PSU Testing?

[yan816]

I am on my third Asus P5B Delux motherboard in a month. The two previous boards all gave up the ghost within a week, I had overclocked my E6600 to 3.6 on liquid cooling using non conductive FluidXP.

On both boards, the fans would spin up, but the system would not post or send a video signal.

So before I install the third replacement board is there a way to test the PSU to see if that is causing the boards to die? I have a EZ Power supply tester and a multimeter, but to be honest have never used either. As far as I am aware the EZ power tester will only tell me if there is no power.

Can anyone tell me what tests I can do to check my PSU? Thanks.

[DataMatrix]

Google search: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...+testing&meta=

[yan816]

Thanks for the fast reply.Iwent out and bought a multimeter and following the guide came up with the following:

!2v line taken from the molex - 11.5v

5V line taken from the molex - 05.2v

3.3v line taken from the board plug - 03.4v

Are these readings correct?

[Supershanks]

I'm not saying it source of your problem, but the modstream doesn't have the legs (12v rail amps) of it's more illustrious brother the old 520.which had i think about 35A 12v
see OCZ ModStream Power Supply

520W: +3.3V(28A), +5V(52A), +12V(28A)

28A ain't that much these days.

maybe be better with the newr corsair or enermax, models around 620w with probably around 35a 12v

luck

[DratUK]

The 3.3 and 5 are looking fine the 12 volt 11.5 is looking low if that is at idle.

[yan816]

All voltages were measured without any load whatsoever. Would any of these damage a motherboard?

[Supershanks]

Your figures are within the 5% tolerance 11.4v. but our readings are as u say on idle. i would suggest you run orthos or graphoic intensive app & repeat the 12v test.

Would any of these damage a motherboard?

it tends to be spikes & surges that do the damage, these can occur if a psu has been tortured for too long. A psu works most effectively when running cool. if running extended periods it becomes hot, less efficient so ampage drops.

Ideally you want your 12v rail about 80% loaded to enable cool running. It's your cpu & gfx that take most 12v load

As i said earlier u only have 28A to start with
80% of that is 22.4A

Use eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5 but just enter the values for your cpu & gfx card + cpu oc. As i siad these use near enough 100% 12v.

So if i entered your info right, that gives 384w less initial 38= 346w/12= 28.8A max load against the 28A max. This excludes other items like fans water pumps etc., It's a crude but decent guide.

I'd be inclined to turn off your cpu oc until the new psu arrives
luck

[yan816]

Thanks Supershanks. Outsatanding. It looks like I need a new PSU. I just need to find a decent one. I keep hearing horror stories of PSU's blowing and taking half the system with it. Preferably a modular one.

[Supershanks]

I'd probably look at the enermax galaxy, liberty or infiniti.
see enermax

jonny guruis a decent place 4 reviews but he's not a great fan of modular psus & is also a silverstone fanboy.

luck