You can't overclock your Ultra like that. You can only overclock the frequency speeds, like the core speed and memory speed, not the amount of physical memory.

Overclocking your CPU from 2.5 to 3.0GHz should be easy. I overclocked my CPU from 2.66GHz to 3.0GHz easily with no problem.

Your graphic cards are fine for GTA4. GTA4 doesn't use SLI yet, and 1 Ultra is enough. A friend of mine is running GTA4 with a Core i7 920 and a single Ultra and he gets 65fps on max everything.

Core i7s run GTA4 amazingly, quad cores run it well, but still get some slowdowns on maximum everything.

Yea I get the SLI bar, too, but the game isn't scaling for SLI.

There's tweaks you can do to the GTA4 shortcut.

Go to the GTA folder and right click on LaunchGTAIV.exe and create a shortcut. Right click on this and at the end of the parameter put :

-norestrictions -nomemrestrict

And click OK.

Login to Rockstart Social Club, and launch the game with this shortcut.

You'll be able to set the graphics to what you want, and go over the memory limit.


The Core i7 is Intels latest processor, too. If you want to upgrade to it, you need a whole new motherboard and set of RAM as it's a new socket. Your CPU will be able to run it well, but putting traffic to full will cause the biggest performance loss.
I keep the traffic bar just under half, and still get around 30fps.

you can overclock the Graphics card, not not very far.. and only the Core Clock, the Shaders, and the Memory.. You can use eVGA precision. but I'd recommend not going anywhere over about 100 on the Core Clock, and not much more on the rest.

Example, the Ultra. is 612 MHz Core Clock and like 1080 on Memory, and shaders if I remember right are around 1600. I could be wrong on shaders. I know the Ultra doesn't overclock very far. so I recommend getting eVGA Precision. ALWAYS watch temps and do something like this.

666 Mhz Core, or 670 Mhz Core. But no More, or will be to hot.
1120 on the RAM.. and on the shaders I'd say raise it by around 50..

Youy may THINK you can go higher than this, but temps will be very hot, and games will crash. and it's not safe as thats an old card on a 90mn tech.. So I'd recommend not going any higher than what I've said above.

Also, the 780i SLI.. is that the SLI FTW version, or only the SLI model?

Also the Q9300 doesn't have a very good Multiplier. I'd say push it to 3.0 ghz and stop there, as the cooling isn't very good either. I'd get a better Cooler if you wanna push that Quad anywhere above 3.0 Ghz.

Also, be very careful with overclocking Either of these, in order to OC the CPU. you need Core Temp for temp monitoring. and CPU-Z for checking the overclocks. get either of those at any download place. just google it.

if you don't know how to overclock the CPU.. be careful, and ask questions first.. don't just try something. as you could damage something. So just be careful. I'd hate to have something happen to that lovely Rig.

ya the Q9300's aren't the best for overclocking. but you should be able to get at least 3.3 Ghz out of it... at least. and the Ultra probably was crashing at 702 because it was getting to hot. Try lower the RAM clock. as that's a Huge oc on that. I'd go from 1050 to like 1150, or 1200. there's no way it can run 1700. as that's dual channel, no GFX card can run over 3400 on Memory. I will Guarantee that is why it was crashing.

do this. go into evga precision and go ahead and do this. Set the clocks like this.

Leave Core and Shaders linked, and set the Core clock to 690, and then set the memory to something like 1150, or 1200. don't go any higher than 1200. I bet that might be to high. I'd try like 1120 or something first. and I bet it will be stable. 1700 is WAY to high for the memory.

as for the CPU. I could help you OC that better.. I need some info from you though. What's the VID of the Chip. and what type of temps do you have. Get a program called Core Temp. and tell me what it says under VID. but first you need to enter the Bios and disable Intel Speed Spectrum, and the C1E Halt State, as those lower CPU clock speeds from stock. to like 1.9 Ghz when the CPU is at idle state to conserve power, and then it goes back up when it's needed. often the C1E will drop when idle.. and that will cause a Overclock to Seem unstable. so disable those. and also after that is disabled. THEN tell me your VID from Core Temp. as the VID wont be right until C1E is disabled. Make sense.

So, get Core Temp program. go into BIOS and disable intel speed spectrum and C1E. tell me what Core Temp says for VID. and what your CPU temps are on idle and load.