Overclocking Q9450 - help?

[MythiiK]

Hey guys, I'm a newbie to overclocking and have been up literally the last four hours trying to get my PC to overclock to 3.2ghz (which it should easily do, right?) problem is, I don't really know what I'm looking for. Can someone help me out? Is it a motherboard issue or what? I get my processor up to 3.2ghz (8x400) and my ram is running at the max 1066, and it will boot into windows but will fail Prime INSTANTLY. Can someone help? I've messed with the voltage for bothe the CPU AND the RAM, and left them both on AUTO as well, and it doesn't help.

-ASUS® Maximus Formula motherboard (solid capacitors, 2 x PCIEx16, 3 x PCIEx1, 2 x PCI, 6 x SATA2, 2 x Gigabit Ethernet, SupremeFX II 8 channel audio card)

- Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9450 (12MB Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)

- MSI N450GTS Cyclone 1GD5/OC (GeForce® GTS 450) with 1GB GDDR5 memory (2 x DVI-I, 1 x Mini HDMI)

- 8GB G-Skill® DDR2-1066 RAM (4 x 2GB)

- 500GB Seagate® Barracuda™

-500w gaming grade PSU

Edited June 14, 2012 by MythiiK

[Tjj226_Angel]

Hey guys, I'm a newbie to overclocking and have been up literally the last four hours trying to get my PC to overclock to 3.2ghz (which it should easily do, right?) problem is, I don't really know what I'm looking for. Can someone help me out? Is it a motherboard issue or what? I get my processor up to 3.2ghz (8x400) and my ram is running at the max 1066, and it will boot into windows but will fail Prime INSTANTLY. Can someone help? I've messed with the voltage for bothe the CPU AND the RAM, and left them both on AUTO as well, and it doesn't help.

-ASUS® Maximus Formula motherboard (solid capacitors, 2 x PCIEx16, 3 x PCIEx1, 2 x PCI, 6 x SATA2, 2 x Gigabit Ethernet, SupremeFX II 8 channel audio card)

- Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9450 (12MB Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)

- MSI N450GTS Cyclone 1GD5/OC (GeForce® GTS 450) with 1GB GDDR5 memory (2 x DVI-I, 1 x Mini HDMI)

- 8GB G-Skill® DDR2-1066 RAM (4 x 2GB)

- 500GB Seagate® Barracuda™

-500w gaming grade PSU

 

 

Well I do not see a heat sink in your list of parts. If you don't have a good heat sink, and you are not monitoring temperatures, prime could be failing simply due to over heating.

[d6bmg]

1. Always monitor the temprature of CPU & motherboard with software like Asus AI Suite etc.

2. As you are saying prime95 causes restart of your PC, I think its time that you should overclocking your CPU slowly. After seeing the temperature you will have to decide on buying a CPU cooler or/and reapplying TIM.