# q9550 on 780i ftw, 4ghz?



## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

I've been told by someone here, I forget who.. but they said 4ghz on an evga 780i ftw is near impossible.

I'm currently rock stable at 3.6 , prime can run all night while I'm at work, that was on air. Temps would get HIGH but it would never fault and stop.. even after 9 hours.

Now I'm running it on water and so far SMALL FTTS for 2:45 mins and temps are 57c... this is at 450x8.5 for 3825mhz... 1.3 vcore.. drops to 1.28o when Im idling..

Is the extra vcore boost to try and reach 4ghz even worth it? Should I just be happy with where it's at now or should I go for 4ghz?

I hear 1.3v on 45nm isnt good for loads for longer periods of time.


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## BarbaricSoul (Sep 14, 2009)

my 9650 in my 750i FTW board


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## BarbaricSoul (Sep 14, 2009)

BTW, my 9650 has seen 4.2 gigs in my 750 ftw board


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## BarbaricSoul (Sep 14, 2009)

> I hear 1.3v on 45nm isnt good for loads for longer periods of time.



45nm is rated for up to 1.37


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## parelem (Sep 14, 2009)

i've taken my 9450 to 3.6 easily on my 780i ftw, you should be able to get to 4ghz without a problem, i'd go for it


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## newtekie1 (Sep 14, 2009)

4GHz shouldn't be impossible on a 780i.

The issue isn't really the final clock speed, but more the FSB speed.  The 780i isn't great at higher FSB speeds, especially not on quads.  They can start to struggle over 450FSB.  You might make it up to the 470FSB that is required, but you are just as likely not to.


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

it will be for that multi - the 7xx series struggles with anything above 1800FSB on a quad - a 9650 will clock up to around 4.0 - but unless you're REALLY lucky your chances of 4ghz on a 9550 are very low.

9650 maybe - but few peeps have gotten a 9550 to 4.0 on an nvidia board.


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

Mussels said:


> he wont get 4GHz on an nvidia chipset.



I'm going to try though.


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

shevanel said:


> I'm going to try though.



I can get 4 on mine, but games run slower because the NB is on its brink... 3825 is where I am at right now, and everything is buttery smooth.


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

3825 is where I'm at too.

So you have a similar board/setup?


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

I have a 750i with a q9650... very similar - the 780i is a little more robust.  I say push it... but wouldn't sweat it if its unstable, the difference between 3.825 and 4.0 is negligible.


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

Well, maybe 3825 is a good place to be.. I mean damn.. afterall it is a 1000mhz Oc...

But 3.6 is stable.. I'm not certain if 3825 is just yet.. gotta run small ftt's a little longer.. been about 3 hours now


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

play some games too... i ran 24 hours prime stable, and then noticed weird slowdowns in fallout 3 - bumped the bus speed down a tad and they went away.  Seems like the northbridge was stable but unhappy.  THe 7xx series is the weirdest series to OC.

btw with those temps on that chip you can easily use 1.37v, so I wouldn't worry bout it as much as the board - as long as the board can manage that chip can take whatever you throw at it.  At least that is how my setup is...

either way we are talking 175mhz when the chip is already doing ~4000... its practically a rounding error.


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

pc locked up during the airplane cpu physx test warm up...

Bumped the vcore up a notch


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTest-v2.3-download-2047.html <<<

that stress tester will save you HOURS of testing... run a 10 loop or a 5 loop on maximum is the same as 4hours of prime small ftt - watch your temps though, they will be hitting 65C easy.  15 mins of test instead of 4 hours.


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

ty. about to do it now.


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

phanbuey said:


> http://downloads.guru3d.com/IntelBurnTest-v2.3-download-2047.html <<<
> 
> that stress tester will save you HOURS of testing... run a 10 loop or a 5 loop on maximum is the same as 4hours of prime small ftt - watch your temps though, they will be hitting 65C easy.  15 mins of test instead of 4 hours.



BSOD crash dump in 8 seconds from start of that.

Lets try again at 1.325


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

shevanel said:


> BSOD crash dump in 8 seconds from start of that.
> 
> Lets try again at 1.325



What are your NB volts at?

LOL at the 8 seconds... i think someone on TPU here had a rig 18 hours prime stable, crashed within 5 minutes of Burn Test.  Ive definitely been there.


