# Overclocking a Q9550



## SnoopKatt (Apr 20, 2012)

Hey guys,
About a week ago, I bought a Q9550 from another forum member. Before then, I have my E6420 overclocked from 2.13 GHz to 2.66 GHz (and up to three in the winter). Now, I just installed the new CPU, and my temperatures are already too high. Idle, it is at about 50°C, and under prime 95 after 30 seconds, it's between 65 and 70. It still running stock speeds and voltage. I thought it might be my case, so I moved everything from Antec P180 to a cCooler Master HAF912, and my temperatures are exactly the same.

I feel like I did everything right, but it's been a while, so I probably screwed up somewhere. I had some thermal paste lying around (Arctic Silver), and I applied about a really small pea, and spread it evenly with a credit card.

All of the system fans are going, it's a little warm in there, but definitely not  hot. Any suggestions?
Thanks!


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 20, 2012)

are you using that N520 in push/pull config?


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 21, 2012)

I believe they are both blowing air into the CPU heatsink. I should probably change that to a real push/pull.

I'm also a little suspicious that CoreTemp is reading 10° high. In the bios, after some use, it hangs around 40°C. Right after I load Windows, it is between 50 and 55°. 40° still seems too hot though.

Thanks for the quick response!


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## Yukikaze (Apr 21, 2012)

SnoopKatt said:


> I believe they are both blowing air into the CPU heatsink. I should probably change that to a real push/pull.
> 
> I'm also a little suspicious that CoreTemp is reading 10° high. In the bios, after some use, it hangs around 40°C. Right after I load Windows, it is between 50 and 55°. 40° still seems too hot though.
> 
> Thanks for the quick response!



If they are both blowing* into* the heatsink that might well be your problem. I used to own a Q9650 and a Scythe Katana 3, which is a small and not very high-performance cooler, could handle it at 4Ghz (With around 1.2v on the cores) without hitting the temperatures you are reporting now at stock.


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## TC-man (Apr 21, 2012)

SnoopKatt said:


> Hey guys,
> About a week ago, I bought a Q9550 from another forum member. Before then, I have my E6420 overclocked from 2.13 GHz to 2.66 GHz (and up to three in the winter). Now, I just installed the new CPU, and my temperatures are already too high. Idle, it is at about 50°C, and under prime 95 after 30 seconds, it's between 65 and 70. It still running stock speeds and voltage. I thought it might be my case, so I moved everything from Antec P180 to a cCooler Master HAF912, and my temperatures are exactly the same.
> 
> I feel like I did everything right, but it's been a while, so I probably screwed up somewhere. I had some thermal paste lying around (Arctic Silver), and I applied about a really small pea, and spread it evenly with a credit card.
> ...



Hi,

It's not uncommon that certain Q9550 got a stuck temperature sensor, which means the idle temperature stays at a certain level, it does not matter what you do. And if this is the case with your Q9550 then you can't do anything about it. You can try using Realtemp instead and check the "Distance to tj Max" which is more important when you are stress testing the cpu. I am told for a healthy temperature keep the distance to tj Max no less than/close to 30.

On the other hand, try re-applying the thermal paste/compound, but this time without spreading the compound with a creditcard; perhaps air bubbles are the culprits for the high temperatures, the air bubbles may have been created with such compound spread method after you attached the cpu-cooler on the cpu/socket.
See the youtube video (see at 0:10, and especially at 0.36): 









And one more thing, if you haven't cleared cmos/bios (including detaching the cmos battery) after the cpu upgrade, do that first. Sometimes weird things may happen after a cpu switch, e.g. weird temperature readings and so on. This is the easiest thing to do, it just may help.


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 21, 2012)

Thanks for all of the advice!

Before I try that again, attached is a quick diagram of how my fans are set up. I'm guessing I should set up the CPU fans so they eject air into the exhaust to the left of it, but just to double check, is that the best way to do it?

I downloaded RealTemp, and the temperatures and the distance to Max all add up to 100. The distance to Max temperatures consistently move with the detected temperatures, does that mean the temperatures aren't stuck?

Thanks, and I will post back with the results later today!


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 22, 2012)

So I gave it a try, and no luck. It's now a push pull system, and I redid the thermal grease. Maybe I tweaked something on my cooler mount when I installed the new CPU?


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## Jetster (Apr 22, 2012)

Try reapplying the paste and use a small grain of rice in the middle and don't spread it. What are you using to check the temps?


