AMD Duron 1.2 voltage

Okay, so I was looking at my CPU temps (with sandra) and seen that it was idling at around 51 degrees celcius. I dont know alot about normal CPU temps, but this seemed unacceptable. I started looking up some temps and stumbled across the core voltage... in CPU review, it said that the default core voltage is supposed to be 1.75, but they tried it at 1.6 and appearantly it was solid, and should lower the CPU temps. So I look at Sandra, and it says my core voltage is 1.83! I checked my BIOS, and it says the same thing (but it seemed to float changing from 1.82 to 1.83 and back and forth).

Am I somehow reading the wrong numbers, or is my CPU (Duron 1.2) running a oddly high core Voltage?

I have a Thermaltake Slim Volcano 10+ copper HS and the 2800rpm fan that came with it. There is also 2 coolermaster 80mm case fans, the one in the front drawing cool air in, and one in the back blowing air out.

Yeah, it's 1.75 voltrs default for your CPU but mobos sometimes overvolt them.

Are you sure summer heat and bad case air flow is not contributing to your high CPU temps?

My case temps appear to be 40 C and that's with 5 case fans, some rooms are really hot so with closed cases, it'll push your CPU to 50 easy.

well, I have bundled IDE cables, and a logical fan layout... in sandra it says the board temp is 23c at the moment and the CPU is 47c idling for about 20 mins.

I even pulled the HSF off and discovered that what was supposed to be the thermal paste had more of a clay consistancy, so I scraped it off and got some real thermal paste, but that was before the temps that I have posted.


Wouldnt the high core voltage contribute to the high temp alot? I am not OCing the system, so the lower voltage should not be an issue (if I could change it).

here is the link to the article I am getting this info off of

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/cpu/article.php/3261_939891__8


They are saying that with a core voltage of 1.6, they were getting 36-37c after running a load.

how much thermal paste did you appply? You only need to apply a REALLY thin layer of themal paste, on the core only. Also you should clean the core with alchohol before applying new paste, and also clean the base of the heatsink.

The voltage does have a lot to do with temps, and lowering it wouldn't cause any problems, but even at 51C and the chip at stock settings, its acceptable, its not really good, but is ok.

well, actually, I did put a good dab on the core.

what would be the best way to go about lowering the core voltage? The BIOS seems to not allow the voltage to be changed. Do I have to do that graphite bridge thing, or is there some program I can use for it?

You should look in the board's manual, perhaps there's a jumper on the motherboard itself that will allow you to do this. If not, only breaking the L11 bridges will lower your vcore.

uhhhh.... I dont think I want to be breaking anything.

I think I will try the EasyTune program that came with the board.

what motherboard do u have?

Gigabyte GA-7ZXE

I bought the majority of my computer nearly 2 years ago, the case, mobo, cpu...

I tried easytune 3, it wont let me change the core voltage, I tried the easytune 4 beta, it either has the ability and my bord/CPU dont support it, or the beta dont support it. I tried downloading the full easytune 4, but for some reason I keep getting easytune 5, which it promptly tells me that my mobo isnt supported by it.


After idling all night, the CPU is at 44.3c, case is 22.4.

I have looked through the mobo manual, and I really cant find any refrence to changing the core voltage... not even jumpers. In the BIOS, there is only a hardware monitor that shows you the voltage, nothing else.