Hy,
 
A week ago i bought a q9300, GA-P35-DS3L rev 2. (bios f8f - latest), 2x2 Gb Kingmax memory 800 mhz, 320 GB WD Sata2, Gigabyte NV 9600 GT, Raidmax Katana Case, Thermaltake 470W Power Supply.
 
Everything runs just fine, but when i try to overclock I am screwed:
I am trying a 400 fsb (3 ghz) (without voltage increasing) comp posts, but windows not loading (i have disabled eist and all that power saving features, set pci to 100, Robust VGA Booster auto, Ram timmings 5-5-5-18 (spd) running 800 mhz, Ram voltage +0.2 (running 2.0 V). I have tried upping Vcore up to 1.30 V (failure - same thing) tried upping voltage for fsb, mch, didn`t improve stability
 
But when I set voltages to auto in bios, everything is rock stable at 400 fsb, ram timmings 4-4-4-18 @2.0V, Performance enchance Extreme, Robust VGA Booster Turbo. My only concern is that auto voltage is upping Vcore to 1.29, under load 1.27 V, a little high no? Temps are ok: cpu idle 30 C, load 52 C, Mother board 43 C under load (i dont know where it is reading, definiatly not the north B because i installed a 40mm fan on it and temps didnt get better)
 
So is it safe to leave auto voltages and 1.29v for 45nm proc on a long run?
 
Any suggestions are welcome.

I have left my voltages on auto for over 3 months now with my quad oc'd to 3.2 gigs, i just kicked up the fsb. No issues here.

ok thanks for the imput, but you have a great aftermarket cooler... mine is stock e4300 cooler (bigger then the q9300`s.

I've had mine with a stock E2160 on auto voltage for almost a year now. OCd to 3.15, no stability issues with the CPU but I went a little cheap on the ram so I'm having memory issues now.
 
Auto voltage should be fine.

I have the chance to replace the GA-P35-DS3L with a GA-P35-DS3, is worth the extra 10$, will i be able to overclock better?

Not with the core you using,the ds3l is going to put your overclocking right to the wall where you cant oc anymore, thats why i got it, its not top of the pile, but it gets the job done with the quads.

^Agreed. But, a X38 option might be better if you plan to do a big OC.

@OP:
Checkout:GUIDE: Overclocking On P35-DS3L
I do not recommend using Auto since it tends to apply too much voltage. Remember high voltage=high heat.

blacksci, are you oc`ed that quad and leaved voltages normal? Or you had to upp motherboard voltages? And for Shadow7037 93 i only want to overclock to 3 ghz no more. And thanks for the help guys!

I used auto voltage, i didnt want to have to worry about vdroop and such, and to be honest, it just seemed easier. It has worked for me for 3 months, and i still have a totally stable computer. Shadow may know something i dont, but i gauruntee hes to the point where he has to mess with his voltages to get a stable overclock. Specially with a 2180. I trust gigabyte, thats why i bought there mobo. If it aint broke, dont fix it.

Following the guide I have been able to reach 370 fsb so cpu running 2775 Mhz, if i upped +0.1 v the fsb I only reached 380 fsb so I backed up to 370. Not a big overclock but better than nothing. Cpu vcore undervolted to 1.14 v. Memory running 740 mhz and I backed down voltage to 1.89. So thanks for your replyes, you were helpfull. With bios update will I be able to hit higher Fsb?

Perhaps so. It's been known that bios updates improve OCing.

It's always best to set the voltage manually. There is nothing wrong with auto voltages, it's just that it will tend to overvolt it too much, but as long as it's within the safe range of the cpu, it's completely fine.
 
However, if you want to reduce your cpu temps by around 3C, you should reduce the voltage. My auto temps at 2.66GHz on the Q6600 was 1.2750V. I took some time reducing the vcore and finally I found that it can run at 1.15V quite well. Temps went down about 2-4C.