Stability of PSU

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Rasmussen
  • Start date Start date
D

David Rasmussen

I have a sneaking suspicion that my PSU may be unstable in that it
delivers the wrong voltage on it's various lines.

I know I can just look in the Health Monitor part of my BIOS, but I
don't entirely trust those numbers, and also, I don't know what these
numbers should be and how much they are allowed to fluctuate.

Is there a program that can measure the stability and correctness of my
PSU? I first thought SiSoft Sandra, but it doesn't seem to have a test
for this.

/David
 
David said:
I have a sneaking suspicion that my PSU may be unstable in that it
delivers the wrong voltage on it's various lines.

I know I can just look in the Health Monitor part of my BIOS, but I
don't entirely trust those numbers, and also, I don't know what these
numbers should be and how much they are allowed to fluctuate.

Is there a program that can measure the stability and correctness of my
PSU? I first thought SiSoft Sandra, but it doesn't seem to have a test
for this.

/David
Click to expand...

A slight fluctuation in the measured voltages as seen in your Bios can be
down to sampling errors within the subsystem that monitors such things. Any
software solution is going to operate via the same mechanism so would yeld
the same results. However you could try the manufacturer of your system
board as they sometimes provide such tools.

Part of your problem is that troublesome spikes in the supply may be of too
smaller duration to notice with any meter type device. What you really need
to do is attach an oscilloscope to each output in turn and monitor the
supply that way.

You could try attaching a half decent Multimeter as well, monitoring how the
lines behave during periods of high PSU load (CD Rom operation, heavy disk
or processor activity that sort of thing).

But to be honest the best test is substituion, given the price of a
reasonable PSU I would simply replace it if in any doubt as to it's
performance.
 
Fitz said:
There are retail psu tester's available. They will put a load on the power
supply without it being connected to the motherboard. This one claims to
have 5, 3.3, and 12v output checks.

http://www.antec-inc.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=77003

I haven't used one, just "googled" it.

Fitz
Click to expand...

This is only useful for bench testing PSU's

You need a small load to make Switchmode Power supplies work properly. this
provides that, plus passthough for 3 of the lines so that you can measure
them.

However for real tests this presents nothing like real world loads (25w is
nothing to a PC power supply). Far better to measure a Power supply when
connected to real system components (or at least a load that accurately
represents them)

This device has it's uses for a quick yes/no works/is broken but it won't
tell you if your PSU is working out of spec
 
Wayne said:
But to be honest the best test is substituion, given the price of a
reasonable PSU I would simply replace it if in any doubt as to it's
performance.
Click to expand...

It is an expensive (and supposedly excellent) Antex 400W ATX PSU. Either
it is faulty, in which case I would like to know, or else I would expect
it to work perfectly. It's not a bad PSU.

/David
 
You need a small load to make Switchmode Power supplies work properly. this
provides that, plus passthough for 3 of the lines so that you can measure
them.

However for real tests this presents nothing like real world loads (25w is
nothing to a PC power supply). Far better to measure a Power supply when
connected to real system components (or at least a load that accurately
represents them)

This device has it's uses for a quick yes/no works/is broken but it won't
tell you if your PSU is working out of spec
Click to expand...

It doesn't even load enough to meet most PSU's spec'd
minimum load requirements, let alone a normal working load.
More than anything those types of testers simply tell you if
the PSU will stay turned on and if the voltage is anywhere
near correct, and yet a failed PSU may still run connected
to one. Sadly it wouldn't be as cheap for them to make one
with a more reasonable load, even though the selling price
would allow for that, resistors are cheap.
 
David Rasmussen said:
I have a sneaking suspicion that my PSU may be unstable in that it
delivers the wrong voltage on it's various lines.

I know I can just look in the Health Monitor part of my BIOS, but I
don't entirely trust those numbers, and also, I don't know what these
numbers should be and how much they are allowed to fluctuate.

Is there a program that can measure the stability and correctness of my
PSU? I first thought SiSoft Sandra, but it doesn't seem to have a test
for this.
Click to expand...

What is the basis for your 'sneaking suspicion' ?
 
Back
Top