Asus P5Q Pro E8400 with Gskill 1066 ram

HI!
I put my system together the other day, got everything up and running wiht no problems (YAY!).

My question is - how do I overclock this beasty? I want to keep it air cooled. I am only looking for a minor over clock - say up to 3.5-3.6ghz I know I need to change the fsb and the ram settings - but I am unsure what to change them to and what else I need to change / modify.

I have done a little bit of research but, the more I read the more confused I get. lol

Im not sure if my system will show, from what I posted in my file, so...
Asus P5Q PRO
Intel E8400
AC Freezer Pro 7
4GB Gskill 1066 DDR2
MSI HD 4850
HDD WD640 AAKS X2

TIA
Paul

Check out this thread...

Asus P5Q -- P5Q Pro -- P5Q Deluxe Discussion Thread
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=565873&page=2

to the forums!

3.5-3.6 You should be able to just adjust the fsb and that's it.

OldSkool said:

to the forums!

3.5-3.6 You should be able to just adjust the fsb and that's it.

Click to expand...

So, should I just bump the fsb to 400 or should I be able to do 533 ?
The reason I ask is that with the ram 1066 / 2 = 533 is this right?
Or just stay with the 400?

Thank you

Welcome.

Yes, the 533 is correct for your ram speed to FSB correlation or what have you. Anything below that will have your ram running below it's spec in terms of speed (which isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you).

Here's the thing, your stock multiplier is 9x. So 9*533 = ~4.8Ghz, which will be a bit of a strech, and surely impossible for you. So you have 3 distinct options (also hybrid options of these available).

1. Lower the 533, run your RAM below stock speed, but adjust timings (eg. 5-5-5-15 or 4-4-4-12 are common for these). Lower is better for timings.

2. Use a different divider to keep your RAM at 1066 (533) and your FSB at whatever you want. ASUS doesn't use the divider term though. You'll have to change the strap and look closely at the 'hard coded' options for ram speed to see what is around 1066.

3. You can also drop the multiplier from 9x to something like 7x which would net you 7*533 = ~3.73Ghz or something closer to what you are looking for.

You can use CoreTemp (someone correct me if this is acceptable for a 45nm) and get the VID. This is the "default" voltage intel programmed that chip to ask for. Change your vcore (CPU Voltage) to that in the BIOS to start off and see how far you can OC. Increase it a tiny bit at a time if needed and use the thread linked above for further help on that matter.

Awesome!
Thanks for all your help!
I guess I need to download a program to check to see what speeds I am at... When I change the fsb to 400 and leave everything on auto it still says the same amount in system (under my control panel).
I'll be honest I couldn't tell the difference... maybe with the auto settings on it was already at that speed.