EggXpert

my mobo is P7N Platinum 750i and my cpu cooler is AC Freezer Cool 7.

 

I can't get the CPU to go past  2700 MHz (337.5 x 8) and i don't know why.

If i try to go to even 1375 MHz FSB windows either doesn't even start or freezes on the load screen.

If i go to 1400 FSB it doesn't even post sometimes.

I tried bringing the voltage over 1.2 at 1375 FSB but it still didn't  turn on. I tried playing with the other voltages a bit also but nothing helped.

I also have no idea what my temps are because I don't know the TJMax (and neither does anyone else) for this chip.

I can't figure out how to embed pictures but here's a link to them:

http://picasaweb.google.com/0goober0/Computer

They're all of the very slight OC i managed. No voltages changed, only FSB frequency (up from 1333)

In the first one Realtemp has a TJMax of 85

in the second on 95 and in the 3rd on why does it say the voltage CPU is 1.14 but down below it says the voltage is 1.038?

Also in the first 2 in PC Wizard is says that core 1 and 2 are running at 2700 MHz but the other 2 are only running at a bit over 2000 MHz. It doesn't change even when i run prime95 or CPU intensive stuff. Any idea why that is? also the temp between the first and fourth core is almost always 5 degrees C or more.

Can anyone help me get this thing to OC because i've heard it's very good at it. Also my temps seem to be higher than optimal, any idea why? or does this card just run hotish?

Also if anyone has any information about the TJMax of this card that'd be nice so i can get slightly more accurate temps.

I don't want to sound like a jerk but if your going to tell me to get a better mobo or that this one is no good please just don't post. I've seen people use this board and this chip and OC it just as good as anyone else.

 

Your temperatures suck.

Either slightly  mis-installed heat sink fan/thermal paste, or just a bad choice of cooler.

Looking at the last picture there must be something wrong with either your Power supply or you didn't connect your wires correctly.

+5V should display +/- 0.1 of 5.0v instead your is 0.97V

+12V also problem only 3.57V.

SB (southbridge) should never exceed 2.0V which your display as 3.34V

Power/Aux (I think the temperature of the power supply) display as 128C!!!!

Got to check that power supply and your wires for long last pc.

Your build is fine but you went with a less than good choice for RAM ddr2 - 800 you should have gone with the ddr2 - 1066. You have definitely got something plugged in wrong somewhere, your voltages are wrong and those temps are high. You may want to take it apart and rebuild step by step using the Manuel as your guide, as for the OCingyou should be able to get to 3.2-3.4 ghz without playing with the voltages you also need to turn off or disable the EIST and several other protective circuits first before you go changing the fsbs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052108080%201052420643%201052315794&bop=And&Order=PRICE&CompareItemList=N82E16820231166%2CN82E16820227289%2CN82E16820145197%2CN82E16820227298 RAM

Mine won't post at 1400 either, this CPU seems to have allot of FSB "holes" that it won't run at.

I'm currently running at http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=40871  but you need a good cooler cause this thing runs hot. there for a while I had it at 3.2GHz but it has better stability@3.33GHz @1.275 core voltage

The Q9450 is good to 1.4v but you'll need water cooling to get it over 1.325v

As far as I can tell using Realtemp the TJmax is 95 I get 38C Idle and 58C load on my Scythe Ninja copper cooler. Using my UV thermometer and BIOS reading it looks like it is 95 anyway.

What are your temps at 95 TJMax? ..... Under load I mean.....

The Q9450 is a HOT chip so you have to watch your temps carefully.

 

Don't forget every chip clocks a bit different so its gonna be trial and error...... just don't fry anything lol.

 

 

I do agree with you GmsCool on the FSB holes for the 45nm quad core chips.  Due to low multiplier FSB must be very high to achieve good overclock result.

I still a old-school 65nm quad Q6700 which overclocks pretty well stock voltage @1.2875V running @3.0GHZ w/Xig S-1283 cooler, the fan comes with the cooler seems weak need a replacement.  Running F@H SMP shoot up to 70C, maybe just my case poor ventilation CM690.

I am having the exact same problem with my Q9450, on a GA-X48-DS4 mobo.  It just won't go above about 2.7 GHz.  I even tried using the auto OC feature of the software that came with the mobo, and every setting failed within a minute of starting Prime95.  Every tutorial people posted said basically the same thing, but no matter what I tried it just won't POST when it's overclocked at anything over about 2.7 GHz.  I gave up for a while since I figured the performance was sufficient for now.  Coming from a laptop with a Pentium M 1.4 GHz made it a night and day difference anyway   If you do eventually get it to work, make sure you post all your specs and what you did to get it to work.  I'd really appreciate it.

