CPU Voltage Worry

[spuff]

I've got an Athlon XP 3000+ (333mhz version) CPU and MSI K7N2 Delta-L mobo. What's really strange is that my CPU becomes very unstable when the voltage is set to what it's suppost to be at (1.65v) and if the FSB is set to a correct 166. I can have the correct voltage if the FSB is set at 160. Naturally, I don't want this! At the moment, the voltage is set at 1.75v and 166 FSB. But the higher I put the voltage, the more stable it is. It's stable for regular use now but still crashes after 10 mins of gaming. Is it worth bumping it up even more? These are the temp readings I get (in the picture)
I've heard that some mobos can't produce the amount of voltage that it's set to. Do you reckon that is a possibility?

 

[ProcalX]

It's not that the motherboards can't provide that voltage, if anything todo with the motherboard it would perhaps be that the motherboards voltage settings in the bios were not calibrated accurately. However from looking at the image you provided i would say that your +12/-12V Voltage Rails seem slightly low.. although not low enough to cause the sort of problem you are having.

First of all, i would check MSI's website and update your BIOS to the latest revision, this will ensure any possibilities of Voltage mis-calibration, then if you are having the same problem, try changing your powersupply for something more powerful (it's not about Wattage but about the Ampage).

If you can post back with:
Your PC Specs (all hardware)
Your powersupply, including manufacturer and the Ampage provided

This will allow us to show you if anything is as it shouldn't be :good:

 

[Big B]

What CAS latency are you using? nForce 2 boards are known not to play well with a CAS setting of 3. You also may want to try running 1 stick of RAM at a time as well, and maybe bump up the DDR voltage a tad. There may be something that's getting stressed enough in gaming to start causing crashes. While those temps aren't the best (for stock speeds), they're not at a point where I'd see an issue.

But, as ProcalX brought up, there's also the possibility that the power supply may be the problem. And, looking at the issue from the info given, I'm certainly leaning toward that as a possibility.

 

[spuff]

I'm by no means an expert when it comes to power and ampage etc (which is why this may seem wrong or whatever!) but the side of my PSU states

+3.3v +5v +12v -12v -5v +5Vsb
22A 35A 15A 0.8A 0.5A 3A​

MAX OUTPUT: 400W

It's set out like a chart and I think that's what you meant! Hope it's right!
As for the rest of my setup, it includes:

Athlon XP 3000+ (333mhz) CPU
MSI K7N2 Delta-L mobo
1 x Samsung PC3200 256mb mem, 1 x SpecTec PC2700 256mb mem (both running dual channel 333)
Sapphire ATi Radeon 9600XT 128mb
Maxtor DiamondMax 80gb HDD
Windows XP Pro

The PSU came with my case, which is an 'Advance 888' something or other ... it looked good but I realised it was quite tacky!

Also, my CAS latency is set at 2.5. As far as I can tell, it's not a problem with memory. I've tried each stick indevidually and I still get the same problems.

I updated my BIOS a while ago, yet there are still no newer versions available. To my knowledge, all other drivers are up to date.
My main concern is that keeping my CPU at 1.75 might do some damage. Do you reckon it could? Do you reckon I could go higher?

Thanks people!

 

[Big B]

While they are doing some fuzzy math to come up with the 400W (I've got a 350W with a little meatier 3.3 and 5V rails), it still looks like it's within spec. However, without doing the math to determine if it's working out or not, I can't downright say. Even then, that'd be just a computation, not actual usage in real-life---it wouldn't get you any further. The last thing I can think of, aside from changing out the motherboard or PSU, would be to make sure that in addition to the normal 12V ATX connector, the 4-pin 12V auxillary power cable is hooked up if you don't already. MSI is pretty good, but some motherboards can act flaky without one. All ATX power supplies should have them unless you've got one that's 3-4 years old (which I doubt).