My first OC: q9550/P5Q Deluxe ... need advice

[CleanSteve]

Ok after all the good advice on cooling, BIOS, etc. I dove in this week-end with my first attempt to OC my system (details below in sig). BTW the Q9550 is a C1.

My goal is not a huge OC, just a nice stable 3.4 GHz system usable all the time. I moved up to 3.4 via FSB adjustment and I have to say this system ran rock solid like a champ as I moved up the FSB in a few steps and moved down the VCore till P95 started failing (typical failure mode was an auto-reboot). Here's where I am now.

I set the following:

FSB Frequency: 400
DRAM Freq: 1066 (results in a 3:4 FSB:DRAM ratio)
CPU Voltage: 1.14375 (results in a Core Voltage of 1.144 in CPU-Z under load)
[EDIT: Typo first time, yes the CPUV is 1.14375, not 1.4375!]

C1E Support Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit Disabled
Intel Virtualization Disabled
Speedstep Disabled
AI Overclock Tuner Manual
CPU Spread Spectrum Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum Disabled
CPU Margin Performance

All other voltages/features set to Auto or Enabled - i.e. stock.

P95 running for 30+ minutes in a couple of test cycles, no problems as far as I can tell. In other words, this seems like a good candidate for an OC.

Temps (average over several minutes, seems to cycle up and down 2 or 3 degree over each minute):
Core1: 64
Core2: 59
Core3: 59
Core4: 60

DRAM Timings (set by my system as it is on AUTO for this):
CL: 5
tRCD: 5
tRP: 5
tRAS: 18

According to SpeedFan, my DRAM voltage is 1.8, though I'm not sure what this really means.

So, question: Where do I go from here? I haven't touched DRAM, NB, or SB voltages. Worth bothering with? Or is where I am a good place?

How do I tell what the current voltage settings for these are?

[deeppow]

Reading the default voltage settings are dependent on what sensors are installed on the MB. If the bios or other apps such as Everest doesn't show them then you'll have to test your way to settings.

My approach is pretty simple, pick one voltage to work on then look at the color in the bios, blue (at least for ASUS) is within the tolerance, go to max voltage that'll stay blue. That should be max of default settings and I would assume that should be stable (the proof of my assumption will be that it works). Then I'll try stepping down the voltage a little at a time. It is time consuming but should work.

By the way, I use IntelBurnTest to test --- a shorter period of time is needed to test. But watch your temps because they'll be be higher with IBT. :beer:

[CleanSteve]

So no other thoughts? I'm probably just not going to bother tuning my SB, NB and DRAM voltages unless someone has a good reason for doing so.

And if you do -- any links to threads with info on best ways to do this would be great. The FAQs mostly focus on CPU voltage tuning.

Thanks!