X3350 / Q9450 Overclocking Thread

[themattman]

I have the Q9450 P35-DS3L setup. Right now I am running at 3.2Ghz and I can't seem to get it any higher.

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: Foxery
Q9300 (2500 MHz stock)
Old cooler: 3000 MHz, 1.16 volts in BIOS / 1.12 in CPUz, 66-68C under load
Xigmatek: 3405 MHz, 1.32 volts in BIOS / 1.27 in CPUz, 62-66C under load

This is with 454 MHz FSB.

Just wanted to update for anyone curious about the low-cache little brother to the Q9450. I'm definitely maxed out at 3405 MHz, 1.35v, and cannot stay stable any higher without dangerous voltage levels. Temperatures with the Xigmatek heatpipe (very similar to a Tuniq Tower) are fantastic.

36% overclock and similar final speeds to yours. Not too shabby at all!

 

[HumblePie]

I got a shitty overclocker of a q9450 as well. I can do 3.3GHz perfectly stable with stock voltages on either Air or my TEC setup. However, I can't push it past 3.44 (430x8 or 460x7.5) or no matter how much voltage I throw at the thing with either Air or Sub Zero cooling. Frigging PO'd at this stupid chip

 

[toschek]

Got up to 3.4 stable at 1.216 after 24 hour prime session, TJmax delta is 35 or less consistently, I'm happy

 

[Hamilton1974]

After some further tweaking of voltages and GTLs I got this 9450 completely stable at 447x8. Ran OCCT for 2 hours and Prime for 13 hours without any errors.

450x8 would run 3DM06, Cinebench R10, DVD Shrink 3.2 without problems but Prime and OCCT would give errors after 20-30mins.

This was using a DFI LanParty LT-X38-T2R and Vapochill LS with the following voltages:
Vcore: 1.45V (could probably be lowered a bit more)
Vmem: 2.19V
Vnb: 1.66V
VTT: 1.438V
GTLs: 75 75 80

This was a far as I got with this 9450 before I returned it yesterday.
Unfortunately this CPU was a bit of a dissapointment as it's very limited by FSB and low multi. If I was spending my own money I think I'd rather go for a E8500 that might hit close to 5GHz with high FSBs.

Now I've got two QX9650s to try out. One week34 ES and one retail week 39!

 

[OLpal]

While your disappointed in only 3.3 ghz, that's a healthy 600mhz + OC on a Quad core ..
So your running it faster than A $1,500 QX9750 for about $350 that don't sound too bad to me !! Granted some people are squeezing & stretching more out of theirs,, but ????

IT MAY NOT BE YOUR q9450, HOLDING YOU @ 3.3GHZ, THERE'S a lt MORE parts that need to work together well in-order to OC sky-hi !!

When i get my Q9450 i'll be quite happy & content if it runs @ 3.2ghz unstressed, cool & on stock volts !!

So don't rain on your own parade, you've obviously built a very fast computer that you should be proud of !!

Ol'Pal

Originally posted by: HumblePie
I got a shitty overclocker of a q9450 as well. I can do 3.3GHz perfectly stable with stock voltages on either Air or my TEC setup. However, I can't push it past 3.44 (430x8 or 460x7.5) or no matter how much voltage I throw at the thing with either Air or Sub Zero cooling. Frigging PO'd at this stupid chip

 

[HumblePie]

LOL, so I decided to go read some other peoples success stories and how they did them with the DFI board and q9450 and gskill memory I used. I think the board I have is a bit of a dud. I DID manage to get more out of my overclock though.

Right now I'm am staring at my screen that has been running prime95 v25.6 x64 for 6 hours with 3.56 Ghz (445x8) at 1.25 volts. Muahahah!!!!!

I can't go higher though. Oh well, happy now at least I know it's not my memory cause I can push it from 800ish to 1200 ish by changing the divider with no problem. It's just if I hit 450 FSB, my system doesn't post. So I think I got a dud of a mobo as I've seen others with a DFI x38-t2r are hitting 480 FSB and higher!

I'll leave my current overclock where it is as it's stable and a good OC. I think the chip I have is capable of more, but not the mobo.

