Need help with OC, Q9550

Hi all !

It's prolly my 1st real attempt with overclocking. I've no doubt in accepting that I'm the noobest of the noob when it comes to O/C.

But I've tried to gain as much knowledge as I can via various articles and I've gone through this as well : http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240001-29-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide ( some say this is the most complete O/C article )

Thing is that I'm trying to O/C my Q9550 to 3.4 Ghz from stock speed of 2.83 Ghz . Multiplier is 8.5 and FSB is 333, so it becomes 2.83....

I've read many articles where people were able to achieve 3.4 Ghz ( 8.5 x 400)
without any special efforts by just changing the FSB, however, in case I couldn't get the damn thing to get stable at 3.4 Ghz ( prime crashes and system halts almost instantly )...


Following are the setting I', using as of now









I've already tried following.

1) Loosening the RAM timings to 5-5-5-15 ( though these babies run at 4-4-4-12 out of factory ).....I checked with memtest 86 and there're no errors.

2) Setting CPU voltage as 1.2, 1.225, 1.25, 1.275 and even 1.3 + ofcourse I've tried AUTO setting.

3) FSB strap to northbridge to 400 Mhz / auto

4) Load-Line calibration ( for reducing vdroop) to AUTO / ENABLE ....


Any help will be greatly appreciated. :cool2: If you need any screenshot pr pic, lemme know, I'll provide that.


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ASUS P5Q Pro | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83 Ghz (stock)| GSkill 2x2 GB DDR2 1000 Mhz @ 800 Mhz 4-4-4-12 timings | MSI 4870 OC Edition | Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 | Seagate 500GB+500GB | CM 690 Cabinet | 6 x 120 mm, 2000 RPM Cooler Master Fans.

I think you took too big of a first bite. You need to make small incremental changes especially if you are just starting out. I think part of the problem is your voltages to everything else. You don't want voltage settings on AUTO when overclocking. In fact, you don't want anything on auto when overclocking. It's all about providing the necessary voltage and being in control of everything manually. I would take your BIOS back to the default settings and then set all voltages to manual and get it to boot and test it at the lowest settings. Once your stable at the lowest settings start increaing your fsb in increments of 5-10 and re-test. As you increase your clock you will eventually need to bump up your vcore and if you take your oc far enough perhaps bump up fsb term voltage, NB voltage and maybe CPU PLL voltage. It's all about patience and trial and error. Be careful not to overvolt anything or you could be buying new hardware. Make sure you don't overvolt your RAM too.

EDIT: Other things that will affect your OC will be your FSB:RAM ratio where 1:1 is desired. Your FSB Strap should match your FSB settings range and make sure PCIE Frequency stays at 100. Your RAM settings should be on manual too. I leave LLC enabled and disable CPU spread and PCIE spread. I don't have the skew options in my bios so I can't help you there. You may want to make sure that speed stepping or TM throttle management is disabled along with C1E support when oc'ing at least while your still trying to reach your max oc. Once oc'd then you could turn those back on for power savings and running cooler.

I'm making an assumption here and I could be wrong, but I see you have a P5Q board. I can say with certainty that at least with the P5Q Deluxe, all kinds of people have had problems running quads with the more recent BIOSes. Even at stock settings, there are reports of failing Prime95, not being able to install Windows etc. I suspect this is why you're having issues as well, even though you have a Pro and not a Deluxe; these boards are in the same family.

I would have a look at this thread and consider trying another, older BIOS.

To summarize (and again I'm speaking in terms of the Deluxe), people have pretty much blamed the CME (CPU Margin Enhancement) feature as causing the problems. Therefore I would suggest using a BIOS that came out before this feature was added. Looking at Ket's post, you might try the 901m BIOS.

You should do some reading in that thread (or others at XS) to hopefully get more input on people's experiences with the Pro board and what's the best BIOS for it.

Good luck.

The 703m and 1307m are really good BIOS files for the P5Q Pro, I think the 901m is what killed Ket's board If you're running a quad, I would definitely give the 703m a spin first.

ghost_recon88 said:

The 703m and 1307m are really good BIOS files for the P5Q Pro, I think the 901m is what killed Ket's board If you're running a quad, I would definitely give the 703m a spin first.

Click to expand...

Didn't realize there was a problem with 901. I'd take gr_88's advice, seeing as he's running a Pro board and is probably up to speed with it.

I'm using latest 1406 BIOS and that, as many people have reported is been the most stable and O/C friendly BIOS for ASUS P5Q Pro


Edit :

Thanks all, I'll try the settings suggested and report back

Edit : -

I just tried following setting and system passed Intel Burn Test * without any glitch. Total clock achieved was 3060 Mhz ( 8.5 x 360 ). On same settings, I'm gonna try if I could do a 3.2 Ghz ( 376 * 8.5 ), then 3.4 Ghz hopefully.... I'll keep posted.

FSB set to 360
FSB Strap to Auto
RAM speed set to DDR2-720
RAM set to 5-5-5-15
RAM Voltage set to 2.0v
CPU Voltage set to 1.285v
FSB Termination voltage set to 1.30v
NB Voltage set to 1.30v

* This pushes your Intel CPU much harder than even Prime95 will. Takes less time to tell if your CPU/RAM is unstable than Prime95 (usually something like 8 minutes Intel Burn Test vs 40 hours under Prime95).

1406 is out for the Pro?

ghost_recon88 said:

1406 is out for the Pro?

Click to expand...