I'm putting together a new computer and was originally going to get the QX9650 but delays on the 9800gtx have had me waiting a while and I'm now seeing the q9550 popping up. I had planned to run the QX9650 at only stock or a small overclock to 3.2ghz or 3.4ghz which is quite a waste for the money I'd need to pay but it looks like I could OC the q9550 to the same clock speed and only pay a little over half the price.
 
I've not done much overclocking before (only overclocked a celeron 433 to 488 which was trivial) and the new stuff sounds alot more complicated.
 
Could anyone describe what sort of things I'd need to change to get the q9550 to 3.4ghz?
Since it needs to change the FSB to 400mhz are there any issues with other hardware that would need to be addressed?
 
I'm also looking at getting the XFX nForce 780i MB and 2 sets of twin Kingston 2gb 8500 HyperX paired ram (4x 1gb sticks total), would they be able to deal with the OC OK? Or are there better alternatives?
 
Thanks

Heck, you can get a Q9450 and achieve the same results. Q9450 is good for speeds up to 4GHz, so you can save even more money.
 
There's the OCing guide here, read it and understand it.

Money isn't a major concern for me, I'm more concerned with reliability and lifetime so I'd rather do a smaller over clock for the better performance even if it's going to cost me a lot more for only a small gain, besides the q9550 is only AU$50 (~US$45) more than the q9450.
 
I'd already read through the guide briefly but went back and gave it a proper read, what I wanted to know is what settings specifically I'd be likely to need to change to get to 3.4ghz, as far as I can gather I'd need to do the following:
 
Set CPU Frequency (FSB) to 400.
Set DRAM Frequency to 800.
Set PCI Express Frequency to 100.
PCI Clock Synchronization to 33.33.
Set the mem voltage.
 
Is there anything I missed or listed wrong?
 
Will there be much of a heat increase?
 
Also is it pointless getting the 8500 ram since I'd be under clocking it to get the 1:1 with the fsb? Should I get 6400 ram (800mhz) instead? I'm more concerned with reliability than performance when it comes to ram, DDR2 is fast enough that other than in synthetics other components will become the bottleneck before the ram does.

Lifetime is rather impossible, and OCing will just shorten the life span, depending on how much you OC.
 
The Q9550 has a 8.5 multiplier. To get 3.4GHz, or 3400MHz, you will have to use an FSB of 3400/8.5 = 400MHz. Setting the ram to 800MHz will mean a fsb to ram ratio of 1:1, which some people says offers the best performance. Adjusting the timings to 4-4-4-12 should also help.
 
Locking the PCI-E and PCI to 100MHz and 33.33MHz respectively is a good idea. You don't want to burn the vidcard nor the PCI cards.
 
The temps will increase. You will want to minimize the vcore of the CPU in order to minimize the temps. The guide explains this quite well, so follow it carefully.
 
DDR2 800MHz is more than enough, it is pointless to get faster ram that cost significantly more.

780i chipset runs at 1333mhz fsb natively. It's not the best overclocking chipset, but should be able to oc to 1600mhz (4x400) without problems. You should run the cpu at the lowest vcore needed to obtain stability. But don't worry too much, that thing will be obsolete before it burns out anyway.

And yeah, PCI and PCIE should always be locked, especially PCIE. Sound and networking cards are tougher than graphics card, not that you should try to ruin them.

DDR2 800 is the best bang for the buck. Faster ram do not significantly increase overall system performance anyway.

Cool, thanks, that all sounds promising . I was aware of the fact that OC always decreases lifetime, but my good ol celeron is still going strong so I'm hoping the OC from 333 to 400 will still last me 3-4 years, I'm keeping my old PC (P4, GF4, 512ram) as a 24/7 PC so this one will only need to be on when playing games/doing work anyway.
 
One other thing, I'm getting an after market cooler for the first time and will probably need to apply the thermal paste myself, can anyone point me to a good guide?
I'm deciding between the ASUS Arctic square (which looks pretty awesome and is the front runner) and the Zalman 9700 led (which IMO doesn't look very nice but has slightly better cooling). I'm also looking at the Antec nine hundred case which should keep things very cool anyway

Both are not as good as the Xigmatek: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm
 
But if you're going for looks...
 
Here's the guide to putting thermal paste on: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/ap [...] d_wcap.pdf

Thanks
 
I'd have preferred a Xigmatek to the Zalman (I looked up the frostytech website when picking a shortlist), but the Zalman was the best performer available locally . The Arctic Square was the best performer out of my aesthetically pleasing shortlist, I also had the Coolerman Hyper TX as top of my price/performance shortlist, but as I'm overclocking I'd rather the safety of the more powerful coolers so I dropped it from my final shortlist

I have a pair of arctic squares, and they are decent, but wont win any metals.  You might be staying with that 3.4ghz if you get that cooler! They work up to a point, then the heat takes over!
 
I broke it down and ordered a TRUE which took a week to get here! As reported, and with a single good fan, it beats out the arctic square and my semi-cheep koolance all in the case processor liquid cooler.  
 
To bad no one carries the damn thing locally. Have to wait to get it. But here I am at 3.8, waiting for my processor to blow up! (Though I wont see a 60c core all day!)
 
And it was only 15 bucks more, and about the same in temperature drop. 15c or so. Thats worth 15 bucks!
 
--Lupi

Hmmm, I must have misspelt ThermalRight the first time I searched for shops that stocked it, now there seems to be plenty , I'd take that over the Zalman, and might be a better choice than the arctic square since I don't mind the look of it, can you recommend a good fan for it?

Scythe Kaze! Though you may wanna spend another 15 bucks for a fan controller! But look at that air flow! Quite impressive. Like I said right up there. 3.8 and I dont see 60c unless testing. Thats with one fan on a fan controller on just a lil over hearing level. So, on low.
 
I think a cheep fan mate will be fine if you get just one fan. I bought a pair of them, but one was on slow-mo when it arrived. Spins like a normal fan. RMA'd with jab-tech, and I think I will grab 3 more of those fans, since my controller supports 4! Case fans this time, maybe.
 
Thanks Evil! (Who made me get a TRUE and fan to begin with.)
 
--Lupi

The Scythe Kaze is a rather nice cooling if you don't mind spending $9 for one. Investing a fan controller, the Sunbeam Rheobus, is also a great idea to keep noise level down when you don't need performance.
 
If you don't need 110cfm+ fans Yate-loons 65cfm fans are much cheaper, coming around $3.50 at Jab-tech.

Bummer can't find Scythe Kaze (or any other Scythe) fans anywhere locally, any other recommendations?
 
I just looked up the TRUE on frosty tech and it's over 100g heavier, I was already concerned about the weight of the arctic square so could someone just fill me in of what risk there is of warping or cracking the motherboard at these weights? I'm not particularly fond of the idea of carrying it sideways when moving it around/taking it to LANs, or dealing with the risk of damage after an accidental knock.
 
As good as a fan controller might be, I don't think I'll get one, my other PC makes enough noise I wouldn't be able to tell that the new one was quiet anyway
 
 
Edit:
Also what are your opinions on what would be the optimal function (intake or exhaust) of a 120mm fan in the window of the case (Antec Nine Hundred). After some thinking I realized the exhaust of the Zalman ZM850-HP PSU will be blowing right onto the GFX cards (wait is that an intake or exhaust on top of the PSU?), so I figure an exhaust might be best, get rid of the hot air before it gets to the rest of the system but I'm not sure.