Enermax power supply problems

[bcterps]

I have a brand new Enermax EG465P-VE power supply, and it seems like the +12V rail and the -12V rail are quite low. Right now my +12V rail is at 11.82, and my -12V rail is at -11.76. Are those voltages way out of spec? I am having some stability issues, especially with Prime95, sometimes it'll run for hours, but sometimes it fails within minutes. Hardware specs below.

P4 2.26 (not overclocked)
512 mb Corsair XMS3200
VIA P4PB 400 mobo
WD 100 gig HD (2mb cache)
DVD drive
12x burner
4 case fans

430W should be provide plenty of power for that system, me thinks. I've tried unplugging devices and running it with minimal HD and the voltage readings are the same. Any ideas?

--Ben

 

[bcterps]

ARGH! I thought that my VCore was stable, but I just saw it drop from 1.53 down to 1.23 for like a second, then come back up. I think I gots a defective power supply.

--Ben

 

[trilks]

I have the same PS, and the -12V is at about -11.70 to -11.78. Also have the same CPU and RAM, but 6 case fans. I havent noticed any problems because of it; maybe its just the way it runs.

 

[jthoske]

My Enermax 365w Whisper series powers a 2200+ 3 120mmfans 2 7200RPM HDDs, CDRW, floppy, geforce 3... without any problems

 

[Jhhnn]

The readings from a motherboard bios aren't necessarily very accurate- they're more along the lines of ballpark figures. A good digital multimeter is the only way to actually know the truth.

The -5v and -12v lines aren't actually used by modern mobos. It's very difficult to properly regulate a zero load voltage, and it really doesn't matter, anyway.

The processor voltage is derived from one of the other input voltages- if the input voltages remain constant but the cpu voltage floats around, then the fault is in the mobo or just in the monitoring system.

Your psu numbers are within spec.- check it out at www.formfactors.org.

 

[bcterps]

Ok, so if my input voltages remain relatively constant, and my Vcore is fluctuating then it's the motherboard that is the problem and not the power supply?

--Ben

 

[McCarthy]

11.82 is well within spec if you go by the +-5%. What's the 5v look like?

 

[BatmanNate]

That particular PSU is notorious for having a low -5v rail. (I have one) I had to mod it with 10k POT to stabilize the voltage. If you do a search, you might be able to find the details, it was posted here sometime back. It caused me a lot of instability prior to the mod, however my setup is fairly taxing. I run 2 Athlons at stock speed w/ Alphas, an OC'd GeForce3, 6 PCI cards, 7 harddrives, a DVD and Burner, plus 4 case fans.

 

[McCarthy]

Yeah, mine had a low 5v too, started out 4.7 or so, kept falling over time, got down to 4.18 (reported in bios) before the computer gave up. So I swapped out my $80, gold plated fan grill, 350w power supply with dual fans and threw in an Enlight 300. Case temp stayed the same and the computer runs. Tried contacting Enermax about warrenty, they won't write back. Used to try to warn people off Enermax, but it's not worth the effort when you mostly get people flocking to their defense. Let them figure it out for themselves is my current jaded attitude.

Since yours is brand new, benchiu, if the 5v is low I'd ask for a refund. Got another power supply around you can try to see if it changes system stability?

 

[bcterps]

Well I sent my Enermax back to the place I bought it from and they're gonna send me a new one. I'm running on my 300W Codegen PSU that came with my old Enlight 7237 case. Stable so far, I'm gonna run some Prime95 overnight to see how it works. No VCore fluctuations yet though which is great.