Increasing core voltage

[doubleJ]

I rarely do electrical-type stuff, but I've noticed that people run their cores at 1.85v, whereas my Soyo Dragon+ runs at 1.75. What's the difference in voltage? I know when you increase it, that more electricity is pumped into the cpu, but what does it do? Is there an increase in speed or what?
JJ

 

[sohcrates]

most often, core voltage is increased only if your system is unstable after overclocking

i.e. if you're overclocking and you have stability problems, up your core voltage and it might run better

downside is that it runs HOTTER!

 

[doubleJ]

Ah...
That makes sense, now. I tried to o/c my fsb (I have a Dragon+ / xp1600+ /256MB Crucial PC2100). I bumped it up to an 1800+ and Win2k crashed pretty quickly (WinAmp and IE was about all I was running), so I knocked it down to a 1700+ and Win2k crashed again, so I just dropped it back to Soyo's performance default settings. I haven't tried unlocking my XP. I might at some point, but not yet. I'm currently running a PCI video card, but I should be receiving my new Radeon 7500 this week. Then I won't have any PCI cards, so maybe bumping the fsb would give me less problems.

Does that sound reasonable? Also, I'll try bumping it with more voltage and see if that helps out any. I have a Thermalright SK-6 and my cpu is currently running at 33 degrees cel. I have it in an underground closet with no vents, 2 case fans, a 7000rpm hsf, and a big floor fan sitting on top of the case sucking/blowing upward, oh and my case sides are off.
Hehehe...
I knocked off a good 4 degrees when I put the floor fan on top and took the sides off.
JJ