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 22, 2012)

I tried the same method, except with a small pea. I did not spread afterward, but unfortunately the temperatures are the same. I'm using CoreTemp.

Thanks for the quick response!


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## TC-man (Apr 22, 2012)

SnoopKatt said:


> Thanks for all of the advice!
> 
> Before I try that again, attached is a quick diagram of how my fans are set up. I'm guessing I should set up the CPU fans so they eject air into the exhaust to the left of it, but just to double check, is that the best way to do it?
> 
> ...





SnoopKatt said:


> So I gave it a try, and no luck. It's now a push pull system, and I redid the thermal grease. Maybe I tweaked something on my cooler mount when I installed the new CPU?



The diagram for the fans and airflow is about right. But did you reverse the fan on the rear of the N520? You shouldn't, because it's designed like this and the airflow should be right according it's design. According Frostytech the fans should be aligned/mounted on the heatsink of the N520 like this. Are they like this at the moment?

As for the temperatures, what voltages did you use for the cpu (Vcore)? Use CPU-Z and check what the Vcore is when the cpu is idle and under load, especially you use the auto settings in the bios. Furthermore, I see you used Prime 95 to do a burn test. What type of test was it, small FFT, in-place Large FFT or blend? The first two tests will cause much higher temperatures of the cpu. And what bios version are you using for the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (rev.1.0 or rev. 2.0?)? As for the stuck temperature, it's more like the temperature is stuck at certain °C, e.g. is always 50°C at idle, but the temperature will increase when doing a stress-test (e.g. LinX, Prime95) and the Distance to tj Max will decrease.

Also I found something interesting at Xbitlabs about the the N520:


			
				Xbitlabs said:
			
		

> _The installation manual recommends installing the cooler into the system case so that the airflow from the fans could be directed towards the back of the case. However, our experiments revealed that the cooler performed best if turned by 90°:_
> 
> _In this case the CPU temperature under maximum workload was steadily 3-4°C lower than in the first case. The distance from the mainboard PCB to the lowest heatsink plate of the Cooler Master Hyper N520 cooler is 36.6mm, so the cooler will not interfere with any electronic components around the CPU socket._


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## OneMoar (Apr 22, 2012)

cooler just is not  up to the job the q9xx chips run very very hot replace the cooler with something better plain and simple
http://www.guru3d.com/article/cooler-master-hyper-n520-review/5 < review and temps


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 22, 2012)

I'm idling just above 40°C on 3 out of the 4 cores, and one just below. Maximum temps I get when gaming is 60-65°C and 70-75°C when stressing with Prime95.

You may find that once you OC, that the temps don't change that much. I'm running mine at 3.75GHz with 1.36v. My northbridge is the problem.


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 22, 2012)

OneMoar said:


> cooler just is not  up to the job the q9xx chips run very very hot replace the cooler with something better plain and simple
> http://www.guru3d.com/article/cooler-master-hyper-n520-review/5 < review and temps



Did you even read the review you posted?

taken from the bottom of the page of the review that you linked to:


> As such, as you can see, the Hyper N520 can hold ground pretty decent. *It is competing with OCZ's Venedetta 2* and Zalman's CNPS 9900 LED cooler. So yeah, that's just fairly good.



temperatures only hit a serious high when Hilbert put 1.6v through it. Most E0 steppings didnt need even 1.45v to get a good OC.

On top of that - my previous rig was a Q9550 OC'd to 3.9Ghz with a OCZ Vendetta 2 and i was idling at 35'c and hitting temps of 65'c under load. the OCZ was in the same league as the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 which was given rave reviews buy almost every tech site.

So it could be ambient temps thats the problem


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## OneMoar (Apr 22, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Did you even read the review you posted?
> 
> taken from the bottom of the page of the review that you linked to:
> 
> ...


yes I read it thats why I posted it then benchmark they ran shows a avg of 66c at 3.2/1.2v with a QX9770 
they run hot especially the older stepping temps in excess of 70c don't surprise me at all given that cooler paste application can give you 2 or 5c +/- either way  they unless his room is like >75F it should not make that much of a difference either  way some q9550's just ran screaming hot


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## Mindweaver (Apr 22, 2012)

I still have a Q9550 @ 3.8 ghz crunching strong 24/7. If i where you I would get a COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus and set up Push/pull. I had a problem with my old 92nm heatsink and temps.. It was fine with my duel core but when I put it on the Q9550 and over clocked it.. it chocked.. hehehe and the Q9550. Mine had a stuck sensor as well, but it only miss read one of the cores not all 4 cores. I have mine setup using v1.4. I also lapped mine, and dropped it a few degrees.


