Asus P5K CPU Voltage misreporting issue.

[nubian1]

Here is my system specs.

=====================================================
Asus P5K (Bios 0603)
Intel E6420 @ 3.45ghz Stable (Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme & Antec Tricool Fan)
2gig (2x1gig) Buffalo Firestix
Seagate 320gig 7200.10 SATA2 hard Drive
Pioneer SATA DVD Burner
Liteon IDE DVDrom drive
ATI X800GTO2 (Pipeline Unlocked to an X850XT PE)
Thermaltake Bach VX Case
FSP Blue Storm 2 Power Supply
=====================================================

In nutshell my in bios setting for Vcore & what i read in windows using both the Asus monitoring software & cpuZ don't match.

I ran Orthos to check for stability with the two pieces of software above showing a Vcore of 1.4V but to get 1.4V I had to select 1.5V in the bios. Speedstep doesn't seem to be an issue sice the cpu never went above 53C and it seems after a few hours that the system passed the orthos testing pretty smoothly (Higher clocks to come!).

What am I to believe, the bios setting or the software.

 

[JustaGeek]

If you can't believe the BIOS, we would all be in the big trouble!

My BIOS and Everest report the difference within 0.02V - 1.3V vs 1.28V.

If the difference is 0.1V, that must be the software issue, misreading the BIOS info.

Or... it better be...

 

[nubian1]

HHHmmm, two different unrelated pieces of software read the same though. My temps seem ok but I would prefer to be real sure. I'll try a third piece of software. 3 unrelated utilities can't be all reading the bios incorrectly I hope.

25C ambient
29C idle
53C Load

 

[JustaGeek]

Well... I think they can! They are probably using the same or similar algorithm that has not been updated to the latest, for the specific MB/BIOS combination.

As I said - if you can't trust the the mobo manufacturer - who do you trust...?

If you use Everest, they have Beta versions with more frequent updates before final releases of the software.

 

[nubian1]

Ok, I've installed Everest 4.10.1095 beta which is the latest I could find. Everest agrees with the other two utilities that I've mentioned earlier in this thread. Interesting stuff to say the least.

 

[JustaGeek]

Well... It is puzzling.

But aside of voltage... If your temps are within the specs, I would not worry too much.

In the meantime, contact ASUS.

And if you recently updated BIOS, did you clear the CMOS, load the setup defaults, and then re-enter the BIOS to do the manual settings...?

If you didn't, I think you should...

BTW, I don't know how you got your OC, but when I lowered my multi to 8 and increased the FSB to 375MHz, I was getting a lot of weird readings, like 3.375GHz OC instead of 3.0GHz.
Perhaps that is what is happening to you with the voltage...

 

[nubian1]

Thanks for the quick & very informative posts. I did upgrade the bios to 0603 and should have cleared it which I didn't. I'll post back my results.

P.S. What has been the most stable and able bios version for overclocking so far for the P5K?

P.S.2. I left the multi @8 (Default for the E6420) and raised the fsb to ~440 for my overclock naturally keeping my ram in operating spec. I may try lowering it to 6 and higher fsb's. This is loads of fun. Haven't had this much fun overclocking since the Celeron 300a!

** Found this interesting thread talking about something called Vdroop.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...ght_key=y&keyword1=p5k

 

[JustaGeek]

LOL yeah, it is fun, isn't it?

I do not have the P5K, someone else would have to answer that question, but generally speaking using the latest BIOS is usually the best option.

 

[Cutthroat]

That's normal that software temp monitors show a lower voltage than what is set in the BIOS. On my P5K Deluxe the Vcore is set to 1.425v and in Everst it is shown as 1.392. .1v is kind of a large discrepancy, but my Asus 680i board used to be that much different, don't worry about it.

AFAIK the vanilla P5K does not have the option to 'enable voltage damper' (vdroop) in the BIOS, it does exist in the P5K deluxe. Basically it only counts when under load, with the setting disabled my vcore would drop about .05v under load, with it enabled my vcore drops to 1.384v, a difference of .008v.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: nubian1
Here is my system specs.

