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Problems with Overclocking Q9450 & EVGA 780i

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Badbonji

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Location
Birmingham, UK
I am having alot of troube even overclocking by a small amount. I can post up to 3.6Ghz with 1.35Vcore (haven't tried higher), but as soon as I log on and starts loading applications it freezes. Even at 3.0Ghz it does this.

Setup:
Q9450 (water cooled)
4x2Gb 1066Mhz G.skill RAM (1:1 sync mode)
EVGA 780i A1
2 x EVGA 8800gts SSC (820/2033/2300)
Antec 900 Case
Vista 64 bit ultimate

Voltages:
CPU - Have tried all the way up to 1.4V, including 1.2V, 1.3V, 1.35V, 1.4V
Memory - Tried default (1.85V), 2.1V (rated voltage on memory)
FSB - 1.2V
SPP - 1.4V
MCP - 1.525V
SPP<-> MCP - 1.25V

Is there anything I am missing? Any one have a good idea of what to set voltages at? I want to overclock to around 3.2Ghz - 3.6Ghz, which should be achievable...
 
this is coming from 680i, but when i had my q6600 running i would have to have the fsb up to at least* 1.3 for 3.6GHz

thats 400fsb on a 9x multi and IIRC the 9450 only has a 8x - so your looking at 450fsb rating.

try upping the fsb and see if that helps at all. having spp @ 1.4 is good (should be enough for 3.6GHz anywayz)
 
Yeah, I took most of them from someone who got theirs to 3.6Ghz, and played with them to no avail. I will try the FSB @ 1.3V
 
It still didn't work with FSB at 1.3V

Has anyone got any voltages that I can work from who has a similar setup? (780i + Q9450 if possible)
 
We are having the same problem. I have almost the exact same setup with the exception of a 8800gtx, and a q6700. Cant get passed the 1199 FSB. Tried a million diff settings/voltages to no avail. Wonder if its our 780i?
 
I did just get it today...
What voltages have you tried? Do you run memory in sync mode while you overclock, it is more stable like that. What are your temps? In prime95, my CPU reaches maximum of 40C (100% load), with my graphics cards at 44C when playing games/3dmark06 so I know it isn't them causing the problem.
 
I have got it stable @ 2.8Ghz stock voltages, I am just going to up the FSB until it hangs at desktop then up the Vcore, FSB + NB little by little to try get stable @ 3.2Ghz. Sounds like a mission :(
 
Got it to 3.0Ghz :
CPU30Ghzoverclock.jpg


CPU - 1.4V
FSB - 1.3V
SPP - 1.4V
Memory - 1.85V
MCP - 1.5V
spp<-> mcp - 1.3V

Behappy see if yours works at my settings, I haven't run prime95 so I don't know whether it will be 100% stable but this is the most stable overclock I have got so far :D
 
I will try when I get back to my apartment in about a week. Is your ram supposed to run at 1.85v? My Gskill states it needs to run at 2 - 2.1v. I hope it works when I get back, kinda excited!
 
Yeah it is supposed to run at 2.1V, but instead it is more stable at 1.85V, not sure why. Anyway I got my RAM to 920Mhz stable with 1.85V, without needing to increase it at all. I can't get 3.2Ghz stable atm, but I have only played with the settings for a little while.
Remember if it doesn't work, try adjusting voltages, no two chips or motherboards are the same, also running memory in sync mode might help at first to get the stable OC on the CPU.
 
i have ocz reaper 1066

i called ocz, im running 2x2gb and the 780i board will only max out at 1000mhz. should i try 1:1 sync?

edit:
i got it to post at 1066mhz, i had to bring down the voltage to 1.9v woohoo, im at 4:5 ratio now.


does that ratio make any difference? or just numbers

also, wats my max temp i should watch out for? on prime95 it peaks at 45 degrees. is that too much?
 
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Hmmm. Interesting Problem Badbonji. How much have you actually tried playing with the FSB voltages? On my 680i, I keep the FSBv pegged at 1.5V. This seems to help me reach the really high FSB speeds(well, 445 is pretty high for a 680i). The rest(SPP, MCP, HT) are all 2 or 3 steps from max. Do I need those voltages so high? I'm not terribly sure, but it definitely helps me out to tweak those voltages when I can't seem to get past a certain FSB frequency(ie: when no amount of Vcore seems to keep the OC stable).

i have ocz reaper 1066

i called ocz, im running 2x2gb and the 780i board will only max out at 1000mhz. should i try 1:1 sync?

edit:
i got it to post at 1066mhz, i had to bring down the voltage to 1.9v woohoo, im at 4:5 ratio now.


does that ratio make any difference? or just numbers

also, wats my max temp i should watch out for? on prime95 it peaks at 45 degrees. is that too much?

I've got my best overclocks by running the RAM unlinked. The divider(Ratio) is simply set by the bios based on what you set your quadpumped FSB and DDR DRAM frequencies to. At 1700 and 1066 that gives your 531.25MHz using the the 4:5 divider and the 425MHz FSB as inputs to the equation. I have personally used this combination for a 24hr prime test with no problems. I have never run the RAM linked.
 
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I've raised my voltages quite a lot, but I still can't get my Q9450 stable at 3.2Ghz.
VTT=1.3
NB=1.45
SB=1.55
HT=1.3
DRAM=1.85
Vcc=1.35 BIOS, 1.32 real
With these settings core 2 failed after 20 minutes. What should I do? I don't know what voltages to adjust. I'm new to overclocking. Alot of people are talking about getting to 3.2 no problem with stock settings and all I'm getting is crap. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or something else is wrong.
 
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I used :
1.36Vcore - 1.3Vdroop
1.45V NB
1.5V SB
1.3V FSB
1.9V RAM
1.3V NB<->SB
GTL ref : Lane 1,3 and 4 : +20mV, lane 3 : +30mV

Ram runs 1:1 sync

It varies from chip to chip, so there is no guarantee it will work for anyone elses. I am sure most if not all should be able to get 3.2Ghz. But once you have it stable it is a good idea to lower the voltages to find its lowest voltage that it runs stable at so that it runs cooler and has is more likely to last longer.

Iceman is that the rated voltage for your memory? My Gskill needs 2.1V but it seems more stable at 1.9-2V at lower speeds. You could try memtest to see if the memory is stable.
 
I'm not sure if it's the rated voltage, but it was the default voltage set for the ram. I ran memtest86+ and it passed the tests without errors.
 
You could try moving the FSB to 1.4V and see if that makes it stable, and also you could try adjusting the reference voltages but I have no clu on what they mean really, the BIOS automatically upped them a bit so I put them a little higher when I overclocked hoping to be more stable, as they can help with overclocking quads.

You can try up to 1.36V on the CPU quite safely, but I saw the temperatures were getting too high when you upped the Vcore. What heatsink are you using?
 
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