Vista - Mild OC done. What needs to be adjusted?

Ok, I've just done a mild overclock on my q9550 and raised the FSB to 383 giving me a clock speed of 3.2 Multipliers are 6.0 and 8.5 respectively (I'm leaving speedstep on ATM) Mobo is a P5Q PRO.

With the FSB strap set to auto, my DDR2 800 RAM is now being reported as Dual DDR2 766 (383mhz) which doesn't sound right to me. I don't seem to be able to manually select 800MHz. The FSBRAM ratio is now 1:1

With the CPU voltage set to AUTO, according to CPU-Z it's now maxing 1.296, would it be safer to lower this and remain stable?

The only stress testing I've done so far is 2x10 passes of IBT @ maximum stress with no errors plus a bit of Far Cry 2 and STALKER. (I primarily wanted to check the CPU temp) I'll do more rigirous testing when i'm sure I've got it all set up properly.

What is concerning me is that my LOAD temps aren't what I'd expected with the NH-U12P cooler:

Real Temp 2.70 max LOAD: @3.2MHz

Core 1: 63c
Core 2: 63c
Core 3: 63c
Core 4: 63c

They seem a bit high, I'm thinking that the cooler needs to be re-seated etc
(even @2.8 it maxed out at 52c)

Am I at least heading in the right direction?

its looking good mate.....

your CPU will be fine up to about 1.34v for 45nm, temps do seem very high, you could try a re paste & re seat of the HSF, also check the cable management & airflow config

forget the stress testers, they do their job but the results are only needed for forum clarification of a stable OC.....believe me FC2 is more intensive than any stress tester.

so if you can play with no BSOD ''its stable''

your RAM speed is correct for a 1-1 ratio, 383x2 = 766mhz, though if your RAM can take it you should be able to increase the frequency via the BIOS..??

ive had hot chips..... P.D. 925 netburst & an E2180 allendale, bot of these ran extremely hot after i clocked the crap out of them but they never exceeded max temp & shut off.

everyone hunts for that sweet spot on an air cooled rig but sometimes its just a hot chip...... my sig E6750 is concaved, the IHS is not sitting completely flat on the cpu wafer, hence my drastically varying load temps between the cores & overall CPU temp...

@ full load

CPU = 38c
CORE 0 = 54C
CORE 1 = 58C


But your certainly in the right direction, what i tend to do is loosen RAM timings to 6-6-6-18 & push the FSB as far as i can & then tweak the RAM....

just remember ''FSB is KING'' no other setting is as important.

SK

Thanks Mate I've just got to get my hands on some cleaning solution before I try re-seating the cooler. I'm also pretty sure that my airflow is pretty poor. With the side off and a desktop fan blowing directly into the PC, I've seen my Video card temps drop by at least 10-15c lol I'll try that again and see if it lowers the CPU temps too. If not, then the coolers not doing it's job

I'll be happy to get it stable @3.6, but not until I get those temps under control.

When I did my first 'baby step' bump up to 2.9 (FSB 343), the ram was running at 825 (413mhz) it was nice and stable in game and memtest, so it should be able to take more. Worst case scenario, I fry my RAM and be force to get some faster stuff

All the stuff I've been reading up on is becoming less abstract and more logical


EDIT:

Just spent an hour playing Far Cry with the case off and fan pointed in and the max load temp didn't top 45c

I think a new case for XMAS

Yeah, I was about to say 63 at 3.2 does *not* seem high if you were getting 54 @ 2.8 - that is about the right fluctuation.

As for a new case - you could try modding your current case yourself to allow for more airflow, if possible....

Funny you should mention case modding...

The case originally had a side 'exhaust vent' that accommodated a 92mm Fan which fit inside when using a stock cooler. I removed the vent, turned it upside down, added a noctua 92mm fan and bolted it to the outside of the case.

TBH, the only difference I noticed was that the 4850's temp went down 5c and appeared to have no impact on CPU temps. If nothing else, it looks amusing.

I'm considering adding another 120mm noctua to the cooler to create a push / pull flow (currently has single 120mm with air flowing to the rear) but I'm wondering if the heat from the drive bay area will be sucked through the cooler, raising overall temps?

I'd like to add a fan at the front, but there is nowhere to place it and unfortunately I don't have the necessary tools for serious modifications.

I'd like to get this as cool as possible because if I'm eventually aiming for 3.6 on air cooling alone, I'm liable to hit the high 60-70c mark which is not cool. Pun intended