What happens when you increase....

HawgsHead

the VCore voltage?...Does that give the CPU more power?Sort of like going from a n 750CFM double pump carb. to an 1180CFM double pump carb. on my 67 Vette????Do I have the right idea???

HawgsHead

I'm adding a little to my post right above this one.....This is on my Alienware rig w/an Intel 3.4GHz Extreme Edition proc.{LGA-775}.It has the ASUS P5AD2-Premimum MoBo. In the BIOS I can increase the CPU VCORE voltage.{I know most of you guys allready know most of this but I am GREEN}It goes from 1.5750 to 1.7000.At the factory,they set it at 1.6750.I set it up to 1.6875.At the factory setting the proc. would OC to 3.7GHz.When I increased it I could OC it to 3.9GHz......Please explain and thanks!...And the temps are OK.

krips

EE...nice.
Anyway, Vcore is the voltage that the processor gets. Think of it like this:
For every mhz the processor does, it uses voltage. When you run out of voltage, you can't increase the mhz anymore because there's no more volts for the mhz to use. Increasing vcore gives more volts, thus allowing you to increase frequency. Vcore also, however, increases the rate of degration (is that a word?) of the processor, and increases heat aswell. Keep that in mind.

GutterPunk

I think knips said it well

I don't think i could explain it any better... if you don't understand it i guess i can make up a common comparison

HawgsHead

So I'm OK with what I did????I dont wanna screw up anything or burn anything up.The voltage increase is not too much?

Zardon

I am almost sure there is a problem with the 1008 bios for that motherboard, if you set it to 1.575 in the bios, in windows it shows almost 1.65volts in CPUZ or asus probe, im trying to get a hold of another to confirm this. Especially as it rose almost 20c from the last bios !!!

Be very careful when putting the core voltage up too high on your P4 especially if its reading low to the true figure. It wouldnt be as critical if you were on water or phase change but on air cooling this is a much more serious issue if you cook it.

Monitor your figures and if you start seeing figures in the mid 60s then I would lower the vcore in the bios until you are seeing around 60c MAX (under load not idle).

Post more details and whatever you do just dont move it to 1.7 in the bios without checking temps on a lower setting.

HawgsHead

As far as the temps. go I checked them while at the factory settings and there was no increase when I raised the voltage.None what so ever.It runs about 44C at idle and 58C-65C under a load.I also called Intel when the last processor{the one that cooked while running in the mid-90'sC}was overheating.They told me that the proc. max temp. should not go over 70C.They said that the EE series ran abit hot.This was confirmed by a tech's at Alienware and Falcon NW.The tech. at Falcon NW said he's seen the EE series run in the 80'sC with no problem at all.And he's seen the Prescott series run into the 90'sC!

Zardon

yes, I agree, they can take a lot of abuse, my mate ran his prescott at 75c for months and not a single problem. The extreme editions can take substantial abuse as well, but if I starting seeing 70c I would be worrying. There are so many bioses though that tend to read "high", so its damned hard to tell the actual temperature unless you use the right external equipment.

Have you ran CPUz to see what the core voltages are showing in windows compared with the bios? and what bios revision are you running atm?

HawgsHead

Voltage is 1.759 per CPU-Z.That's at 3.7GHz.The new ASUS AiBooster program sez the same thing.{The AiBooster program lets you adjust anything from a console that you bring up from youre task bar.You dont have to go into the BIOS to adjust anything}It's idleing at 42C.Under a load{running a virus scan,ad adware, SpyBot and Norton Systemworks at the same time},It's running at 62C.I dont have any games loaded yet.It came with a demo of Quake3 and ran that at 59.

Zardon

well from my testing with equipment the asus probe overreads the figures by 3-5c so you are in the high 50s still, which is perfectly fine. My extreme edition hits 3.9ghz on that voltage with the ASUS star ice cooler so you should be ok, if your cooler is good.


btw dont use that AI booster app its rubbish, always handle your OCs in the bios.

HawgsHead

You have the Star Ice????Was it a tuff install?And you are speaking of the 1.6875v?Or the factory settings it came with?...And thanks for the help and it was a nice review on the Star Ice!

Zardon

well its not a massively hard install but it means a total system rebuild as you have to remove the motherboard to attach the back plate to support the massive cooler when its upright.

My ASUS PD5 mobo didnt come with any "factory settings" I built the pc myself (its in a constant state of rebuilding as its the driverheaven PCI intel test rig)..... so it was all on "auto", so when i put in the EE it defaulted to 1.6 volts.

The ASUS star ice is right up there IMO with the thermalright SLKs and is the best cooler right now for slot 775 with the limited selection there is, but I can see inexperienced users going more for gigabytes 775 rocket cooler as its a much simpler attachment (though it wont allow for quite as high overclocks).

HawgsHead

Well,I'm not a fan on taking this Beast apart.I have the Thermalright XP-120 on my other rig.I think I will go with another one.I installed it in 30 minutes....Thanks Zardon!