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## Widjaja (Apr 23, 2012)

I shame you could not stress test the CPU in another motherboard.

I have had situations where motherboards have made the processor run hotter than in others.


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## Bo$$ (Apr 23, 2012)

What is your Voltage set to?


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## AlienIsGOD (Apr 23, 2012)

im glad im learning it wasnt just me with stuck temps on a core for a Q9xxx series.  My q9450 ALWAYS had a core 5-6 degrees hotter than the other three.  I used a CM GeminII on mine and it was a modestly decent cooler for light o/c. I ran my Q9450 @ 3.2ghz for almost 3 years at 60-60 degrees under load.


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## Sinzia (Apr 23, 2012)

SnoopKatt said:


> ...I had some thermal paste lying around (Arctic Silver)...!



AS5 has a cure time on it, and from what I remember its a rather long cure time, this can make an impact on temps.
If you can, try something else like mx-2 or IC-diamond 7, those have 0 cure time.


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 23, 2012)

Thank you everyone for your input! This is all good information to know.

TC-man, the way I initially had the CPU cooler was exactly like what was written in the article. I would rotate it 90°, but unfortunately it hits my RAM. Even in the push pull set up that it's in right now, the temperatures are about the same.

As far as the motherboard goes, it is revision 2.0 with an F9 bios.

My voltage is set to 1.2 in the bios, but looking at CPU-Z, at idle, it says 1.04, and under load, it says 1.12.

None of the temperatures seem to be fixed at a specific value. Idle, it ranges between 48 and 52° on each core. However, if I start the computer cold, in the bios it says between 30 and 35°. Under about 5 min. of Prime 95 blend, each core is at about 70° (30 from Max).

I'm open to trying another CPU cooler. That Cooler Master 212 sounds good, and it's good to hear a success story from a fellow Q9550 user. What fan would be good to match it with for the pull?

I also ordered an external temperature sensor (I will need it later down the road for another project anyways) to double check the internal sensors.


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## OneMoar (Apr 23, 2012)

SnoopKatt said:


> Thank you everyone for your input! This is all good information to know.
> 
> TC-man, the way I initially had the CPU cooler was exactly like what was written in the article. I would rotate it 90°, but unfortunately it hits my RAM. Even in the push pull set up that it's in right now, the temperatures are about the same.
> 
> ...



it comes with a cooler master blade
COOLER MASTER R4-BMBS-20PK-R0 Blade Master 120mm C...


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## arnoo1 (Apr 23, 2012)

it's pretty wierd, i had a q9550 and teh idle temps where a fake 23-25c idle on a 20c room and load 50c with a scythe ninja 2 @ 3.6ghz 1.25v
maybe use other temp programms core does wierd things with my 2600k, realtemp gt works just fine


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## m1dg3t (Apr 23, 2012)

I just wanted to know how can people reccomend the 212 when the 520 is a beter cooler, supposed to be anyways? Push/pull is best and orient the cooler so that the exhaust is directed to case exhaust, if possible.

I have a VenomousX cooler but looking to swap it for a d14 or SilverArrow sb-e if I can find one, my case flow is pretty horrid (HTPC on/in a rack). My current max temp is 70c after 6Hrs ++ Prime stress. I'm currently @ 444 x 8.5 with 1.30vcore, 4 x 2GB RAM @ 1066  I've spent the last week or 2 trying to figure out the best GTLs and think I've found the sweetspot for my rig so gonna try to drop the vcore and see if she stays stable 

I have a q9550 as well, c1 not e0. I  have a stuck sensor, it read's ~10c higher on idle. Should be pretty easy to get 3.4 at least out of it. I'm away from home ATM but I'll chime in later with some ideas you can try. Best to start gathering stress test/monitoring software now and do some reading before you start clocking it, I see to many people just hitting the chip with volts to get it stable instead of making the small stability tweak's. There's a good link to GTL info on the 2nd last page of the Asus p45 owners club on our forum. From what I've been able to understand is the stock GTL voltage for these quad's is ~.8v so when Calculating your multi remember to leep it in that range, VTT or FSBtermination voltage it's called example mine is set to 1.26 Fsb term v and my multi is .635 & .645 IIRC, this has been the best so far for my combo. When I get back home I'll post some more info, hopefully, to help get you going. Don't take this the wrong way but hit up Google as well, lot's of info out there amd prolly lot's that will get left out of thos discussion lol Gotta remember these are now vintage chip's lol


