Overclocking Q9450

[troy5061]

I got it to run 3.6ghz. Boots into windows fine and ran 3dmark06 fine. Im getting rounding errors soon after I start Prime95. These are my voltages below any ideas?

 

Cpu vcore ive tried 1.3-1.4 no difference, CPUZ is is reading 1.200 no matter what I set in bios.

Memory voltage 2.2v running at 901mhz timings are 5 5 5 15 Does pass Memtest.

NB voltage ive tried 1.33 which is stock to 1.41 no effect

 

Im running Prime95 now backed down to 425fsb to 3.4ghz and it seems to be stable.

 

Usually rounding errors are Cpu or NB voltage right?

 

Also passed superpi 1M at 3.6.

 

Any ideas are welcome, thanks.

Edited October 1, 2008 by troy5061

[TRWeiss1]

I'm not entirely sure what safe voltages are for your mobo, but I needed to take my NB voltage up to about 1.49v in order to gain stability at 3.78 GHz (I have a Q9400).

 

Otherwise, I'd have to say your memory timings may be slightly too tight running at 901 MHz. My 1066 comes tonight so I hope to take my CPU up to 3.90 or even 4.0 GHz. (I've reached the limit of my DDR2-800, OCd to almost 950 MHz)

 

Anywho, best of luck man! Definitely look into NB voltage and possibly loosening up those memory timings a little bit.

 

You getting any lockups during games?

Edited October 1, 2008 by TRWeiss1

[Geekspeak411]

I have the q9450 as well and running stable at 3.8GHz on Stock cooling, what happens on the 790i ULTRA though is that the mobo takes some of the voltage away somehow and give the proc. a little less that you set it to, Try setting the voltage up a little higher and see if CPUZ reads any higher

Edited October 1, 2008 by Geekspeak411

[The Smith]

I have the q9450 as well and running stable at 3.8GHz on Stock cooling, what happens on the 790i ULTRA though is that the mobo takes some of the voltage away somehow and give the proc. a little less that you set it to, Try setting the voltage up a little higher and see if CPUZ reads any higher

 

3.8 with stock Intel HS? What are your temps?

[Geekspeak411]

I idle about 43c and usually get to about 62-5 on 100% load. I have a TON of airflow in my case though, there are two room size fans in there and 7 regular fans all inside the case... haha.

[TRWeiss1]

^ I'm not 100% about the Q9450, but I do know that according to cpu-world max operating temp for my Q9400 is 71.4 deg C. Definitely do be careful, as your temps aren't that far off. My Q9400 gets up to 54 deg C after hours of running Prime95, and won't run any hotter than 48-50 deg C while gaming.

 

You should look into an aftermarket cooler, if for nothing more than a little insurance.

Edited October 2, 2008 by TRWeiss1

[Smoking It]

O.K., First off-how you guys got past the 3.6-3.7 range on a q9450 blows my mind if your on air. I've been recking my brain on mine for the longest, but thats another story... AS FOR THE ROUNDING ERRORS: Try disabling Tractionsaction booster in Bios. That tends to give off rounding errors sometimes I've noticed

on my system. Don't know if that will work for you but its worth a shot. ; )

Edited October 2, 2008 by Smoking It

[troy5061]

O.K., First off-how you guys got past the 3.6-3.7 range on a q9450 blows my mind if your on air. I've been recking my brain on mine for the longest, but thats another story... AS FOR THE ROUNDING ERRORS: Try disabling Tractionsaction booster in Bios. That tends to give off rounding errors sometimes I've noticed

on my system. Don't know if that will work for you but its worth a shot. ; )

 

What mobo do you have?

 

Well heres an update.

 

I got it too boot into windows at 3.8ghz but it was not stable at all. 3.6ghz still works but im getting rounding errors. So I tried 3.5ghz with a 1.3vcore and 1.33nb voltage. It ran 6 hours of prime95 and I got 1 error. I bumped the cpu vcore to 1.33 and the nb 1.37 and ill see when I get home if I have any errors, that was 9.5 hours ago so well see soon. If its stable Ill set my sights on 3.6, then on to 3.8. I wish I could do 4 on H20.

 

I may be running into the fabled fsb wall on the P35 with 45nm quad soon though. 500x8-4000mhz mmmmmmm.....

 

Maybe I will just sell it, I found a lead on some Q9550 E0s but in all honesty I dont think Ill get much higher with that.

Edited October 2, 2008 by troy5061

[troy5061]

Well heres another update.

 

I got home from work and had an error even earlier than before so adding voltage seemed to make it worse. Im running it at 3.4 now with 1.3vcore and 1.33nb. We will see what happens. Im trying to find a good stable starting point then work my way up.

 

Also, no matter what I put the vcore at in bios 1.20-1.36 it still says 1.20 in cpuz v 1.47 and 1.44. During load it goes down to about 1.181-1.168. Could that be my problem? Why wouldnt cpuz show a change in voltage at idle instead of 1.20 all the time.

 

Maybe I should update the bios?

 

I guess the only other thing I can think of is a fan for the nb. Whats the max safe nb voltage on a P35?

 

Should I mess with any of the GTL settings?

Edited October 3, 2008 by troy5061

[TheScavenger]

Well heres another update.

 

I got home from work and had an error even earlier than before so adding voltage seemed to make it worse. Im running it at 3.4 now with 1.3vcore and 1.33nb. We will see what happens. Im trying to find a good stable starting point then work my way up.

 

Also, no matter what I put the vcore at in bios 1.20-1.36 it still says 1.20 in cpuz v 1.47 and 1.44. During load it goes down to about 1.181-1.168. Could that be my problem? Why wouldnt cpuz show a change in voltage at idle instead of 1.20 all the time.

 

Maybe I should update the bios?

 

I guess the only other thing I can think of is a fan for the nb. Whats the max safe nb voltage on a P35?

 

Should I mess with any of the GTL settings?

 

That voltage drop is killing you. My Q9450 needs 1.29-1.30V under load to be stable at 3.6GHz.

 

Definitely tweak your GTL references. Start at .63x for the CPU side.

Edited October 3, 2008 by TheScavenger

[troy5061]

That voltage drop is killing you. My Q9450 needs 1.29-1.30V under load to be stable at 3.6GHz.

 

Definitely tweak your GTL references. Start at .63x for the CPU side.

 

Just so I understand right. If im running 1.3vcore, 1.3x.63=0.819 so I would add +819mv or the closest setting to it?

[troy5061]

Ok got home. Success. Its 12 hours prime stable at 3.4ghz. Here are my voltage specs.

 

Cpu vcore 1.3

ram 2.2 @ 850mhz

nb 1.33

 

I was confused in my above thread. All of my GTL settings are set to .67 should I change them at all? I was thinking of cpu vid should I change this at all and if so where should I start.