Should I Tune My Powerstream? (Also- How?)

[foodfightr]

Powerstream PSU allows you to fine tune the +3.3V, +5V and +12V rails. The "PowerFlex" feature basically lets you use a screw driver to adjust the rails how you'd like them. Should I pull out a multimeter and measure the rails and adjust them accordingly until they are as close as possible to exact?

I've used a multimeter maybe twice in my lifetime, so I'm worried I might fry something...

Also- what causes the rails to be off? If I tune it now and I move it to a different location (my apartment at school to home) will they be off again?

[EnJoY]

Heavy load on the rails can cause them to dip below their rated spec. Hence, you can compensate this by adjusting the rail higher than it's rated for, so that even if/when it does dip, it will never dip below it's rated specification. I personally have always adjusted mine with bios because it isn't that big of a deal as long as you stay within moderate increases. Plus, usually with dfi boards, the reported voltages are .1 or so below what they really are, so just keep that in mind.

[foodfightr]

Heavy load on the rails can cause them to dip below their rated spec. Hence, you can compensate this by adjusting the rail higher than it's rated for, so that even if/when it does dip, it will never dip below it's rated specification. I personally have always adjusted mine with bios because it isn't that big of a deal as long as you stay within moderate increases. Plus, usually with dfi boards, the reported voltages are .1 or so below what they really are, so just keep that in mind.

Yeah, but I'm thinking I may as well adjust it because they made it practical to do so..... Just not sure how to go about it with a multimeter and without frying something...

[EnJoY]

You won't fry anything. Don't bring the 5v line more than .2 above it's spec...you'll start having weird things happen with your hard drives. 3.3v has ran fine for me all the way up to 3.9v, but that was obviously only necessary due to ram overclocking. For daily use, it would be fine bumping it up to 3.5v. The 12v is by far the easiest and safest to overvolt in my opinion, I have mine at 12.4 24/7 because I know under load it probably dips a bit with my X1900 and 3ghz opty.

[foodfightr]

Ok... how do I measure each rail? Ill post a picture of my multimeter....

[afireinside]

Black to a ground (black molex wires works) then red to red on molex for 5v or yellow for 12v. 3.3v is orange on 24 pin. I've never figured out how to measure that under load. I run my powerstreams at 3.9 5.5 12.8 all the time. I don't run them 24/7 as I use an enermax liberty now but I never had any issues with my raptors at 5.5. May or may not be safe.

[EnJoY]

Measure with multi or measure via bios in hardware moniter (not nearly as accurate). To measure with multi you're gonna need to take the psu cover off.

[foodfightr]

Measure with multi or measure via bios in hardware moniter (not nearly as accurate). To measure with multi you're gonna need to take the psu cover off.

You can't measure by means of the 4pin molex? If I open it, I think I void the warranty.

What if I just put the system under load and measured it at that point for adjusting?

[foodfightr]

Ok........

I tested it out and tuned it.......

12V was showing 12.28, tuned to 12.01.
5V was showing 5.16, tuned to 5.01.

I gave them both .01 extra because they would "flicker" down .01 (12.00 -> 11.99 and 5.00 -> 4.99) so this way they have that little extra breathing room.

I turned on disk defrag and dual prime.... measured each doing Small FFTs and again doing LARGE FFTs and the rails didn't budge at all.

Job well done? (Other than the 3.3V rail.)

[madgravity34]

I would say so, but I dont think it would do any harm to have them slightly higher say, 12.1 and 5.1 so that over-time they will still load at 12v/5v or slightly higher.

[foodfightr]

Will having changed my rails affect my (actual) VCore?

[EnJoY]

Ok........

I tested it out and tuned it.......

12V was showing 12.28, tuned to 12.01.
5V was showing 5.16, tuned to 5.01.

I gave them both .01 extra because they would "flicker" down .01 (12.00 -> 11.99 and 5.00 -> 4.99) so this way they have that little extra breathing room.

I turned on disk defrag and dual prime.... measured each doing Small FFTs and again doing LARGE FFTs and the rails didn't budge at all.

Job well done? (Other than the 3.3V rail.)


Why in god's name did you turn them down? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. :slap:

[Coroner Kyle]

Yeah turn them back up to stock levels at least.

[foodfightr]

Why wouldn't you want your 12v rail to actually be 12v?

[Adamantine]

Ok........

I tested it out and tuned it.......

12V was showing 12.28, tuned to 12.01.
5V was showing 5.16, tuned to 5.01.

I gave them both .01 extra because they would "flicker" down .01 (12.00 -> 11.99 and 5.00 -> 4.99) so this way they have that little extra breathing room.

I turned on disk defrag and dual prime.... measured each doing Small FFTs and again doing LARGE FFTs and the rails didn't budge at all.

