Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

[weirdlookinguy]

I'm typing this from my trusty HP Pavilion 753n PC. Here are the specs:

MSI 6577 Motherboard
Bestec 200W PSU
Pentium 4 2.53Ghz
1GB (2x512mb) RAM
300GB Seagate HDD
Generic TV Tuner
ATI Rage 3D Pro (yeah, I know...) driving my secondary display
Integrated Intel 845G graphics driving my main display.

This has been my main machine for 4 years and it's never given me any trouble at all, has always been very stable and trustworthy, for the first 2 years I pretty much ran it 3-4 hours a day, the 3rd year 5-6 hours, and now on the fourth year I pretty much run it all day and sometimes let it torrent stuff overnight. Like I said, it's never given me any trouble but it does have a Bestec PSU and after reading these forums, it's kinda worrying me as they seems to have a bad reputation. It's a 200 Watt model. According to SpeedFan, these are my voltages:

+3.3V = 3.23V
+5V = 5.08V (seems to fluctuate between that and 5.05V)
+12V = 11.61V
-12V = -12.86V
-5V = 3.50V
+5VSB = 5.43V

This is after the system has been on continuously for over 30 hours (on all day yesterday, then overnight, then again on all day today). The system has never skipped a beat on me (amazingly, no blue-screens for all the years I have had it, no kernel panics in Linux, nothing), but..... the 12V worries me. Are these values normal for an aging PSU? Also, I am disabling the internal graphics and taking out the ATI card soon when I recieve a new Radeon 9600PRO in a week or two. Can my PSU handle it? The card is powered from the AGP slot, needs no external power.

What do you guys think?

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

UPDATE: Well now the +12V is at 11.80, is it normal for it to fluctuate like that?

EDIT: Now it's back to 11.67 *rolls eyes*

[Topcat]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

+3.3V = 3.23V
+5V = 5.08V (seems to fluctuate between that and 5.05V)
+12V = 11.61V
-12V = -12.86V
-5V = 3.50V
+5VSB = 5.43V

+3.3V = 3.23V - ok
+5V = 5.08V - ok
+12V = 11.61V - ok
-12V = -12.86V - ok
-5V = 3.50V -well out of tolerance
+5VSB = 5.43V - tad high

[kc8adu]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

bestec psu needs a recap.
check the +5 stby from cold.
bet its way high.
post a pic of it with the cover off.

[bgavin]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

check the +5 stby from cold.

Can you clarify a bit please?

OP: a 200w supply seems awfully thin to support everything running in that box.

I have several machines die complete deaths caused by Bestec power supplies. To quote Topcat, "once junk, always junk". Why not ditch the Bestec and get something more stable?

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

Hey guys, I'll post pictures of the bestec opened up and readings, just as soon as I go out and buy a multimeter (my old one got stolen ). Seeing as how today is Labor Day in the US though, I might not be able to post the readings until tomorrow .

EDIT: Also, I know 200W is pretty low for this machine but I'm pretty broke right now so no chance of replacing it any time soon . I was going to buy a new graphics card, but instead I'll be spending the money on a multimeter and recapping my Bestec and the Gateway PSU from my other thread.

[Fizzycapola]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

If it's been running without problems then there aren't any problems.

Don't forget to take proper precautions when dealing with potentially charged high (~110-400v?) voltage circuitry. Electricians gauntlets, rubber shoes and a large lit clear work area.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

@Fizzycapola - true, very true.

Well I got a multimeter (cheapie from Harbor Freight Tools) and opened up the case to take a look. I've attached what the multimeter reads from the purple wire Standby Voltage, looks like the speedfan readings were way off. I also have some shots of the Bestec opened up - that thing was dirty!

[Harvey]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

Never trust:

• Voltage readings taking from a PSU that isn't actually running a load. Although its OK to do a quick go/no go test, you'll never get accurate readings without something like 10%-20% of the rated load.. which simply means you need a working motherboard/cpu/etc. and a hard drive or something similar connected before testing.
  
• Bestec PSUs. I've seen more motherboards killed by Bestec PSUs than I care to mention, and 99% of the time testing said motherboard destroyer always gives readings that are perfectly within tolerance.
  
• Voltage readings from motherboard sensors according to Speedfan etc. Mine currently are; 3.3V is 0.00V, -12V is -16.97V, and -5V is -8.78V The BIOS generally reports them more accurately, but not always.

Oh, and your pushing a 200W PSU to its limit with that setup, and with it being a Bestec.. well.. don't say I didn't warn you when your mobo gets fried

[Newbie2]

Re: Are the readings from my PSU a cause for concern?

That is a POS PSU! I see whimpy heatsinks.

Bestec power supplies are better off being replaced.