Overclocking Isues

[Icarian]

First of all, I have a Q9450, an Asus P5E3 Premium and OCZ PC3-8500E 1066Mhz DDR3 (6-6-6-20), and I'm new at OCing.

I've been trying to OC this for 3 hours now, I can get to 3.2Ghz by just upping the FSB to 400x8 and leaving everything else on Auto, anything else will just cause it to hang or reboot while loading windows.

I want to get it to 3.6Ghz (450x8), since I've read it's pretty easy on a Q9450, I've been looking on forums for settings, reading guides and everything, theres people with the same board and cpu and are able to get to 3.6 just upping the FSB and vCore, that didn't work for me...

I've tried to up the vCore from 1.256 up to 1.35, the NB from Auto to 1.37. VTT Auto - 1,26. none of this worked, it would hang or reboot all the time while loading windows. I havn't messed with the RAM settings since I really don't know what does what so i'm guessing that might be the problem? or I'm missing something here? having stability issues is one thing, but not being able to boot into windows at all?

I know there's other threads about this but I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread :<

[Cephius]

You can't just bump things up that far that fast. You have to do it in small increments. Go to 3.4 first, bump your vcore up and then start backing it down until your start locking up again. Test with a stress testing program, if it's stable, bump up everything another notch and start again.

And yes, if your FSB is linked with your RAM (it usually is) you need to bump the RAM voltages up as well to compensate for the higher speeds.

[Olo401]

Those crash screens are probably being caused by the FSB:Memory ratio being too far out of line. You've gotten to 3.2gHz tho, which is a good first step.

You should be able to reach 3.6 without having to tinker with the voltages. I can't figure out how to do it from your board's manual tho (on my board there's a bunch of different memory bus-multiplier-FSB speed configs that are preset to choose from).

[Icarian]

EDIT: Nvm, memory is messed up, Can't OC more than 3.4Ghz no matter what without being highly unstable.

[Reality]

EDIT: Nvm, memory is messed up, Can't OC more than 3.4Ghz no matter what without being highly unstable.

then run the memory at 800 instead of 1066

[Icarian]

then run the memory at 800 instead of 1066

Yesterday I found out that my RAM is PC3-10666 1333Mhz, not 1066 (got them 2 years ago so I didn't remember)

http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...666_reaper_hpc

But CPU-Z and everest reads them as PC3-8500E 1066Mhz

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1504/ramvo.jpg

Managed to get it to load windows at 3.6 but it would BSOD as soon as I ran Prime95

Upped the vCore to 1.37 without any improvement on stability

current settings for 3.4 are:

FSB: 425
Multiplier: 8 (Max)
vCore: 1.375v on bios 1.336v on CPU-Z
NB: 1.45v
VTT: 1.30v

Memory frequency is set on Auto running at a 1:1 ratio

[Jurgen]

Which Prime95 test are you running? The Small FFT or Blend?

I have a Q9300 myself running at 3.3Ghz (my multi is only 7.5x, so 440mhz) but I have to run it at 1.42V to do that. You might try upping your CPU voltage a bit more.

I also see your RAM is at 1.5V, but the OCZ says its rated for 1.75V. Might try upping that a bit as well. Are your RAM timings on auto? Also, what are your temps?

[Icarian]

Which Prime95 test are you running? The Small FFT or Blend?

I have a Q9300 myself running at 3.3Ghz (my multi is only 7.5x, so 440mhz) but I have to run it at 1.42V to do that. You might try upping your CPU voltage a bit more.

I also see your RAM is at 1.5V, but the OCZ says its rated for 1.75V. Might try upping that a bit as well. Are your RAM timings on auto? Also, what are your temps?

Blend.

I thought my vCore was already kinda high? there's people running it at 3.6 around the high .20's or so I've read

About the vRAM I noticed that too, I tried it at 1.80v with no changes, my timings are on auto, yes.

My temps are around 39-43º idle (depends if I have AC on or not, the room can get pretty hot since it's summer) and 57-58º on load.

[Jurgen]

Try running the Small FFT first, as that mainly tests for CPU stability and ignores memory. That will give you an idea if its the CPU or RAM causing a problem.

Each chip is different. Some people get high binned chips that OC well with no added voltage, and some people have to play with Vcore a lot. 1.45V is the maximum that Intel recommends for its 45nm Quads, although you can go higher than that IF you have proper cooling.

[Icarian]

Ran OCCT for 1 hour and seems stable.

Tried many settings today and looks like this one refuses to go further than 425FSB, upped vCore to 1.4 NB 1.61 PLL 1.6 VTT 1.36, It ran 3DMark Vantage fine but would hang on OCCT at the first minute :<

Well, I'll replace it soon enough when intel releases their next socket first half 2011 so I can sit at 3.4 till then.

[Icarian]

So I updated the BIOS on my board to see if it would get better and now i cant even get it to 3.2ghz stable... aren't bios supposed to increase performance and not plummet it to fucking hell? I'm stuck sitting at stock speed now...

is there a way to Downgrade (Update >_>) my Bios back to the one I had?