same one i got, same place, lower price..i love it

Volt Flux, Its not very surprising that 1.35 jumps to 1.45 to 1.55 then drops again, that was just on the cpu, imagine the gpu...

Oh BTW, even more reason to BUY A MULTIMETER. Software volt sensors are crap. MBM5 shows my 12v rail at 12.7v. Everest monitor shows it at 2.3. That's not a typo, it shows 2.3v. My voltmeter shows 12.04. I'll trust that one.

lol! Nice, 12.7 heh 12.3 ruined a few hard drives a while back, 12.7 is funny.
right now abit says 12v bang on, speedfan says 11.8, its at 11.9 according to the multimeter, so its no horridly off, I am pretty lucky.

Temp probs are off a bit though.. HD1 +13 (ambient is 17) HD2 58C (rofl?)

Heh, you might have seen my thread. Before I left for vacation, my rails were above 12, now they wont budge from 11.71 according to software. grrrrr, they need to make a better program that people can rely on. I'm getting a multimeter soon.

Within the 5% range would be optimal...so between 11.4 and 12.6 and you'll be more than ok.

Assuming that they dont fluctuate at all. If the psu cant even hold close to 12v, its doubtful that whatever volts it does hold will stay the same. They will go up and down depending on load(sometimes even without load, just on their own) and that is what hurts your system.

cchalogamer I love that DMM too! Does everything I could ever want - and the price was right You really learn to love a multimeter when you start voltmodding - its should be a computer owners necessity, not accessory.