The key to squeezing more out of my Q9300?

[geno]

Right now, I have my Q9300 at 3.0 GHz and it's moving along just fine, nice and solid through hours of gaming and Prime95. I'd like to move it a little higher, but I'm bottlenecked by my RAM (PC6400/DDR2 800) and don't want to tax it too much. Obviously, if I get some PC8500, that will remove that limitation, but will my NB (P35 chipset) have any trouble moving to, say, 500-533Mhz? I have a zalman chipset cooler (no fan, but I can change that) to help keep it a little more comfortable.

That being said, will my P35 board be able to handle the higher FSB speeds I'm shooting for?

UPDATE - I had to share the good news :

Originally posted by: geno
Well, I ditched my P35-DS3L in favor of an EGVA 750i SLI FTW board. I was worried I wasn't going to get much more out of my CPU and that the wall I was hitting was due to the CPU as opposed to the motherboard. I took a gamble and guessed my motherboard was the limiting factor.

Long story short, the chip is stable at 3.5Ghz @ 1.35v (I'd like to trim the voltage back, but I've got some testing to do first) and I'm going to pump it up a little more tonight and see what happens Getting the 750i turned out to be a great purchase and I can finally push my CPU to where I want to be (high 3.xx Ghz)!

 

[katank]

Quads are difficult to overclock beyond 425ish. You will most likely not make it past 450. 500-533 is pretty much impossible. You probably want a different chip for extreme quad OC. The multiplier on the Q9300 is very low.

 

[Big Lar]

I ran the chip in my sig on a DFI LT P35 T2R and maxxed out at about 455fsb stable. This quad likes the P45 chipset quite a bit better.

Larry

 

[imported_Champ]

P35s don't have the NB power to push a quad up...mines sitting pretty at 450FSB at 1.28vcore...a p45 would probably let me add to that

if your looking for a mobo that can handle it look for the ones with more power phases on the CPU...the cleaner the power to the cpu the more stable its going to be

 

[ashishmishra]

Actually P45 won't really guarantee a 450+ FSB speed. The best for that purpose are x48 based motherboards, my P45 topped out at 450FSB for my Q9550. The chip is pretty golden, boots at 4.0 GHZ easily at 1.3 but the mobo remains unstable and is the limiting factor.

 

[geno]

What about X58? Are there any compatibility problems I'd need to be aware of if I moved to an X58 board? It wouldn't be so bad since I'll have a board which natively supports i7 chips.

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: geno
What about X58? Are there any compatibility problems I'd need to be aware of if I moved to an X58 board? It wouldn't be so bad since I'll have a board which natively supports i7 chips.

You can't use a Core2 with an X58 (they're i7 boards).

 

[Foxery]

Your system info is too vague, but some general tips:

CPU voltage can go to around 1.3v if you have some serious cooling (i.e. a heatpipe style heatsink)
If your RAM is rated for 4-4-4-xxx latency, move to 5-5-5-xxx to reach higher frequencies
If your motherboard has settings related to "GTL Ref" or "Northbridge GTL", try raising or lowering those very slightly. (VERY slightly, like 1-2% and never more.)

My Q9300 is pretty happy at 3.25 GHz, also on a P35 board. Stability wasn't quite perfect at 3.4, but some folks manage it.

 

[geno]

Hi Foxery, I'd be happy to provide more info :

Q9300 (obviously)
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
Mushkin 2x1GB PC2-8500 5-5-4-12 (sitting on my work desk now, waiting to replace my PC2-6400 RAM)

I don't see a place in my BIOS to adjust my RAM timings, just a generic "Performance Enhancement" option which I'm guessing adjusts timings for me, but I'm not sure since I can't find detailed info.

In an effort to keep my NB happy, I added this, which I'm not sure if it's a ton better than the stock heatsink which came with my motherboard, but I figure the extra surface area can't hurt when I try to move higher than 400mhz.

Can I ask what the "GTL Ref" setting you're referring to is? I don't recall seeing anything like that in my Bios, and i'm wondering if Gigabyte has it labeled under something else (NB Voltage perhaps?)

 

[TemjinGold]

Originally posted by: geno
I don't see a place in my BIOS to adjust my RAM timings, just a generic "Performance Enhancement" option which I'm guessing adjusts timings for me, but I'm not sure since I can't find detailed info.

On the main BIOS screen, hit Ctrl-F1. Now check your M.I.T. settings screen...

 

[ajaidevsingh]

I you have the money, buy a used P45 mb or even a p43 "Have heard good things". As for the ram you can try and up it a bit Mushkin's generally are good and can be pushed a bit hard...

EDIT:- Sorry did not see that TemjinGold has allready written about the timings

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Champ

Where do you find this type of info about the motherboards?