Since I don't own a Q9450 I can't really add any input, but check out this guide setup in the BIOS probably will help.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=2057083&enterthread=y

After reading through that tutorial, I decided to try OCing again.  I set my memory timings to 5-5-5-15, set my FSB to 400, and set my RAM frequency to 2.66D (i have no idea what this actually stands for, it equated to 1066 MHz and it said the 'D' was for 400 Mhz FSB.  No tutorials mention this, I figure it's a Gigabyte thing).  I didn't change any voltages, POSTed no problems, been running Prime95 for 2 hours stable so far.  My temps went up around 5 degrees or so I think.  So far so good.  THe only thing i did different was change the RAM frequency this time, I must have missed that in other tutorials.  I have the same RAM as you except in the 1066 variety.  My mobo is the GA-X48-DS4.

thanks for your help, i kind of forgot about this thread and just came back to it today. I'm gonna see what i can do about the voltages, make sure everything's plugged in right and see what it says in the BIOS.

If you have any more advice or comments or anything feel free. I'll let keep you posted on shat happens when i check it.

well, i went into my BIOS and checked out the voltages and such:

CPU Temp - 38C

System Temp - 37C

CPU Vcore - 1.224V

3.3V - 3.360V

5V - 5.087V

12V - 12.232V

 

under the menu called "Cell Menu" where you OC and such is this stuff:

EIST - Enabled

System Clock Mode - Auto

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Voltage - 0.0000V

Memory Voltage - 1.90

VTT FSB Voltage - 1.200

NB Voltage - 1.24

SB Core Power - 1.5

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spread Spectrum - Enabled

everything was set to default. None of this really means much to me but hopefully it will help you help me.

Right off the BAT, change your memory Voltage to 2.1v that is its voltage and you are running it low.

NB voltage to 1.35v to help support the OC.

Disable EIST (speedstep).

CPU Voltage, add .050v volt to get 1.275v (if your going for the 3.33GHz OC, You might even try it at a lower voltage later and see if it is stable, all chips behave differently.)

 

I did your suggestions and it's working so far, thanks. I only went up to 2.7 so far

I took pictures of the BIOS this time cause i didn't feel like writing it all down:

1st BIOS shot

2nd BIOS shot (2nd part of previous screen) Should Spread Spectrum be disabled for OCing? I've seen yes, but I don't really know what it is, can anyone clear that up for me.

3rd BIOS shot

This is PC Wizard after the slight OC:

2 questions: why are core 2 and 3 running at a lower frequency than core 1 and 2 and also why does it say speedstep is enabled? Is PC Wizard just not trustworthy?

PC Wizard

Well, i answered my own question about PC Wizard being trustworthy by going into Everest which has the frequencies correct for all 4 cores:

Everest

Sorry for all the links to pictures but i have no idea how to put the pictures into the post. I guess it saves space this way anyway.

Thanks for all your help so far, and considering how much help i needed i'll probably need more in the future 

Well, i'm gonna go try to OC some more and see what happens.

 

Edit:

I got it up to 2.75GHz but can't get it higher yet. I think i know what the problem is though. I raised the CPU voltage by 0.05 like GmsCool said but now for some reason it says the CPU Vcore is only 1.176 so i'm gonna try raising that a bit more because it won't even POST at 2.8GHz with those voltages. Here's the pics of my BIOS:

Temps and some voltages

OC 1st part of screen

2nd part of screen

Edit 2:

i'm running prime95 and watching my temps, just to make sure they're not too bad. so far they haven't gona above 56 at 95 tjmax. I know 56C is fine at full load but how hot is too hot?

Edit 3: (wow, lots of edits)

Now the average temp is 60C, again i don't really know how hot is too hot, but i'm gonna google it now to find out.

Would suggest you don't let it go over 65c-70c. That cpu will slow down at 85c to save itself, and turn off at 95c.

I still have Spread spectrum turned on on mine, my last rig I had to turn it off, just depends on your parts so try it both ways I guess.

Good luck, let us know how far you get it.