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## Mindweaver (Apr 23, 2012)

I'm using 2x Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream". They are 110.31 CFM fans and I use a cheap Potentiometer_(around $2)_ to control both fans. It's a cheap fan controller.. Or you can buy a good fan controller. Here is a nice little cheap one that will do the trick and look good doing it.


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 24, 2012)

m1dg3t said:


> I just wanted to know how can people reccomend the 212 when the 520 is a beter cooler, supposed to be anyways? Push/pull is best and orient the cooler so that the exhaust is directed to case exhaust, if possible.
> 
> I have a VenomousX cooler but looking to swap it for a d14 or SilverArrow sb-e if I can find one, my case flow is pretty horrid (HTPC on/in a rack). My current max temp is 70c after 6Hrs ++ Prime stress. I'm currently @ 444 x 8.5 with 1.30vcore, 4 x 2GB RAM @ 1066  I've spent the last week or 2 trying to figure out the best GTLs and think I've found the sweetspot for my rig so gonna try to drop the vcore and see if she stays stable
> 
> I have a q9550 as well, c1 not e0. I  have a stuck sensor, it read's ~10c higher on idle. Should be pretty easy to get 3.4 at least out of it. I'm away from home ATM but I'll chime in later with some ideas you can try. Best to start gathering stress test/monitoring software now and do some reading before you start clocking it, I see to many people just hitting the chip with volts to get it stable instead of making the small stability tweak's. There's a good link to GTL info on the 2nd last page of the Asus p45 owners club on our forum. From what I've been able to understand is the stock GTL voltage for these quad's is ~.8v so when Calculating your multi remember to leep it in that range, VTT or FSBtermination voltage it's called example mine is set to 1.26 Fsb term v and my multi is .635 & .645 IIRC, this has been the best so far for my combo. When I get back home I'll post some more info, hopefully, to help get you going. Don't take this the wrong way but hit up Google as well, lot's of info out there amd prolly lot's that will get left out of thos discussion lol Gotta remember these are now vintage chip's lol



Thank you; I would greatly appreciate that!

I still have my old CPU, and with the 520, on a cold day, I was able to get it from 2.13 up to 3.12 stable under 60°C. Maybe I should try reinstalling it and see what happens (is it possible I damaged something while installing the new CPU)?

Thank you Mindweaver and OneMoar for the fan suggestions!

Sinzia I think you're right about the cure time for the Arctic Silver; my temperatures are a little lower now. While browsing the Internet, they seemed to be between 45 and 48°.


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## OneMoar (Apr 24, 2012)

MX4 is better then AC5 but only by 1 or 2C but its totally not conductive/non captive and easier to apply  a bent pin is not likely to be effected by temps so I doubt its damaged might be a fidgety chip tho  
CFM is not everything static pressure is what you wanna look at also


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 24, 2012)

Thanks to this thread I decided to look into my cooling and found that one out of my two front fans wasn't spinning. After stripping down my rig and redoing the cabling so that I could reconnect the fan, I've managed to lower my temps considerably. Which makes sense.

I've managed to slightly increase my overclock too. I love rekindling my OC'ing spirit.


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 26, 2012)

So I ordered the new CPU cooler along with the Scythe fans! If it doesn't really help out, Amazon is pretty cool with returns. I'll post back when everything is installed.


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## vega22 (Apr 26, 2012)

i hate to be the one to tell you dude but you wont ever get the best out of that cpu from a p35, they just cant do the high fsb with 45nm quads


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## Bo$$ (Apr 26, 2012)

marsey99 said:


> i hate to be the one to tell you dude but you wont ever get the best out of that cpu from a p35, they just cant do the high fsb with 45nm quads



I got 450 out of my P5k premium. He should get about similar 

He won't hit 4GHZ or anything but 3.6-3.8 should be quite attainable


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## vega22 (Apr 26, 2012)

with what chip dude?

i tried a couple dif boards and the best i got with my 9550 was around 440 which is a good way off the 540 i got from it in a p45.


