Help - OC'ing Q8400 to 3.20Ghz

Hey,

About two years ago I bought the Titan Thor premade computer from overclockers. It came with a Q8400 overclocked from 2.66Ghz to 3.20Ghz.

However, somewhere down the line I have managed to restore my settings to default and CPU-Z is now showing my CPU speed at 2.66Ghz and no longer 3.20Ghz

I noticed this because I fitted a new ATI HD 6950 this morning and saw very little increase, so im guessing the CPU is bottlenecking my GPU.

I would be very greatfull if anyone can offer me advice on how to get my CPU back to 3.20Ghz, baring in mind I have never overclocked anything before.

Thanks!

My CPU-Z Results:




My System Spec:

CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66GHz (overclocked to 3.20Ghz by OC when i bought it, but now back at 2.66Ghz)
Memory- Corsair XMS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2
GPU- MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5
Motherboard- GA-EP45-UD3LR
Case- Antec 902
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

you have a good motherboard so you should even get higher

this is a very basic explanation of overclocking

its basic maths. your Q8400 is rated at 1333mhz. you always divide this number by 4 so 1333/4= 333, this is your fsb.
then your processor (cpu) has a multiplier of 8
so 333 x 8 = 2666mhz or 2.6GHz

boot into bios
can you raise the fsb? yours is now 333. try rising it to 350
boot into windows
download realtemp and coretemp (google them)
install and run them
then download intel burn test (ibt) and run it.
have a look in task manager and notice how much free ram is listed.

in ibt set threads to 4 (for 4 cores) and then click on custom ram and enter an amount just below the free amount.
eg. i have 2520mb free ram. so i enter 2500 into the custom ram.
run the test for 5 passes.
keep an eye on temps (do not let it go over 65.c)

if test runs fine, go back into bios, and change frequency (fsb) to 370 and repeat the tests.
keep doing this in 20mhz steps until windows will not boot. then just go back a step (remove 20 from the fsb) to the last stable frequency,
or
just raise the cpu voltage a couple of levels. it should now boot.
its a balancing act, higher voltages will get you higher fsb, but it will also give you higher temps.
your cpu is good upto 1.36v

THE MAX TEMP FOR A Q8400 IS 72.C.
TRY TO KEEP IT BELOW 60.C FOR 24HR USE

the trick is to do this step by step, and not go straight to eg. 400 (400 x 8= 3.2 ghz), just take your time

get the cpu maxed before increasing the ram speed
And make sure you have a proper cooler