Legacy Overclocking the Asus P5Q3 Deluxe

Hi! My first post, please bear with me And as the title suggests, probably also a few years late...

Does anybody still run a P45 Platform? Or have any memories of overclocking one?

I'm in the midst of upgrading from an X48 to a P45, mainly to get to know DDR3 better, before I scrap the whole LGA775 platfrom for something modern.

Does anybody know, what I voltages and GTL references I need to set in oder to get the memory running at 1:2 FSBDR? 3:5 works like a charm (450/1350) and is rock solid, but changing this to 400/1600 leaves the system unbootable. The memory is newer, albeit some Elixir ValueRAM crap, but it is rated for 800 Mhz, and even has an 833Mhz Jedec standard Timing profile according to CPU-Z, so I guess I can assume that it's not the weak link in the chain.

System specs:
Q9300
Asus P5Q3 Deluxe
2x4GB Elixir PC12800
Radeon HD6870
Thermaltake 430W

I know the PSU is a little on the low side, but I do not use this rig for gaming, so the GPU and CPU never run full loads in parallel. Essentially, the mobo and CPU combination have 350-400W at their disposal, it should be enough.

Thanks for any advice!

I don't remember how to OC 775 as it's been a long time, but my advice is to kill it with fire. It's 8 year old tech. Sure, you have a later CPU, but it's based on 2006 tech. Too old, too decrepit. It must die- or be relegated to file server or HTPC duties.

Nothing pre-bloomfield is worth while on the Intel side for any kind of gaming if you are serious about the hobby, IMO. C2D/Q is just too inefficient and the BUS is a real bottleneck unless you OC the snot out of it. You'll never get the kind of framerate you could out of a 4790K, with the same GPU.

Theocnoob said:

... unless you OC the snot out of it.

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That's the point of this thread, I guess?

I would guess that you have an FSB hole at 400 based on the information you've given. You said the RAM has an 833Mhz JEDEC standard so why don't you aim for that? go for like a 416 FSB and see if you can pull it off. Quads don't like high FSB as much as duals though so who knows if it'll work? You already got the FSB to 450 though so I imagine this will work.

Even still, a 416 bus is not very fast for C2Q. It certainly won't get you over the bus bottleneck. I had my FSB up to 533 and the performance was still a joke on that platform.

I suggest aiming for the highest possible FSB rather than the highest possible CPU or RAM clocks. So what if you cant get your RAM to run 1600... Thats where the performance is at on 775. The bus. Still, its a crapbox compared to Haswell.

I hear Devil's Canyon calling your name. Nice 4690K for you. Much, much, much faster.

I still have some Socket 775 Parts that I run from time to time.

You should try and test the different fsb straps and the various memory divider to see which ones work best for your board. In my experience some will work better and clock higher than others. Dual cores will often clock at higher bus than quads and memory ic and density can also be a factor. Higher memory speeds and higher density kits are harder to get stable when running at higher overclocks.


I agree with "Theocnoob"... Try for higher or highest stable fsb with DDR3-1333(+) speed and then work towards running your memory up towards default DDR3-1600.

PolRoger said:

I still have some Socket 775 Parts that I run from time to time.

You should try and test the different fsb straps and the various memory divider to see which ones work best for your board. In my experience some will work better and clock higher than others. Dual cores will often clock at higher bus than quads and memory ic and density can also be a factor. Higher memory speeds and higher density kits are harder to get stable when running at higher overclocks.


I agree with "Theocnoob"... Try for higher or highest stable fsb with DDR3-1333(+) speed and then work towards running your memory up towards default DDR3-1600.


View attachment 155513

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Yeah, pretty much stuck at 450FSB now.. could be one or two Mhz more, but the next logical step was 457 and everything keeps failing, reduced multiplier by half a step, reduced memory speed, but still keeps failiing. Raising FSB Termination voltage doesn't change much anymore, was effective from 416 to 440, then no effect, NB voltage does not seem to matter much either, both are now at 1.3V. Increased 1/3 GTL by .005 to .635 in order to keep 40mV difference between 1/3 and 2/4. Raised NB GTL also to .635. This seemed to stabilize, but still can't get 457Mhz stable on IBT 4GB stresstest.

Now I'm wondering what else I could do. I have multiple Xeon 771 w/ pinmod lying around and one C2D, could try to put them in and see what FSBs I can achieve with them. However, the reduced processing power of those processors may fool you to believe a higher FSB to be stable, yet it could be a fallacy, as the reduced processing power means the FSB is less stressed. (BTW, those Xeon LGA771 dual cores can be bought used on ebay for €1,50 ~ $2.00, so that's some extremely high perfomance/price ration you're getting there).

For example, the system was stable with 6x433Mhz, however increasing the CPU to 7x433Mhz would cause instability. I knew the CPU to be stable at that speed with 1.25V and I was right, it was not the vCore which needed to be raised, but FSB Termination Voltage, which with a .05V bump kept the system stable again.

That's kinda the fear I have with trying out a dual-core.

