Preparing for first overclock - Q9550

FiCtioN75 · 21 May 2010 at 22:33

Ive been reading the forums everyday for a while now and have decided to take the jump and do my first overclock. My setup is...

GA-x48-DS5
Q9550
Corsair dominator 1066 6GB ram (2 x 1GB and 2 x 2GB)
H50 cooler
Antec 902

Downloaded the testing programmes and ran prime95 for a while and got the following temps.....

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My temps idle at 40,34,35,32 although ive never seen core 0 go below 40 so i dont know if the sensors is stuck.

Think my idle temps may be a tad high but i think my load temps are decent?
The only change i was going to make was to up my multiplier from 8.5 to 9x333 which will OC my cpu to 3Ghz and then il run prime for a few hours. Is this a good idea or should i tweek a few other settings aswell. Any help/advice would be awesome as i said earlier this is my first OC which is an exciting prospect but id rather have some input before i go ahead with anything incase i brick any of my componants. Thanks in advance

Temi_D · 21 May 2010 at 22:57

I'd say core 3 is the only one you should believe.

Also you CANNOT raise the multiplier to 9. The only way you can overclock that chip is to increase the fsb

Edit: For starters, make sure the cpu voltage ISNT on auto, if it is, it will be overvolted. Raise the try raising the fsb speed to 400 at first and see if that works (lower your RAM speed if you have to)

FiCtioN75 · 21 May 2010 at 23:05

Ok thanks for the reply. So if im going to change the cpu voltage off auto what should i set it as as a starting point. 1.2v? Also i dont think i can increase the fsb on my current bios...

*EDIT* just had a play around in bios and had to enable a host cpu controller to allow changing the fsb. Voltage isnt on auto its on normal (1.12v). Isnt a jump from 2.8 to 3.4 quite large? should i possibly try 400x8 to 3.2ghz first?
Tried to change my fsb to 375x8 and when i saved and exited bios my pc crashed and restarted itself about 5 times in succession then booted normally and when i opened cpu-z it was still showing 2.83. I then went into bios and it had changed from cpu host controller enabled to disabled.

Boozebeard · 21 May 2010 at 23:49

What are the settings for your ram?

FiCtioN75 · 22 May 2010 at 00:15

is there a way to take a screen shot of bios? if not i will take photos with a camera and upload them.

Temi_D · 22 May 2010 at 11:19

The reason for the crash is probably because the voltage you used is too low. The stock voltage for that chip is 1.2875v Raise it to 1.3V and try again.

And when you raise the fsb, lower the system memory multiplier so that its within what your ram spec is

EDIT: the host controller should be enabled

FiCtioN75 · 22 May 2010 at 11:44

Temi_D said:
The reason for the crash is probably because the voltage you used is too low. The stock voltage for that chip is 1.2875v Raise it to 1.3V and try again.

And when you raise the fsb, lower the system memory multiplier so that its within what your ram spec is

EDIT: the host controller should be enabled

thanks for the help, il give it a try and get back to you. so when i lower the system memory muliplier am i lowering it so that it multiplies to less than 1066?

which one should i use? am i right in thinking 2.66D will be 2.6x400mhz which will be 1064mhz? under my 1066 max..correct?

FiCtioN75 · 22 May 2010 at 14:33

if someone could confirm the above it safe that would be awesome! kind of desperate to get going but want to know what im doing is safe before i go ahead

EDIT successfully overclocked to 3ghz and running prime95 now. Only problem being cpu-z is still showing 2.83ghz but both bios and on real temp 3.40 are showing 3ghz, do i need to update cpu-z or something?