Job well done? (Other than the 3.3V rail.)
When I measure the 3.3v, I just take the point and shove it in the 24th pin spot so that the 3.3v wire and the MM cable basically make a V and just give a little push so it makes contact.

You were better off with the unadjusted voltages. For the 3.3v, try to set it somewhere between 3.38-3.45v, unless you're using high vdimm.

[pcdoc1]

Why wouldn't you want your 12v rail to actually be 12v?If this rational applies, it's safe to assume you're running your Opty at 1.8? :rolleyes:

[EnJoY]

Why wouldn't you want your 12v rail to actually be 12v?

Because under load, it won't actually be 12v...it will be less, like 11.85 for example. The reason the rail adjustment is there is to compensate for voltage droop during load, hence you up the rails, not lower. :slapass:

[foodfightr]

If this rational applies, it's safe to assume you're running your Opty at 1.8? :rolleyes:

No, I just don't understand what the benefit to having more than 12v on your 12v rail, or more than 5v on your 5v rail?

I am under the impression that the closer they are to what they should be, the smoother it will operate. I must be wrong?

[foodfightr]

Because under load, it won't actually be 12v...it will be less, like 11.85 for example. The reason the rail adjustment is there is to compensate for voltage droop during load, hence you up the rails, not lower. :slapass:

Well.....

I'm running dual prime right now, while my hard drive defrags. I have music coming out of my audigy and I have all of my fans turned up.

Showing a rock solid 12.00 on my 12v and 5.00 on my 5v both measured with my multimeter.... so what is the problem?

[afireinside]

You want more than 12v. A buffer incase you get a large droop and more is always better :D

[foodfightr]

Well it is a 600W Powerstream........ I'm not experiencing any difference on the rails when it is idle or loaded.....

[pcdoc1]

You got responses because you ask the question. If 12.0 and 5.0 was your goal, then go for it and be happy...... :) Don't think anyone else really cares much...

[Plywood99]

Running them at 12 and 5 is fine. Some folks like to up them a little, some don't. On my old x800 card it would flake out if I ran over 12.1 volts. This was on an Abit Av8 mobo with a Powerstream 420. Also some psu's actually overvolt when put under load.

You Powerstream will have very little if any voltage droop anyway. Nice psu's they are.

[GMX]

No, I just don't understand what the benefit to having more than 12v on your 12v rail, or more than 5v on your 5v rail?

I am under the impression that the closer they are to what they should be, the smoother it will operate. I must be wrong?

Your fans spin faster.

On some older boards (havn't tested the DFI reaction much):
12v makes some boards CPU clock(and overall stability) better.
Also having a strong and high 3.3v helps the chipset on some boards.

I keep 12v-> 12.65v (droop= .01 under load)
5v->stock (not modded) 5.10v (droop= .01v under load)
3.3v->~3.84v. as i use the 3.3v rail for vdimm (I use 20pin PSU)
In my experience SATA drives are very sensitive to higher 3,3v rails. So i switched out the one that comes with PSU to the Molex-SATA lead that came with the DFI board as it only uses 12v, 5v rails.

[madgravity34]

GMX have you seen any oc improvements after doing all those mods to you DFI?

[GMX]

GMX have you seen any oc improvements after doing all those mods to you DFI?

As soon as i got the board, i did the mods. I didn't test it without them(didn't have a PCI-E/PCI card for a week or so, and couldn't stand just looking at the board while it was doing nothing)

The vcore mod is certainly helpful, giving alot better incremental adjustment(i personally hate the % thing). The vdimm mod also is alot better. I noticed without it, i only have options like X.X3 to X.X4(when enabling +.03v option) or X.X1. With it i can fine tune it to things such as X.X0 all the way to X.X9 in tiny increments.

The readout points are just there to make it more convenient. When you place your probes on something while in an awkward position. You notice that if you look towards your value readout on the multimeter, your placement of the probes become less accurate because obviously you cannot see. I burnt two Abit NF7-S boards and that probably caused the death of two CPUs when doing this. For this reason, i will always solder readout points for crucial voltages.

[foodfightr]

As soon as i got the board, i did the mods. I didn't test it without them(didn't have a PCI-E/PCI card for a week or so, and couldn't stand just looking at the board while it was doing nothing)

The vcore mod is certainly helpful, giving alot better incremental adjustment(i personally hate the % thing). The vdimm mod also is alot better. I noticed without it, i only have options like X.X3 to X.X4(when enabling +.03v option) or X.X1. With it i can fine tune it to things such as X.X0 all the way to X.X9 in tiny increments.

The readout points are just there to make it more convenient. When you place your probes on something while in an awkward position. You notice that if you look towards your value readout on the multimeter, your placement of the probes become less accurate because obviously you cannot see. I burnt two Abit NF7-S boards and that probably caused the death of two CPUs when doing this. For this reason, i will always solder readout points for crucial voltages.

Can you add a picture? I'd really like to see! :clap: (The Ultra-D AD0)