 

[bryanW1995]

how much ram are you using? When you clock your ram higher, even with 2x1gb like I have, it puts more stress on your mch. Since quads already stess that out, you'll find that if you have relaxed memory timings and/or LESS memory it is easier to get good oc's on these 45nm quads.

 

[jg0001]

Q9450 @ 3.60 GHz -- Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 with 8 GB of RAM // Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Here's my setup, originally in its own thread while I tried to figure it out, but now in a presentable 'near-final' form (I may try to lower the MCH and FSB overvoltages a touch, and perhaps try tighter memory timings):

This is a Q9450 C1 bought OEM from Microcenter the week they were released running on a Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 mobo running the F6 bios (the original bios it shipped with; not a beta). I have 4 sticks of G.Skill PC2-8500 DDR 2GB for 8GB total, running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

Q9450 @ 3.60 GHz -- Prime 95 -- 7.25 hr run
{sorry about the tinypic; any better place to post that would allow a 1920x1080 picture?; also I took it immediately after I stopped Prime95, so the voltage level went back up from the load level, but the temps didn't have the extra 5 secs to get down to idle mins}

Min Idle Temp 39-42
Max Load Temp 56-59//60-62 (the higher set is under max heat generation tests; the lower set is from 100% load, but not geared towards max heat generation)

SuperPi - 1M 13.025

=================
CPU Speed 3.600

[Note: other settings are made in other areas of the BIOS. I turn OFF the following: C1E, EIST, Virtualization, Exec Disable Bit. Set HPET to 64-bit mode. BIOS is set up for AHCI on SATA drives, not IDE emulation, etc.]

Robust GrBstr Auto
CPU Clock Ratio 8
Fine CPU CR 0.0
CPU Host Freq 450
PCI Express Freq 100
C.I.A.2 Disabled
Performance Enh. Standard

Sys Mem Mult 2.00B
MemSpeed 900
Timings 5-5-5-15 (rest set to auto)
CPU/PCIEX CD Ctrl 800mV <-- this is the default
CPU Clock Skew Ctrl Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Ctrl Normal

System Voltage Control Manual
DDR2 OverVoltage Ctrl +0.30 <-- takes memory to 2.1 V
PCI-E OverVoltage Ctrl Normal
FSB OverVoltage Ctrl +0.20 <-- don't exceed this!
(G)MCH OverVoltage Ctrl +0.250
Loadline Calibration Auto
Vcore 1.32500 <-- 1.30 and 1.25 would boot, but fail Prime95 w/i 15 minutes
Normal CPU Vcore 1.23750V <-- as read by BIOS
Vcore (@load, by CPU-z) 1.280

 

[jg0001]

Oh, and if on my X48 Gigabyte mobo, my FSB overvoltage is +0.20 and my FSB overvoltage is +0.25, what does that mean in absolute figures? I want to be sure I'm not too out there... I can probably try tweaking them lower.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: OLpal
While your disappointed in only 3.3 ghz, that's a healthy 600mhz + OC on a Quad core ..
So your running it faster than A $1,500 QX9750 for about $350 that don't sound too bad to me !! Granted some people are squeezing & stretching more out of theirs,, but ????

you cant say this. Because that faster quad will come out and do this if you overclock it.

http://i125.photobucket.com/al...3/aigomorla/Wprime.jpg

Leave QX's out of this, this is why i havent really said much about my QX.

You guys are struggling to pass 3.6-3.7ghz stable. I have yet to see a QX9650 that couldnt do 4.0ghz.


Actually if you had a Q9450 or Q9550 which could boot up windows @ 4.0ghz this low a lot of you guys wouldnt be crying:
http://i125.photobucket.com/al.../p73/aigomorla/OMG.jpg

so lets leave the QX out of this. They dont follow the same rules as you guys are following from what im seeing.

 

[OLpal]

The point that was being made Aigomoria is that , they have done a great job in their build & can be proud of their system.. & they have reached height of a QX chip [running stock, which alot do] for only $350.. & that they have no reason to feel down on their system..
Not sure how you can dispute their accomplishments.. Most folks [ i know me] can't afford over $1,400 to buy a QX chip & to reach their stock performance rating with a Q9450 should be appaulded !!
Just my opinion though !!

