Q9550 Overclocking help

[serpent1202]

Here's a little info on my components.

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR10664GK - Retail

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

PC POWER & COOLING 750W SILENCER

After installing windows I began the quest to see how high it would go. The memory is set to 2.2v and the CPU VCORE is set to 1.4 it go up to 4.25 gigahertz (500 * 8.5) and booted safely into windows. Ran prime for about 3 seconds and crashed.

Toned it done to 4.0 gigahertz (471 X 8.5) and ran prime for 6 hours and 30 minutes then Core 4 got an error, but the others were still running strong. During this stage I was messing with the VCORE and it was safe at 1.3675 which is the max suggested by intel for 24/7 use. But I was striving for a 10+ hour prime test.

So I toned it back to 3.9 and ran prime overnight, woke up the next day and core 4 got an error at 30 minutes this time, and all 3 other cores were still going.

Here is my question. I haven't changed any other settings other than FSB, VCORE, DRAM Voltage, & the memory divider up to this point, and ever before for that matter. I've done 4 or 5 OC's in the past but up until this point, the MB didn't give me options to change anything else. Well this UD3P is insane when it comes to options.

I've been trying to find some other options to get this stable, should I increase the MCH & ICH voltage from the stock 1.1 to something like 1.15 or 1.2?

My goal is the best OC without the risk of damaging components, so I really don't want to push to CPU Vcore any higher than 1.3675 for 24/7 use.

I've also got the following options

CPU CLOCK DRIVE - 700MV, can set between 700 - 1,000 in 100 increments.
CPU CLOCK SKEW - 0 ps, can set between 0 - 750
MCH CLOCK SKEW - 0 ps, can set between 0 - 750

Under VCORE options I also have
Termination - 1.2v
PLL - 1.5v
Reference .76v

Under MCH/ICH I have
MCH Core - 1.1v
Reference .76v
MCH/Dram Reference .9v
ICH I/O - 1.5v
ICH Core - 1.1v

Under Dram Voltage I have
Term - .9v
Channel A Reference - .9v
Channel B Reference - .9v

Thanks for your help.

 

[badge]

More Vcore than 1.4v in addition to a NB voltage of at least 1.5v would be needed for those overclocks. So water cooling would be needed to get from 2.8GHz to 4.2Ghz. An additional 1.4Ghz. may not be possible with water cooling. Start from the other end. Increase in small increments and check for stability

Here is a sticky at the top of the Overclocking section. There is some great information here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

 

[Guest]

You probably don't need 1.4 volts, do you have GTL reference numbers for your bios? I do for my p5q, and i haven't messed with them... but if you set the option of GTL Reference 1 and 3, you can raise the core voltage for the cores corresponding for those numbers

You can get much higher/stable OCs using things like this

I assume that reference is GTL thing, so set those at max to begin with and see if you can get any stability, if you can't start lowering them

as for PLL, I've read 1.6 volts is good for OCing and termination voltage should be about .1 volts over our determined VCore. Atleast thats what i've read

for my OC of 3.85 ghz on my q9550, i only set vcore to 1.25 and NB voltage to 1.4

 

[badge]

Yeah, that is a 45nm quad. They require less voltage and produce less heat than their predessor. How are the temps at 3.85Ghz? My X38 NB runs pretty hot when I overvolt it. My q9450 runs cool, but the MB doesn't. Which MB?

EDIT: I see the P45.

 

[badge]

Which stepping is your 9550?

 

[Guest]

Temps aren't amazing, they're actually pretty nice now in the winter. But in the summer it can go up to 70c. A little bit high, but it runs fine and won't get that hot under normal use so I say w/e. I replaced the northbridge heatsink on my p5q board cause frankly the universal pipe design is crap... Literally went from 50c idle at stock volts to 28c stock volts. At 1.4 volts it gets up to a toasty 48c load which is very high imo. I'll be going water soon, so i hope to be able to really get this quad past the 4 ghz barrier

EDIT: saw your last post, the stepping is C0. Which is pretty good for my OC, I think my VID is like 1.25 too lol

 

[badge]

I think a 1000MHz. OC is nice with that 1.25v voltage on a quad core. Is that a CO stepping?

 

[badge]

Yeah, CO...that's nice. A few years ago no one imagined you would be getting 4 x 2.8GHz processors to a 1000Mhz. Oc with 1.25v. Penryn is very good at what it does.

 

[serpent1202]

My stepping is C1, not E0 unfortunately, but I figured out my problem last night. Once I set the MCH Voltage up to 1.16 instead of 1.1 I was able to run OCCT for an hour at 3.91 gigahertz with my voltage at 1.375. My temps on all cores was below 64, except core 1 went up to 67 at one point, but came back down right away.

I know 65 is the "Safe" point according to intel, but I am going to work on toning it down to around 3.6 for 24/7 use. I got it up to 3.4 on stock voltage last night and the temps maxed at 55 during an hour of OCCT testing. It's currently running Prime 95 while i'm at work at 3.4 at stock voltages.

I want to find the sweet spot where the temps stay below 60, at the lowest possible voltage.

Badge.... I got a question for you. You mentioned increasing NB to 1.5v from 1.1, that seems way way extreme and I would significantly decrease the motherboards life span, why so high?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[badge]

The MB's NB would need at least 1.5v to achieve 4.2GHz. and achieve any chance of stability, safe of not.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/11682-gigabyte-ep45-ds3r-p45-motherboard-review-9.html

We should add here that it has been commonly shared and concluded in the PC industry that 1.4v is about the maximum safe 24/7 voltage for VTT. However, it has come to our attention that some motherboard manufacturers have changed this limit to closer to 1.9v VTT. We will ask Gigabyte for an official answer and discuss this in the comment thread. All hardware appears undamaged but unless otherwise advised, we highly recommend against using auto settings for PLL and VTT voltages.

 

[serpent1202]

VTT Voltage and NB voltage are 2 different things. VTT is shown as CPU Termination in my bios which is set to 1.2v (stock) on my board. After reading that article, it seems I might want to consider changing it a little to increase stability, I wonder what effect it will have on heat generation. I'll change it to 1.3 tonight and run OCCT again for another hour and see what the temps look like.

 

[badge]

Anyway, I do not have a single Gigabyte MB. I tried to find what VTT was. The source I looked up said it was related to NB voltage. 1.5v for the NB is pushing it, but with excellent cooling no damage will occur. It could, but not likely. My X38 has a terribly hot NB. I set my NB to 1.4v for normal, everyday 24/7 operation with a small OC. If I wanted to seriously OC my 9450, I would set that voltage to 1.5v. NB voltage is just as important as the Vcore voltage if you expect stellar OC's. My 2 cents 8).

 

[badge]

Do you have a reference link where your MB and CPU combination are OC'ed to 4.2 GHz. stable on air?

 

[badge]

Water would do...I would like to know the applied NB voltage.