First Overclock

So far you need to set pcie frequency to 100. And your cpu voltage is way too high for that overclock. What is your voltage in cpuz saying?

Alright, the pci-e is now set to 100. As for the cpu voltage, cpu-z lists it at 1.424. It was my understanding that higher voltage for higher overclocking is more stable, and for 65nm chips, as long as its below 1.5v it will be just fine.

It is lower than MAX safe vcore, however it's still way higher than it needs to be. You will be putting more wear on the chip than if you run it with 1.35 or less. You can probably set it to 1.3 and be stable, just test it.

Update:



Running at 1.3v it seems stable, I could only get a two hour stress test while I was away, but tonight I will do a full twelve hour test. I guess the lesson here is that voltage can increase stability, but if it is not needed for immediate stability, then it doesn't necessarily need to be raised.

I have another inquiry though, when looking in cpu-z I see the multiplier bouncing between x9 and x6. I'm assuming that it is bumping down to x6 while the system is idle or under a certain load threshold. Is there a way to lock it in at x9, and if so, would that even be a good idea at all?

Your fluctuating multi is Enhanced Intel SpeedStep. You can shut it off or leave it on, depends on preference. If your running stable with it on I would leave it, it may allow your cpu to run cooler at low load or idle.