OCing a q9300 from 2.5 (stock) to 3.0 ghz

[bh2o]

So I just bought myself a Scythe Mugen 2 for my q9300 and am ready to OC my cpu but I just wanted to double check things before I attempt to do this. The FSB of the q9300 is 1333 (333 * 4) and my memory is currently running at 800 mHz (400 on cpu-z). So to make it a 1:1 ratio if I chagned my FSB to 400 that would clock it to 3.0 gHz (multiplier is locked at 7.5).

So I just wanted to double check if this was right. Also do I have the memory and FSB unlinked? And I know your only supposed to increment your FSB up little by little to make sure your machine runs still before you up the voltage, which come my next question, how much is a good amount to increment your FSB and same with the voltage?

(if you need more info just ask and ill give I'll post it).

 

[jsc]

No. If you leave your memory clock on AUTO, when you increase the FSB frequency from 333 MHz to 400 MHz, your memclock will increase to about 960 MHz - too much for DDR2-800 RAM.

You need to change the mem clock multiplier (or whatever your motherboard calls it) from AUTO to 2.00. That way, the memory clock will always be double the the FSB freq.

 

[bh2o]

So I dont want a 1:1 ratio?

 

[thently]

So I dont want a 1:1 ratio?

The 2.0 is 1 to 1 I know doesnt sound like it but it is. Also I have the q9400 2.66ghz and run it everyday at 3.8ghz so you have allot of headroom with better mem. You can get 4 gigs 1066 for $40 US. 3.8 feels so snapy everything is just instant ... I tried for the grail 4.0 couldnt make it still just awsome. Got off track though the 1 to 1 is calc by a doubling the fsb hence the 2.0 on the mem divider so 400 will max out your ddr 800 also if you like playing a bit you can pump up the volts on your ram to 2.2 or so and it will hit 900 at least mine did before I got the 1066 so that would be 7.5x450 or 3.375 ghz and your ram running at 900. Best to just play with it that is part of the fun pull up calc or a peice of paper do the maths and give it a go. It is 1 to 1 bc DDR stands for double data rate so when the fsb is running 400 the mem freq is also 400 just doubled so it can change twice per clock pulse. Hope at least some of this made since.

T

 

[bh2o]

ya it did. my memory is technically 1066 but I have 8 gigs (got it for the price of 4, couldn't resist). But the settings auto go to 800 and I still want to just test out OCing before I try to go overboard. But I still need to know what are good increments to go up on my FSB each time and same with the voltage.

 

[jsc]

The 2.0 is 1 to 1 ...

Thanks, Thently. I should have made that a little more clear.

bh2o, once you get your settings to 1:1, there are several ways to go. I stick to Intel's recommended (not absolute) maximum voltage. That's 1.3625 volts. I set my motherboard thermal alarm to 70 C. That gives me a little safety area.

The brute force approach is to increase the voltage to the maximum that you are going to use, then gradually increase the FSB until you bump into the thermal limits. When you do, lower the voltage and continue.

I use the "usual" method. I start off with stock settings and see how far I go with FSB. Then I move back and forth between increasing voltage, increasing FSB, and stress testing. Sooner or later, I reach a point where it takes a large increase in voltage to get a correspondingly smaller increase in frequency. I stop there. Then I stress test for 24 hours while watching the temps very carefully the first 15 minutes or so.

 

[thently]

well I would start at 400 should boot no problem the fist setting to change is your ram volts to 2.1 since if it is auto detecting 800 the volts normally auto to 1.8 this will stop things from crashing hanging b/c ram can't keep up. really I would jump to 450 after that put your volts on the cpu to 1.3 - 1.4 ok now the little bits this proc should do 3.6 to 3.7 depending on the mobo I am using the gigabyte 2oz coper job have had no prob running 3.8 for a year now. the 450 will give you 3.3 so from here go up 10 untill it wont boot then back down 10 boot into windows and run stress test orthos or something like that on all cores. I say back down 10 from max b/c you don't want to be right at the edge of what your proc can do it will start acting funny over time from what I have seen. I would aim for 3.5 test game encode or whatever if it is perfectly stable for a week or so then try upping it a bit and repeat...

T

 

[bh2o]

Ok sounds reasonable. So from what I can tell is put my memory to 2.1, then go up to 400 and see if it boots, if not go down the fsb until it works then put up some voltage and always give myself some leeway. And then I'll try working up to 450 and so on.