P4T-E and cpu voltage question....

[dbal]

My P4T-E says (and everyone in the forum proposed so) it supports all northwoods up to 2,4Ghz. Question is how is this possible since they all have default core voltage at 1,5volt and my lower bios setting is 1,7v??????

:Q
This board is great but ASUS has been very tricky in promises about it so far like FSB adjustments, and I worry if this is another one.....

P.S: I just read in the latest bios revision I have installed (1005) that it "adds support for Northwood cpu B0 stepping microcode" which is excellent in theory since that's exactly what I want (in Intel's site B0 is the stepping of all Northwoods and only them) but the voltage question in terms of real life remains..... Shouldn't the bios options I see be updated as well???

 

[AndyHui]

Your lowest VCore setting is 1.7 volts?

Mine is running at 1.500 volts without issues...and the BIOS selection allows up to 1.700 volts.

 

[dbal]

Thanx for the fast response Andy at first! You know, I feel very lucky to get answers from such an experienced member who also owns the same board with me...!
In the issue now, are you running a northwood? Because from what you stated, I get to think that the voltage settings appearing in the bios (even if it's the same version we share) depend on the cpu. If it's a Wilamette like mine you get 1,750 (default and not 1.700 as I said earlier) up to 1,850. If it's a northwood it ranges from 1,5 up to 1.700. BTW, now that I am thinking about it the same thing was happening with my ABIT BE-6 when I switched from a 500mhz celeron to a 550 Coppermine P3 (the P3s default 1.65 was not present on the celey's options).
Please certify my hypothesis if it is so, because I wanna be sure I can upgrade at any time as I always thought when choosing this board....

 

[AndyHui]

That's correct, I'm running a Northwood.

ASUS BIOSes give you a voltage range that is based on your processor's VID/CPUID. It does not give you an absolute range.

Therefore, the range you can select for your processor changes with processor types.