do you trust the bios voltage reading over cpuz & HW Monitor?

[ny_driver]

I was checking voltages at different voltage settings, and I discovered that if I set cpu volts to 1.4, 1.425, 1.45, 1.475, 1.5, 1.525, or 1.55v I get a reading of 1.37v when I get back to bios to look. Raising each one of them 3.3%, 5%, 8.3%, and 10% above the cpu I get the same results all the way through...1.42, 1.47, 1.52, and 1.56v. I do get slightly lower results when I go to 1.375 and 1.35. Just wondering if this is a common thing, because it seems kind of strange.

 

[freeagent]

Its normal

AMD and Intel both droop. Some boards are worse then others tho.

 

[ny_driver]

But is the bios hardware monitor the most accurate reading I'll get?

 

[freeagent]

CPUZ knows whats up

What you set in bios is what you set, how much the board droops afterwards is the problem. Some boards are built better then others

 

[ny_driver]

so those fluctuations seen in cpuz are pretty accurate you'd say?

 

[QuietIce]

It's the way the board manufacturer writes the BIOS. I've always disliked those % increases but many boards use them. Usually the main voltage is limited to around stock settings and the % increase voltages add to that - it seems your system is doing just that ...

 

[trents]

Yea, but what he's saying is that the voltage in bios is lower than in Windows. Droop would be the other way around, wouldn't it?

 

[QuietIce]

Maybe I'm reading it all wrong but my understanding is the voltage SET in BIOS compared to the voltage READING in BIOS - nothing to do with Windows at all. He sets the voltage to, say, 1.45v but when he reboots back into BIOS and looks at the CPU voltage on the hardware monitor page it's still 1.37v. But like I said, I could have it wrong ...

 

[jmdixon85]

It is strange that your BIOS reports the same Vcore after you have increased it. What does CPU-Z tell you? Your Vcore will always be a bit lower in CPU-Z due to Vdroop but this is normal. CPU-Z will tell you if your mainboard is lying or if there is no change in Vcore for some reason.

 

[trents]

Yeah, now that I read it you could be correct, Ice. But what confuses me is the poster's subject line talks about CPU-z, as if he was comparing what the Windows utilities were saying compared to what he was setting it to in bios. Isn't voltage droop more pronounced when stressing?

 

[QuietIce]

Obviously there is some confusion because I can see part of what you're saying as well.

I guess for you and me it comes down to definitions. I separate vDroop and vDrop because they're two different problems. vDrop is the difference between the BIOS setting and the Windows reading it idle. vDroop is the difference between idle and load in Windows. I don't think I've ever come across an issue where the BIOS reading (not setting) is significantly different than the Windows idle reading. I'd call that a hardware glitch ...

 

[trents]

Thanks for the terminology clarification. I wasn't aware with regard to the parlance, i.e., that drop and droop were two different issues. One of the things I appreciate about this forum community is there are so many people to learn from. No one knows it all but there are many with a lot of experience and knowledge here that are generous and helpful.

 

[FatCamel]

My board will not allow me to change the Vcore. It has the option but it does nothing when I change it. I wrote an email to Asus about it not changing and they told me that the feature was not available on this board they just forgot to remove it from the BIOS.

Maybe that is what MSI did with your board.