Motherboard Voltage Sensor Suck
Although I wasn't having any stability problems with my system, I have been curious about how far off my mobo sensors were from reporting the real voltages my PSU is putting out, especially since I spent big bucks on a PC P&C 510 SLI Express and my voltages, as reported by Asus Probe, frankly, sucked. I finally got around to getting a direct readout of the voltages my PSU was delivering today. All I can say is WOW., the A8N SLI Deluxe mobo voltage sensors SUCK! I checked the voltage by hooking a multimeter up to the 24 pin power plug and running the system at idle and then under load. The below numbers speak for themselves:
(Full spec in profile but main stuff here)
AMD 3500+ Newcastle; 2 x 6800GT in SLI, 2 80GB HDD's in RAID 0
Test setup
Idle = Sitting at Windows desktop w/ CPU @ 2.3; GPU's @ 350/1.0
Load = BF 2 cranked up (max everything 4xAA) and CPU @ 2.4; GPU's @ 401/1.1
readings listed as Voltage / Multimeter / Asus Probe readout
Idle 3.3v / 3.35 / 3.25
Load 3.3v / 3.34 / 3.10
Idle 5v / 5.14 / 4.999
Load 5v / 5.13 / 4.97
idle 12v / 12.12 / 11.776
Load 12v / 12.11 / 11.712
Two things came out of this for me:
1. The 510 is a freakin' rock and doesn't even breath hard under load.
2. Never trust what your mobo sensors are saying.
Although I wasn't having any stability problems with my system, I have been curious about how far off my mobo sensors were from reporting the real voltages my PSU is putting out, especially since I spent big bucks on a PC P&C 510 SLI Express and my voltages, as reported by Asus Probe, frankly, sucked. I finally got around to getting a direct readout of the voltages my PSU was delivering today. All I can say is WOW., the A8N SLI Deluxe mobo voltage sensors SUCK! I checked the voltage by hooking a multimeter up to the 24 pin power plug and running the system at idle and then under load. The below numbers speak for themselves:
(Full spec in profile but main stuff here)
AMD 3500+ Newcastle; 2 x 6800GT in SLI, 2 80GB HDD's in RAID 0
Test setup
Idle = Sitting at Windows desktop w/ CPU @ 2.3; GPU's @ 350/1.0
Load = BF 2 cranked up (max everything 4xAA) and CPU @ 2.4; GPU's @ 401/1.1
readings listed as Voltage / Multimeter / Asus Probe readout
Idle 3.3v / 3.35 / 3.25
Load 3.3v / 3.34 / 3.10
Idle 5v / 5.14 / 4.999
Load 5v / 5.13 / 4.97
idle 12v / 12.12 / 11.776
Load 12v / 12.11 / 11.712
Two things came out of this for me:
1. The 510 is a freakin' rock and doesn't even breath hard under load.
2. Never trust what your mobo sensors are saying.
