To be or Not to be - Vcore Mod ?

[malosi]

*AMD Athlon XP 1900+ OC @ 1771/11X161/2,2,2,6/Vcore 1.85
Temps w/ MBM less 10 for ASUS error - Idle: 24C Load: 28C
*A7V266-E Rev 1.07 / Bios 1006
*Thermalright AX-7 W/Delta 80cfm
*2 DDR 512 PC2100 (Mushkin w/ heat sinks)
*ATI Radeon 8500 - 275/275
*Creative Soundblaster Audigy
*IBM 7200rpm 40 gig HD
*ATX 500 Watt power supply
*Creative 52X CDROM
*HP CDWriter
*2 19" Sony Multiscan GS420 Monitors
*Server Tower (fans: 1 top, 2 front intake, 2 rear exhaust, 1
side, tunneled to PCU)

Hello,
first I would like to say thank you to all of you fellow OCing nuts out there in answering and teaching me more than I need to know about my PC, I am totally addicted now. LOL. This is definitely one of the best forums on the net dealing with our little sickness.
Anyways, here is my question. I am thinking about doing a Vcore mod to my Mobo using this tutorial - Vcore Mod , I saw it on another thread. I would like to know if anyone has had any success or failures with it.
Please take a look at my set up above and comment if it's worth doing or am I going to far once again. I feel my temps would allow me to push my fsb a little higher if I had some more power.
My rig is very stable and cool for an air cooling system running all bench mark and stability test.
Thank you for your time. Any and all comments will be greatly appreciated.

Malosi

 

[DaveB]

First, forget subtracting 10C for any "Asus error": 28C under load is impossible for your CPU under air cooling while 38C is possible with excellent cooling. And you have excellent cooling. My Asus A7M266-D gave very accurate temperature readings through MBM. My dual XP 1800+ CPUs running at 1667 MHz with the cores at 1.87V ran at 38C max under load with SK6 heatsinks and 40CFM YS Tech fans. The single XP 1800+ I had running at 1725 MHz @ 2.05V on my Shuttle AK31 maxed out at 42C.

Second, you better be an experience solderer, or get yourself a couple of Pomona SMD Grabbers. I dunno how much more you're gonna get for your efforts. I could only get my XP 1800+ to 1772 MHz with the core at 2.05V on my voltage modded Shuttle AK31. And it wasn't totally stable there, so I cut it back to 1725 MHz for completely stable operation.

 

[malosi]

Thanks Dave for your reply. I have been wondering if all the talk of the asus boards with temp problems was correct or not. You are actually the first to say it is correct. I also thought that with my temps being so low that it was possible my MoBo using MBM was giving me correct readings, thanks for the comformation.
Also, yes I am very good with a soldering iron, electronics has been a hobby for quite some time. But I think I'm going to go the route you suggested with the grabbers in case things go south.
Thanks again for your time and advice.

M

 

[malosi]

Update: Vcore mod was a success on my A7V266E using the above link from the Doctor. I used the micro grabbers from Radio Shack, with a little modifing, and a 47k resistor and all went well. Vcore was raised to 2.01 from 1.85. My temps were raised about 5C and my pc ran stable. Unfortunately like Dave said the gains were very small. So I decided to remove the mod and cut my $7.00 loss. I dont think the added temps are worth the small gain. I am very pleased with what I have accomplished and had a great time trying out the Vcore mod.
My wife says that curiosity killed the cat but I like to tell her he must have been a very satisfied cat before he died, LOL.

Malosi