Q9550 overclocking

allday247

allday247

allday247

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Have recently replaced my trusty E6750 oc'd to 3.6Ghz @ 1.3v, Ram running 1:1 @ 900Mhz, with a Q9550 E0 stepping.

Now i needed to upgrade my mobo BIOS to get it to recognise the chip properly but doing so brought about a whole new set of OC features i wasn't familiar with prior to the flash.

So Hardware:
CPU: Q9550
Mobo: ASUS P5K-E wifi edition.
Ram: 4GB (2x2GB) Geil Black Dragon DDR2 800MHz
Cooler: Thermalright Ultra120 + 1 x Noctua NF-P12


So plonking the chip in and running at stock I have the following temps. (Retrieved using CoreTemp 0.99.7)

- Idle -
Core1: 39°C
Core2: 26°C
Core3: 24°C
Core4: 37°C

- Load -
Core1: 44°C
Core2: 41°C
Core3: 39°C
Core4: 39°C

Obviously i have suck sensors but at least they function on load. 1 core (core1) is a few degrees higher than the others. should i worry about this?

Current Overclock:

CPU: 3.6Ghz (to at least match my previous chip)
FSB - 425
CPU voltage - 1.2250V ( i could probably drop it but haven't had time to experiment)
Ram: 1021Mhz 5-5-5-15 (ratio 5:6)

This runs stable with 1hrs of Orthos and OCCT but will run longer sessions later.


- Idle -
Core1: 39°C
Core2: 29°C
Core3: 28°C
Core4: 37°C

- Load -
Core1: 50°C
Core2: 47°C
Core3: 46°C
Core4: 46°C

Now a few questions.
1) My ram seems to now be set at 1021Mhz. This is faster than my previous speed of 900Mhz, when the E6750 was oc'd with a 1:1 ratio with the FSB. Now even if the Ram is running at 1021Mhz is the ram bottle necked by the FSB (425)?

2) I'm going to run the CPU at 3.8Ghz with the FSB set to 450. Should I then put the ram to run 1:1 and hence the effective speed will be 900Mhz? or should i keep it at a faster Mhz?

3) Temperature. Core1 sometimes can get 6°C hotter than the other cores. should i worry? Should i look at getting a new heat sink to reduce the temps further? or are my current temps ok for air cooling.

4) Apart from CPU voltage, all other voltages are on auto. is this fine?

5) CPU @ 4Ghz is it worth it?

Cheers :D
 
oh i'm happy that i easily got to 3.6ghz on the new chip and can definitely see the improvement in games and general snappiness of Windows but I would like to know whether pushing to 3.8Ghz and running the ram at 1:1 ratio would be more beneficial or should I get the CPU to 3.8 and have the ram run as fast as possible.

Also i'm not 100% happy that core 1 can get 6°C out when on load :(
 
My Board is a P35 board and the RAM was absolutely fine running at 900MHZ 1:1 with the E6750.

So if i'm looking for a 1:1 ratio then getting the CPU to 3.8Ghz would be ideal.
Hopefully the extra 200Mhz doesn't heat the chip too much.
 
wish i had a P45 board :)
Oh well, so far there has been nothing wrong with my P35 *touch wood* but I might experience it's limitations come overclocking the Quad.

Right update time:

I wanted to run the ram at a ratio of 1:1 with the FSB as i wasn't very comfortable running the ram at 1021Mhz (80Mhz is it's rated speed). so i've bumped the FSB to 450 (from 425) and now have the CPU running at 3.8Ghz and ram @ 900Mhz. Volts set to 1.225

- Idle -
Core1: 39°C - stuck sensor
Core2: 29°C
Core3: 28°C
Core4: 37°C - stuck sensor

Ran 2 instances of Orthos through the night.

Core 1 failed after 1 hr and 30 mins.

- Load temps -
Core1: 54°C
Core2: 50°C
Core3: 49°C
Core4: 50°C

Now the other instance of orthos (cores 3 and 4) was still running when i woke up, so could anyone help me identify where my problem could be.
I doubt it is a heat issue so do you think i could do with more volts to make it more stable? the revision of my Q9550 is E0.

Just a reminder that my previous chip (E6750) was fine with the 450FSB and ram was fine at 900Mhz for 3years.
 
