How to measure DS3 Vdimm in Windows

[Fred_Pohl]

Just use Speedfan 4.29 :D

This may be old news but I haven't seen it yet. The 'Vcore2' reading in Speedfan is actually Vdimm. I don't know if this works on other mobos or not. It seems fairly accurate too.

Here's what I got:

BIOS/Speedfan

+.2V/1.97V
+.3V/2.06V
+.4V/2.16V

Now if only Speedfan could read my 12V line correctly and read the voltages and temps for the MCH and ICH8, it would be perfect! :)

[Fred_Pohl]

Everyone knew about this except me? :confused:

[clone38]

Cheers m8 thats sort it for me :)
Funny thing with the 12v line 0.00 :D

[Fred_Pohl]

I sent my DS3 debug info to Speedfan. Hopefully the next version will correct the erroneous 12V and fan speed readings and I have my fingers crossed that they might add monitoring for the MCH and ICH8 thermal diodes.

[Lestat]

i would suggest that you not go by that readings its very wrong.
a quick 10 second check with a DMM will show you that speedfan is usually over 0.10v off.

not to mention the DS3 at least MY ds3 overvolts the ram.
DMM
+4 = 2.27v
+5 = 2.36v

Speedfan shows
+4 = 1.18v
+5 = 2.26v

you may want to check it with a meter.

simply put the meter on the little Coil directly above/below dimms 3/4. it will show you the reading.
you can use apwm but it will show the same reading.

[RangerXLT8]

i would suggest that you not go by that readings its very wrong.
a quick 10 second check with a DMM will show you that speedfan is usually over 0.10v off.

not to mention the DS3 at least MY ds3 overvolts the ram.
DMM
+4 = 2.27v
+5 = 2.36v

Speedfan shows
+4 = 1.18v
+5 = 2.26v

you may want to check it with a meter.

simply put the meter on the little Coil directly above/below dimms 3/4. it will show you the reading.
you can use apwm but it will show the same reading.

Off that coil I got a reading of roughly 1.002v. Instead, to properly measure VDIMM, measure from the back of the MOSFET located between slots 2 and 3 like in this picture.

The lesson to be learned here is that the DS3 overvolts memory by around .1V. My reading was taken with "Normal" set in the bios

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/8513/ds3vdimmwi7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Fred_Pohl]

Hmmm... I didn't think Speedfan would be off by so much. Anyway, it still could be useful for a quick check. Especially if Speedfan is consistently reading .1V low and you know that beforehand.

I'd check mine but it's kind of a PITA with everything installed in a case. I don't want to risk shorting something out.

[RangerXLT8]

Hmmm... I didn't think Speedfan would be off by so much. Anyway, it still could be useful for a quick check. Especially if Speedfan is consistently reading .1V low and you know that beforehand.

I'd check mine but it's kind of a PITA with everything installed in a case. I don't want to risk shorting something out.

Ok I have been messing around trying different settings, and Speedfan is reading VDIMM about .04v low.

[Fred_Pohl]

Ok I have been messing around trying different settings, and Speedfan is reading VDIMM about .04v low.

Interesting... thanks for taking the time to test it. .04v is close enough for my purposes.

BTW, I wonder if Gigabyte also overvolts the ram as they do the MCH, FSB and CPU voltages when overclocking is enabled? That might explain your 'normal' DMM Vdimm reading. According to others who tested it with a DMM, when overclocking is enabled, the DS3 bios (F4 anyway) sets FSB and MCH to +.3V when set to 'normal' and I have confirmed that when set to 'normal' my Vcore is raised to 1.45V when overclocking.

I don't really like Gigabyte adjusting voltages for me but it does make the board much easier for n00bs to OC.

[idiotec]

The lesson to be learned here is that the DS3 overvolts memory by around .1V. My reading was taken with "Normal" set in the bios
Guess that explains why my RAM is liking 2.0 at stock speeds when its rated at 2.1 :toast: