Possible fault on a bfg 680i ?

Jasonp · 1 Apr 2007 at 10:45

I am running a bfg 680i mobo with a e6600 and 550w psu using 4 of the 8 possible cpu power pins which the documentation says is safe, i have set the cpu voltage in the bios to 1.3 and the bios as well as programs such as cpu-z and core temp think its using 1.247 ?

I don't know if these boards are smart enough to only take the power they need but this just seems a bit odd to me any help is appreciated.

WJA96 · 1 Apr 2007 at 14:30

So what you think is a fault is that CPU-z is under-reading the voltage against what you have set in the BIOS?

If that's the case then don't worry.

The voltage readings are taken from a monitoring chip. All these chips read a digital value from a digital sensor. That sensor has to be calibrated except it would be impossibly expensive to calibrate alll of them individually, so they are bulk certified on the basis that a sample reads as they should.

It's perfectly normal for a program like CPUz to under-read, over-read or even not read the voltage as you have set it in the BIOS. What it should do is read relative to what you have set so if you increase the voltage from 1.3 to 1.35 and it was reading 1.247 then it should now read spomething closer to 1.297 and if you increase the voltage to 1.40 then CPUz could be expected to read 1.35 if you follow me.

These voltage readings are decidely dodgy, but that's not the prime concern anyway as extra voltage just means more heat and it's the CPU core temperatures you should really be interested in. But as you are under-volting your E6600, I doubt temperatures are a problem for you.

Jasonp · 1 Apr 2007 at 15:35

What i am saying is the CPU-Z reading is correct, i have changed the setting in my bios from auto to 1.3 saved settings & rebooted went back in and it says current voltage 1.247. My setting on the left (1.30 instead of auto) on right side (current voltage 1.247) that never changes no matter what voltage i set it to.

As for temps they are a little high for the voltage 42-44 idle 55-60 load on AF7 but i think thats a unrelated issue.

WJA96 · 1 Apr 2007 at 16:13

Then I suspect the problem is with CPUz rather than the motherboard.

Are you using CPUz v1.39?

Jasonp · 1 Apr 2007 at 19:45

Ok i have explained myself badly, yes i am using the newest version of cpu-z but lets just forget for one min that i ever used cpu-z.

Take this scenario, i just adjusted my cpu core voltage to 1.35 from 1.30 saved settings restarted went back into the bios and look at the built in system monitor, this tool before was saying cpu voltage was @ 1.247 when i had set it to 1.30, now i have set it to 1.35 and it now says my cpu voltage is @ 1.30.

My question is simply this, is it normal for the "bios" to say any of your components and using less voltage then you have assigned them, and if not is the motherboard or the cpu at fault.

WJA96 · 1 Apr 2007 at 21:30

Jasonp said:
Ok i have explained myself badly, yes i am using the newest version of cpu-z but lets just forget for one min that i ever used cpu-z.

Take this scenario, i just adjusted my cpu core voltage to 1.35 from 1.30 saved settings restarted went back into the bios and look at the built in system monitor, this tool before was saying cpu voltage was @ 1.247 when i had set it to 1.30, now i have set it to 1.35 and it now says my cpu voltage is @ 1.30.

My question is simply this, is it normal for the "bios" to say any of your components and using less voltage then you have assigned them, and if not is the motherboard or the cpu at fault.

Yes, this is totally normal.