Testing

I left my PC idle for just under 30 minutes, and here are the results. The results were double checked with a multimeter plugged into an unused molex connector.

12v idle

5v idle

3.3v idle

I then started Folding@Home, ran StressPrime 2004, had AtiTool 3D open and played music as loud as the PC would allow for 1 hour. Here are the results:

12v load

5v load

3.3v load

The results show that the power supply is pretty stable, with the rails varying by the following:

The rails hardly vary at all, and oddly the 5v rail is more stable when under load. It should be noted that my rig was only using ~220w of power which is about a third of the PSU’s full potential, even with an overclock.

This power supplies true potential can only be seen in an excessive dual GPU gaming rig. My Northwood CPU draws 82w at full while a Conroe will draw 65w. It would seem that a high wattage on a power supply is only needed to feed excessive graphics card setups. Power supplies are now being made to be more and more stable, rather than ridiculously powerful; which is exactly what the Storm 700w has done.

I tried connection the temperature controlled molex to my 120mm CPU fan. Unfortunately, after leaving my PC on folding away, I came home to SpeedFan reading 71C. The PSU smelt like it was burning; something was definitely wrong. I quickly unplugged the CPU fan from the temp controlled lead, and onto a standard molex. As soon as I removed the fan, the PSU kicked in and all the fans in my case went at 100%. After about 10 minutes, my PC calmed down. Suffice to say, the Storm 700W doesn’t like my CPU fan, or my CPU for that matter… The best course of action would be to never use a temperature controller on your CPU unless you know that it works.