PLL voltages do nothing in oder to enhance OC stability, eh?

EDIT: P.S.: What monitoring software is that? Also, the amount of sensors on your board is overwhelming!

The monitoring software is AIDA64 Extreme. The Ramapage Extreme also has quite a lot of BIOS overclocking options!

Core 2 Duo chips are native dual core and are able to clock higher (fsb) compared to Core 2 Quads which are actually two separate duo chips tied together on one package. For the quads it is harder to line up and stabilize signals traveling back and forth from the memory across the fsb to the cores. I find it hard to run these old quads with fsb set higher then 450(+). The CPU, the type of motherboard being used along with the BIOS programing (FSB straps/memory dividers etc.), as well as the type of memory (both ic and density) can all factor in towards achieving stability. I was testing 475(+) today... Lots of reboots, swapping out different memory kits and trying/tweaking different BIOS settings.

You could probably use a quad chip with a higher multi but like the "theocnoob " said earlier the whole platform is getting pretty old now and spending more on this tech may not be justified over upgrading to newer generation parts... Haswell, IB, SB.

I still have them around to use and overclock with as more like a hobby.

Hy , im maybe very late with my experiences , but still want to share them.
I got a lga771 xeon mod on my asus p5q3 deluxe board and run it with a x5470 c2q @ 4.275 ghz + 4 x 2 gb Corsair xms3 10600 memorys.
Its prime stable and cheked the most time with aida64 pro.
Im running on 450 mhz with a multi of 9.5 x on 1.350 vcore and 1.52 vram.
I know the board can reach 500 fsb but its not really stable for a longer load on it on the standard cpu strap 333.
My tip is , to really fix the strap and set the timmings of the ram typical settings.
Than work the fsb with the multi of 8 till you reach the wall. Please set the vcore on auto and test the max volting on aida64. Restart and set it to the max volt that is shown on aida in the bios .
My max vcore is only 1.350 volt and managed 28% cpu overclock / 43% fsb overclock

Edit:
For now i really updated my settings,
1. Vcore 1.350 v - 1.300 v
2. Nbv Auto - 1.36 v stable
3. FsbV Auto - 1.36 v stable
4. Timmings 9-9-9-24 / 6-6-6-16 crt2
5. 450mhz fsb - 475mhz fsb

Good work olliman

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Good work olliman thanks

For now , i got a hardware update:
I changed the 4 x 2 gb xms3 1333mhz cl9 Rams from Corsair, against 2x 4gb cmx ddr3 Vengeance 1600mhz cl9 and now able to run them in Dual-channel mode @ 900mhz (1800mhz rated Fsb) , 1:1 Ratio at the same stock voltage of 1.5200 vram like the others.
It turns up the latencies from 8-8-8-20 to 6-6-6-16
And push the system up to the higher class of performance. It was a very big problem to fit the big heatspreaders on the dimms , because my Cpu Cooler is a big Noctuah NH-D14 and stands over the slots like a rock , but after i removed one of the heatspreaders from the memory it works and from now on im able to run the Nb Voltage some steps lower as with 4 sticks. So the temps are going down and the board temperatur never climb over 42 degrees on warm days from now on. Btw the cores still reached 50 degrees on full load for hours , thanks the CPU Cooler...i think I can be great full for this settings at the mom.

Johan45 said:

Good work olliman

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Good work olliman thanks

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Hey olliman,

Good to see you working on this board. I have P5Q3 Deluxe. I am doing the LGA 771 to 775 Mod, putting in Xeon 5470 CPU. Right now I cannot get the cpu to work, so maybe I need to adjust the sticker. (I have added the CPU codes and created a modded bios - using instructions on delidded website). I have a water cooler and a 1tb SSD, so this thing will be a good computer for me for years.

So far I have 16GB G Skill Ram 4x4gb sticks. Works fine, no problems. My goals are:

1. to get the Xeon 5470 to work
2. Get 32GB (8gb x 4) to work on mobo

I think maybe the biod needs another mod to get 8gb dimms to work.

Hello I'm sorry for the time I don't answer, but I was busy over the christmas time...
I got some questions to ask about your konfiguration, and hope to give you some helpful answers.
1. What happend, if you start your system ? Got a black screen or some informations about start problems?
2. If you got the blackscreen, do you check, if its starts with only one dimm installed?
3. Please check with another ram if you can run the system. And look at your vendorlist about the compatibility of your ram sticks to the board.
Ps: I've never heard about it, that somebody have managed to run a P5q3 deluxe with a 32 GB konfiguration...
It's to much performance hungry for the chipsets, the parts, and the Cpu to get a stable system on this board...
And if someone write, that he have managed some overmaxed configuration of this system, please don't believe him or try to get the same stats on your board. This board is one of the best best boards on the p45 chipsets, that ever build in time. So it's a little treasure and it is a sad thing if it's hurts by such a gonfiguration with a fixed bios. Please mind that bro.

BTW:
I've tryed a long time to stabilised my setting, because every board got another
Point to come to the highest O.C. ...i think a little bit trying is important.

