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Overclocking Core 2 Quad


MonkeyyNinja

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First off, My specs;

 

CPU: q9450 @ 3.00ghz

RAM: 4gb DDR2 PC2-6400 Corsair

Video Gard: GTX 570 SC

Case: Antec 900

PSU: 850watt Antec

Motherboard: P7N Diamond

 

Since I built this rig, I have been running it at 3.0ghz with default voltages and timings. That setup has been all well and good until recently. I just bought an EVGA gtx 570 SC, and I wanted to make sure that my cpu would not bottleneck it. So I started tweaking things in the bios, trying to get up to the 3.2-3.6 range. Currently, I'm stuck with a slightly stable 3.3ghz clock, with my voltages/timings as follows:

 

vCore: 1.3375 (vid = 1.2375)

vNB: 1.350v

vSB: 1.550v

vRAM: 2.1v

everything else on auto

 

CAS: 6

TRCD: 6

TRP: 6

TRAS: 18

2T

everything else on auto

 

I say slightly stable because any time I try to play a game or open up a resource intensive program, I get memory related errors (but BSODs are rare, as are system crashes) after 5-10 minutes. Another thing I found interesting was that when running prime95 on "small FFT's", all cores run for hours without fail, while on "large FFT's" or "Blend", cores 3 and 4 always crash within a few seconds, but 1 and 2 continue running indefinitely. Any help I could get on getting this stable or even getting my ghz up further would be greatly appreciated (Especially since I actually got a performance DROP after upgrading from a gts 250 to my new 570).

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It sounds like your memory isn't stable at whatever speed you're running it.

 

The easiest OC would probably be cranking your FSB to 400 MHz and setting the memory to a 1:1 ratio - that would give you 3.2 GHz and wouldn't be overclocking your RAM at all. If you want to go higher it would probably make sense to drop your CPU multiplier to 6x and see how high of an FSB your memory / mobo can handle (so you can narrow down what is failing at higher FSBs).

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It sounds like your memory isn't stable at whatever speed you're running it.

 

The easiest OC would probably be cranking your FSB to 400 MHz and setting the memory to a 1:1 ratio - that would give you 3.2 GHz and wouldn't be overclocking your RAM at all. If you want to go higher it would probably make sense to drop your CPU multiplier to 6x and see how high of an FSB your memory / mobo can handle (so you can narrow down what is failing at higher FSBs).

 

I was wondering if my memory was to blame. Thanks for the advice; I'll try it when I get home.

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Let us know if lowering the memory multiplier restabilizes you

 

Well, I tried running at 400x8, and got 5 minutes before the first core failed on prime95. Then I ran at 400x6 and got 17 minutes on prime 95. Both tests were on blend, and I didn't change any voltages.

 

EDIT: all three cores from the second test that hadn't failed are still running as of this edit (about 30min).

Edited by MonkeyyNinja

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can you post some pictures of your bios, i could tell you exactly what to change. (you may wanna read a Core 2 overclocking guide though if you don't even know this :P )

 

I'd be able to help you even better that way.

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Why is your Core Voltage 0.10v, is that even possible :blink:

 

Is "DRAM Clock" able to be dialed to any exact mhz or does it have a pop menu when you press enter onto it??

Maybe that 0.10v is how much it is above the stock voltage?

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