CPU ID And Voltage Regulators????

[Beno]

Hey Gang,

In my A+ book, it says that the motherboards used to support voltage regulators so that the CPU's could get the proper voltage they required (i.e. a voltage lower than the motherboard voltage).

However Intel designed the CPU ID function built into the CPU chips that enabled the CPU to indentify to the system how much voltage it needed without the user having to set jumpers for the voltage regulators.

My question is, what part of the system does the CPU identify that it requires a lower voltage (is it the BIOS??)??

AND......did the CPU ID eradicate the need for voltage regulators entirely and if so, then what did the CPU use as a voltage regulator??

Thanks gang :-)

Beno

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Have a nice day

[bassman]

Hey Beno,
You may get some more concise answers then mine but, here goes.
Some mobos have what is known as a soft menu, which means you can setup the clockspeeds and voltages in the BIOS(also known as jumperless).
I beleive the mobo still has voltage regulators, they are just controled by software.

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[mjc]

The voltage regulators are still there...just the method of control has changed.

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mjc
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[Beno]

Thanks mjc and Bassman for your replies.

So obviously the voltage reg's still exist on the mobo, but are controlled by the software, in this case the BIOS. Obviously when you first install a CPU it acts like a PnP whereby it notifies the BIOS what it wants in order to work.

This is what I believe anyway.



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Have a nice day