Legit Reviews

So I realized that CPU-Z can be very accurate at reading the vcore (yes took me a while....). I'm always trying to figure out a way on how to up my overclock to something like 2.7Ghz but never really had the guts to do that since I had the vcore set to 1.34V in the BIOS already. I had always thought CPU-Z was reading the vcore wrong, but after reading so many reviews, I'm beginning to believe that CPU-Z can actually be an excellent program to read the vcore.

As you can see in the screenshot, I get different vcore readings and temperature readings. I'm only focusing on the vcore though since I know what to do with my temp readings.

Is my motherboard Vdrooping a lot? Should I try upping the vcore to say 1.45V in the BIOS and see what happens and to see if I can get a higher overclocok?

Thanks.

Give me a day to fire up my M2N-E and check vdroop. Some thing funny though you got one core at 39C and the other at 51C. Shouldn't be more that 4 or 5C difference if you have the dual core optimizer installed. (I'm sure you do)

When my original board died I was seeing FSB slippage, normally Asus boards will go 200 - 200.9 stock fsb out of box. Mine slipped from right on 200 to 200.9 and voltage dropped on the cpu noticeably. Almost like it was trying to decrease voltage to regulate fsb slippage. Didn't get to test it out cause by next morning it had slipped quietly into that great recycling bin in the sky.

Have you tried PC Probe and compared it to CPU-Z? Should be on your system or on the mobo CD. Don't run both at the same time though or it can cause a known error that ATM there is no work around for.

All right Methious. My board had FSB (HT) slippage as well. I think the boards were designed like that. Don't know why ASUS would do that, but they just did.

I'm not worrying about the temps since AMD uses the Tcase instead of the Tjunction to find the max temps. Which is why I know use PC Probe to monitor my temps.

I'm currently using the latest PC Probe obtained from ASUS' website atm. Running PC Probe by itself, the voltage is the same as the voltage reading from the screen shot, which is at a weird 1.38V. CPU-Z reads the voltage at 1.2V or 1.18V. Basically, the voltages are the same as what is seen in the screen shot. The weird thing though is that I have the vcore set at 1.34V in the BIOS.

[OT]
Where'd you get the Toushirou wallpaper? If you can't remember, can you maybe upload it somewhere and send me the link? Thanks!

I ran mine up and using the same open programs you have open CPU-Z was giving me funky readings. After reading around Asus boards specifically have a problem with CPU-Z reading correctly with other mobo sensor programs running. There is no current work around I am aware of.

Every other program I ran to detect voltage read 1.34 to 1.38. They'll provide a little more or less and it seems to change a little. Voltage regulation isn't the best on the two M2N-E I've had.

If it's just CPU-Z reading it I wouldn't worry about it, probably the Asus specific error. Cpu-Z read right until I opened Pc-Probe then it got funky, and after it got funky I couldn't get it to read right until I reinstalled it.

So you're not getting vdroop as me right? When I get home tonight, I'll reinstall PC Probe and run it again by itself. Then I'll run SpeedFan and CPU-Z and see what the voltage readings are.

I've always had weird voltage readings, even with CPU-Z and PC Probe running by itself. I found PC Probe to read the voltage always .03 to .04 higher than what I have set in the BIOS. CPU-Z on the other hand was always reading the voltage at 1.184V to 1.2V.

CPU-Z is reading vdroop, but it's not happening on mine. What happened on mine is i loaded CPU-Z, and it read right from the initial install, then I loaded another sensor reader and the readings in CPU-Z went all wrong. Wouldn't read right after that.

It's a known issue with no solution yet. I'd say it's just the known error.

PcProbe is probably just detecting the normal flux of voltages, mine goes up and down by as much as .05 when ever it wants but reads the same as yours. Given that across two mobos mine and yours reading the same it's just a CPU-Z read error.

I have the same issue with my Asus motherboard. PC Probe and other programs that read sensors, mainly CPU-Z, do not play well together, and give faulty readings when both access sensors at the same time. If you check the Asus forums you will see that this is a known issue. I flashed to the latest bios revision and the issue still remains. I decided to uninstall PC Probe and all is well again.

Well I removed PC Probe, restarted the computer, and ran CPU-Z again. CPU-Z is still reading the vcore at 1.2V. I have no idea what to do now. Trust the BIOS? Or trust CPU-Z. I'll run SpeedFan soon and see what readings I get.

If you are wondering why CPU usage is at near 100%, it's because I run F@H on both cores.

Edit: Added a screenshot of SpeedFan

You uninstall and reinstall CPU-Z? It's not having PcProbe on there that's a problem, it's running them together.

One way you might tell if it's vdroop is go in and lower the vcore to what CPU-Z is telling you then run a stability test back in windows. I'm betting it's not vdroop but inaccurate reading by CPU-Z.

Reinstalled CPU-Z just now, and booted up with the vcore set to 1.2V in the BIOS. With F@H running in the background, my Vcore is at .1072V according to CPU Z and SpeedFan. Maybe CPU-Z is reading the Vcore wrong after all...

On a side note, do I have to check "Round Off Errors" in Prime so Prime can tell me that an error has occurred?

Don't know about prime 95, I use Orthos and OCCT. It's strange that when you lower vcore, cpu-z and speedfan read the same, and the drop is the same amount. In any case it's not reading bios correctly, I don't think you could run stable at the voltage it's reporting. Lowest my 3800 would run stable was 1.20v.

Which is why I'm concerned about the Vcore and the readings. The lowest my X2 would run at stock speeds was I think 1.18v set in the BIOS. So I guess I should just hope for the best and go with whatever I have set in the BIOS.

On my AMD test rig, this issue drove me absolutely crazy....until I started thinking. Other than the numbers, I was having no issues whatsoever. Thats when I decided to stop looking at the numbers and just enjoy the computer. Sometimes we put too much stock in all our programs, and forget that our system is running as expected. After uninstalling PC Probe, I decided to uninstall most of the other sensor programs as well. Now I don't worry about what I don't see. I'm not saying that "ignorance is bliss", but I am saying that some of those numbers are reported inaccurately and some of them just plain don't matter.

I am no longer concerned about those numbers and the computer is still running flawlessly...GO FIGURE!

I usually don't pay attention to them until I hit problems. I do pay attention to then on new Mobo installs. Asus has a bad track record reading equipment out of the gate so I set manually. Beyond that only during OCing. Now temps I watch religiously. Which is kinda silly given that I'm on a stable water setup with a triple radiator, 8 120mm fans, 2 90mm, and 1 250mm.

I learned a long time ago, if it's got tires, gazongas, or a keyboard eventually it will give you problems.

Update: Saw the CPU-Z voltage readings at Tom's Hardware so I guess CPU-Z can't read AM2 vcores properly. Link

Oh, and they have minor HT slippage as well, which I think is a CPU problem and not motherboard problem.

OT: Anyone know how to push that vdimm past 1.95v? I know it's possible since it's essentially the same board as a M2N-SLI or M2N-E SLI. I can try and rip the M2N-E sticker off to confirm that though.