Using Dual 12V Rail PSUs? Having Problems? READ THIS!

Dyre Straits · October 26th, 2006, 12:00 PM

Here's an article I came across in some research that confirms some of my own suspicions about problems many people are posting about games freezing, lockups, etc.

Seems the most common culprit is Dual 12V Rail PSUs! Although this originally seemed to be limited to a certain motherboard, it could just as easily afflict many others.

Here's a snippet from the Inquirer article:

"ATI key motherboard designer John Bruno told us that a single rail PSU is better than a multi rail PSU. He reported that ATI had some issues with multi rail PSUs while all of the single rail 500 W + PSUs were running fine. It turns out that both OCZ Power stream 600 W PSU and Akasa 650W PSU are using more than one power rails.

One of the readers an administrator of a motherboard company forum recommended ENERMAX EG651P-VE FM(24P) PSU with 36A and a single12 V rail. Our colleagues at Bit tech managed to test dozen X1900 cards including Crossfire with a single rail 520W OCZ PSU."

Here's the link:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=29940

Unixlord · October 26th, 2006, 08:37 PM

Damn that explains a lot!

ronbo191 · December 15th, 2006, 07:47 PM

Dyre, does that post contradict itself? Use dual rail,do not use dual rail. I have read that all PSUs should be dual rail with todays power hungry graphic cards. When I built my last computer I went with an Enermax 500 watt dual rail power supply. Best money I ever spent. 3 computers ago I had a cheap no name PSU, and when it went, it took everything with it. Motherboard, ram, video card and drives. The only thing that was any good was the case. I learned my lesson well. After that I bought the best power supply I could afford and built the computer around it. After all the Cpu is the heart, the memory is the brains and the PSU is the bloodline of any system.

PUTALE · December 15th, 2006, 11:15 PM

I think ATI is having problem is partly because maybe it's not following the ATX specs. I remember seeing news that their top card may not up to the pcie specs of 75w.

Dyre Straits · December 16th, 2006, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronbo191

Dyre, does that post contradict itself? Use dual rail,do not use dual rail. I have read that all PSUs should be dual rail with todays power hungry graphic cards. When I built my last computer I went with an Enermax 500 watt dual rail power supply. Best money I ever spent. 3 computers ago I had a cheap no name PSU, and when it went, it took everything with it. Motherboard, ram, video card and drives. The only thing that was any good was the case. I learned my lesson well. After that I bought the best power supply I could afford and built the computer around it. After all the Cpu is the heart, the memory is the brains and the PSU is the bloodline of any system.

I don't see a contradiction, no. What the article points out is that CURRENTLY (or at least up to the time of that article) they found that MOST Dual Rail PSUs were not distributing the power properly and therefore a Single Rail PSU was a much better option. Those who are having problems with their current Dual Rail PSUs should seriously consider the alternatives and could find the solution to be in using a Single Rail PSU.

I'm sure that since the article came out, companies are much more attentive to the potential problems and are making changes in how their PSUs work.

Stay tuned....