 

Well i raised the voltage on the CPU to 2.275 like GmsCool said but it still won't load windows at 2.8GHz. NB is at 1.32, VTT FSB at 1.200. Any suggestions? I'm gonna try raising the NB a bit more.

well i tried raising the NB to 1.36(no options in between that and 1.32) but still didn't load windows. A couple people said there are FSB "holes" so i tried bringing it up and it got all the way to the windows loading screen and then froze at 1410 and 1420MHz FSB. I'm gonna try playin around with it a bit more later, i'll keep you posted.

0goober0:

Well i raised the voltage on the CPU to 2.275 .....

My god I hope thats a TYPO, lol 1.275v for CPU!

 

As far as the "holes" I couldn't get mine to post anywere between 2.8GHz and 3.2 GHz, more like a crater on mine. You might just give 1600 fsb a shot, and shoot strait for 3.33GHz on 800MHz ram you might link better to 3.2GHz

LOL, yes that was a typo....thank god cause I kinda like my CPU the way it is, not fried and all.

 

 Well i tried jumping up to 3.2GHz with no luck at 1.275v CPU and NB at 1.32v and it wouldn't load windows. Since you seemed to have the same thing happen to you i jumped up again to 3.33GHz but it kept freezing at the windows loading screen so i bumped the NB up 1 notch to 1.36v and it worked!!

 I'm idling while writing this at about 45C but i'm gonna stress it in a second and see how high it goes. Then maybe try to lower the voltage and up the ram a bit.

Thanks for all your help so far.

 

Update:

temps not looking great but also not bad. After not even a minute of Prime95 i'm already averaging about 55-56, hopefully it won't get too much higher.

This might sound like a dumb questions but what do the different columns of RAM timings mean:

http://picasaweb.google.com/0goober0/Computer/photo#5241233549779609682

 

also my temps have gone up to around 58-59C average, 60 max. How long should i run Prime95 to be sure my temps and stability are ok (I know longer than i've been running it) I figured it'd be a good thing to know cause it can't hurt to be safe.

A good 12 hours is rock solid. some say 24 hours, but usually if I can run 6 hours, i will be able to run for 24, so 12 seems a good number to me.

The other timings listed are other timings and frequencies that your RAM is capable of running at. if for instance you tried to OC to a FSB that wont link to DDR2 800 you might be able to get it to link to DDR2 667 and get it to run. 

60C is about were mine maxes at, under 65c is good, so its good. I'd like it if it was cooler, but oh well.

how long does it take for temps to steady out?

I just figured out that my RAM was running slower than it was supposed to be so i fixed that although i'm still not sure what most of the RAM settings in the BIOS mean....

Hopefully i'll be able to pull this off without overheating, but it's not really looking that way so far. BTW i lowered my CPU voltage 1 notch down to like 1.26 or so in an attemp to lower my temps a bit but i'm still idling at 45-46, stress test to follow.

well, i ran prime95 for only about 10 minutes before my temps started hitting 68-69 and i had to shut it off.....now i'm stuck

You perhaps can use a better heatsink for the cpu.  Right now I am conducting thermal experiment on my 3 heatsink and see their 3 (4) results.

1. Thermalright ultima 90 w/ silverstone 110cfm fan

2. Xig S-1283 w/ scythe 3000rpm fan 133cfm

3. Thermalright ultra extreme 120 (lapped) w/ scythe 3000rpm (not arrived yet)

4. (Lapped) TRUE 120 + CPU (lapped)  (not going to be done due to void warranty of cpu, after my warranty is up I try that)

Lapped meaning smoothen out the heatsink base to be flat, because most if not all the heatsink base are design with concave shape so it is not actually touching the cpu by "lapping" the heatsink with sandpaper you can have flat heatsink base giving better conducting thermal reading.  Once my TRUE arrived I will be conducting the experiment.

RAM Timings

How big are the 4 fans in your case? Although I have to agree with Prtuc2, you might be in order for a higher CFM heat sink fan, Is yours replacable? you might consider a 120mm heatsink replacement though. You might even try to re-install your thermal paste to get your temps down, how carefull were you when doing it? I might suggest a few "trial runs" installing it to make sure it spreads as it should.

Need to make sure the case fans are moving enough air too.

 

for case fans i have a pair of these one as intake in front, one as exhaust in the back. I also have 2 of these both on the side one right over the heat sink as exhaust and one over the GPU's as intake. Also no, the heat sink fan is not replaceable.  I reinstalled the thermal paste the other day to see if that might be the problem but i got pretty frustrated with the thing cause all four little peg things didn't want to fit in the holes at the same time. I may have screwed it up in my frustration but the temps seemed about the same as when i put the thermal paste on the first time so i'm not sure.