Olliman86 said:

Hello I'm sorry for the time I don't answer, but I was busy over the christmas time...
I got some questions to ask about your konfiguration, and hope to give you some helpful answers.
1. What happend, if you start your system ? Got a black screen or some informations about start problems?
2. If you got the blackscreen, do you check, if its starts with only one dimm installed?
3. Please check with another ram if you can run the system. And look at your vendorlist about the compatibility of your ram sticks to the board.
Ps: I've never heard about it, that somebody have managed to run a P5q3 deluxe with a 32 GB konfiguration...
It's to much performance hungry for the chipsets, the parts, and the Cpu to get a stable system on this board...
And if someone write, that he have managed some overmaxed configuration of this system, please don't believe him or try to get the same stats on your board. This board is one of the best best boards on the p45 chipsets, that ever build in time. So it's a little treasure and it is a sad thing if it's hurts by such a gonfiguration with a fixed bios. Please mind that bro.��

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I understand, Christmas time is busy and such no problem. If you are willing, please bear with my long post. There is a lot of information - if we are to address 8gb module issue and other issues, there is much to discuss.

Computer: Asus P5Q3 Deluxe Mobo, bios 2105 (newest from Asus), Intel Pentium E6800 3.33 GHz

what I tried so far:

DID NOT WORK
tried G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GSR / 8GB per dim / 9-9-9-24 timing /1.5v

attempt: tried only 1 8GB stick. Moved to different slots.
result: machine turned on, no signal to monitor. Then machine shut off. I could not get to bios

WORKS

G.Skill F3-1600C9D-8GAO /4GB per dimm / 9-9-9-24 timing / 1.5v

result: boots perfectly, no overheat, pass ram test. 16GB total (4gb x 4 dimm)

You asked about the QVL (vendor list). The vendor list is quite old and is not helpful. The largest dimm on the list is 2GB.

I think of several things to resolve:

1. Does mobo support 8gb modules? if not why? hardware limitation or bios?
2. How to mod bios?
3. Maybe I could run 8gb module at 1333mhz?
4. Maybe my CPU does not support 8gb module?

I have Intel Pentium E6800 3.33 GHz right now. As said before, I cannot get the Xeon 5470 mod to work yet. That is a completely different issue but one I mentioned earlier.

questions for you:

Have you tried 8gb dimm?
Do you have the LGA 771 /775 mod or no?
What cpu are you running?
What bios version?

Other:
The problem bios- I cannot find any information on how to extensively modify bios.
. Unfortunately, there is very little information on how to extract bios and properly view the code (likely machine code) and modify bios. I am comfortable in 2 programming languages, so I feel comfortable with code, but I am not sure where to even begin. I did find something called coreboot - but that appears maybe for linux only? I am unsure. When I have a chance I'll check bios-mods.com. Maybe they have something useful.

Thank you and happy holidays I look forward to your reply

Olliman86 said:

BTW:
I've tryed a long time to stabilised my setting, because every board got another
Point to come to the highest O.C. ...i think a little bit trying is important.

Click to expand...

Are you simply trying to overlock your RAM? That is what it looks like

No no... i ve changed over 90% of all auto settings. And now, i got a 24/7 overclock set.
It runs with over 36% Cpu O.C. and 30% FSB O.C.
Here are my settings for you:
Board: Asus P5Q3 Deluxe
Bios: same as yours with microcode.
Cpu: X5470 @ 4.31 GHZ
Ram: 2xCorsair Vengeance 4Gb DDR3
@ 1818 Mhz Dual Channel on 1.54 Volt
Timmings: 6-6-6-16 /2T

Mobo settings are following...

I'm not at home, so i dont got all the stats of my Rig in my mind.
Maybe the next days i can send them to you and if you wish to try the 771 bios mod again i can send you the file i wrote..

Olliman86 said:

No no... i ve changed over 90% of all auto settings. And now, i got a 24/7 overclock set.
It runs with over 36% Cpu O.C. and 30% FSB O.C.
Here are my settings for you:
Board: Asus P5Q3 Deluxe
Bios: same as yours with microcode.
Cpu: X5470 @ 4.31 GHZ
Ram: 2xCorsair Vengeance 4Gb DDR3
@ 1818 Mhz Dual Channel on 1.54 Volt
Timmings: 6-6-6-16 /2T

Click to expand...

That's great, its stable too? 24/7?

I would be OK with less OC as long as its stable. These are very good mobo's and with the xeon they can easily perform very well.

Yes your right, the highest GHZ position was 4.9 GHZ @ 1.37V @490 MHZ FSB @10x Multiplier and @ 1.3V NBV
But it don't run the intel burn test for a long time

Olliman86 said:

Yes your right, the highest GHZ position was 4.9 GHZ @ 1.37V @490 MHZ FSB @10x Multiplier and @ 1.3V NBV
But it don't run the intel burn test for a long time

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Can you post or send your modded bios? I think I have my CPU sticker on correct, so maybe my modded bios is bad.

Thank you and happy new year