=====================================================
Asus P5K (Bios 0603)
Intel E6420 @ 3.45ghz Stable (Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme & Antec Tricool Fan)
2gig (2x1gig) Buffalo Firestix
Seagate 320gig 7200.10 SATA2 hard Drive
Pioneer SATA DVD Burner
Liteon IDE DVDrom drive
ATI X800GTO2 (Pipeline Unlocked to an X850XT PE)
Thermaltake Bach VX Case
FSP Blue Storm 2 Power Supply
=====================================================

In nutshell my in bios setting for Vcore & what i read in windows using both the Asus monitoring software & cpuZ don't match.

I ran Orthos to check for stability with the two pieces of software above showing a Vcore of 1.4V but to get 1.4V I had to select 1.5V in the bios. Speedstep doesn't seem to be an issue sice the cpu never went above 53C and it seems after a few hours that the system passed the orthos testing pretty smoothly (Higher clocks to come!).

What am I to believe, the bios setting or the software.

This characteristic is known as v-droop and is engineered into MOBO's ...........for a very good reason to keep you under-volting rather than over-volting. keeps you from toasting Silicon too easy...

 

[nubian1]

The voltage Damper setting does exist in my bios (0603). I'll enable it & see what happens.

Ok tested it.

This is broken in the Vanilla p5K bios 0603 & with some searching I have seen the same issues on other sites.

Even with Vdamper enabled my vcore drops from 1.47 to 1.4 or 1.39v when orthos is running. All other VColtages 3.3/5/12 are rock solid! The Vcore dropoff is limiting my overclock as far as I can see. I was 3.45ghz stable with an earlier bios (one that shipped with the board) now with 0603 I'm having trouble cracking 3.4ghz!


Anyone with a P5K & bios 0603 or earlier want to weigh in????

I may try to go back to an earlier bios.

 

[nubian1]

The Known P5K Vdroop Issue combined with the NON Working P5K Vanilla Vdamper Bios setting, at least with bios 0603, will limit overclocks on this otherwise great board. At this point I'm not keen on doing the pencil mod and am less happy with my purchase overall.

Asus please fix the Voltage Damper Not Working Issue!

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: nubian1
The Known P5K Vdroop Issue combined with the NON Working P5K Vanilla Vdamper Bios setting, at least with bios 0603, will limit overclocks on this otherwise great board. At this point I'm not keen on doing the pencil mod and am less happy with my purchase overall.

Asus please fix the Voltage Damper Not Working Issue!

Unless you were trying to solve a specific issue the 0603 BIOS is I believe a BIOS to update for G0 1333 FSB CPU's ... You really should only update your BIOS if you have an issue, or if some feature is enabled by the new BIOS...

Try stepping back, and see what happens....

 

[nubian1]

I'll try that. Seems the USB EZ Bios method won't work since it will not allow you downgrade a bios. I'll look online & see what I can come up with.

 

[JustaGeek]

Try the AWARD flash procedure described here - if you don't have a floppy, make a bootable CD.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y&keyword1=award+flash

 

[Cutthroat]

I wouldn't go back to an earlier BIOS. You'll probably find the Voltage Damper setting is not even there. I've had this discussion with a vanilla P5K user about a month ago, the earlier BIOS's didn't even have this option. I'm guessing that although the option now exists, it just doesn't work yet. Asus is good for releasing BIOS files, so I would wait for the next one and see, or just learn to ignore the difference.

I already had a bad BIOS flash once with my board, thankfully the "Crash Free BIOS" feature actually worked and I was able to recover. Unlike my last board, Asus P5N32E-SLI, which was killed with a bad BIOS flash (trying to go backwards) and I could not recover.

 

[nubian1]

I have to agree. Asus will hopefully release another Bios with he Damper option fixed for Vanilla users. I'm at 3.4ghz now and am 100% sure it could do better except for the Vdroop issue that a working damper option should take care of.

Reverting to an earlier bios version is possible but for now I will wait & see.