Q9450 Refuses To Be Stable

[IVIYTH0S]

It seems impossible for my computer to run stable the settings i am running are

Vcore:1.25v(1600FSB,3.2Ghz)

Ram:2.1v(1066mhz 5-5-5-15)

FSB:1.3v

NB:1.32v

SB:1.55v

HT:1.25v

and no matter what i do prime 95 will never show errors but my computer will straight up freeze and i have to power down the system with the psu switch, can anyone tell me if maybe one of my voltages is off, maybe too low? i don't think the chip is overheating even though the sensors read 70 from each core, when i feel the heatsink with my hand it feels very very mildly warm. Everything else is ice cold.

Please lend me your support

Edited June 2, 2008 by IVIYTH0S

[werty316]

Which program do you use to give you a temp of 70? (I'll assume you mean 70

Edited June 2, 2008 by werty316

[The Smith]

1st: I'd say 70C is too hot: Go see the Intel Thermal specification here. I would not stay with temps like that 24/7.

 

2nd: Upping your Vcore could help for stability, but beware, your chip would become even hotter !

 

3rd: It's not because your HS is barely warm that the chip under is barely warm too... If your HS isn't sat properly on the CPU, it will not be able to take off its heat.

 

4th: Which HS do you have ?

 

5th: A freeze like that can be caused by the graphics card. Try running 3DMark to see if the freeze happens more frequently. If yes you could have found your culprit.

Edited June 2, 2008 by The Smith

[LoArmistead]

If it's lockng up on you the first thing my mind goes to is RAM or video card. Have you overclocked either of those? If so try lowering the overclock on your RAM or upping the voltage to it.

[gotdamojo06]

Even though my chip is under watercooling, I would think that your heatsink needs to be taken off and put back on and when you put it on I would tighten it down, just be careful as you do not want to crack your motherbaord. add some thermal paste on it, I usually take a piece of plastic to spread the paste evenly over the entire IHS of the chip

 

If you need to you could always lap the IHS and your heatsink's base. I have not done this to my Q9450, however with my E6850 I did and it improved temperatures by about 4-5*C across the cores. I agree with everyone about your RAM most likely holding you back. Try and throw a higher divider on it, which in turn will lower the clock of your RAM while increasing the voltages a little bit. You said that you are still running the timings 5-5-5-15 which are stock timings, I would suggest loosening them up quite a bit. With looser timings and a higher voltage and lower speeds, you should be able to rule them out as the culprit. I would then once you get it stable start to either clock the RAM higher or begin to tighten the timings; only do one at a time, I would start with the clocks for the RAM.

 

I hope that has helped, I attached some screen shots of CPU-Z and coretemp for my mild OC of the Q9450...

 

good luck

[IVIYTH0S]

i think my mobo's sensors aren't calibrated right because even at stock clock values i still have a 50C idle and a 70 load so its odd, im thinking maybe the video card too but perhaps it's the ram although i had memtest 86 run for 22 hours without any error so i am so clueless i'll try your suggestions though thanks i'll tell you my results (as for the heatsink i did recently reseat it but i got the same temps as i did before.

I think that the motherboard is so new that the sensors might be malfunctioning right?

Edited June 3, 2008 by IVIYTH0S

[IVIYTH0S]

ok here are some pics of the temps and settings, screenshots are of cpu-z, coretemp and everest this is while running SMALL-FFTs torture test in Prime95 which heats my processor to it's highest degree

i wasn't able to capture it while it said 70 degrees but you get the idea it usually fluctuates around 68-70

[gokusgrill]

id say the ram is your culprit, try running the ram at 4-4-4-12 at 800mhz at whatever voltage ends up being comfortable.

[ccokeman]

780I Is a tough nut to crack. If you have HT voltage bump that up a few notches. It took 1.7 for me to get to 450. Vcore is a bit low as well. It takes 1.375 for me to get stable at 3.7GHz.

[IVIYTH0S]

780I Is a tough nut to crack. If you have HT voltage bump that up a few notches. It took 1.7 for me to get to 450. Vcore is a bit low as well. It takes 1.375 for me to get stable at 3.7GHz.

how high do you think it should be for 3.2ghz? i think i set it to 1.25v on the vcore, i guess i'll try adding more to the HT though

[ccokeman]

It will vary by chip. Some are good some are not. I never checked what it took to do 3.2 on mine since I went straight to 450 on the first boot.

[IVIYTH0S]

ok it might be the ram because the lower i set the speed the longer my computer runs but it still freezes and now its even more annoying because it's refusing to save the overclock settings i give it. I'm telling it to just run 800mhz and when i reboot it's at 1066 again ARGH!!! I put the HT voltage up to 1.3 i wonder if that'll be enough, i suppose i could always try to just go for 3.7ghz but that isn't saving either it keeps defaulting my processor and maxing my ram i have no idea why and when i goto the settings the FSB and Memory section are auto (as for the memory not being able to run at 1066, it better be able to eventually thats why i bought it, it was advertised as being able to)