I was able to get to 3.6 happily just want to push that little bit further to keep the ram at 1:1 (though i'm not sure of the benefits to this).

Thanks for the advise Greebo and others. Going to have to look at upping volts. BTW what app is used to monitor the NorthBridge temps? CoreTemp doesnt do this right?

Oh and with my Orthos fail on 1 core. Is that actually the core failing or is it ram?
 
Ahhh cool, i actually have Everest installed. Just haven't run it recently >_<
So are there any 'boundaries' i should look out for on the NB temps?

Thanks again Greebo, you've been very helpful :)
 
Thanks Sayso.
I have an E0 revision chip, so it should fly. I just need to learn how to OC more than the usual as i'm only familiar with FSB upping and voltage to the CPU.

Overclocking my dual was easier :p
 
Back again to report on the war story.

Anyway i upped the cpu volts 1 notch in the BIOS so it was reading 1.2600 ( if i recall). CPUZ show this as 1.240v

Ran 2xOrthos through the night and the same core (core1) failed after 7hrs and 31mins.
Should i aim to increase the voltage yet again or is that fine for a stability test?

temperatures as follows:
- Load -
Core1: 55°C
Core2: 52°C
Core3: 50°C
Core4: 51°C

Oh also i should have a H50 arrive today. will i see any improvement on my load temps?
 
From a quick google, your board is better than mine so you should have no troubles with the OC. Also your ram is faster than mine.
I'm still a newbie to OC but the options i've tweaked are FSB and CPU voltage.
But if i was you I would try bumping to 400FSB 1st (3.4Ghz) and work with the voltage at stock.
 
buzzlightweight said:
What are your volts on the north bridge?
Click to expand...

I left the NB volts on auto. I'm gonna do another run tonight with the volts set to 1.275 in the BIOS. hope that sorts it out. else i have to start tweeking other settings that i'm not familiar with!

Also I'm not currently looking to go past 450FSB. i'll be pleased with the 9550 @ 3.8ghz.
 
update:

I upped the cpu volts to 1.275 in the BIOS and left other volts on auto.

Ran 2xOrthos and results were STABLE for 9hrs. woohoo.
Surprisingly my temps havent changed that much

- Load -
Core1: 55°C
Core2: 52°C
Core3: 51°C
Core4: 51°C

very please with the overclock so far. Q9550 @ 3.8ghz with 1.275v on a P35 mobo.
Shall i now see if i hit an FSB wall past 450? Hitting 470*8.5 would be sweet though hehe. Think it's worth pushing that little bit extra?

I shall keep you all updated on my OC adventure :D
 
Oh will be attempting to add a h50 today with 2 x Akasa Viper fans in Push/Pull config.
Hopefully i see an improvements in my temps (which admittedly aren't bad) else i'm gonna sell it on.
 
I'm half expecting that too :(
but doesn't harm trying i guess. I only bought it to try and even out the temperatures on each core.

BTW i was comparing benchmarks at different overclocks and wondered if anyone could answer my query.

FFXIV benchmark:

Test 1
CPU @ 3.6Ghz
Ram @ 1021Mhz (5:6 ratio)
Score 5301

Test 2
CPU @ 3.8Ghz
Ram @ 900Mhz (1:1 ratio)
Score 5283

Is the lower score due to the ram running slower? If so, do you think my next realistic step should be to overclock the ram more rather than push to overclock the cpu?

also good advise on the max FSB Greebo
 
Last edited:
Wow some nice info guys.
i thought i knew what i was doing but when talk of CPU PLL and VTT came about it shows i'm a complete novice! (i don't even understand what those stand for :( )
4Ghz is my aim but I'm thinking it will require tweaking the PLL and VTT to get it stable but remember I'm on a P35 board so it's not as good as the P45 boards you lot have unfortunately.

I gave up trying to fit the H50 in my case. I couldn't get my current back plate off my mobo, that required taking whole PC out of the case so decided to stick with my TRU120(non-E). it was doing the job well anyway.
 
haha glad to hear that! I admit i've been VERY happy with this board. it's done it's job well and is the 1st board i've ever used to try OC'ing. It has been painless so far :)

will try VTT and PLL modifications to try and hit the big 4.0
 
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