Antec 430w TruePower: Any way to Vmod this ??

[Hell-Fire]

Originally posted by morphling1
Hello
One q. so if I got that correctly there's no way I can fix +3.3 line on my Antec TC550W ?
Mine's at +3.2V when I have pots on max voltage, pretty bad and it's holding me back a little.

There should still be a sense line running the length of the ATX connector cables. Look at one of the corners of the ATX connector for a thick and a thin orange wire. They should both run into the same "slot" on the connector. The thin wire is the sense wire and is the one to mod. I would be surprised if you couldnt mod that psu regardless of its already added benefit of having the rail adjustments built in.

[morphling1]

Yes the sense line is present, and I did the mod, but I used 100ohm fix res and 50k VR (Pilsy's mod). And when I slowly lower the resistance nothing happen. Is the problem in material that I used ?

[Ragnarok]

I suggest u try it with the 10ohm fixed and 1Kohm variable resistor...

macci said if u use a large fixed resistance it might cause some fluctuations.. are u using a 15/25 turn VR? if so u prob just need to turn a bit more aggressively

[morphling1]

Yes I'm using 20 turn VR. But I did turned it all the way down, till the PSU just restarted, so something is changing but it's just not showing on voltages. I'll try 10 ohm in 1k to see if there's any changes

[Hell-Fire]

Are you measuring the 3.3v rail from the psu cable?

What are you grounding to btw?

[morphling1]

No I'm looking in bios, is that the problem ?
I'm grounding to case.

[Hell-Fire]

Originally posted by morphling1
No I'm looking in bios, is that the problem ?
I'm grounding to case.

My bios readings are close to 0.5v or more off on 2 of the 3 rails, so I would check directly from the cable.

Use the real thin plug from the psu that has the 6 small slots in it. Ground to anything you like (case) and its easier to just stick something metal into a slot (paper clip is good) that has a orange wire running into it. Obviously stick the paper clip into the slot with the psu unplugged or ya may get a lil jolt.

After you boot up the machine, just stick the black probe from the multimeter to any good ground and then touch the red probe to your paper clip to get the reading. Go into the bios and check how the bios is reading versus what your multimeter is reading to see how accurate it is. Thats in fact a good thing to do with the 12v and 5v rails as well. You can check those rails by using one the molex connectors from the psu. Those are the ones you plug into hard drives/cd roms, etc. The black wire is obviously the ground and plugging into the slot with the yellow wire gives you the 12v reading and the red wire gives you the 5v reading.

GL.

[morphling1]

Hello again

I finaly got time to buy new Antec TP 430 psu, to replace my old loud 300W psu on second rig, and I mod +3.3V rail right away. Now I used 30 ohm fixed resistor and 1k VR, well it works. Voltages are now adjustable.

And today I try the same mod on Antec TC 550 psu, and the mod works like a charm on this psu too. Great feeling when you can up the +3.3 rail as high as you want and not get stucked with max 3.2 V on this otherwise great psu.

Thanks guys

[Hell-Fire]

Happy everything worked out for ya.

This place has a wealth of information.

[Hell-Fire]

Something tells me that pc ice may like da NF7, but I am not sure about this....

[Minnyboy]

Hi, just a quick question from a relative nOOb to volt modding.
I have had a bit of experience with my 9800pro but would like to clarify some things B4 I go ahead with these PSU mods.

The question is:
What do i set the 10K VR to? Max resistance (10K) & then lower the resistance as I go along?

[Swiftech]

I don't get it. Why do we have to use a resistor and another VR ? Can't we just solder a VR between the sensor wire ?

[Minnyboy]

I'm a nOOb at this but I think it's the same as the IC7 mem mod, just in case your VR/trimmer's ground comes loose you'll still have power without it shorting.

I'm probably wrong in my assumption though. Just a guess. I'm only following what the senior members have done as it's proven.

Just my little 2 nOOb cents...

[STEvil]

If you read farther into the start of the thread its noted that just putting a resistor/VR/Diode directly into the vsense line doesnt work on all PSU's.

A VR from ground to the vsense line may work without an inline, but nobody has tried as of yet or not noted their results here.

[Hell-Fire]

Originally posted by STEvil
If you read farther into the start of the thread its noted that just putting a resistor/VR/Diode directly into the vsense line doesnt work on all PSU's.

A VR from ground to the vsense line may work without an inline, but nobody has tried as of yet or not noted their results here.

Thats a true statement there STEvil. I have done the mod with just the VR on the sense wire, but also done it where it wouldnt work without a fixed resistor running inline with the VR. The psu wouldnt power up with em both.

Depends on the psu, some run fine with just the VR while others require both for some reason.

Originally posted by Minnyboy
Hi, just a quick question from a relative nOOb to volt modding.
I have had a bit of experience with my 9800pro but would like to clarify some things B4 I go ahead with these PSU mods.

The question is:
What do i set the 10K VR to? Max resistance (10K) & then lower the resistance as I go along?

