Could a lower voltage <220V cause a pc to run slower?

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Peder

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Well i am wondering, Can a voltage lower than 220 make a pc slow?

A lady is really moaning that her pc is damn slow, but i am not experiencing any problems once i plug it in here...

Its actually a little slow but not really slow...

Peder
 
Nope. PC's run on DC. The power supply converts the AC current to DC.

Just bear in mind that you're dealing with the user's expectations. She expects the PC to be faster than it is, so it seems inordinately slow to her. Whereas you, who are used to these things, see it for what it is.
 
dablakmark8 said:
Yes it can run slower.i had a laptop that worked faster when i increased the voltage.
Click to expand...

LOL!

Big fat lie there...

The progression is:

1) 220V (or whatever) AC comes from the wall outlet
2) The 220V from the wall outlet gets connected to a transformer (or a series of transformers in the case of a PC power supply).
3) The output of the transformer (or transformers) is a scaled version of the input voltage
4) This voltage gets rectified so that there is no negative voltage
5) This positive-only (but still varying) voltage charges a capacitor. Across the capacitor, we find that we have a much more constant voltage (almost DC)
6) This almost-DC voltage gets regulated to be DC

A computer's components require specific voltages. If the 220V from the wall is not 220V (say, 180V or 260V instead), the transformer(s) will deliver a different voltage to the rectifier, which will in turn deliver a different voltage to the capacitor, which will in turn deliver a different voltage to the regulator. But the regulator's job is to FORCE the voltage to a specified level. The heat dissipation from the regulator is proportional to the difference between the input voltage and the output voltage. If the input voltage exceeds a certain limit, the regulator ceases to function correctly.

In the above situation, the components receive the correct voltage the whole time, until the regulator ceases to stop working properly. At this point, the current either spikes, ceases completely. In both cases, the component stops working (sometimes permanently).
 
Sn3rd can you tell me then why i might be having such a problem then??

Cause i cannot understand why the lady would be having a problem then....
 
sn3rd said:
The heat dissipation from the regulator is proportional to the difference between the input voltage and the output voltage.
Click to expand...

Some CPUs slow down when they heat up. Prevents them from burning out when the fan fails.

I seriously doubt it is the power. If the supply is incorrect, it will either reboot not work at all.

Could be spyware/virus abusing her internet. Could be a background task that was running. Could be that she has 1'000'000 emails in her inbox... Could be anything.
 
Which application was she compaining about?

Make sure the PC has enough memory, 20% free space, run a defrag and remove spyware/virusses.
 
Peder said:
Well i am wondering, Can a voltage lower than 220 make a pc slow?

A lady is really moaning that her pc is damn slow, but i am not experiencing any problems once i plug it in here...

Its actually a little slow but not really slow...

Peder
Click to expand...

you have a *btkac problem. ;)


*between keyboard and chair
 
sn3rd said:
LOL!


5) This positive-only (but still varying) voltage charges a capacitor. Across the capacitor, we find that we have a much more constant voltage (almost DC)
6) This almost-DC voltage gets regulated to be DC
Click to expand...

A bit simplistic but more or less correct :)

The PSU's have switch mode power supplies in them which is circuitry that gets a very stable DC from a switching regulator using high frequency. Thats why sometimes your power supply sings, or if your a bat you can hear it :)

The low voltage mains will have no effect on the speed on the computer. To confirm this (Only do this if you know what your doing) use a multimeter to measure the output voltages on the PSU at different spots in house. I'll guarantee that the voltages till be the same.

Maybe its just your perception that its slow - to rule the human factor out download and install a benchmarking program. Run in a few times and take the average, and then move the computer around and see if you get different results.
 
1. 220V is DC unless you have some major fluctuations on Power where ever you test it which I doubt SA is not the primitive

2.What PSU is it? 350W 450W 550W? How many hardware devices do you have in the PC? HDD's VGA etc etc look at total power consumption

3.Check the your trottling on the CPU (stress test)

4.Look at your start up Items

5.Have you tested the HDD? Access time?

5.Last but not least to every user there PC are normally slow and they want it fast soon as the walk into Service Center... the whole psychological mindset kicks in that they want a Lamborgini when they leave and they brought in a citi golf...
 
"220V is DC unless you have some major fluctuations on Power where ever you test it which I doubt SA is not the primitive "

English please ?
 
Peder said:
Well i am wondering, Can a voltage lower than 220 make a pc slow?

A lady is really moaning that her pc is damn slow, but i am not experiencing any problems once i plug it in here...

Its actually a little slow but not really slow...

Peder
Click to expand...

Maybe that is her problem. It might actually be slower than she is used to. If it is a normal Windows install (assuming XP) then probably the registry is cluttered up. Drive might be fragmented.

Voltage ummm no not the problem!
 
Could it be that when she plugs it in at home, she plugs in all the peripherals and when you test it you use just the essentials? Lugging a complete pc around is not easy. I think she may have a crappy driver slowing her down.

Certainly the voltage is not the issue, but I once had a faulty BT driver slowing my machine to a crawl. I would work through the drivers systematically (Check the BIOS too) and make sure you have the latest.

Then run a defrag. Whatever it is, it's not the voltage!:rolleyes:
 
andres101 said:
Some CPUs slow down when they heat up. Prevents them from burning out when the fan fails.

I seriously doubt it is the power. If the supply is incorrect, it will either reboot not work at all.

Could be spyware/virus abusing her internet. Could be a background task that was running. Could be that she has 1'000'000 emails in her inbox... Could be anything.
Click to expand...

The regulator will heat up, as it tries to correct the error. The CPU will still see the same voltage
 
gregmcc said:
A bit simplistic but more or less correct :)

The PSU's have switch mode power supplies in them which is circuitry that gets a very stable DC from a switching regulator using high frequency. Thats why sometimes your power supply sings, or if your a bat you can hear it :)

The low voltage mains will have no effect on the speed on the computer. To confirm this (Only do this if you know what your doing) use a multimeter to measure the output voltages on the PSU at different spots in house. I'll guarantee that the voltages till be the same.

Maybe its just your perception that its slow - to rule the human factor out download and install a benchmarking program. Run in a few times and take the average, and then move the computer around and see if you get different results.
Click to expand...

Agreed...

Was being simplistic in an attempt to illustrate the point :p
 
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