"look for the ones with more power phases on the CPU"

 

[geno]

Bah. It looks like my mobo is giving up at 405Mhz and I'm afraid to go any higher with my voltages. I'm currently at 1.28v on the CPU, though I tried 1.30 to get to 410Mhz and failed. The only way I can get Windows to boot at 405mhz is by just about maxing all of my voltages in my bios (DDR, MGCP and FSB were all +.3 volts, can't go any higher). I was hoping to be able to squeeze a little more out of my P35. I bought new RAM for this and everything!

Meh, just venting. Thanks for the advice so far

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold

Originally posted by: geno
I don't see a place in my BIOS to adjust my RAM timings, just a generic "Performance Enhancement" option which I'm guessing adjusts timings for me, but I'm not sure since I can't find detailed info.

On the main BIOS screen, hit Ctrl-F1. Now check your M.I.T. settings screen...

BTW : that is amazing, I can't believe how much control it gives! :Q

 

[geno]

Well, I ditched my P35-DS3L in favor of an EGVA 750i SLI FTW board. I was worried I wasn't going to get much more out of my CPU and that the wall I was hitting was due to the CPU as opposed to the motherboard. I took a gamble and guessed my motherboard was the limiting factor.

Long story short, the chip is stable at 3.5Ghz @ 1.35v (I'd like to trim the voltage back, but I've got some testing to do first) and I'm going to pump it up a little more tonight and see what happens Getting the 750i turned out to be a great purchase and I can finally push my CPU to where I want to be (high 3.xx Ghz)!

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: geno
Well, I ditched my P35-DS3L in favor of an EGVA 750i SLI FTW board. I was worried I wasn't going to get much more out of my CPU and that the wall I was hitting was due to the CPU as opposed to the motherboard. I took a gamble and guessed my motherboard was the limiting factor.

Long story short, the chip is stable at 3.5Ghz @ 1.35v (I'd like to trim the voltage back, but I've got some testing to do first) and I'm going to pump it up a little more tonight and see what happens Getting the 750i turned out to be a great purchase and I can finally push my CPU to where I want to be (high 3.xx Ghz)!

Nice. Do you think (gigabyte board) my EP45-DS3L is holding me back at 393x7? I'm literally at a wall. I overclock right above 400fsb and it doesn't even post with motherboard voltage increases.

 

[geno]

Try hitting 400 even, see if that works for you. I had a hell of a time getting the system to be stable at anything over 400. I wouldn't doubt it's your board holding you back. That's exactly the same story I had. Let me tell you, right now, the sky is the limit with this new board. I had a crash at 3.6 Ghz I later figured out wasn't related to the overclock. I'm going to sit at 3.5 right now and bump it up as I move on. I was a little leery in buying a whole new motherboard. I thought I might get, what, an extra 200 Mhz out of my CPU if I was lucky? Just how much faster of a FSB could I hope for? Well, I'm stable at 466 right now with no signs of the mobo giving in (it'll be my CPU if anything, the voltage is getting a little scary at 1.35v)

Anyways, sorry to derail a bit there, but yes, I would put money on you being able to peg a much higher FSB with the same chip if you had a stronger chipset (A P45 will raise the limits considerably, or so I'm told)

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: geno
Well, I ditched my P35-DS3L in favor of an EGVA 750i SLI FTW board. I was worried I wasn't going to get much more out of my CPU and that the wall I was hitting was due to the CPU as opposed to the motherboard. I took a gamble and guessed my motherboard was the limiting factor.

Long story short, the chip is stable at 3.5Ghz @ 1.35v (I'd like to trim the voltage back, but I've got some testing to do first) and I'm going to pump it up a little more tonight and see what happens Getting the 750i turned out to be a great purchase and I can finally push my CPU to where I want to be (high 3.xx Ghz)!

Another update, not so much for my sake, but I hope this helps someone else 3.5 proved to get a little flaky from time to time. I was faced with either bumping the voltage further or taking the FSB back a little. I'm @ 3.4 right now, but I'd like to try 3.5 again with a little more voltage. I'll report back when the time comes.

 

[Serradifalco]

Maximum overclocking on any board requires the fine tuning of many components. My P35 board has carried me through 3 different cpus. An e4300 @ 3hz which is at the high end of oc'ing for that cpu. An e7200 @ 3.8 - 4.0Ghz which is at the high end for that cpu. And currently a Q9650 @ 4Hhz which is at the high end for that cpu. Do you have enough voltage going to your Northbridge, FSB, Ram, etc? Are your memory timings too tight? Sometimes a simple voltage bump or loosening memory timings will open up a whole new arena for oc'ing for your cpu. Remember, stability is always key when overclocking. Just because it boots to the os doesn't mean it is stable.
I guess the moral of my story is get to know your board. Don't give up on it too quick without truly knowing the maximum potential.