Unstable Claritas (Stands unique) PSU.

adieboy

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I bought a Claritas 390A case and PSU from Stands Unique around a year ago, and have just changed mobo and processor from my old athlon - now pentium m and aopen i915a-HFS. After installing their monitoring software, I find I am getting dodgy voltages- sometimes v-core is high and the 12v tends to be over most of the time. high v-core isn't compatible with my "cool & quiet" plan, not to mention what it might be doing to my expensive cpu.
Trouble is, this case uses a matx psu (SilenX), modified for use with an atx mobo, a standard unit won't fit in the case!
Anyone know of quiet, possibly external solution to my problem?

Ps. Rod,(Stands Unique) I'm aware this is out of warrenty period, but is this a known issue with this (expensive) psu?

Cheers Adie
 
Hi Skunkpipe,
Having now tested the voltages with a digital volt meter, I've found them to be only slightly over- twelve volt is at 13.14 - not great really v-core looks within spec. but I'd like to see it lower.
Still having severe thermal issues with this configuration though, it's hotter and noisier than my old Barton based machine- ridiculous for a mobile chip based machine!
The trouble is that the fan and heatsink use Aopen's own proprietiory mounting system - nothing else will fit. Also, the board doesn't appear to support undervolting, despite references to it in the manual!!
As it is, I would have to give this mobo the big thumbs down!!!
Anyone help??

Cheers Adie.
 
Adieboy,

don't know if this helps but there is a general misconception that the processor on this board runs too hot. We've sold a whole bunch of these boards with very few issues. The misconception is to do with the temperature that a Pentium M operates at. If you check the Intel site you will find that the Pentium M is designed to operate at temps up to 100C compared to 70C for a normal dekstop processor. So this processor will run hotter than the equivalent desktop model. This seems to be a general rule for Intel mobile processors. The processor in my Dell Inspiron runs at 55-65C with processor use @ 70-90%.

AMD processors in general run much cooler than their Intel equivalents. We are trying to find a Turion based motherboard to find out if the same applies to AMD mobile processors as well.
 
Hi Stuartmc,
Yes, I've already looked at the Intel data sheet -100 degrees max., however, this board is sold with aopen's hardware-monitoring/fan utility (Silenttek lite) it's default upper limit is 70 degrees and without any clear documentation stateing what is a safe operating temp. (Aopen not willing to stick their necks out on this one?), I have major concerns about running a £150 processor at temps in excess of 72 degrees, with the audible alarm soundin continuously (what I'm seeing with Silenttek in "smart " mode). Please reasure me!

Regards Adie
 
Which Aopen cooler do you have, there are two the original low profile one and the newer high profile. The higher profile one was introduced to address the fears users had about operating temps. Both are less than flat underneath and we find that lapping the cooler helps to get a better contact with the chip and so keep things a bit cooler. A well lapped cooler and a good quality paste will keep the temps down to 50-60 most of the time rising above this only when processor demand is high, like burning DVDs.

Usual warnings of course, at your own risk, your mileage may vary, etc.
 
It's the later, higher profile version.
As to the quality of the thermal interface, I used the grease it was shipped with, so it's maybe worth trying to clean it off and use a better quality compound. It's such a pity that this wasn't designed with a standard P4 heatsink fixing!!

Cheers Adie.
 

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