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## Cold Storm (Sep 14, 2009)

Shevanel.. just play with it man... 

remember, this is what your board can do.. with that ram



Cold Storm said:


> I guess I can join..
> 
> All on Water, and all on the 780i board!
> 
> ...


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

i think NB is 1.5 i think


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

yeah... this IBT keeps crashing.. causing DWM to crash, explorer to crash and evga precision tool LOL.. 

but it sure is fun


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

do you have the fan on the NB active?

also what is the VTT (FSB term) setting?

EDIT:

Here were my settings for the 750i:

vcore 1.38
FSB term 1.3v
NB voltage 1.52 (actively cooled)
Dram 2.0v
SB (default)


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## Cold Storm (Sep 14, 2009)

I'll look threw my photo's tonight and see if I snapped some of the 4ghz with everest or hw monitor running... I don't have my notebook with me, since I'm on vacation... but I'll look threw the pictures to night to see about helping ya..


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

i think cpu fsb is at 1.325 

Is there a software to see my voltages across the board, not just my cpu?


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## Cold Storm (Sep 14, 2009)

Everest, Hwmonitor... Best bet is Everest..


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

the NB heatsink is hot when the fan blows away from the NB drawing air from the GPU.. but not so hot where you have to take your finger off..

When the fan is blowing into the NB the NB heatsink is cooler but the GPU gets too hot... 10c+ added 

double edged sword


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## phanbuey (Sep 14, 2009)

any luck with the voltages?

NB heat is also a major cause of crashes...


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## shevanel (Sep 14, 2009)

gotta make my daughter dinner.. will attempt to stabalize it later. I'll keep you posted.. thanks for your help too, hopefully you can stop by when i update the thread to offer more.


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## shevanel (Sep 15, 2009)

im staying at 3.6.. it seems to be the most stable @ 1.3vc


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## Asylum (Sep 15, 2009)

Try 3.8Ghz
1.39 cpu
1.4 fsb
1.5 northbridge
And check your ram voltage to see if its getting enough voltage if your running it at higher speeds.


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## shevanel (Sep 15, 2009)

I'm weary to run the cpu at 1.39 TBH..

Ram voltage is 1.92 and all other voltages are right about where you suggested for NB and FSB is 1.325 I beleive


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## Cold Storm (Sep 15, 2009)

I've found that if you want to go and try 4ghz you gotta up it.. and p it good.. lol.. But, for my 24/7 on the system, I did 3.6ghz.. Not bad all around to keep it there.


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## shevanel (Sep 15, 2009)

TBH I think my overlocking skills suck

[edit]


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## shevanel (Sep 17, 2009)

since being introduced to intel burn test ive been trying to gte a stable OC.. even with 1.375 vcore I fail ITB at anything over stock FSB within 1 minute but prime95 can go over 7 hours small ftt's. i dont get it. 

Ive tried 1.425 cpu fsb, 1.525 mcp 1.375 vcore @ 8.5 x 1400 and up and nothing lasts longer than 58-59 seconds in standard run of itb with 4 threads...


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## Asylum (Sep 17, 2009)

Its your vcore. Go up to 1.4 and see what you get.
What are your memory timings and what speed are they running when you overclock?
Post a screenshot of CPU-Z with cpu and memory timings when overclocked.


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## shevanel (Sep 17, 2009)

im off/on getting the kid ready for school but here is some quick info...

g skill 1100 mhz pi rated at 5-5-5-15 1.8v, its running 1100mhz 555-15 1.95 volts

ram in cpuz read dual channel 550 mhz 2x2gb

*is 1.4 really a safe amount of juice ? *i dont run my pc 24/7 but i do sometimes run it for up to 10 hours..


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## phanbuey (Sep 17, 2009)

shevanel said:


> im off/on getting the kid ready for school but here is some quick info...
> 
> g skill 1100 mhz pi rated at 5-5-5-15 1.8v, its running 1100mhz 555-15 1.95 volts
> 
> ...



That could be your problem... Even though your memory is rated for 1100MHz, that speed puts alot of stress on the motherboard.  Your NB FSB headroom will be decreased with ram at that speed.

Try to back your ram down to 1000Mhz 5-5-5-15 at 1.95 - if the test lasts longer, then you're on the right track


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## shevanel (Sep 17, 2009)

Okay i will back the ram down and give it  a shot


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## Asylum (Sep 17, 2009)

Yea it sounds like it could be a memory problem.
If backing the speed down dont work then its time to break out memtest86 and see if you get any errors.


