A7N8X2.0 Deluxe Vcore hassle with Athlon XP3200+

[magnate]

I have a Barton core AthlonXP3200+ in my A7N8X2.0 Deluxe. The mobo is 3
years old and the CPU is 2 years old. Never had a problem with either.
The CPU has always run too hot: 57c or thereabouts, rising to 61c under
heavy load. I've never understood why, but it's never failed on me. The
other day I realised that it was running at 1.8v Vcore but it's only
supposed to run at 1.65v according to the AMD spec. So that'll be why
it's running hot.

I went into the BIOS and switched the "CPU Vcore" setting from Auto to
Menu. The menu only offered me 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850v !! So I went to
the manual, and sure enough the manual claims that the Vcore can be set
manually anywhere between 1.100v and 1.900v

So I updated the BIOS (never needed to do that in 3 years - it shipped
with 1005 which has been fine) to the latest (1008-D). Still the same
problem! Vcore menu only 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

1. Why is my motherboard defaulting to the wrong Vcore? (Yes, it is
definitely a genuine Barton core XP3200+ - Sisoft Sandra confirms the
CPUID and the 1.65v Vcore)

2. Why don't I have the full range of Vcore options available in BIOS??

Grateful for any help,

CC

[S.Heenan]

Post by magnate
I have a Barton core AthlonXP3200+ in my A7N8X2.0 Deluxe. The mobo is
3 years old and the CPU is 2 years old. Never had a problem with
either. The CPU has always run too hot: 57c or thereabouts, rising to
61c under heavy load. I've never understood why, but it's never
failed on me. The other day I realised that it was running at 1.8v
Vcore but it's only supposed to run at 1.65v according to the AMD
spec. So that'll be why it's running hot.
I went into the BIOS and switched the "CPU Vcore" setting from Auto to
Menu. The menu only offered me 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850v !! So I went to
the manual, and sure enough the manual claims that the Vcore can be
set manually anywhere between 1.100v and 1.900v
So I updated the BIOS (never needed to do that in 3 years - it shipped
with 1005 which has been fine) to the latest (1008-D). Still the same
problem! Vcore menu only 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850
Anyone have any idea what is going on?
1. Why is my motherboard defaulting to the wrong Vcore? (Yes, it is
definitely a genuine Barton core XP3200+ - Sisoft Sandra confirms
the CPUID and the 1.65v Vcore)
2. Why don't I have the full range of Vcore options available in BIOS??

Flash it again.

awdflash xxxxxxxx.bin sn/py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E will delete all old BIOS info
during a flash.
awdflash xxxxxxxx.bin /py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E will do the same and prompt
to backup the old BIOS.


The command line arguments clear old data, which may solve your problem.

IIRC the last BIOS version I used was 1007, which gave the lower Vcore
voltages with all Barton 2500+ processors used.

[magnate]

Post by S.Heenan

Post by magnate
I have a Barton core AthlonXP3200+ in my A7N8X2.0 Deluxe. The mobo is
3 years old and the CPU is 2 years old. Never had a problem with
either. The CPU has always run too hot: 57c or thereabouts, rising to
61c under heavy load. I've never understood why, but it's never
failed on me. The other day I realised that it was running at 1.8v
Vcore but it's only supposed to run at 1.65v according to the AMD
spec. So that'll be why it's running hot.
I went into the BIOS and switched the "CPU Vcore" setting from Auto to
Menu. The menu only offered me 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850v !! So I went to
the manual, and sure enough the manual claims that the Vcore can be
set manually anywhere between 1.100v and 1.900v
So I updated the BIOS (never needed to do that in 3 years - it shipped
with 1005 which has been fine) to the latest (1008-D). Still the same
problem! Vcore menu only 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850
Anyone have any idea what is going on?
1. Why is my motherboard defaulting to the wrong Vcore? (Yes, it is
definitely a genuine Barton core XP3200+ - Sisoft Sandra confirms
the CPUID and the 1.65v Vcore)
2. Why don't I have the full range of Vcore options available in BIOS??

Flash it again.
awdflash xxxxxxxx.bin sn/py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E will delete all old BIOS info
during a flash.
awdflash xxxxxxxx.bin /py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E will do the same and prompt
to backup the old BIOS.
The command line arguments clear old data, which may solve your problem.
IIRC the last BIOS version I used was 1007, which gave the lower Vcore
voltages with all Barton 2500+ processors used.

Ok, I'll try that - thanks.

