Light OC'ed Q9450 Where to from here?

[Witt78]

Intel Q9450 Retail (Lapped to a Mirror Finish)
Asus P5E Deluxe
Antec 1000W True Power
Zalman 9700 LED HS (Didn't need lapping. Was already a mirror)
Arctic Silver 5 (Not Cured Yet)

Front Side Bus is now set at 400MHz X 8

My Stock 2.67GHz Q9450 has been improved to 3.2GHz which most would consider a low to medium overclock on this chip. I'm pretty pleased with it now, but know I could easily go further. Just looking for input here...

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VCore - 1.22V
VTT - "Auto"
FSB - 400MHz X 8

Temps From Real Temp

Core0 - 38C Idle - 53C Load - 54C Max
Core1 - 35C Idle - 50C Load - 51C Max
Core2 - 36C Idle - 50C Load - 51C Max
Core3 - 36C Idle - 51C Load - 52C Max

Temps are recorded after 10 hours and 20 minutes of Prime 95 Small FFT's

0 Errors, 0 Warnings...

- Witt

 

[Dopekitten]

You can go much farther. I've got my Q9450 stable at 3.6ghz with max temps of 60C.

Vcore is something like 1.27 (without LLC enabled)

For the record, i've got a P5Q-E, similar to your board.

Did you try getting more mhz? Or does it get unstable when you try?

 

[Witt78]

Did you try getting more mhz? Or does it get unstable when you try?

I have not tried yet. Trying to take things slow.

I'm very knowledgeable about computers but the last machine I built was a Pentium 3 @500 MHz. Therefore there is a lot of new tech I need to get acquainted with. (The last computer I owned was a retail Sony Vaio. What a mistake that was!!!) (Pentium 4 @ 3.2 GHz)

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As for further overclocking... I am thinking about OC'in my ram a bit so I can further increase my FSB while remaining on a 1:1 FSB/Ram ratio... However, I am now running with 2 X 2 GB Corsair XMS2 ram modules. (DDR2 800 / PC6400)

It's good solid ram but the timings are a little slow. 5-5-5-18

I'm thinking about swapping it out for some Crucial or Patriot ram with 4-4-4-12 timings... Then overclocking it.

Also... When everything is said and done... I'm going to end up with 4 X 2 GB RAM modules... How much of a pain is that going to be to overclock 8 Gigs?

- Witt

 

[Dopekitten]

Don't run your RAM overclocked until you are sure that your overclock is stable. Otherwise stability issues could be caused by your RAM.

I wouldn't get 8gigs, unless you are doing something that requires alot of RAM. The only problem is that with 4 DIMM's some motherboards have problems, and you generally need to loosen the timings on the RAM to achieve stability.

 

[Witt78]

Don't run your RAM overclocked until you are sure that your overclock is stable. Otherwise stability issues could be caused by your RAM.

I wouldn't get 8gigs, unless you are doing something that requires alot of RAM. The only problem is that with 4 DIMM's some motherboards have problems, and you generally need to loosen the timings on the RAM to achieve stability.

Hrmm... The more we converse on this topic the more I think I'm fine where I am. I already have a stable system. Obviously it VASTLY out-performs my last computer (Pentium 4 @ 3.2 GHz on an 800 MHz FSB) (Laughable AGP 8X)

So far this new machine has crushed any game I've thrown at it. I have yet to put in my second HD4870 too.

Let me ask you this though. How will putting my ram on a lower ratio to FSB impede my performance?

How much performance will I gain by replacing my ram with 4-4-4-12 ram?

I wouldn't get 8gigs, unless you are doing something that requires alot of RAM. The only problem is that with 4 DIMM's some motherboards have problems

You mean that some motherboards have problems "Overclocking" 4 DIMM's right?

If I put in 4 DIMM's on stock settings, they will run fine, yes??

- Witt

 

[Dopekitten]

Lower FSB to RAM ratio or multiplier (whatever you want to call it) will simply have your RAM running at a lower speed. Like if you had 450 FSB and a 1:1 ratio, you would have 900mhz RAM. But if you had your FSB still at 450 and a different ratio, like 5 FSB to 4 RAM, you would get 720mhz RAM. All it would mean is that your RAM would be running at a lower speed than it could "potentially" run at. Keep in mind that you only run it at this ratio while you overclock, after you have a stable overclock, you can then try overclocking the RAM. So, if your ram is natively 800mhz, you are only losing 80mhz, and really thats almost nothing. Timing's are MUCH more important than mhz.

As for replacing the RAM, i don't think it would matter too much. 4-4-4-12 RAM would be better, but by how much i don't know. Look up some benchies (its 1 AM where i live, to tired to do that). I would just stay with your RAM though, and after overclocking your proc, i would try to tighten the timings at stock/overclocked speed.

And finally, yes, you could say some, although i would say "most" motherboards have trouble, or at least suffer from lessened overclockablility with 4 DIMM's.

What do you call running fine? You may put them in and they might work, without any tweaks, however more than once, i've seen people putting 4 DIMM's in and having to (off the bat) loosen the timings for the motherboard to boot with 4 DIMM's. (Why do you think they sell mostly 2x2gb kits =P)

I have a feeling that the P5Q series might fare a bit better with 4 DIMM's as it is a newer chipset, and supports up to 16gb (meaning it was designed with at least the possiblity of 4 DIMM's), however you will have to check that with others, as i myself, only have 2 DIMM's (2x2gb)