Vista - bios or cpu-z

i'm using A GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R (rev. 1.0) MOTHERBOARD WITH THE
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 / 3.00 GHz processor.i set the vcore in
the bios and bootup the system and run cpu-z version 1.46. the bios
is set to 1.20 and CPU-Z reads it as 1.16 . what reading should i trust?
also this board seems to be crap for overclocking .my other board with
the e8400 chip will do 4+ ghz . this one i can't get over 3.6ghz and so far
thats not stable . any help on getting more out of it and getting it stable please.
my temps are 44c and loaded 56c.
thank's scrooge

Ah the trials and tribulations of testing out new parts. If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide on this board?

As for the OC, you could start here:
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R won't hold any overclock - XtremeSystems Forums
Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME Living Review - Clunk's Forums.
The air cooled links are probably what you're looking for?

I'll look more in the morning, but I've gotta rest now... apparently we humans need sleep, or so I've heard?

well i had the ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP P35 ATX Intel board and had a bad bios flash
on it and needed something till the board comes back . the only thing my dealer had in stock was this board and a msi board.

what do you think is the right reading for the vcore the bios or cpu-z ?
i understand that the e8400 chip max's out at 1.36 so i don't want to play to much with it till i'm sure of the reading.
thank's again
scrooge

when you set your voltage save and exit then go back into the bios and look at the hardware monitor for the true reading and if you find it is less than what you set it at that is because of so called vdroop or something like that but basically cpuz would most likely be telling you the correct voltage

thank's for your help

scrooge

Ah, soldered bios. Who's idea was that? I'd tell you that one of the really nice things for me about running DFI boards is that they're headquartered about a half hour south, and I have on occaision found myself there in need of a new bios. They're very cool, and that back room of theirs with all the equipment... wow... I'd tell you, but now wouldn't be the right time; like rubbing salt in a wound. (whoops... did I say that out loud? )

45nm cpu's, while a lot more fragile than the 65nm parts, can take a bit more than 1.36 volts. 1.4 seems to be the general consensus as to the limit to be on the safe side. Horror stories abound about guys pushing 1.5-1.6 volts, who, although got really sweet overclocks, woke up to find dead chips.

Why are you setting vcore manually so soon in the process? Doesn't that board have special VID? I admit that last night's reading was only cursory, and while those rev1 board bioses didn't look promising, you always see how high you can go at defaults first. Just because chip A can do X in board Y doesn't mean it will do X in board Z. It may, but it may do it by taking a whole different route settings wise.