Gigabyte P45T Overclocking issues

Hey guys:
I was considering getting a Gigabyte GA-P45T-ES3G to get a couple of last kicks outta my aging Core 2 Quad Q8400. I know it's not exactly the greatest mobo/cpu combo, especially with the crap multipliers on the 8400, but I've heard several positive reviews about this lower to mid end board.

The problem is that does anyone know if this, like other lower end Gigabyte boards, has Northbridge heat issues when overclocking? I currently have a G41 and I've had to replace the regular HS with another and had to add AS5. Should I also consider MOSFET heatsinks?

Also, does anyone know if this mobo has overclocking problems like my current G41 Combo (my mobo can't go past 343 FSB, FML)...Some people had pretty decent overclocks on this but I just want to be safe before buying.


Thanks in advance!

Current Specs:
Gigabyte G41 Combo
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @2.7 Ghz
ATI Radeon 5770 (OC to 880/1300mhz)
Wintec 2x2GB DDR3 1333 Dual Channel RAM
(will replace with G Skill 2x4GB DDR3 1600 if I get this board)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Rosewill Value2 series 650W (it was shellshocker deal I know it sucks)

I think that board has mentioned before since it is still fairly available but those in the Gigabyte 'know' said it was likely to be a very poor overclocker since it had few phases to power the cpu. I pulled a pic of the mobo up and it seems they were accurate. The board only has 3 phase cpu power. Not what we were looking for when 775 boards were in vogue for clocking.

There are a number of the earlier P45 chipset motherboards at this link. No they are not cheap and not all will "actually" be available. But most were better boards back in that day. Download the manual for your choice that is available and check the voltage setttings for overclocking before your final lay down of coins. Make sure what you get is bios overclocking friendly.


p45 chipset mobo

I'm not really looking to push the Q8400 a lot. Should I be able to get a 3.4 to 3.5 Ghz speed as I'm not quite a huge enthusiast?
-Edit: I was actually also considering the Asus P5E3 or P5Q3 on a few other websites. Those are definitely better but by approximately how much?

Mphaker said:

Should it be able to get the Q8400 to about 3.4-3.5 Ghz? I'm not really trying to push the limits, I'll be content with just a decent air overclock.

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3.4-3.6Ghz maybe. Depends on how good the cpu is at clocking with lower voltages and how well the chipset handles 400 FSB to reach 3.6Ghz. By the way that board you are looking at uses DDR3 ram and you likely have DDR2 in that P41 mobo.

3.4-3.6 is good enough for me. The Q8400's VID range is 085 to 1.3625V, so it's OK, not fabulous though. The P45's also a decent overclocker, though I might have to add a fan on the NB heatsink. I've got DDR3 1333 on my current G41 Combo so if I get the new mobo first I'll just pop that in temporarily.

Thanks dude.