Overclocking Q9450 Problem

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I've recently been overclocking my Q9450 on an ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi@N motherboard and seem to be having some stange problems with it... I've currently got the system running @ 3.2ghz (on air) and it seems to be stable when playing games or in prime95, but if i leave the system idle it sometimes decides to do a hard reset for no apparent reason... This can also happen when just browsing the internet of downloading stuff, but as stated before, in prime95 and playing games for many hours straight, it's never caused a hard reset... :confused:

Below are ALL the settings i've used to achieve the overclock, if anyone spots anything that i may have missed or any further suggestions, especially in the settings i've used in the Advanced >> CPU Configuration menu, would be much appreciated, as i'm sure i can push this cpu more, but until i resolve this issue theres no point continuing with the overclock... :(

In the Ai Tweaker menu i've used the following settings:

Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
CPU Ratio Setting: 8.0
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 400
FSB Frequency: 400
PCIE Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR3-1600Mhz
DRAM Command Rate: 2N

DRAM Timing Control: Manaul
CAS# Latency: 8
RAS# to CAS# Delay: 8
RAS# PRE Time: 8
RAS# ACT Time: 24
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control: Disabled

CPU Voltage: 1.24375
CPU GTL Voltage Reference(0/2): Auto
CPU GTL Voltage Reference(1/3): Auto
CPU PPL Voltage: 1.50
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.10
DRAM Voltage: 1.90
NB Voltage: 1.25
NB GTL Voltage Reference: Auto
SB Voltage: Auto
Clock Over-Charging Voltage: Auto

Load-Line Calibration: Performance
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

In the Advanced >> CPU Configuration menu i've used the following settings:

CPU Ratio Setting: 8.0
C1E Support: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Vaderpool Technology: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled

Sorry for the long post, i hope someone can help me out with this one... :D

BTW, temps are fine, as this hard resetting issue only happens in windows when idle, and not under load...
 
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I was also experiancing lockups (not restarts) when idle, yet the system passed prime no worries.

I found giving the northbridge an extra bump, as well as setting the southbridge to 1.2v seemed to fix the problem. I also gave the RAM one notch of extra voltage. (over kingstons recommendations)

edit:set the CPU PPL Voltage to 1.52v, otherwise the lower setting of 1.50v or auto overvolt this setting, which may explain your issue.
 
Thanks for the reply m8, but i didn't understand the last part:

OzZie said:
edit:set the CPU PPL Voltage to 1.52v, otherwise the lower setting of 1.50v or auto overvolt this setting, which may explain your issue.
Click to expand...

I have the CPU PPL Voltage manually set to 1.50v, i thought that i shouldn't really be increasing that voltage? Could you explain, and how do the other settings look? Any other mistakes? ;)
 
Sure,

On your motherboard, you should be able to use the '+' and '-' keys to made increments in the values. If you go back one value, you should (i think) return to auto setting. On a lot of Asus motherboards, the CPU PPL value of auto and the first increment above auto are said to 'overvolt' quite substantially. However, two notches above auto are supposed to be correct.

There is also another setting in the BIOS that overvolts too. Let me see if i can find it.

Edit: These are my settings for p5q pro.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4292/42710066.jpg

It is also FSB termination voltage, but with 45nm CPU's this value is different than 65nm cpu's like my q6600, so for now i wouldnt touch it (or at least dont set it to what i have it on!) Again, it is on two notches from auto however, should you want to increase yours two notches.

Looks good apart from that. Can't see any reason why it would reboot, unless you're PSU or memory are failing. Try mem test and see if that comes up with any errors.
 
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Thanks for the quick reply and explanation m8... :D

Have increased voltages below as you suggested (2 notches up from AUTO) so they now read:

CPU PPL Voltage: 1.52
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.12

I've also reduced the CPU Voltage to the following (as i was slowly increasing it to see if it helped, but it didn't):

CPU Voltage: 1.22500

Will see if this makes any difference to the resets when the system is idle... Hope this fixes things, as the system is 100% stable under full load in prime95 (12 hours) and playing many hours of GTA:IV and Age of Conan...
 
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No worries.

If it still doesnt like it, try upping the NB one notch and the RAM voltage (unless you already did) :)
 
Aye, will try with these volt increases first, it that still fails, will increase the NB and RAM aswell, but still don't understand why this is happening... :confused:

Well thanks for the help m8, maybe someone else has had similar issues like this and knows what the hell is going on and have other suggestions, but for the mean time, i'll just have to leave the system idle all day... ;)
 
Whilst im here, i'd also suggest looking into any BIOS updates. I'm always a little weiry about doing them as i've had a few go wrong in the past, but usually they do provide extra compatablity for different memory etc.

I'm sure your BIOS has the built in function (Ezflash irrc), which is the safest way to do it. :)
 
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