Need advice for first time Overclocking

NiteSurfer · 17 Nov 2009 at 12:04

Hi All O/C guru's

I Have tried reading all through the sticky guide on O/C but ended up with a migraine!..lol

Now I know how Enthusiastic members are on here about getting the most out of there rigs, So I thought that there is no better place to seek advice & suggestions.

I've built the following system.

Asus P5Q deluxe with Q9550 CPU
H50 CPU Water Cooler.
G.Skill 8GB of DDR2 1066MHZ RAM
Corsair 750w modular PSU
running windows 7 64Bit.

All running Stock on [Auto]

here is what CPU-Z says

What I would really like is help taking the first step.

I'm crap at maths. So trying to get my head around FSB speeds and multipliers isn't helping much.

What I'm a bit unsure of is this, fiddling with RAM settings does not affect CPU performance, as far as I've learned you don't..

Anyway. I want to start of with something simple like 3.6Ghz.

If your interested in helping a enthusiastic noob who has trouble typing properly. Then please could you post the settings you would change and to what?.

Many Thanks

NiteSurfer · 17 Nov 2009 at 13:30

I've got a weird problem!.

I changed the multiplier in BIOS but when I go into CPU-Z It keeps
reverting back to stock speeds!...

I O/C to this

Then 4 Seconds later it reverts back to this!...

What's going on!..

DragonQ · 17 Nov 2009 at 14:10

The mutliplier will change due to SpeedStep, that isn't a problem. What mutliplier did you actually change in the BIOS? AFAIK the Q9550 doesn't have an unlocked CPU multiplier so the only way to overclock it is to increase the FSB (which you haven't done).

NiteSurfer · 17 Nov 2009 at 14:20

DragonQ said:
The mutliplier will change due to SpeedStep, that isn't a problem. What mutliplier did you actually change in the BIOS? AFAIK the Q9550 doesn't have an unlocked CPU multiplier so the only way to overclock it is to increase the FSB (which you haven't done).

Ok, I've turned off speedstep, I changed the multiplier in both CPU configuration and AI tweeker menu!..

CPU-Z still swaps between x6 and X8.5 multipliers

mattyfez · 17 Nov 2009 at 15:11

NiteSurfer said:
Ok, I've turned off speedstep, I changed the multiplier in both CPU configuration and AI tweeker menu!..

CPU-Z still swaps between x6 and X8.5 multipliers

There is usually more than one option you need to disable in BIOS to stop Speedstep working properly.

Easyest way is to just crank the FSB up 5-10MHZ at a time until the system becomes unstable, then turn it back down a bit.

NiteSurfer · 17 Nov 2009 at 15:21

At last I'm on my way!

I Disabled something called C1E support. i hope it's not important.

And I slightly tweaked the Bus speed to 350Mhz.

Give this

mattyfez · 17 Nov 2009 at 15:32

C1E...thats what I meant.. was on the tip of my tongue!

Happy tweeking!

NiteSurfer · 17 Nov 2009 at 15:37

mattyfez said:
C1E...thats what I meant.. was on the tip of my tongue!

Happy tweeking!

Thanks for your help..

I think I saw a thread somewhere on here about O/C these CPU's.
I'll take a look and see what others have done

DragonQ · 17 Nov 2009 at 15:40

Disabling C1E is sometimes needed for overclocking because it allows the CPU's voltage to lower, which can cause blue screens when overclocked. Disabling SpeedStep isn't a good idea though, it shouldn't interfere with overclocking at all.

mattyfez · 17 Nov 2009 at 15:48

Just bear in mind upping the FSB will increace CPU and RAM speed together, and your RAM will most likely max out before your CPU does, thats when you have to start tinkering with the RAM divider, most likely to slow it down in comparison to the FSB...

... but dont stress to much about working the maths out, you will quickly get the jist of how the FSB speed affects the RAM and CPU.