Overclocking a Q9550 with 800mhz ram?

singh_uk · 18 Dec 2009 at 11:20

I currently have a [email protected], a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard and some pretty old Crucial Ballistix 800mhz RAM, and I was looking at getting a Q9550.

If I wanted to OC the Q9550 to around 4GHz, I am assuming the FSB is going to need to be around 470, which means the RAM will be running at 940mhz. I dont want to overvolt the RAM above 2.0v as Ballistix are meant to have a pretty bad failure rate at raised voltage...

Ive tried running the RAM at that speed now to test it out - just decreased the multiplier on the E6600 so it didnt have a clock it couldnt handle- and it seems to be running OK in Orthos blend

(other than the fact that the CPU fan is louder than normal - which is odd since the CPU is now clocked lower at 470x6=2.8ghz rather than 400x8=3.2ghz as it was before??)

So can I assume if the RAM is taking the 940mhz now - it will take it the exact same with the new quad chip aswell? And any idea why the fan is running faster at the increased FSB even though the temps are the same?

And finally, would an Arctic Freezer Pro 7 Rev 2 be enough to keep the Q9550 cool enough at 4GHz?

wolvers · 18 Dec 2009 at 12:48

Assuming that the Q9550 that you get will do 4ghz, it sounds like you should be OK.

It's hard to know if the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 Rev 2 will be up to the job, I suspect not, but you'll find out when you get clocking. I guess it will depend on how much vcore the new chip will need for the clock you're looking for.

JonJ678 · 18 Dec 2009 at 14:38

Not quite. The motherboard has to cope with the stress of a quad as well as the stress of running the ram so quickly, so I'd expect marginally lower ram frequencies attainable on the quad.*

I suggest taking your ram to as high a frequency as you can without failing memtest, at whatever its rated voltage is, using c4, c5, c6 timings. This will take a couple of hours but leave you with a very good idea of what the ram is capable of.

It does sound like you'll be alright, but testing is fun anyway

*effect may be negligible / figment of my imagination

wolvers · 18 Dec 2009 at 16:11

JonJ678 said:
*effect may be figment of my imagination

singh_uk · 18 Dec 2009 at 16:27

Thanks guys for the advice.

With regards to a decent CPU cooler, I know push-pin type coolers arent particularly popular but other than the AC Freezer Pro 7 are there any other decent coolers that either use push pins or dont involve me having to pull apart the entire PC to get a backplate on the back of the motherboard?

Thanks