Vcore Voltage Warning - What is it?

[dleigh]

I admit it...I'm a software guy and pretty green when it comes to hardware.

My machine is a PIII 600Mhz running on an ASUS CUC2000 motherboard. Recently, the Hardware Monitor in the BIOS at bootup time has been stopping saying that there is a problem and that I should go into the BIOS setup. When I go in there, the problem that is reported is that the VCORE VOLTAGE is out of the acceptable range. My motherboard manual doesn't give much info on what that means or its ramifications and the ASUS website is pretty silent too. I'm not an "overclocker", just someone who wants to know:

1. Is this a serious problem?
2. How can I fix this (I know that I can tell the Hardware Monitor to ignore this but I don't know if that's a good idea).

All my searching about VCORE voltage has only turned up stuff WAY over my head.

Thanks for any help that anyone can offer!
dleigh

 

[Comtech]

Vcore voltage is the actual voltage of the core of the CPU.
If it's set too high, you run the risk of burning up the CPU.
Triple check the temperatures, both via the BIOS and the ASUS probe software.
You should have the option in BIOS to lower the voltage, and you should do that. Cheers,
Jim
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[dleigh]

Jim,
Thanks for the advice...now you'll see how green I really am. Other than the fact that the Hardware Monitor part of the BIOS/Motherboard told me that the voltage was out of range (and nothing else was out of range...i.e. temperature), I really don't know what the appropriate ranges or specific values ARE for VCORE and temperature. So, when you say to check the temperatures, I neither know how (other than in the BIOS setup) nor if they are bad or good...still learning here!

Any further knowledge or advice is MUCH appreciated!
Thanks,
David

 

[Comtech]

Each different chip requires different voltages.
What CPU do you have? Take a look around the manufacturer's pages to find out what the core voltage is supposed to be, and then you can set it manually in the BIOS setup (read the motherboard manual!).
For example, some Celerons have a 2.0v core, the FCPGA Celerons can be either 1.5v or 1.65v with even a few differences between them. PIII chips take a different vcore voltage again, and AMD's are all different that that.
If temps are below the default set in BIOS, then you're OK, but on an ASUS motherboard, you can usually just set everything to AUTO with no ill effects. Cheers,
Jim
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[dleigh]

Ok, I've got PC Probe running (anyone else have problems with the windows in PC Probe being too small to see all the entries?), and I've been to Intel to find the specific voltage requirements. I found out where the voltage requirements go on the BIOS and adjusted them (don't know how they got screwed up in the first place). And now...no problem. So, I guess that fixed it!

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Comtech]

You're welcome! Cheers,
Jim
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