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## Bo$$ (Apr 26, 2012)

marsey99 said:


> with what chip dude?
> 
> i tried a couple dif boards and the best i got with my 9550 was around 440 which is a good way off the 540 i got from it in a p45.



I had 3.7GHZ with a Q9450, im sure that one will get a little more than that


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## vega22 (Apr 26, 2012)

nice :thumb:

i nearly had that same chip but found the 9550 on a steal of a deal for £140


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## BarbaricSoul (Apr 26, 2012)

I was able to do 9*475 fsb for a 4.275 ghz OC with a Q9650 on a Nvidia 750 chipset(EVGA 750FTW mb). I would be confident in saying P35 chipset can out do the Nvidia 750 chipset.


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 26, 2012)

BarbaricSoul said:


> I was able to do 9*475 fsb for a 4.275 ghz OC with a Q9650 on a Nvidia 750 chipset(EVGA 750FTW mb). I would be confident in saying P35 chipset can out do the Nvidia 750 chipset.



I too managed a 475fsb on my Q9550, but i was running an Asus P5Q Pro which was a P45 chipset.

I think I remember someone saying that P35 boards tend to run a little hotter then newer generation boads a long while back while C2Qs were still in full swing


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## BarbaricSoul (Apr 26, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> I too managed a 475fsb on my Q9550, but i was running an Asus P5Q Pro which was a P45 chipset.
> 
> I think I remember someone saying that P35 boards tend to run a little hotter then newer generation boads a long while back while C2Qs were still in full swing



I was able to do 500 fsb with the same Q9650 on a Gigabyte P45 UD3P, but then again, the UD3P was one of the best OC'ing P45 boards.


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## Bo$$ (Apr 26, 2012)

FreedomEclipse said:


> I too managed a 475fsb on my Q9550, but i was running an Asus P5Q Pro which was a P45 chipset.
> 
> I think I remember someone saying that P35 boards tend to run a little hotter then newer generation boads a long while back while C2Qs were still in full swing



they tend to have Ghetto cooling as a result


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## m1dg3t (Apr 28, 2012)

Apologies for late reply, been hiding in a corner picking my nose 



SnoopKatt said:


> So I ordered the new CPU cooler along with the Scythe fans! If it doesn't really help out, Amazon is pretty cool with returns. I'll post back when everything is installed.



What cooler did you order? That 520 of your's is a pretty decent cooler from what i recall.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515316

^^ This guide was a big help to me, i read through it a few time's and did a bunch of Googling (searched using overclocking q9550 & OCing q9550 on Asus p5q [which is my combo]) going through multiple single post's and small thread's to get an idea of where to start. 

In regard's to the GTL's i was pointed to this thread http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...ow-to-set-up-GTL-Ref-Values-for-45nm-amp-65nm and also came across this thread in it there was talk about GTL's which i found helpfull >> http://icrontic.com/discussion/85055/the-goal-fsb475mhz

Have you dwnld any stress/mointoring proggies yet? Can you post some pix of your actual  MOBO and your BIOS showing what option's you have for clocking? You may be able to increas the board's headroom by improving it's cooling. Usually a hot NB/VRM's keep OC's from being as good as they can be, plus most people just dump volt's to make it "stable" which in turn add's heat, not bad if you can get rid of it.


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## Mindweaver (Apr 28, 2012)

marsey99 said:


> i hate to be the one to tell you dude but you wont ever get the best out of that cpu from a p35, they just cant do the high fsb with 45nm quads



You're right to an extent.. My p35 handled my 3.6GHz overclock just fine.. The only problem I had with mine was overclocking ram past 900mhz.. _(that's with using 1066mhz ram)_ I did upgrade to a P45 and it handled 3.8Ghz like a champ. So, if he likes his board, and don't have the money to upgrade to a P45 he can still get to 3.6Ghz quite easy... and mybe even 3.8ghz with that new Heatsink and fans. 

EDIT: I do have to note that my p35 handled my E8400 @ 4.0Ghz and ram @ 1066Mhz.. but for some reason.. It didn't like my quad running at 1066Mhz.


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## m1dg3t (Apr 30, 2012)

Came across this thread, LOT's of info and LOT's of pages but if you want to get the best result's  http://www.overclock.net/t/254734/gigabyte-ga-p35-ds3l-thread

As for me i've been playing with my OC again and working on getting the vCore down, finding out just how important GTL's and NBv are when going over 400FSB with a quad. 

