Question about processor voltages

288 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by alexisd, Dec 3, 2006

THEpiGUY

Discussion Starter · Dec 3, 2006

I have a few questions regarding voltages of processors in general, but if anyone has any first-hand experiences with a 4000+, that'd be nice. If you add a lot of voltage to the processor, would the only downside be the heat produced? I've been recommended to not go over 1.55 with air cooling, and 1.6 with water cooling would be good. Do you think they just said this because of the heat? If you add too much voltage to the processor, is there a possibility that the processor would fry, never to be able to be used again? And if there is, how likely is it? I'm just curious, because I may be getting a water cooling system soon, and I wanted to know how high I could bump up the voltage, safely. I don't want to ruin any hardware from carelessness, because this stuff isn't cheap. Sure my processor maybe relatively cheap, but not cheap.

And also, I think my processor has finally surpassed the 200 hour break-in period since the last time I applied Arctic Silver 5, and the temps have gone down significantly. I'm on air cooling; this is pretty much the same as the other questions, but can I bump up the voltage as long as the temperatures are in a good range?

I apologize for asking pretty much the same question over and over; I just want to be safe here. I appreciate the help this forum has given me. Thanks in advance.

Also, if this should be in the "AMD - General" section, someone move it; I didn't know where to put it. Thanks.

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Mhill2029

· #2 · Dec 3, 2006

1.55v on Air and 1.6 on WC is correct. Although you cannot really fry a CPU unless you were a total spass and pushed 2.0V+ through it.

Yes you can bump up the voltage (one notch at a time) if temps are good.

Further Voltages can cure or cause instability, some CPU's especially A64's have onboard memory controllers that can go tits up with excessive voltage even though temps are fine.

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THEpiGUY

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 3, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mhill2029

Alright, thanks for your timely response. Another question though...if you don't mind. In my BIOS, I've located where it has the voltage for you to raise. I also have another option for something like "Increase VCORE by offset 200mV." Does this, in simplest terms, mean "add .2V" or is there more depth? If so, the max voltage I could put through the processor is 1.7625V; otherwise, it's 1.5625. So do you think 1.7625V would be too much, like enough to fry it? I know you just said 2.0V, but I can't tell if you're exaggerating a bit.

And I'm not just going to bump it all the way up; I'm going to do it little by little, prob. 0.0125V increments.

And I know too much voltage can hurt overclocking results; I haven't yet tried all of the options, so I haven't reached that point yet.

And when you say, "Further Voltages can cure or cause instability, some CPU's especially A64's have onboard memory controllers that can go tits up with excessive voltage even though temps are fine," I get the point, but how serious can it get? Nothing worse than just the computer shutting off, right? Thanks again for your fast response.

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Joeking78

· #4 · Dec 3, 2006

That is true. If you use overvoltage it does increase your stock voltage by .2v so effectively taking it from 1.55 to 1.75.

The best thing to do would be to set the stock voltage to 1.35 and then add the over voltage (.2v) to take it up to 1.55v. Don't ask me why but on my x2 4400 it used to be very stable at 1.35v with over voltage but no where near as stable at 1.55v.

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THEpiGUY

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 3, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeking78

Alright, thanks once again. I currently have my processor at 1.5V, and it's stable for the most part; it's shut down one time in the past few days while gaming. Could be my RAM though, as I've been running my 2T-rated RAM at 1T. So I guess I'll set it to 1.3V with the 200mV increase option; maybe 1.35. I'll see what kind of an overclock I can get with that. But, just for reassurance, you think 1.7625 would be OK as long as my temperatures are good? Of course, I'm not just going to bump it up to that immediately as I've said before, but I may reach that eventually if you guys think it's alright. And just whether you think it's OK for it to be that high is good enough; I'm not going to blame it on you all if I screw up my processor. I just don't know anything about voltages, and want to know.

I haven't seen my temperatures go past 45*C in the past few days, but I'm comfortable with them in the 52-54 range. I take a lot of caution after that.

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alexisd

· #6 · Dec 3, 2006

The asus an32 sli love the overvolt feature used.Is the best way to maked stable.Ex.My OC is stable @ 1.325 and overvolt.That give me 1.52 volt's.Play hard but safe good luck.

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