That feeling when a new toy is crap (CWT 550W psu)

[funnelhead]

Ok Guys i would really appreciate your opinions on this one!

Don't you hate it when a new toy is utterly disapointing??

- building a comp for a friend gave me the opportunity to buy a 550Watt CWT psu from scan, then give him the 360W that came with my Chieftec Matrix Case. He's no overclocker, i'd pay the difference, we would both be happy!

I've just installed it, and this POS is giving me


3.3v ------- 3.18v
5v ------- 4.97v
12v ------- [ b]11.76 !!!!![/b]

This is idling, never mind priming. My chieftec 360W kept the rails spot on idling, though the 12v dropped to 11.85 when priming. Both give similar vcore


Should i keep the CWT on the virtue that it is 550W and i might well need this to run graphics cards of the future ( if nvidia buy ati for instance ) Plus vcore is the same and who cares what your hard drives are getting, right??

OR

Should i keep the Chieftec because it keeps tighter rails, despite the fact it's only 360W?? At least my components will love me....

I Run 2 HD's, 2 opticals, a 9700 pro and a xp 2500, all measurements from winbond hardware doctor that came with my DFI infinity.

I've got till sunday to give this guy his computer - So what should i do? What would you do? what would jesus do?


Cheers in advance of your judgements

ShaZam

funnel

[da_ging]

the reading from your motherboard may not be that accurate best bet is to check with a multimeter which is accurate

id keep the cwt 550

[unrealrocks]

Yeah - My rails are out quite a way on ASUSProbe, shove on my Fluke meter and there all bang on.

[blockers]

Id say keep the CWT as well....but can you not investigate if you can send it back as im sure there is something in trading standards or something that if you arent satisfied with the product.....maybe it was just a slightly sketchy one?

[funnelhead]

Cheers for the replies guys! Well I see your point about the readings being off - but it doesnt change the fact they have dropped with this psu...and i havent got the time to be sending it back really. Although when i sent one back to quiet pc i did get a replacement and my old one repaired......mmmmmm.....

I guess the obvious thing to do is shove a multimeter up it!

Where are the best places to get a reading for the different rails? .... 5v and 12v from the molex i suppose?? yellow wire 5v and red 12v ?? where can i get 3.3v??

cheers again !

funnel

[Steve]

3.3 is from Orange on the ATX connector.

Oh, and 12V under the ATX spec has a +/- 10% tolerance anyway.

[Lee H]

Cheers for the replies guys! Well I see your point about the readings being off - but it doesnt change the fact they have dropped with this psu...and i havent got the time to be sending it back really. Although when i sent one back to quiet pc i did get a replacement and my old one repaired......mmmmmm.....

I guess the obvious thing to do is shove a multimeter up it!

Where are the best places to get a reading for the different rails? .... 5v and 12v from the molex i suppose?? yellow wire 5v and red 12v ?? where can i get 3.3v??

cheers again !

funnel

We have not dropped the 550 CWT - its basically been renamed as we now have an agreement with CWT (meridian) and they can be found under the following name ;

LN5063 3XS 550W Meridian + SATA Quiet Dual Fan AMD/P4 App Active Fan Control Active PFC £45.99 Ex VAT

Hope this information helps

Lee

[SilentDeath]

There is nothing wrong with your psu funnelhead - those are only lower becuae of mobo resistance. If you want it to say exactly 5v etc.. then you can adjust the pots inside though I wouldnt bother, its quite cramped in there....

With a multimeter you would find the rails to be spot on what there suppost to be...

My one the voltages never change, showing that it can easly cope with the amount of power my pc wants...

[funnelhead]

Ordinarily i would not be moaning about this as i would blame the software blah blah - but the chieftec psu that came with my case showed all the readings exactly i mean exactly on. to then 'upgrade' and then have the voltages seem to fall - thats what got me writing in. And the readings do fluctuate under stress.

Talking of motherboard readings i Do like - i just installed my 2500-m, slk-800 and zalman 92mm + bracket thingumy

29.5 degrees after an hour of priming? Shurely shome mishtake ! The never-fails touch-it-test tells me it doesnt feel like its even on. Well at least one thing is going smoothly.

Now wheres theat multimeter?