Trying to stabilize 1.28v ATM which has resulted in ~6c drop in max temps but errors out in under 1Hr p95. When i started with that core voltage i was erroring out in less than 20min so it's getting better 

Did you get your new cooler yet SnoopKatt?


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## SnoopKatt (Apr 30, 2012)

m1dg3t said:


> Apologies for late reply, been hiding in a corner picking my nose
> 
> 
> 
> ...





m1dg3t said:


> Came across this thread, LOT's of info and LOT's of pages but if you want to get the best result's  http://www.overclock.net/t/254734/gigabyte-ga-p35-ds3l-thread
> 
> As for me i've been playing with my OC again and working on getting the vCore down, finding out just how important GTL's and NBv are when going over 400FSB with a quad.
> 
> ...



I think it arrives today! When I get home I will definitely read through that stuff and give some of those things a try; thank you for the input!


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## SnoopKatt (May 1, 2012)

I just hooked up everything, and it seems to be a little cooler. However, CoreTemp still reads 43 to 45° idle, and 50° under mild use. In the bios, after I restart, it ranges between 26° and 32°. I will take some pictures tomorrow to give more details, but is it possible all of the cores are reading 10° high?

Thank you everyone for your input; it is all greatly appreciated!


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## m1dg3t (May 1, 2012)

N/P man! It isn't often that i can actually help someone so yeah 

My idle is  41 19 30 33. I guess you could say i have 2 forked sensor's on idle 

Max temp after 7Hrs 40Min Large FFT (yep managed to get it more stable) 67 57 58 58

^^ Reported by core temp, my temps reported by HWmonitor are idle 41 19 29 33 and load 65 55 58 57 

Ambient is ~24c / 25c 

I still have 1 core erroring out on me so gonna mess with it some more later during the week, i've done enough priming


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## SnoopKatt (May 2, 2012)

I bought a Hyper 212. I've been checking the temperatures with CoreTemp, and under load, they don't look too bad.

Here are the photos. Right now, I have it at 3.00 GHz, at 1.2V. After an hour of prime 95 blend, none of the cores go above 63° (they are between 61 and 63).

http://imageshack.us/g/842/mg1558.jpg/

Wow, this CPU is a tough cookie. Nothing like overclocking dual core CPUs. I am at 3.1 GHz, but my voltage is over 1.25V! It seems stable, but one of the cores is topping at 73°C, so I guess I need to lower the frequency (lowering the voltage makes it unstable). I don't see a lot of other variables mentioned in posted articles that I can change on my motherboard. Is it safe to add a little voltage to the FSB or the MCH?

Thanks!


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## m1dg3t (May 4, 2012)

SnoopKatt said:


> I bought a Hyper 212. I've been checking the temperatures with CoreTemp, and under load, they don't look too bad.
> 
> Here are the photos. Right now, I have it at 3.00 GHz, at 1.2V. After an hour of prime 95 blend, none of the cores go above 63° (they are between 61 and 63).
> 
> ...



Thanks! I'll try to help you as much as possible, i'm no GURU but i'll try my best to at least get ya going in the right direction  Hopefully some other's can add to the discussion.

The most important thing with OCing is to be patient, test properly & fully and read as many guide's/tutorial's as possible and of course keep temp's & volt's within spec. Unless you don't care for longevity then ball's to the wall!  There are no magic setting's. EVERY chip, board & combo is different. Only through trial/error will you achieve a stable OC  It's also a good idea to keep note's of setting's that you used and if they were stable or not. Do you have the newest BIOS for your board, if not i would highly suggest flashing to the latest one as it may increase compatibility/stability.

If i'm not mistaken you are running 4 stick's of RAM? As such it will be more difficult to OC and you'll really have to get the NB/MCh/FSB term/VTT voltage's right as you are really loading the chipset, not impossible just more difficult. 

What were your temp's like with the other cooler? It look's as if you have the standard 212 which i think is not as good of a cooler as the n520 but seeing as you have both you can decide which work's better in your rig  IIRC a thing that held back those board's was the lack of MOBO cooling and as such i would reccomend getting some heatsink's for the VRM/PWR regulation circuitry (the chip's around the CPU socket) and add a fan to the NB. Swiftech/Enzotech make some nice copper sink's in various size's or you can source sink's from electronic surplus stores and customize them yourself, they are also good place's to find small server style fan's for cheap  I have used both "method's" and they have been equally as effective, just more work going the custom route.