Ol'Pal Gary

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: OLpal
While your disappointed in only 3.3 ghz, that's a healthy 600mhz + OC on a Quad core ..
So your running it faster than A $1,500 QX9750 for about $350 that don't sound too bad to me !! Granted some people are squeezing & stretching more out of theirs,, but ????

you cant say this. Because that faster quad will come out and do this if you overclock it.

http://i125.photobucket.com/al...3/aigomorla/Wprime.jpg

Leave QX's out of this, this is why i havent really said much about my QX.

You guys are struggling to pass 3.6-3.7ghz stable. I have yet to see a QX9650 that couldnt do 4.0ghz.


Actually if you had a Q9450 or Q9550 which could boot up windows @ 4.0ghz this low a lot of you guys wouldnt be crying:
http://i125.photobucket.com/al.../p73/aigomorla/OMG.jpg

so lets leave the QX out of this. They dont follow the same rules as you guys are following from what im seeing.

 

[Tweakin]

my bad...

 

[bryanW1995]

I dunno, aigo, I'm pretty happy at 1.28 load @ 3.6 with mine, esp considering the price delta.

 

[justbenice]

I able to make my X3350 at 3.8Ghz :
http://i304.photobucket.com/al...4/justbenicet/3800.gif

And here i push it to 4.01Ghz at 1.435volt :
http://i304.photobucket.com/al.../justbenicet/4011a.gif
But it unstable so i unable to test PI . I believe i can over clock cpu more because i have water cooling and the cpu temp was very low, my cpu pretty cool even at 4.01 ghz. But i don't dare to overclock more because my cpu was buy in US and i bring it to Vietnam now, there are no gruantee for cpu and motherboard here I will lost a lot of money if my cpu or mainboard die here

 

[secretanchitman]

i will be going with a q9450/x3350 on an asus p5e ws professional mobo (x38, ddr2). ill be using a g.skill 2x2GB ddr2-800 (4-4-4-12) set, and i have no idea on what heatsink to get (and one that will also fit my board).

hoping to see around 3.2Ghz with this chip.

 

[Mwing]

Just gave my E6750 to gf and got myself a Q9450 on Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, flash to F6, F8, F10 bios cant get past 375 fsb on 1.30 volt.

Strangely, when I was using E6750, bsod or couldnt even get into Windows Vista 32bit if not in stock speed also.

Disappointed, but last try on F11E bios, Q9450 was able to go 3.2ghz didnt try higher, stable at Windows at least, havent found a stress test program yet, bios cpu voltage set to 1.30 volt.

Dont know why ppl kept saying stock voltage is enough for 3.2, I know every single cpu is different but I have to push it to 1.30 volt to get it stable? bad luck?

 

[bryanW1995]

sounds like a sucky mobo. try reading this: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2057083&enterthread=y

 

[Mwing]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
sounds like a sucky mobo. try reading this: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2057083&enterthread=y

I thought so until I updated the latest beta bios d/l from Gigabyte website.

I set vcore in bios from 1.30 to 1.275 ran prime95 for half hour no problem.

Then I set it from 1.275 to 1.25 and ran prime95 for an hour no problem.

Temps are (from RealTemp 2.60) 39/36/33/36 idle in Windows; 50/47/46/47 100% loaded

CPU HSF is OCZ Vendetta in Antec 900

It is really weird, it shouldnt be the mobo now, it seems like bios from F2 to F10 are all not good.

BTW whats the default vcore for Q9450?

 

[vaylon]

I just put my system together a couple of days ago.
Its a Q9340 with a GA-EP35-DS3L and 8gb of Adata DDR2 800 and a 8800gtx.
first day, I just ran it stock with the same windows xp drive from an old x2 3800 system. NO reformat or anything. Worked good, a little sluggish but it worked.
Second day I upped the FSB to 366, worked great.
This morning I upped it to 400 X 8 and ran prime for 4 hours while also doing some work and browsing the net. Stable as a rock.
This afternoon I upped it to 433 X 8 and its still running great. In fact prime is running now as I type. I am also burning Rambo with shrink. No errors.
Memory is currently being reported at 480 with a 5:6 divider(the motherboard adjust the memory automatically) current timings are 5 7 7 22 2T.
Current temps in the bios are around 42c.
The retail box says the chip has a max voltage of 1.25v and the board has automatically set the voltage to 1.20v.

