electrically conductive grease and ATX

[raskren]

Hi,

I've found that many times low 12, 5, and 3.3 volt rails are caused by poor connections between the ATX connector from the PSU and motherboard. My computer seems to suffer from a low 3.3v rail and 12v rail. I have checked the lines with a multimeter with the system under load and it reads around 3.33v and ~11.9 volts respectively. This is why I believe there is a poor connection somewhere; the psu is putting out adequate voltage, but the motherboard isn't getting it.

So, I was thinking I could put some sort of conductive material on each individual pin on the ATX connector to improve the connection.

I did a Google on "conductive grease" and came up with these two sources:
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/846.html
http://www.2spi.com/catalog/vac/silver-filled-grease.shtml

These both appear to be electrically conductive and one even claims it will help block EMI. Anyone tried this? Think it will work?

[WyrmMaster]

i tried something similar using defog repair liquid (the stuff used for unlocking) and it did improve my voltages slightly. It cant hurt, just dont put on too much, dont want to cross any pins (that WOULD hurt:))

although your 3.3 and 12v lines look good, if there within even .05 volts i consider that very good. What about your 5v line, thats the one that usually runs low.

[raskren]

I probably should have mentioned what voltages I get via Hardware Doctor... (these are all with 100% CPU load)

12v - 11.62v
5v - 5.03v
3.3v - 3.22v (has dipped as low as 3.16v before)

This is why I think I have a poor connection: Reading the lines directly w/ a multimeter shows everything OK, but bios readings or hardware doctor readings show otherwise.

[Angry_Games]

raskren I get just about the same readings on my DFI NF2 board and its clocked up to 220x10. I wouldn't worry too much that you aren't getting exactly 3.3v on that rail. As for the 12v rail, I get right around the same reading you do on that also, but mine dips down to average about 11.50.

System is rock solid and stable, with cpu/ram/vid all overclocked significantly. I would advise against adding any conductive stuff to your power leads unless you are getting instability or other weird artifacts relating to not enough steady current =)