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Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Printable Version

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Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Adam_Spire - 10-06-2012

What is the widest range of voltage levels you've seen on a power supply that you can monitor? I'm talking about a Male end connector to one of these. [Image: 271175546_804.jpg]

One should be 5 volts and the other 12. On this new power supply I just got, the 5 volts are reading 4.5 volts and the 12 is reading 13.5.

Now I'm no genius as many of you know, but I've seen voltage variance ranging from 5.02 to 4.90 and 12.02 to 11.91 but not the ranges I'm seeing now on this power supply. What power supply you ask? Coolmax 650W

Is this typical of these higher wattage pc power supplies now?

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Ursus - 10-06-2012

It's typical of cheap units. BTW you'll have some trouble with USB devices getting adequate power on a 4.5 volt feed.

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Adam_Spire - 10-06-2012

I'm not being jaded to you but how can you distinguish between a cheap unit from a "good" one?

1 How many buy it with fewest faults?
2 The company who makes it?
3 Component checks?
4 Materials used in the casing?

I've googled this and it all seems to come down to the first point.

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - phileditin51 - 10-06-2012

I'd be loathe to describe it as cheap, in Uk terms, it's around £90, from what I've read, it does the job as intended, and it has the overvoltage protection.

Features: Overvoltage protection, overload protection, undervoltage protection, cable management, short-circuit protection

In the early days of learning PC hardware stuff, a PSU from 1988, when I first started, never had the features modern units have. As long as the Bios has no issues with it, I'd assume you should be fine.

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Adam_Spire - 10-07-2012

Yea in the early days. I still have a working 150w power supply hooked to my 700Mhz legacy computer. Now I got to be a fraking expert on power supplys now.

Thank you.

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - AeternusDoleo - 10-09-2012

(10-06-2012, 02:08 PM)Adam_Spire Wrote: I'm not being jaded to you but how can you distinguish between a cheap unit from a "good" one?
Read reviews on reputable computer tech sites. But if it's less then 30 bucks for a 700W supply, assume it's crap.

A low voltage on the 5V line is not something you want - it tends to make your system, especially the video card, less stable.

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Mickk - 10-10-2012

(10-06-2012, 01:46 PM)Adam_Spire Wrote: What is the widest range of voltage levels you've seen on a power supply that you can monitor? I'm talking about a Male end connector to one of these. [Image: 271175546_804.jpg]

One should be 5 volts and the other 12. On this new power supply I just got, the 5 volts are reading 4.5 volts and the 12 is reading 13.5.

Now I'm no genius as many of you know, but I've seen voltage variance ranging from 5.02 to 4.90 and 12.02 to 11.91 but not the ranges I'm seeing now on this power supply. What power supply you ask? Coolmax 650W

Is this typical of these higher wattage pc power supplies now?

Personally, if I had a PSU doing that sort of thing, I'd be taking it back ASAP.

A *small* amount of variance in voltage is acceptable, but in my opinion, that is too much.

I really hope you actually go to a real computer shop to buy your gear and that you are just using the walmart site to show us what it is.

By the way, 650W PSU's are almost the 'standard' these days, I've seen PSU's rated at 1200W in my local PC shop. :exclamation:

RE: Power Supply voltage question 5/12 volts - Agmen of Eladesor - 10-10-2012

We sell power supplies here, and I run a tester on them before I send them out, because our store policy is that they don't come back. If you have an issue, take it up with the manufacturer, because we tested it.

Having said that, we also only sell Antec brand here, since they're a reputable brand. I've had one of them test bad in the last three years, and we caught it before it went out the door.

Anyway, any variation more than 0.1 volt is a bad thing.