Right at this moment here's whats going all at once.

firefox
prime95
dvdshrink
cpu-z
taskmanager
3 open windows of widows explorer
dreamscapes animated desktop for xp
and a video feed from the dishnetwork box of 2001 a space oddesy.

oddly enough, nothing has slowed down and everything is working great. All 4 cores are at 100%.

so far I am impressed. Not so much with the speediness but with it's multitasking abilities.
Vista ultimate on another partition seems to really like this CPU. It went from a windows rating of 5.7 with the x2 3800 to a 6.7 with this. But unlike xp where I really can't see a difference in the speediness of the OS, Vista ultimate shows a lot more responsiveness, very noticeable.

 

[bryanW1995]

I've noticed that same "speediness" feature as well. I can literally run seti@home or prime 95 on all 4 cores, maybe with some f@h action going on my 3870, have 10+ windows open, burn a cd, etc and not see any slowdown on my x3350. My e6750@3.4 was nice but did often get maxed out and slow to a crawl during extreme multitasking.

@vaylon: why are your ram timings so incredibly slow? did the board manually do this? Even with 8gb that seems absurdly relaxed to me. Do you have prime95 running on all 4 cores?

@Mwing: my x3350 has default vcore of 1.20, my Q9450 has default at 1.225. What's your ambient, those load temps are VERY VERY good. Did you lap your hsf? are your antec 900 fans on high?

 

[Mwing]

bryan,

Antec fans all on mid, ambient is 20c, no extra fan except those 4 preinstalled in the case.

No lapping on the Vendetta, bought it new with the Q9450, just some Artic Silver on it.

Oh, btw, the voltages I mentioned are the readings from bios, if its CPU-Z I see 1.20v after Prime95 tests and mulitple times of lowering the settings in bios.

Now I am very happy with bios F11e and teh speed. I can feel the performance gain from E6750 at 3.2ghz by opening a rmvb file and avi file while ventril, a game or 2, Windows Live Mail and some other programs, no regret here going quad eventhough I dont play video encoding.

 

[vaylon]

Yea, the board has set the timings. I am going to go in and tighten them up a little later.Still working on figuring out this new bios tho.

Also prime has been running on all 4 cores for at least 10 hours now.

Got any ideas about what some good timings for this memory would be? Its been going for a while now and I can still reach in the case and lay my hand on them. They are hot but not hot enough you have to pull your hand away. No where near as hot as memory I have used in other boards.

Update: goofy me forgot to set the dram timings to manual.
They are currently running at 5, 5, 5, 18, 2T.

Update 2: 5, 4, 5, 16 2t

 

[vaylon]

HOLY Crap!

I just did the hd benchmark test and the first test went fine. Scores in the mid 60's FPS. But then it went thru a second set and the highest score was 24 fps and as low as 9.

Ran CPUID and it showed temps in the high 90"s c for all 4 cores. and a voltage of 1.47 for the core.

Everything in the bios is set to manual, so the voltage shouldn't have changed. It should have stayed at 1.21.

I now have it back to 400X8 and temps are running in the low 40's c for everything.

Anybody else with a DS3L having probs with their temps and settings?

 

[vaylon]

If you have a gs3l and probably the other ga series of gigabyte boards, if you overclock? do not leave any of the memory or cpu settings on "auto". Even the "advanced memory" settings. I left one of the advanced settings on auto because I wasn't sure what it was and it thru all the settings way off once I stressed it out. If you are not sure what the setting should be? play it safe and use the figure posted right next to the "auto" switch in the bio's.

So far mine is running at 3.56 stable , with timings of 5, 4, 5, 14 2T. and temps in the mid 50's under stress. My voltage to the cpu is staying steady at right around 1.24