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Accurate voltage measurement

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  • Power Supplies
  • Computer
  • Components
Last response: in Components
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October 14, 2008 6:33:02 PM

Short of mounting a multimeter to my computer case is there an 'accurate' way of measuring my voltages(specifically my +12v) on my power supply?
Speedfan and Asus Probe both say my +12 measure 11.71 but when I measure it with my digital multimeter it reads 11.91.
Who's right or should I say most accurate in this reading?
Thanks

More about : accurate voltage measurement

October 14, 2008 6:39:49 PM

Assuming your multimeter is of reputable make, I would guess that it is most accurate. Most software voltage monitoring is notoriously inaccurate.
October 14, 2008 6:46:14 PM

You are measuring it with your multimeter when it is under load, right? That can make a difference. Assuming you are, I'd trust the multimeter any day.
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October 14, 2008 6:52:00 PM

Not only load, but where you measure it can make a difference too.

for example, one of your 4 pin molex's may read 11.8 when system is under load, and another molex may read 12.1. This is due to the drop induced by the wiring, and the amount of current thru that wire. one 12v wire may have no load on it, while another may have 4 hdd's, and even tho they are connected to the same place in the ps, the wire and the crappy ass molex connectors all add some drop when current flows.
October 14, 2008 6:53:19 PM

Yes I'm measuring it under load.
The reason I'm asking is my PS is 600W and since I'm running 2 EVGA 8800GT's(SLI) rather than replace the whole PS with say an 800+ I went the route of getting a Thermaltake VGA 450 PS.
My +12 before the VGA PS was 11.71 volts and continues to read 11.71volts. Since I was taking quite a load off the primary 600W PS I figured my voltage would have gone up a tad but stayed the same.
!