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## shevanel (Sep 17, 2009)

same 59 second fail

1000mhz mem
1.35 vcore
450x8.5


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## qamulek (Sep 17, 2009)

Do you have load line calibration enabled?  Do you have other options in your bios for GTL ref or other ref voltages?

The voltage on my cpu had to ride a fine line to become stable at 450fsb.  With load line calibration on I could get an easy initial overclock, but then as I raised the Vcore the cpu would crash due to the voltage pinging up.  I turned load line calibration off which meant I had to increase the voltage a bit more due to vdroop, but I was able to reach a higher OC since I could increase my volts without ping up crashing my cpu.  Eventually I reached the point where if I increased or lowered the Vcore my cpu would either crash or fail stress tests.  Currently at 1.392V at idle and about 1.344V at prime95 load.

GTL ref had a significat effect on the stability of my cpu.  Each setup(as well as possibly bios settings) requires a different GTL ref, so you have to vary it till you find a place of maximum stability.


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## phanbuey (Sep 17, 2009)

Well you have a few choices.... You will be able to get stable at 3825 with extreme effort, but it won't be worth it... and it may never be truly 100% stable even if it passes stress tests.

Speaking of stress... the extra 225 Mhz is not worth it...

If you want to go faster, we're probably going to have to think a bit outside the box.  With very few exceptions 450FSB is difficult for 7xx chipsets and 45nm quads... if you want 4GHz, you will need a new MB, a 9650, or a new setup altogether.

You can sell the Q9550 for alot more money than its worth... and use it to upgrade to a new platform... or you can sell the 780i and get an 790i, which will OC much easier.


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## parelem (Sep 17, 2009)

increase your GTLVref lanes and test stability using the 32k and 320k prime tests for a few passes each. when you have the GTLVref lanes stabilized you should be able to drop your vcore down a bit. also, instead of running the ram at its rated speed, use a good multiplier ie 6:5, 5:4, 4:3. you'll have much better results


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## shevanel (Sep 17, 2009)

i do have GTLVref lanes, but Im going to have to do some homework and figure out what theyr for

and i have no idea what load line cali is


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## shevanel (Sep 18, 2009)

Ok *GOOD* news..

I dropped ram to 1000mhz and upped the vdimm up a notch @ 1.95
I increased the sp?>>>MCP bridge .5
Increased Vcore to 1.357 or something and chose "without vdroop"

Prime 95 ran blend test for over 10.5 hours while I was at work then I finally completed a ITB standard run whilst overclocked to 3500mhz...








Should I just assume this is stable and be happy? lol


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## SK-1 (Sep 18, 2009)

My 24/7 settings. This Xeon will bench @ 4.3 with 1.36v. My Dual Core E8600 will bench @4.4 on this same 780i.




I also have the pencil Vdroop mod.


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## shevanel (Sep 18, 2009)

readin and weapin'


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## r9 (Sep 18, 2009)

I`m not too familiar with Q9xxx but from I have read so far theirs overclocks are FSB limited more than anything elese. If q9550 was unlocked it would go 4.5GHz at 1.5V IMO anyway .


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## shevanel (Sep 18, 2009)

quick question:

Would enabling intel speedstep cause any problems? I would like to try and minimize heat/powr consumption if poss..


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## Xazax (Sep 18, 2009)

Just from personal experience, i couldnt get a Q9550 to 4.0Ghz, but this was on a Gigabyte EP45-DS3R board, which i would hope would of been a better clocking board, this was a build done for my friend and i got him a Q9550 and EP45, Tried OCing for him to 4.0ghz but couldnt do it i had the CPU all the way up to 1.45v and VTT to 1.4v! had NB to 1.45v PLL @ 1.85v and still wouldnt do it, could get 3.7Ghz stable with it, but the temps and heat was too much for a Thermalright 128SI-SE /w only a 1200 RPM scythe fan.

I ended up setting him up with 3.4Ghz(400FSB) /w 1.3v and it ran great and was very cool around 50C load.

Personally, i think its better to overclock your CPU as HIGH as possible ON STOCK voltages, you'll get more life out of the CPU, still get the Extra performance, and keeps your PC cooler.


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## qamulek (Sep 18, 2009)

shevanel said:


> Ok *GOOD* news..
> 
> I dropped ram to 1000mhz and upped the vdimm up a notch @ 1.95
> I increased the sp?>>>MCP bridge .5
> ...



