OK guys I think I know the answer to this but I figured I would check before breaking out the solder iron... So as we know I had a bad extension that was wired incorrectly. Up until now I had no idea what the issue was but I guessed at the motherboard and replaced it. It was OK for a few hours, then started exhibiting all of the issues I had before. So tonight I decided to get out my little torch, go in and see if I could find anything obvious. I did. Looks burnt. There are two yellow wires that are burnt like that, and the socket has actually melted. The pins look kinda blueish green in the socket.. I removed the PSU completely and checked the pins on that under a magnifying glass and they are nice and silver. Unsurprisingly both of the burnt cables go to the 24 pin ATX, and I would assume they are 12v (but I will look at some ATX schems and see if they are) Now. The power supply has eight 6/8 pin PCIE wires. I am using four. Could I cut up off the cable enough to get to some clean wire (passing the burnt bit) and wire the two yellow 12v wires to clean ones from the PCIE connectors? They're all (yellow wires) 12 volt, right? would it matter that they were on a different rail? I would imagine the reason the PC is being intermittently faulty is because the burnt pin is having trouble connecting.. So this should be a ten minute soldering fix, correct? Thanks for advice.
All sorted. I traced the wires and they were indeed 12v. I removed the damaged pins and cut away the socket before running two of the PCIE 12v wires up the ATX. Sorted ! no more throttling.
Well, that proves that when QuietPC tested your motherboard and found it to perform normally, they really were telling the truth. The fault was with your PSU wiring all along.
Honestly if I did another PC build I'd want one of these PSUs over anything else after working with two of them (Alienware ALX and Dell Optiplex T7400, 1100W and 750W) and seeing them handle so many issues it's not even funny. Sure wiring one is hard, but honestly with the fault tolerance they have nothing on the market compares. It is a Delta, after all.
It's a great PSU. IIRC this particular one is made by Newton. 1200w jobby. I've never had any issues with any of the Alienware PSUs I've used tbh. Nexxo - yes. However QuietPC never did perform the tests I asked so there's no way of knowing if that particular motherboard got away with it. They're pretty lucky I did not find the fault back then, as the case and PSU are by far and away the most expensive components of the lot. A 1200w PSU like this one would cost £250 and the case is irreplaceable tbh. Any way with any luck all's well that ends well.
Quick update. After hours of testing the rig is holding 4.2ghz with no throttles either voltage wise or clocks. So relieved.