Yes, set it to max resistance and go from there is the best thing to do. With it set to max resistance, there will be only a marginal increase in voltage based on what VR you used.

[lalPOOO]

I did the 3.3v sense line mod, and the 5v sense line mod on my 400w antec "smartpower". Next time I have it open I may take some pictures just incase people are still struggling. (I also kind of want to show off the nice clean job I did )
One thing to note is that as I raised the 5v line the 12v line decided to tag along, which was quite a nice surprise for me consider that there was no 12v sense line.
Right now I've got the rails set like this 3.3v@3.46v, 12v@12.23, 5v@5.16v. If anyone thinks these rails are too high, lemme know.

If you look at these results, I don't really any reason to buy a "truepower" version of the antec power supplies.

Thanks!

[Hell-Fire]

Originally posted by lalPOOO
I did the 3.3v sense line mod, and the 5v sense line mod on my 400w antec "smartpower". Next time I have it open I may take some pictures just incase people are still struggling. (I also kind of want to show off the nice clean job I did )
One thing to note is that as I raised the 5v line the 12v line decided to tag along, which was quite a nice surprise for me consider that there was no 12v sense line.
Right now I've got the rails set like this 3.3v@3.46v, 12v@12.23, 5v@5.16v. If anyone thinks these rails are too high, lemme know.

If you look at these results, I don't really any reason to buy a "truepower" version of the antec power supplies.

Thanks!

On many power supplies, the 5v and 12v rails are "connected" so to speak. If there arent individual sense lines, 99% of the time the adjustment to the 5v rail will bring the 12v with it.

Just for future reference.

[Malves]

I did the mod sometime ago following this guide here. Here's how I did it. Did it using a 10ohm resistor w/ a 1k pot.

[Hell-Fire]

Looks nicely done. :cheers:

[Minnyboy]

Malves, that's looking real good.
Just a bummer I'm no good with a soldering iron. Have to wait for my m8 to do the mods for me. I'll be joing you guys at the extreme end of things.

It's a pity that the TP 550w PSU can't hold its lines too good. Apart from that they're very good (cheap) in AUS.

Tryin to get 100 posts up so I can go to the buy/sell part of XS forums. Wanna get some decent BH-5 ram to try these volt mods I'm doing.

[makatee]

Sorry if Im reposting any, but ive read through this thread and this is gonna be my first volt mod so i wanna get things right. Im gonna run to Radio Shack and pick up a multimeter and some resistors as soon as i get a confirmation as to what is best. From what ive read, these are what i need:
3.3 - 10 ohm fixed resistor and 1 K VR
5 - 36 ohm fixed and 10 K VR
12 - 68 ohm fixed and 10 k VR

Do those look right? Also, Im gonna have the same multimeter as Malves does, so after I get all this done, where do i measure volts at? Thanks for all the help guys.

[Minnyboy]

makatee,
I've asked a few members on the exact subject you're asking & fromwhat you posted, you are right.

All you need now is to dop the mod & you;re set to get a big boost to your PSU lines.

I'll be doing the mod ASAP, most likely after I get meself some volt lovin' BH-5's.

good luck with your mod m8. Should be a cinch if you're capable with a soldering iron which I'm not.

[makatee]

Minnyboy-
Thanks for the confirmation of what parts i need. Now i just need to know where exactly im going to measure the voltages at and how...Ive never used a multimeter and never done a volt mod. I can work a soldering iron fairly well though. Anyone else wanna help me out with that stuff?

[Minnyboy]

makatee,
measure with the multimeter to max resistance on one of the outer pins.
Lets say you measure 10K Ohm on the pin closest to the screw. Snip the othe pin on the outer die & make sure that the trimmer/VR is set to 10K Ohms.
Do your fixed/VR mod and then just adjust from there. if your mobo lets you see what your 3.3v line is then maybe you can adjust it on the fly.
I have done that before on my Vmem IC7 mod but a safer option is to know which way to adjust for lower resistance and have the PC off & adjust a quarter turn, Boot up & check the 3.3 line and if you're going in the right direction then just keep doing the adjusting til you get what you want.
I'd say 3.5v is a safe limit but don't quote me on that.

Good Luck M8.

edit: spelling

[Malves]

Originally posted by makatee
Minnyboy-
Thanks for the confirmation of what parts i need. Now i just need to know where exactly im going to measure the voltages at and how...Ive never used a multimeter and never done a volt mod. I can work a soldering iron fairly well though. Anyone else wanna help me out with that stuff?

Set the multimeter to 20v.
Turn on the PSU - short the green wire and a black wire (ground)next to it in the ATX connector of your PSU. You can use a wire for or a piece of solder. Make sure the PSU's power switch is on the off position before you short the pins.

Ground the multimeter to the PSU case (see black lead on lower left corner of my pic?) and insert the other lead in the 3.3v line pin in the ATX connector. Usualy, the orange one. That's all.

I also have to recommend to NOT make any adjustments on the fly.