Is too much vdroop bad?

[blanketyblank]

Well I know that Vdroop isn't good for overclocking, but is it harmful in anyway beyond that? I know you can fry a CPU with too much voltage, but is too little voltage also a bad thing?

Here's a pic of what CPUZ says my Vcore is:
http://i189.photobucket.com/al...bucket/megavdroop1.jpg

It's set in the BIOS as 1.225V which is the lowest setting. I've found at that setting I can overclock to 310 mhz stable so I left it at that. However the Core Voltage according to CPUZ is something else. It jumps from 1.2 something all the way down to 1.00 (I've seen once. Usually it's between 1.072 and 1.84 Volts though. I've herad that a big vdroop might be a sign of motherboard failure so I'm a little worried.
Also I don't want to ruin my CPU if the fluctuations are bad for it. I'd much rather get a new board if that's the case.

Also just curious, but what kind of Vdroop does everyone else get? I mean how low/high does it get?

 

[nevbie]

"Vdroop" exists because Intel decided that it's needed. There was at least this article here at anandtech that explained voltage dropping under load: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...howdoc.aspx?i=3184&p=5
Everything I say in following assumes that the charts in this article are correct, and show exactly the idea of what happens.

So "Vdroop" is a GOOD thing, because it reduces the variance in processor vcore. It is also a bad thing for those that care more about their average vcore than their absolute maximum vcore value at some short moment. Personally I'd rather have less vcore variance and a bit higher average vcore than more variance and lower average.

I think it goes like this:
Too little voltage - and you experience errors in CPU work. That means instability. But I doubt it damages the hardware. (just software, in a way)
Too much voltage - and you shorter the lifespan of your CPU. I do not know the details. This can damage hardware. (who needs software after that?)

The optimal amount of vdroop is a mystery though. Too much vdroop and the variance is again greater than it would be without vdroop. Perhaps the ideal value depends on motherboard and processor used? Never trust your motherboard manufacturer though, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit that your mobo manufacturer (or maybe their BIOS team) just puts some value there, which ends up being not-so-ideal. Hopefully some other poster knows more abut this.

Forum people that say "motherboard A is better than B, because A has less vdroop" annoy me a bit... at least after reading this anandtech article. For overclockers who aren't ready to break their hardware, the following question is relevant: "Will running my CPU with a higher average vcore cause me more trouble (that can be a shorter CPU lifetime or lower achievable OC or marginally higher power usage) than running my CPU with a lower average vcore, but higher occasional vcore?" (that occurs when CPU load drops). Of course assuming that the Vdroop solution in question does what it is meant to do....

EDIT: Original Poster... do you have C1E and/or EIST enabled in BIOS?? Vdroop is about the voltage drop that occurs when your CPU is *under load*. The power saving mechanisms will probably both lower your CPU multiplier to 6 and also lower your vcore if your processor is at *idle state*!

Disable the power saving options to see if your vcore is the same than what you set it to be. After that run some CPU stressing application and during the run, open CPU-Z and check your vcore to see the "Vdroop".

 

[lopri]

I think what you're seeing is SpeedStep/EIST in action. Nothing to worry.