adjustable 12v rail, whats the point?

[Splave]

Seems to make no difference all the way up or all the way down on my antec 1200 OC Is it just a gimmick or what type of situation would benefit from that? A large 12v load I would assume?

[Hondacity]

hmmm

here's the formula.... P(power) = v(voltage) x i(current)

P remains the same... if you increase voltage...then..current goes....

[Polizei]

It's there for fine tuning at the factory usually. If you're benching and you notice your 12v rail dips under load, you can use the dial to bring it back up, or tune it to have it high at idle so it dips to 12v at load.

My Silverstone has those dials as well, but they're behind "Warranty is void if broken" stickers.

[NEOAethyr]

Overclocking and speed can benefit from it.

If you need a certain voltage level, say 12.15-12.18v max to get a certain mem or cpu speed stable, well...

Same goes for speed, aka latency really.
Hd's, dvd burners and so on all benefit from certain voltage levels.
So does the motherboard.

It can take a few months of use and study to figure out what exact levels you need though.
And for normal people well, there's really no point.

It's not meant for adjusting the diff in levels from one day to the next.
Psu's that change there level's offen on there own, are probably bad in the 1st place.
Re-adjusting such psu's would probably just increase the rate of the psu's death.

You generally want the psu level's to be 0.12 - 0.18 higher then the norm, ie 12.12 or 12.18v, and so on.
And you generally... don't want to see any fluctuation past 0.03v.

Dmm readings of course, not bios readings.

If I remember correctly, the only thing this methodology doesn't work for 100% is for dvd buner's.
I think they prefered a low 12v, and high 5v.
Like 12.02v and 5.18v or higher, I forget.
Though it's not worth the lower stability and speed just to make the dvd burner 100% happy.
It'll be fine at 98% lol.

For the avg user though, it's to much hassle.
Especially if it tends to change it's own levels on a dialy baises like my old ocz did.
That was well, crappy when I turn it on to see it's levels dropped a notch or 2.

I wish all psu's had it adjustable internally...
Some psu's have an ok 5v and great 3v, but low 12v :\.

[Cookiesowns]

Damn. I didn't know they still made the 1200 OC, Should've got that, but the semi-modular makes me cry.

Nice explanation there dude, really helps

[Hondacity]

Overclocking and speed can benefit from it.

If you need a certain voltage level, say 12.15-12.18v max to get a certain mem or cpu speed stable, well...

Same goes for speed, aka latency really.
Hd's, dvd burners and so on all benefit from certain voltage levels.
So does the motherboard.

It can take a few months of use and study to figure out what exact levels you need though.
And for normal people well, there's really no point.

It's not meant for adjusting the diff in levels from one day to the next.
Psu's that change there level's offen on there own, are probably bad in the 1st place.
Re-adjusting such psu's would probably just increase the rate of the psu's death.

You generally want the psu level's to be 0.12 - 0.18 higher then the norm, ie 12.12 or 12.18v, and so on.
And you generally... don't want to see any fluctuation past 0.03v.

Dmm readings of course, not bios readings.

If I remember correctly, the only thing this methodology doesn't work for 100% is for dvd buner's.
I think they prefered a low 12v, and high 5v.
Like 12.02v and 5.18v or higher, I forget.
Though it's not worth the lower stability and speed just to make the dvd burner 100% happy.
It'll be fine at 98% lol.

For the avg user though, it's to much hassle.
Especially if it tends to change it's own levels on a dialy baises like my old ocz did.
That was well, crappy when I turn it on to see it's levels dropped a notch or 2.

I wish all psu's had it adjustable internally...
Some psu's have an ok 5v and great 3v, but low 12v :\.

high end motherboards...have strict voltage controls....

example....evga classified... use a psu with 12.4v...

set vcore to 1.5v(llc on)....you get 1.505v(overvoltage but still ok)

use psu number 2....with 11.8v...say cheap power supply...

set vcore to 1.5v(llc on) you get 1.505(overvoltage but still ok)

...you're not accounting digital vregs...

[ARandomOWL]

It's a long time since the 3.3v rail went straight to the CPU :P

[Sam_oslo]

Adjustable 12v may have a point.

My AX1200, had a fluctuation in early days. It would idle at 12.26, and jump to 12.18 under load. It could fluctuate between those at Idle too.

Fortunately it has settled at 12.18 after a couple of weeks, and keeps there all the time at idle and load now. But I didn't like that fluctuation in early days, and had no way to "adjust" it either.

[Hondacity]

Adjustable 12v may have a point.

My AX1200, had a fluctuation in early days. It would idle at 12.26, and jump to 12.18 under load. It could fluctuate between those at Idle too.

Fortunately it has settled at 12.18 after a couple of weeks, and keeps there all the time at idle and load now. But I didn't like that fluctuation in early days, and had no way to "adjust" it either.

if it had an adjustment you would have adjusted it...

good thing it didn't have it....

those voltages are in still in spec...

[Bobsama]

If you're talking about voltages, use an actual multimeter to measure it. Going all by software (ie: using integrated sensors) is unreliable at best.

[NickS]

I had my old Tagan topower based unit at a little under 12. 45V idle and dmm tested would dip to 12. 1X under load... this was a decent unit too in the a64 days, just ran hot and drooped.