I know what your thinking, did i supply 12 volts or only 11.85? Well to tell you the truth in all the excitement i clean erased the data myself. But being as this is a CWT 550W , the most powerful Power supply in the world - you have to ask yourself one question - do i feel lucky? Well do ya, hard drive, cpu and ram?(punk)

[steve threlfall]

Ordinarily i would not be moaning about this as i would blame the software blah blah - but the chieftec psu that came with my case showed all the readings exactly i mean exactly on. to then 'upgrade' and then have the voltages seem to fall - thats what got me writing in. And the readings do fluctuate under stress.

Talking of motherboard readings i Do like - i just installed my 2500-m, slk-800 and zalman 92mm + bracket thingumy

29.5 degrees after an hour of priming? Shurely shome mishtake ! The never-fails touch-it-test tells me it doesnt feel like its even on. Well at least one thing is going smoothly.

Now wheres theat multimeter?

I know what your thinking, did i supply 12 volts or only 11.85? Well to tell you the truth in all the excitement i clean erased the data myself. But being as this is a CWT 550W , the most powerful Power supply in the world - you have to ask yourself one question - do i feel lucky? Well do ya, hard drive, cpu and ram?(punk)

Dont want to take this off topic but how have you fitted a 92mm fan to an slk800? I was under the impression that it could only take 80mm fans

[funnelhead]

Steve - I've got the fan on one of those brackets that Zalman supply with their flower coolers. For me the idea being to lessen the effect of the 'dead spot' in the middle of the fan (and a bigger fan obviously). Zalman sell these separatly for £6 now or You could get the same effect using a tmd fan.

Well i stuck my dads 1971-give-me-a-hand-lifting-this-please Multimeter on it and the readings all came out a littlel low. Now whether this is due to the psu or wire resistance or the multi - who knows. I'm getting to the point of not caring now, and the 2500m has cheered me up.

I'd like to thank all you guys for your info, and basically reminding me to stop whining and if the comp don't crash, then don't worry Have a good weekend y'all/

shaZam

[Apex]

Ordinarily i would not be moaning about this as i would blame the software blah blah - but the chieftec psu that came with my case showed all the readings exactly i mean exactly on. to then 'upgrade' and then have the voltages seem to fall - thats what got me writing in. And the readings do fluctuate under stress.

Talking of motherboard readings i Do like - i just installed my 2500-m, slk-800 and zalman 92mm + bracket thingumy

29.5 degrees after an hour of priming? Shurely shome mishtake ! The never-fails touch-it-test tells me it doesnt feel like its even on. Well at least one thing is going smoothly.

Now wheres theat multimeter?

I know what your thinking, did i supply 12 volts or only 11.85? Well to tell you the truth in all the excitement i clean erased the data myself. But being as this is a CWT 550W , the most powerful Power supply in the world - you have to ask yourself one question - do i feel lucky? Well do ya, hard drive, cpu and ram?(punk)

No 2 psu's are the same ....... stop maoning and be greatful that you got a kick ass psu

[funnelhead]

i have never maoned in my life :Q

[SilentDeath]

funnelhead btw a 92mm fan on a 80mm heatsink wont help much... most of the air doesnt go near the heatsink even on 80mm fans! axial fans have low static pressure meaning if you use a converter or ducting, then it would probably be worse than a proper sized fan....
slk800 would greatly benifit if the outer fins were bent to cover the lost 1.5 cm on each side, or if it just had more fins (possibly with more gap between them).

[funnelhead]

Well technically it's not 'on' it - it's about 3 inches away on a Zalman bracket, and its cooling my mosfets and northbride aswell (dfi infinitys just have a large passive heatsink on the nb) I know i lose some static pressure this way, but my reasoning is that at least there will be air-flow over the core of the HS, which there wouldnt be if it were right next to it. And since the cpu core is in the middle ......

Feel free to question my reasoning... cos it's fun to learn


I did have the choice between the slk-800 or the copper zalman flower, but most reviews tended to favour the slk-800. plus it's heavier lol.

My next step will be to mount a very slow 120mm fan in the side of the case, blowing over graphics card (zalmaned) and ram (heat spread0rized) and providing nice cool air. With the side of my case off yesterday my cpu temp was 29.5c - with the side back on it's shot up to 37c! so i think some airflow is called for.

loving your 9700np overclock silentdeath - take it you've got that under the water as well. I can get my FIC one to 360/335, but my feet start to get warm. Hoping i'll get more out of the core when i put the zalman heatsink on it then cool it with the 120mm

shaZam

F