You'll want to lock your PCIe to 100Mhz as that can cause instability if left on AUTO when upping FSB. With your volt's max Vcore i'd go with air would be around 1.35v/1.38v, i'm not exactly sure about NB/MCH volts on that board but you can start by taking them off of auto and bumping them up slowly all the while checking temp's and stability, you will have to add volt's here especially with 4 stick's of RAM. 

All your changes should be small bump's all the while testing stability & temp's. If your RAM is 1066 lock it at 800, or underclock it anyways, to take it out of the equation for now untill you get the FSB stable then try bringing the RAM speed up. If you're in a "rush" to test you can try Intel burn test as it test's a lot quicker than Prime and some people say it is a better option as it REALLY stresses the OC, it will make your temp's get really high as well so it will let you know how good the cooler is doing.

Hope this help's? Be patient, read, read and then read some more! There are over 400 pages in that single thread about your specific board and i'm sure there is a wealth of info in there, and it is specific to your board. I have never OC'd a Gigabyte, never even owned one so i'm not familiar with the BIOS, if you had an Asus p45 i'd be of better assistance i guess but hey 

I ended up raising my Vcore back to 1.30v as it just wasn't stable enough @ 1.28v. I stress with Prime and start with small FFT minimum 6Hrs, then large FFT minimum 6Hrs and finally Blend for 12Hrs and if i pass all those with reasonable temp's i bust out some gaming session's for "real world" testing. I seem to be doing Ok so far minus driver issues but that's a separate event


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## SnoopKatt (May 4, 2012)

m1dg3t said:


> Thanks! I'll try to help you as much as possible, i'm no GURU but i'll try my best to at least get ya going in the right direction  Hopefully some other's can add to the discussion.
> 
> The most important thing with OCing is to be patient, test properly & fully and read as many guide's/tutorial's as possible and of course keep temp's & volt's within spec. Unless you don't care for longevity then ball's to the wall!  There are no magic setting's. EVERY chip, board & combo is different. Only through trial/error will you achieve a stable OC  It's also a good idea to keep note's of setting's that you used and if they were stable or not. Do you have the newest BIOS for your board, if not i would highly suggest flashing to the latest one as it may increase compatibility/stability.
> 
> ...



This is extremely helpful, thank you for the input!

I think the Northbridge and the south bridge both have heatsinks, but not fans, so I will look for some fans that fit them. With the two Scythe fans, the 212 seems to be doing better than the 520 (it runs about 5° cooler). I've only done Blend testing, and right now, I have a 24-hour prime 95 stable 1.2 V at 3 GHz. I will keep reading and keep trying!


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## m1dg3t (May 9, 2012)

Hey SnoopKatt wondering how you're making out? Keep the thread updated maybe we can still help?


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## SnoopKatt (May 9, 2012)

Unfortunately, I've been really busy with school (finals start tomorrow!), So I haven't gotten too far on the overclocking. Right now, I am at 3.00 GHz at 1.15 V, so I got the temperatures down a little bit more. When the mayhem is all over, I can put a lot more time into this 

Thank you for asking though!


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## m1dg3t (May 16, 2012)

Good luck with finals! Guess we'll see you when you have more free time


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## SnoopKatt (May 16, 2012)

Thanks! it looks like they were pretty well so far. 

I find tuned the CPUdown to 1.1 volts at 3.00 for the sake of finding the lower limit.  Now it's time to go up


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## m1dg3t (May 16, 2012)

Cool! Figuratively & literally  Underclocking is a good way to familiarize yourself with your setup without fear of damaging it  Good luck with the rest of your exams


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## SnoopKatt (May 19, 2012)

Thanks! They all went pretty well.

Interesting phenomenon: When I try to up it from 3.00 to 3.10, the computer will not even go into Windows until I bring the voltage from 1.1 all the way to 1.3. I messed with some of the other voltages, but not a lot of luck. Is it safe to bring the North Bridge voltage up .2?

Thanks!


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## SnoopKatt (Jun 8, 2012)

So I found a similar thread on another forum: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/247903-29-gigabyte-ds3l-overvolt-question

So I guess for the quad cores this is pretty common on this motherboard to have this much difficulty with overclocking. I will keep plugging away and see where I can get though!


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