Sounds like a good jump off point for a higher OC.  IMHO getting 450fsb is a realistic goal.  Save your bios settings as well as write them all down on paper so you have settings you can always start fresh from.

Load line calibration on is just the board keeping the cpu vcore at a constant voltage regardless of load(no vdroop).  I started writing about all the reasons why vdroop off sucks when near the peak voltage the cpu can handle, but instead found it simpler to google and find this thread explaining the pitfalls of load line calibration off(vdroop off).  The short answer is that vdroop off will decrease you maximum possible OC while also increasing your load power consumption.


GTLref.  My board only has one possible GTLref which kind of bites since I know of other people with multiple GTLrefs being able to fine tune their cpu.  In any case I tried looking up GTLref once, and the only thing I could really understand about it was that it has something to do with eliminating noise.  

From an electronics course I remember building circuits that would flip if the signal went above a certain voltage, but they wouldn't flip back if the voltage decreased.  In this way the circuit would flip only if you kicked the input with an increase of voltage.  The problem is that as the input voltage crosses the point where it tells the circuit to flip noise can make the input signal oscillate about that point so that the circuit flips in a chaotic manner.  The solution to this problem was to add some extra stuff to the circuit so that when the circuit did decide to flip the input voltage had to go below a certain value, a value lower then what was used to flip the circuit, before the circuit would accept another input.

As far as I could tell GTLref did something to eliminate noise in a similar fashion as described above, however I never did get any clear info on what it did exactly.  I read enough to know all I needed to do was vary GTLref till I found a stable point.  For my board I increaesed GTLref till I found an unstable point, decreased it till I found another unstable point, then finally chose something in between that I thought would be the best stable point.



> Would enabling intel speedstep cause any problems? I would like to try and minimize heat/powr consumption if poss..


When you've decided upon what you consider an acceptable OC to stop at then just try it and see if it stays stable.


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## shevanel (Sep 18, 2009)

> When you've decided upon what you consider an acceptable OC to stop at then just try it and see if it stays stable.





thanks for the info.. speedstep on, ran a few benches, itb passed.. so far so good.

Going to settle with these settings, gonna remove ITB and just move on from here. Pc is @ 1650fsb 3500mhz, ram is 1000 mhz 5-5-5-15.. not bad I guess.


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## BarbaricSoul (Sep 18, 2009)

honestly, I don't see a differenence with my 9650 being OC'ed to 3600mhz or 4050mhz. Hell, I really don't see *much* difference between stock and 4050mhz


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## phanbuey (Sep 18, 2009)

I wouldnt remove ITB - I would just forget the prime runs altogether.  Prime literally means nothing until its 24+ hours...

As for stability - yes, that is [most likely] stable... A great way to find out is to leave the rig on for 3 days.  Better than any stress test - if windows stays up without resetting for 3 days and you can play games on it etc etc - then you are certainly stable, and NB heat buildup is not a problem in your case.

I would say that 450Mhz FSB aint gonna happen from the happy time you had getting to 412 FSB... 425 would - so at least you could get to 3.6Ghz (i just like that number, dunno why...)

Barbaric is definitely right about the difference from 3.6 to 4050 - so small you can't see it.  In fact for me 4050 was slower because I had to ax my memory timings to stabilize it.


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## Cold Storm (Sep 18, 2009)

Looking good! Also remember one thing I told ya when we where throwing pm's back at each other when you bought it. There is a FSB hole on the board at 471... Your not going to be able to get any higher with it after that. Just a pain that the 780i board has.. It's not just that board. Asking on EVGA they said I was lucky to hit the 4ghz on it as I was able to.


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## pantherx12 (Sep 18, 2009)

I disagree with having to run prime for 24 hours straight.

I think you should run prime for the amount of time your computer typically stays on.

For me that's only about 8-12 hours.


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## parelem (Sep 18, 2009)

you get through all the blend tests in about 10 hours before they start over from the beginning, so a good 10-12 hour test is enough. like i said in a previous post, play with your GTLVref lanes and work out a good multiplier to run your fsb and ram on, it will greatly increase your stability.


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## phanbuey (Sep 18, 2009)

I used to think that too... hell I used to think that a 3 hours test was way more than enough... however i have seen machines with this setup that are 12-24 hours prime stable crash... sometimes doing nothing, sometimes in games...

