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do you trust the bios voltage reading over cpuz & HW Monitor?

ny_driver

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I was checking voltages at different voltage settings, and I discovered that if I set cpu volts to 1.4, 1.425, 1.45, 1.475, 1.5, 1.525, or 1.55v I get a reading of 1.37v when I get back to bios to look. Raising each one of them 3.3%, 5%, 8.3%, and 10% above the cpu I get the same results all the way through...1.42, 1.47, 1.52, and 1.56v. I do get slightly lower results when I go to 1.375 and 1.35. Just wondering if this is a common thing, because it seems kind of strange.:twitch:
 

3volvedcombat

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I was checking voltages at different voltage settings, and I discovered that if I set cpu volts to 1.4, 1.425, 1.45, 1.475, 1.5, 1.525, or 1.55v I get a reading of 1.37v when I get back to bios to look. Raising each one of them 3.3%, 5%, 8.3%, and 10% above the cpu I get the same results all the way through...1.42, 1.47, 1.52, and 1.56v. I do get slightly lower results when I go to 1.375 and 1.35. Just wondering if this is a common thing, because it seems kind of strange.:twitch:

Dosnt sound normal, there is such a think called Vdroop, which goes down like this. Right now in my bios i have my voltage set at 1.26250 volts on my ep45-ud3p, But sense there is vdroop, you ussualy drop down from that exact value by up to a full 150+mv or below sometimes on really bad boards. But at 1.26250 volts every monitor in windows reads 1.232volts and i belive the highly tuned and revised core temp, and CPU-z programs in windows sense there so accurate with everything else.

*EDIT* I dont know much about overclocking with old AMD 939 boards, but i remeber hitting 2.7-2.8Ghz with my 3800+ venice core and having the voltage stay around normal during operation.
 
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There will almost always be inaccuracies in voltage monitoring, whether it be in BIOS or software. There can be variations during different load states, and just general inaccuracy of the monitoring chip, etc. Nothing to worry about really. Usually older boards seem to be more susceptible than newer boards, as newer boards usually have stronger and better circuit designs and control.
 

3volvedcombat

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There will almost always be inaccuracies in voltage monitoring, whether it be in BIOS or software. There can be variations during different load states, and just general inaccuracy of the monitoring chip, etc. Nothing to worry about really. Usually older boards seem to be more susceptible than newer boards, as newer boards usually have stronger and better circuit designs and control.

+1. There pretty accurate in most cases but i dont have much experience. I do belive you though because generaly if Intel acctualy messes up on the Core temp sensors on most 45nm processors, then they could potentualy messup something around those lines to. Thats why some of the same stepping processors run cooler then others in many accounts. :roll:
 
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The most accurate voltage monitoring would be a nice, claibrated multimeter hooked up to the power pins that you want to test. The boards just have a small chip to take a few voltage and temperature readings. I've had older boards with BIOSes that had screwed up temperature readings (*cough* ABIT AV8 *cough*), and the readings would vary from BIOS version to BIOS version. I've had some Soltek 939 boards that thought my CPU was running at 96*C. :laugh:
 

ny_driver

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the software gets its information from the bios though, correct?
 

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i dont trust any of them, to be honest.

I "rely" on one when testing (EG, BIOS or CPU-Z), but i never trust the readouts
 

ny_driver

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The margin for error for the onboard monitoring usually isn't too large, so as long as your chip isn't showing like 90*C or 1.7v or something ridiculous, your system should be just fine. If your CPU heatsink burns ya, you've got a problem. :laugh:
 

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dont trust those readouts. get a multimeter - even the cheapest $5 one will suffice - and physically measure the voltages
 

ny_driver

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I've got 2 meters right here.....I'll have to look into whether I can test on the front of the board somewhere or not, I don't really want to take it out of the case.:twitch:
 

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those programs get the readings from the bios anyway. If the machine is not crashing, don't worry about it. If you haven't noticed already, when adjusting Voltages or Overclocking for that matter, Cool and Quiet adjusts the Voltages and Frequency during Idle Periods. It is best to disable that function when overclocking.
 
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