Beginner need help with overclocking

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waks11

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Jul 19, 2013
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Hello!
I am new with overclocking the cpu, but I have read some tutorials... and I managed to overclock my q9450 2,66 ghz to 3,00 ghz with the highest temp on 68c after runnig prime95.

when I overclocked the cpu, I change the:
FSB from 333 to 375
voltage are set at auto

I decided to run a stability test (prime95), and the result was that my memory was unstable... how could I stabilizing the memory? I also wonder if it is safe to change the FSB to 375, if anyone could give me some tips/help with overclocking that would be nice. The only thing I want is to have the cpu at stable/safe at 3.00ghz.

My specs are:
Intel core 2 quad q9450 2.66ghz
corsair RM1000 1000watts
8 Gb ddr2 ram
Nvidia gtx 560 (overclocked to 950mhz)
Motherboard: Asus rampage formula
 
Solution
drtweak
Ah yea this explains a lot.

Now yes you can mix an match. its not wise and can cause problems (But up until my new builds with a AMD FX-8320 I have ALWAYS had mixed matched RAM and never had an issue even when over clocking.

but its going to want to run at the slowest speed which is 667 and since the ram is running at 750 which is underclocking the 800 MHZ ram its over clocking the 667 RAM. If you took out the 667 slots and replaced them with 800MHZ's or just removing the 667 and leaving the 800 sticks leaving you with 4GB from what it seems it should run good.

Just try taking out the 667 mhz sticks for now, rerun your stress test and see if it crashes still. If it doesn't then you know what your issue is. If it still does then we...
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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I had the ASUS P5N-D with 4x2GB DDR2 800MHz, Q9550 (2.83 stock), and a Zalman 9500 All Copper CPU Cooler.

I over clocked to 3.5 with out issue. Anything over that it would crash. I think my FSB was sent from 1333 (My motherboard used full quad pumped FSB not base FSB) to 1650 FSB (Giving me 3.5GHz with the 8.5 multiplier) and then i had set the ram Ratio (not sure if you have it) so that the RAM was only 875 mhz i think so the ram didn't really get overclocked at all. Its not like today's motherboards where you can set the FSB/RAM seperate.

But what is the RAM running at and is there a CPU/RAM Ratio option?
 
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waks11

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Jul 19, 2013
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The ram is running strangely on only 375 mhz :(

Here is a picture from CPU-Z:
http://tinypic.com/r/19nq5x/8

Since I am a beginner I am not sure what RAM Ratio Option and quad pumped FSB is... but here is some picture of my bios settings :D

Image Nr 1:
http://tinypic.com/r/vqgldd/8

Image Nr 2:
http://tinypic.com/r/25g4h91/8

Image Nr 3:
http://tinypic.com/r/2rwrvwm/8

Here is also a picture of the cpu specs:
http://tinypic.com/r/aebdpy/8

My PC is running without crashes... and it is only unstable when I run the Prime95 test :(
btw sorry for bad english ;)

 
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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Yea it shows memory at its "Actual clock rate" not the Double Data Rate.

All DDR Ram works this way. The reason of them saying its 1600MHZ isn't because it actually RUN's at 1600mhz its that the the rate of which it can use the ram is 1600 mhz. before DDR with SDR Ram you could only use the ram every clock cycle. So if it was 133 mhz it ran at 133 mhz because it was once pers cycle. With DDR or Double Data Rate it can access it twice per cycle so if it is running at 200 mhz the speed of which the ram is accessed is doubled because it's twice per cycle. This is why it only shows 375. So if you double that its 750. Now the question is what is your ram ACTUALLY made to run at? If it was 667 i could see some stability issues with over clocking it to 750. if its 800 then your underclocking it and there shouldn't be any issues. I've had my 800mhz ddr2 overclocked to 1000mhz for a few years with out issues though.

Check the SPD section in CPU-Z. It will list each slot and it will tell you make and model of each RAM stick and its Speed. See how fast it should be.
 
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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Ah yea this explains a lot.

Now yes you can mix an match. its not wise and can cause problems (But up until my new builds with a AMD FX-8320 I have ALWAYS had mixed matched RAM and never had an issue even when over clocking.

but its going to want to run at the slowest speed which is 667 and since the ram is running at 750 which is underclocking the 800 MHZ ram its over clocking the 667 RAM. If you took out the 667 slots and replaced them with 800MHZ's or just removing the 667 and leaving the 800 sticks leaving you with 4GB from what it seems it should run good.

Just try taking out the 667 mhz sticks for now, rerun your stress test and see if it crashes still. If it doesn't then you know what your issue is. If it still does then we need to see if the ram could possible be bad or just doesn't like being stressed tested.

The other thing to do is go back into the BIOS, Go to the DRAM Frequency and manually set it to 667 so that the ram runs at the speed of the slowest memory.

Now I'll tell you this much. Is it worth getting rid of those two sticks and getting more DDR2 800MHZ Ram? I don't think so. For the price of 2 2GB DDR2 800 mhz sticks i'd just save your money for your next build unless you plan on having this build for more than 1-2 years.

That's my 2 cents what you which to do is up to you.
 
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waks11

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Jul 19, 2013
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10,510
Thanks for your help :D
but is it really important that the pc is 100% stable... because I have played 4 different games now and the pc works fine although the slowest ram have been overclocked to 750mhz?
 
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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I mean for BEST results Yes as far as everyday task goes not really. Usually only when stressed will it fail at times. I say if nothing happens while you use the PC go ahead and leave it there. If it seems to crash, freeze, give BSOD's then I'd look into the RAM being the first thing as the issue.
 
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