CC

[magnate]

Post by S.Heenan

Post by magnate
I have a Barton core AthlonXP3200+ in my A7N8X2.0 Deluxe. The mobo is
3 years old and the CPU is 2 years old. Never had a problem with
either. The CPU has always run too hot: 57c or thereabouts, rising to
61c under heavy load. I've never understood why, but it's never
failed on me. The other day I realised that it was running at 1.8v
Vcore but it's only supposed to run at 1.65v according to the AMD
spec. So that'll be why it's running hot.
I went into the BIOS and switched the "CPU Vcore" setting from Auto to
Menu. The menu only offered me 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850v !! So I went to
the manual, and sure enough the manual claims that the Vcore can be
set manually anywhere between 1.100v and 1.900v
So I updated the BIOS (never needed to do that in 3 years - it shipped
with 1005 which has been fine) to the latest (1008-D). Still the same
problem! Vcore menu only 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850
Anyone have any idea what is going on?
1. Why is my motherboard defaulting to the wrong Vcore? (Yes, it is
definitely a genuine Barton core XP3200+ - Sisoft Sandra confirms
the CPUID and the 1.65v Vcore)
2. Why don't I have the full range of Vcore options available in BIOS??

Flash it again.
awdflash xxxxxxxx.bin sn/py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E will delete all old BIOS info
during a flash.
awdflash xxxxxxxx.bin /py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E will do the same and prompt
to backup the old BIOS.
The command line arguments clear old data, which may solve your problem.
IIRC the last BIOS version I used was 1007, which gave the lower Vcore
voltages with all Barton 2500+ processors used.

Well, I typed it exactly as you said:

awdflash 1008-d.bin /py/cc/cd/cp/LD/E

... it flashed ok, albeit without any reference to clearing old data,
but the situation is exactly the same. Sisoft Sandra says the CPU is
rated at 1.65v, and yet the Vcore is 1.82-1.84v

This is really really pissing me off. I'm going to try Asus's legendary
tech support (that's legendary as in shite), but I don't hold out much
hope there.

Any further advice hugely appreciated.

TIA,

CC

[John Edmister]

Its my understanding that if its a true 3200 the vcore is 1.850. I had a
true 2500 and the vcore for that was 1.65. I'm guessing that if you lower
the vcore, your chip will become unstable at worse, or at least, throttle
back to a 2500. The auto settings should automatically configure your chip,
the only time you should have to change them is if you're going to
overclock... or underclock. Keep in mind that the XP chips run alot hotter
than the newer XP64 chips. My 2500 ran arround 52-65 degrees C. I did get a
little lower temps when I put a thermaltake Volcano 12 on it, <solid
copper>. Have you checked AMD's knowledge base for temp specs for your 3200?
I dont think 60 is too hot for it...

John
--
Asus A8N-Premium
Enermax Liberty 550
AMD FX-57
2 GB OCZ PC3200
Seagate Baracuda 300 GB SATA II
XFX 7800 GTX 256

Post by magnate
I have a Barton core AthlonXP3200+ in my A7N8X2.0 Deluxe. The mobo is 3
years old and the CPU is 2 years old. Never had a problem with either.
The CPU has always run too hot: 57c or thereabouts, rising to 61c under
heavy load. I've never understood why, but it's never failed on me. The
other day I realised that it was running at 1.8v Vcore but it's only
supposed to run at 1.65v according to the AMD spec. So that'll be why
it's running hot.
I went into the BIOS and switched the "CPU Vcore" setting from Auto to
Menu. The menu only offered me 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850v !! So I went to
the manual, and sure enough the manual claims that the Vcore can be set
manually anywhere between 1.100v and 1.900v
So I updated the BIOS (never needed to do that in 3 years - it shipped
with 1005 which has been fine) to the latest (1008-D). Still the same
problem! Vcore menu only 1.800, 1.825 or 1.850
Anyone have any idea what is going on?
1. Why is my motherboard defaulting to the wrong Vcore? (Yes, it is
definitely a genuine Barton core XP3200+ - Sisoft Sandra confirms the
CPUID and the 1.65v Vcore)
2. Why don't I have the full range of Vcore options available in BIOS??
Grateful for any help,
CC

[S.Heenan]

Post by John Edmister
Its my understanding that if its a true 3200 the vcore is 1.850. I
had a true 2500 and the vcore for that was 1.65. I'm guessing that if
you lower the vcore, your chip will become unstable at worse, or at
least, throttle back to a 2500. The auto settings should
automatically configure your chip, the only time you should have to
change them is if you're going to overclock... or underclock. Keep in
mind that the XP chips run alot hotter than the newer XP64 chips. My
2500 ran arround 52-65 degrees C. I did get a little lower temps when
I put a thermaltake Volcano 12 on it, <solid copper>. Have you
checked AMD's knowledge base for temp specs for your 3200? I dont
think 60 is too hot for it...

See page 25, section 7.1

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26237.PDF