Voltage Questions on my ASUS MB (prob applies in general to all MB)

[tecninja]

Asked this in the OC section, and really didn't get an answer. Figured maybe people in the MB forums might have some more knowledge on these values.

Have some various questions about an OC i'm doing on a system, mainly about some of the voltages I can mess with.

General info:

C2Q Q9450 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_future_Intel_Core_2_microprocessors Processer (Normally 333 Mhz, 2.66 Ghz)
ASUS P5E X38 MB
Crucial Ballistix (2GB x2) RAM (Rated at 4-4-4-12 400Mhz)

I'm currently running the FSB at 400Mhz for a 3.2Ghz Processor.
RAM is running in 1:1 400Mhz 4-4-4-12

It seems to be stable for the most part, but I have run into random issues in the past, and i'm wondering if any of it is coming from my Voltage Settings. My RAM is speced for 2.2v I believe, but it seems to be running stable at the default 1.8v I wondered if there was any benefit for having this at the lowest setting, or if I should really just up the voltage to something higher because thats what the manufacturer recommends.

Also I'm a bit fuzzy on the North Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge and what voltages I might need to push that up to. The Default seems to be 1.25v, I think I upped it to 1.27v just for the heck of it when I was OCing.

I think I have a pretty good Idea on the Vcore situation, but I've always wondered what the Rhyme and Reason to setting your North Bridge Voltage was. Also I wondered if higher settings might actually decrease stability in any of the areas if they seem to be running fine currently.

Also 2 other values in my BIOS that are set to "Auto" are CPU PLL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-locked_loop Voltage, and FSB Termination Voltage. I kind of wondered if I should be Manually setting either of those to a value, and if so what value might be good.

So anyhow pardon all the random questions, just trying to get a handle on all these different voltages you can play with.

For sake of refrence I consider "Stable" to be 12+ hours (10 or more passes) of Memtest86+, and 12+ hours of Prime95 in each of the Small FFT and Blend tests. with 0 errors returned ever at a given set of settings.

 

[auscanzukus]

Can you elaborate on "I have run into random issues in the past"? Exactly what issues?

Your stress tests checked out so I wouldn't worry about it. It could be software if it crashes. Software is EXTREMELY fragile. So unless I know the "random issues", I wouldn't change a thing.

FYI, keep vNB under 1.6v on air and CPU PLL & FSB TV on auto or low-ish.

 

[ilovebarny]

i suggest running the ram at around 2-2.1volts. i hear its not good for ram to be less than 2volts when its rated at 2.1volts. my ocz ram automatically set the bios to 2 volts.