Help Getting My Q9400 Past 3.80 Ghz...please :)

[TRWeiss1]

As the title states, I'd love to get my Q9400 CPU to 3.80 GHz (or 3.85 would be fantastic) and be stable. Right now I've got it to 3.78 GHz and it is VERY stable. I can run Prime95 for 24 hours with 0 errors and 0 warnings. However, as SOON as I try stepping to 3.79 GHz it'll crash after running about 1 hr of Prime95. My Vcore voltage is 1.37500, and I've tried going up to 1.39000. Unfortunately the system still blue screens and shuts down after about an hour of Prime95. (Doesn't even give me errors in Prime95, just restarts)

 

I am running DDR2-800 Mushkin with memory voltage at 2.12v, and my NB voltage is sitting at 1.49v.

 

Here are some screenshots of my BIOS...

 

 

 

 

Here are my main theories of why the crash is happening...

 

1) NB is getting too hot, and thus restarting (or perhaps maybe it is not getting enough power). I tried going as high as 1.51v, though the same crash still occurs.

2) Memory voltage is too low, since I'm running the memory faster. I'm not sure how far i can *safely* go with this memory as far as voltage is concerned. I've tried taking it up to 2.16v, but the same crash occurs.

3) I have just flat out reached the limit of this CPU, memory, and/or both.

 

I am running speedfan, and CPU temp peaks at 56 deg C, with each core hovering around 68 deg C. I have yet to display my NB temperature, but that is where I'm headed next. HDD stays under 40 deg C and system temp stays around 34-37 deg C.

 

My HW specs are in my sig, but we are talking about a Q9400 quad core CPU, Mushkin DDR2-800 memory, and an ASUS Rampage Formula motherboard. CPU cooler is a ZEROtherm NV120 cooler + AS5.

 

What are your thoughts? I'd appreciate any helpful input. Thanks!

 

I have a fair amount of experience OC'ing, but haven't gotten into touching memory timings/voltages that much...I've also never dealt with a board that's had this much OC'ing potential before! Again, any help would be appreciated.

Edited September 30, 2008 by TRWeiss1

[Compxpert]

Its likely your mem can't handle any more of an oc. You might need to get some 1066.

[TRWeiss1]

Thanks for your input...That was one of the theories I've thought about.

Sucks since I just bought this memory, but I could always buy some 1066 and sell this.

[rud3bwoy]

well i am guessing it is ram to bro cause i am stuck around your area on a q9450 and i am on 800 mhz corsair ram to wish i had gone with 1066 ram my self.

[kingdingeling]

What exact model RAM do you haveTRWeiss1? Some Mushkin sticks will do more than the DDR2-946 you're running right now, you only need to tweak the timings / voltage a little.

[TRWeiss1]

Thanks again for the replies guys...As for the memory, it is obviously 240 pin DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) Mushkin, model number 996580. Quoted directly from newegg, timings are 4-4-4-12, CAS latency is 4, and voltage is 2.0-2.1v.

Edited September 30, 2008 by TRWeiss1

[road-runner]

You might try loosening the RAM timings to 5-5-5-15....

 

[TRWeiss1]

^ Thanks...I will definitely give that a shot tonight!

[kingdingeling]

Yea, try lossening the timings a bit

[psycho_terror]

Yea, try lossening the timings a bit

am i just being dense, or is the board not already auto setting the timings to 5-5-5-18?

[TRWeiss1]

Well gents, I didn't get a chance to reply last night, but I did get a chance to play with memory timings. It turns out they already were loosened up to 5-5-5-15, so I backed them up to 6-6-6-18...Unfortunately when I got into Windows, I got the lovely message window 8 million times "Microsoft Windows has just recovered from a serious error."

 

Every time I rebooted I got this message, so I just put the timings back to where they were. I've got some 1066 coming tonight, so theoretically I won't have to touch that stuff in terms of OC'ing, right? Even if I take my FSB up to 500 (which would put me at 4.0 GHz), that'd mean that the memory would be running at 1000 MHz (unless I'm mistaken).

 

Also, one other question that comes to mind....Why is it that DDR400 always runs at 200 MHz (unless you OC, then it becomes what your FSB is), and DDR2-800 becomes double your FSB when you begin OC'ing? Is this just due to the memory divider they use by default for DDR2, or is it just due to DDR2 itself?

 

Just something I've always wondered...It could just be the memory divider, as I haven't located that yet. And maybe the memory divider on all of the DDR machines I've played with was always set to 1:1.

[road-runner]

Ah, just looked at your motherboard, you may have to get a P45 to get any higher with a quad, then again you may just need some pc8500 RAM, then you could be at your cpus limit.