AthlonC1.4 strange Voltage and Temps...

[mute-420]

Hi all,

Something is weird. I have an AthlonC 1.4@1.4 :) in an Asus A7V133 and I get pretty strange voltage readings in both BIOS and PCProbe.

On auto VCore setting, it reads 1.8V, 3.3V is around 3.6. On manual 1.75, it was the same.
VCore set to 1.70: the values are jumping between 1.71 and 1,78 constantly. (Actually closer to 1.78 as CPU temp rises). 3.3V is the same 3.6V all the time.

Also CPU temp is 51C (123F) on idle and 59C (138F) under load.
The cooler is a copper model with a ~5200 rpm 11 fin fan. (It comes from taiwan and sold under a different name here in Hungary (methinks) - Koolink Cool111). It is rated for 1.6 GHz AMDs so this should not be a problem. I also have a CPU spacer.

All figures are measured with open case.

Lotsa questions:

Why the strange V readings? Is this normal? Is my PSU or Mobo defective?
What would be the 'normal' or 'acceptable' temperature at this speed?
Can it be that the spacer is too thick and the contact between the cooler and the cpu is not perfect?

I posted this on a local forum here in Hungary and two guys replied having the same problems, one of them has a similar setup only with a WBK68 cooler and gets 68C(154.4F) idle and 75C(167F) load temps and off the scale V figures... (also w/open case)

Can this be a variation in CPU quality? (earlier samples are hotter etc.)

I don't want to oc until this is cleared.

Any ideas appreciated, thanks

mute

[anarki_gr]

welcome to the forums mute!
it's common that some motherboards automatically increase the cpu voltage a bit to get more stability. but watch your temps!! 59c at load is too much, maybe you should get a better cooler or just better case cooling. i don't know why your 3.3 is at 3.6 but it shouldn't be a big problem. oh, get rid of that spacer (shim), it's useless and may affect cooling as well.
i hope this helped a bit

[The Coolest]

Welcome to the forums!

I have the same mobo and the temps could be reported up to 10C more! So if it is the case u could be having about 50C full load... But surely I would suggest a better cooling...
Now to the Volts stuff... I got same things going on my default Vcore is 1.75 as well and its displayed as 1.78/1.79... the 3.3V is always around 3.6 as well. So I think except the temps your fine.

[bigfoot]

Welcome to the forums.

First off, definitely get rid of that spacer, I have never had one do any good for me, I had one in my machine when I bought it and after I removed it, I had the temps drop 12c, I also added some thermal compound of my own bond I'm sure that helped. second off, I'm pretty sure that your Motherboard is probably reporting those temps wrong, I know mine was. Oh and the 3.6 voltage shouldn't hurt anything, I hope.

[mute-420]

Thx everyone for the welcome and the tips :)

The spacer is now gone, as is 2 degrees of heat. As for the 3.3V-3.6V I got a hint at another forum that VIO is set to 3.56V by default on the A7V133...

The man says on page 21: ...The default voltage (3.56V) should be used unless processor overclocking requires a higher voltage. Jumper settings:
3.3V 1-2
3.45V 2-3 (Default) « 3.45 must be a typo
test mode 3-4

hmmm.... why the h*ll 3.56V for default?

The tip came from the guy with the insanely high temps with the WBK68. He moved the jumper to the 3.3V position and voila, 12 degree drop. Will do the same tonight. 100% jumper-free? OK I'm a lamer and RTFM but still...

ps: A little more lameness: in the process of removing the spacer I successfully managed to smear the thermal grease (25% silver) around the core, covering a few legs of those thingies (hey, I'm no engineer) between the core and the Lx bridges.

Thought I will end up with an 1.4 Gigahertz comb but with a little help of some alcohol I got most of it off, but it still has a nice silver finish... Anyways, it works fine.:rolleyes:

mute