FiCtioN75 · 22 May 2010 at 18:15

Ok so ive ran prime for nearly 2 hours. These are my results. What do you think baring in mind the ambient temp in my room is 26 degrees today.

pastymuncher · 22 May 2010 at 19:15

The biggest problem you are going to have is with your motherboard. X38/48 boards are rubbish when it comes to 45nm quad cores as they become fsb limited. I had a DFI Lanparty LT X48 T2R which is one of the best X48 boards and i could'nt even hit 3.7Ghz without pumping silly voltages through the NB. The thing is the Q9550 does at least 3.6Ghz on stock volts so the extra 100mhz was'nt worth the aggro. In the end i got rid of the X48 for the P45 board from my second rig but being busy have'nt had a chance to play with it yet.

FiCtioN75 · 22 May 2010 at 20:20

ah ok well il probably be happy to get it running stable at 3.6 and you reckon i will be able to get that high without having to up the voltage from 1.3v? id be chuffed with that. but my temps are decent for the time being right? im running prime on 3.2 atm so will upload a screeny in a few hours

Temi_D · 22 May 2010 at 20:32

I think you should be able to get it up to 3.6 on stock voltage. As long as your memory is at or below 1066 you should be fine. The voltage range for the CPU is 0.85v - 1.3625v. http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLB8V. So you can safely raise the voltage that high if need be.

EDIT: Try running intel burn test before prime because it stresses the cpu much more

FiCtioN75 · 22 May 2010 at 22:03

well my memory is at 1064 so thats comforting to know. i think il be fairly happy at 3.6 and now that i know my voltage max if i want to push it any further. but atm its sitting at 3.2ghz at 1.3v so could i drop my voltage a wee bit? and sorry for the 21 questions but are my temps ok? Thanks a lot for the help Temi D without your help i either wouldnt of had the balls to try or i probs would have bricked something, really appreciated.

Temi_D · 23 May 2010 at 01:11

You should be able to drop the voltage to 1.2875 (maybe even lower) at that speed. The temps are fine too (as long as its below 71*c)

scooby555t · 23 May 2010 at 18:47

got my q9550 at 3.60 on 1.23 volts

Justintime · 23 May 2010 at 19:14

E0 Q9650 @ 3.6Ghz 1.18v
E0 Q9550 @ 3.6Ghz 1.2v

Doubt you'd need anywhere near 1.3v tbh as i've messed with a lot of C1 and E0 Quads and none i rememeber needed that much for under 3.7Ghz.

Temi_D said:
You should be able to drop the voltage to 1.2875 (maybe even lower) at that speed. The temps are fine too (as long as its below 71*c)

Not really, 71C is Tcase as measured at the IHS via motherboard, not the actual coretemp. I'd keep it about 20-25C away from Tjmax for peace of mind, so assuming Tjmax is 100 then 75-80 fully load with say intel burntest in the summer is fine tbh. If 71C is max then a lot of OEM machines should have been dead a long time ago as even the stock cooler at stock speeds can hit mid 70s to 80s in some machines, these cpus are a lot tougher than you'd think.

FiCtioN75 · 23 May 2010 at 20:14

had it running stable at 3.4 on 1.3 then had to restore after a crash trying for 3.5 and now prime95 is freezing on 3.4 again...any reason for this with temps not even hitting 65C

Justintime · 23 May 2010 at 20:26

Run the memory 1:1 with the cpu for the time being. Gigabyte boards in my experience set the memory back to auto on a crash/failed OC, so once you reset your FSB to overclocked it might run the memory clock too high, check that its set to 2.00.

FiCtioN75 · 23 May 2010 at 22:16

Justintime said:
Run the memory 1:1 with the cpu for the time being. Gigabyte boards in my experience set the memory back to auto on a crash/failed OC, so once you reset your FSB to overclocked it might run the memory clock too high, check that its set to 2.00.

oh i had it set to 2.66 x 400 should i only have it set to 2.00? shall try again in the morning to get it at 3.5ghz and hopefully run prime all day

Justintime · 23 May 2010 at 23:52

Yes run it 1:1 with the cpu for now. If you do run at 1066 (2.66) have you set your RAM voltages to the appropiate level? The RAM may need more than board default to run at its rated speed, especially when theres 4 modules.