First off, I'm very new to overclocking, so I'm not entirely sure of all that's involved. I have an Intel q9550 with a gigabyte ep45-ud3p mobo. I decided to experiment with a modest overclock, going from 2.83 Ghz to 3 Ghz. After a bit of research I thought that all I would need to do would be to change the FSB. I assumed the CPU could handle that small of an increase on the stock voltage. I changed the FSB from 333 to 353 in the BIOS with the same 8.5x multiplier. Though after I saved and rebooted, Windows wouldn't start. I'm dual booting the Windows 7 RC and XP, and neither would boot up. I switched back to the default FSB, and it starts just fine once again. I know that the temperature should be fine, as my CPU idles at about 29C, and reaches the mid 50s under load at the default settings. I have two sticks of 2GB DDR2 1066, which I believe should also be able to handle the increase. The Windows boot loader gave an option to do a repair boot of some sort citing hardware changes, but that didn't work. I'm left wondering what the problem is.
I just found that when I increase the FSB it increases the RAM frequency to 1130. It's rated at 1066. Could this be the problem? I'm a little unsure how to alter the RAM frequency in the BIOS.
Leave the FSB alone if you don't know what you are doing.
The only thing you should make sure of is that if your RAM is 1066Mhz then change the frequency to 1066 but you also need to change the timing to get a stable system...
Leave the FSB alone if you don't know what you are doing.
The only thing you should make sure of is that if your RAM is 1066Mhz then change the frequency to 1066 but you also need to change the timing to get a stable system...
The BIOS doesn't give me the option to change the RAM frequency by itself, but I can change the system memory multiplier. I changed it to the nearest option that wouldn't go over 1066, which puts it at 847Mhz. Windows now starts, but will that be satisfactory? Timing control is on auto, and is currently set at 5-5-5-15.
You need to do a lot more reading up on overclocking if you cannot work through this problem, as the problem you are having is like....well it's like if you are going to learn how to drive, but you don't even understand how to get the car started.
You should also go back and read your motherboard manual, very closely and carefully.
You need to set your RAM down to 800mhz before you start messing with the bus.
Yes, RAM is usually very sensitive, and will not stand much overclocking at all, and is the first thing to cause your overclock to fail.