Others have had the same issues, especially with e0 45nm chips, prime just doesn't cut it for these.


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## shevanel (Sep 20, 2009)

Took me sometime to get this "stable" but it's passing IBT @ 3.8ghz now.

I have the fsb @ 450 and the mem linked and synced , mem @ 900 :-( 

35mv+ across all 4 lanes.. I might try to test for 4ghz and see if it'll hold before I attempt to test lowering vcore. vcore is as 1.3625 or so.. ITB temps does not excedd 60c so thats good


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## shevanel (Sep 20, 2009)

Ok now I changed the mem to 1000mhz manually and its still passing ITB.

With the gtrllanes or w/e @ 35mv on each, where is a good place to start on trying to lower my vcore?

Should I go from stock and up, or down from where Im at, 1.3625


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## qamulek (Sep 20, 2009)

shevanel said:


> Ok now I changed the mem to 1000mhz manually and its still passing ITB.
> 
> With the gtrllanes or w/e @ 35mv on each, where is a good place to start on trying to lower my vcore?
> 
> Should I go from stock and up, or down from where Im at, 1.3625



Start at the 1.3635 and lower voltages; its better to start at a stable point then lower the voltages since at each startup you're testing if the board *is still stable* rather then starting up the board and seeing if the system *is still unstable*(multiple boots of an unstable system suck).  Are you running with or without vdroop?

As a side note I tried lowering my cpu multiplier to x6, then raised my fsb up to 470.  At 470 my setup was a bit picky with the settings, but I did eventually get it to run stable.  I even got it stable at 472, but from there I just went to 475 and found that no matter what I did the setup would not stay stable.  I suggest you try the same to see what your max FSB for your system is; that way you aren't banging your head trying to get your cpu stable at a higher FSB then your setup can handle.  I say setup since I don't really know if its the 780i boards that are crapping out at 470+ fsb, the intel chips crapping out at 470+ fsb, or perhaps a combination of both.

EDIT:   on the OC


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## shevanel (Sep 20, 2009)

it's without Vdroop.

I'm going to stick at this clock for now. I'm more than happy with the results of this overclock and everything is running so fluently it's unreal. Now I just gotta find some new software other than games to put this rig to use... need a new hobby now that i dont have a Pc to tweak. 


thanks for all the info, it helped out alot!


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## SK-1 (Sep 20, 2009)

Help your Vdroop out. http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/312286.aspx


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## shevanel (Sep 21, 2009)

1.3v is passing standard itb. temps are 4-6c cooler at load too.


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## Cold Storm (Sep 22, 2009)

All right, got onto my router at home and was able to pull up pictures

Here is the link for the CPU-z

here is the SS for ya on 4ghz







and here is a few other things

pi run 





and here is the thread at EVGA Forums that I made for asking on the The "highest FSB speed" for that board.. You should see my volts that are down a little ways on the thread


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## phanbuey (Sep 22, 2009)

you may be able to post and run at 4GHz (i mean the OP not you CS - im pretty positive that urs are stable)... but that doesn't necessarily mean that its 24/7 stable...

I can superpi and game at 4050, but its not stable for 24/7 use.  It also depends on the board itslef - ive built 3 identical MSI p7n builds one some can do 450 - 475 FSB all day, while others cant stabilize above 425 at all the same settings.

so its a toss up... What I can tell you is that the performance gain from 3.6 to 4.0 is purely placebo.


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## Cold Storm (Sep 22, 2009)

phanbuey said:


> you may be able to post and run at 4GHz... but that doesn't necessarily mean that its 24/7 stable...
> 
> I can superpi and game at 4050, but its not stable for 24/7 use.  It also depends on the board itslef - ive built 3 identical MSI p7n builds one some can do 450 - 475 FSB all day, while others cant stabilize above 425 at all the same settings.
> 
> so its a toss up... What I can tell you is that the performance gain from 3.6 to 4.0 is purely placebo.





Your right on the fact that from 3.6ghz-4ghz is just a placebo due to the facts that you don't see any gain what so ever in anything. Only bench you'll see a somewhat increase is Pi.. 

As for what I linked, I did run 4ghz on that till I bought my Qx9650 from Damulta, and that chip saw 4.77ghz, (yes unlocked Multi did help for the fact that it has a 470mhz FSB hole) I didn't have any troubles on it. I told him that I was going to link it once I was able to get it all, and I did.


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