Help to OC Q9400 above 410fsb

[Brash]

Looking for a performance boost over the E6300 and a nice OC'ing, I bought a Q9400 and Zalman CNPS9700 HSF the other day. These are on an Asus P5Q P45 Mobo, the one without the fancy heatpipe cooling system. Ram is Kingston 2x2GB DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15-2T.

I can't get a stable OC higher then 410mhz FSB with all on auto other then the ram voltage set to 2.2v. Ram is at 1025mhz 5-5-5-12-2T. Vcore is at 1.392 at full load when set to auto in BIOS.

With these settings, Prime 95 Blend test have temps at 66deg with the HSF on low, and 62deg with the fan on high using Core Temp - Core #0.

I've played with all the settings after spending a few days searching on forums for ideas but nothing is more stable then with the auto settings. It's failing in all sorts of ways, BSOD, Prime95 Blend and In-place, and OCCT.

With the FSB at and over 425 it always seems to fail much more quickly in 'Blend' (within a few seconds), then slower in 'In-place' and sometimes stable with 'Small FFT'. This would lead me to think there was a higher load on the chipset when more load is being put on the RAM. It still fails if the RAM is set to around 850mhz.

I can get Win7 32bit to boot at 440mhz FSB and run Prime 95 Small FFT successfully with the core at 68deg at these settings. Both other Prime95 torture tests fail on several cores within seconds:

FSB: 440
DDR2: 881mhz 5-5-5-15
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
Mem OC Charger: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister: Light
Ai Transaction Booster: 11
VCore: 1.39375v
CPU GTL Reference: Auto
PLL Voltage: 1.56v
FSB Term Voltage: 1.28v
DRAM: 2.0v
NB Voltage: Auto
SB Voltage: Auto
PCIE SATA Voltage: Auto
LLC: Enabled
CPU Spectrum Spread: Disabled
PCIE Spectrum Spread: Disabled
CPU Clock Slew: Auto
NB Clock Slew: Auto
CPU Margin Enhancement: Optimized



Ignore PCProbe temps.

I've ordered a Zalman NB cooler and 40mm fan to assist there, but this chipset should be good for at least a stable 425mhz.

Any ideas on settings or changes would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brad

 

[redduc900]

Give these settings a try for 3.6GHz (450MHz x 8, and DDR2-900)...

JumperFree Configuration Settings
AI Overclock tuner: MANUAL
CPU Ratio Setting: 8.0
FSB Frequency: 450
PCI-E Frequency: 101
FSB Strap to North Bridge: AUTO
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-900Mhz
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: AUTO
DRAM Timing Control: MANUAL

1st Information : 

CAS# Latency: 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : AUTO
Row Refresh Cycle Time: AUTO
Write Recovery Time: AUTO
Read to Precharge Time: AUTO

2nd Information :

READ to WRITE Delay (S/D): AUTO
Write to Read Delay (S): AUTO
WRITE to READ Delay (D): AUTO
READ to READ Delay (S): AUTO
READ to READ Delay (D): AUTO
WRITE to WRITE Delay (S): AUTO
WRITE to WRITE Delay (D): AUTO

3rd Information :

WRITE to PRE Delay: AUTO
READ to PRE Delay: AUTO
PRE to PRE Delay: AUTO
ALL PRE to ACT Delay: AUTO
ALL PRE to REF Delay: AUTO
DRAM Static Read Control: AUTO
DRAM Read Training: AUTO
MEM. OC Charger: AUTO
AI Clock Twister: AUTO
AI Transaction Booster: Manual
Common Performance Level: 8

CPU Voltage: 1.35
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2): 0.67
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (1/3): 0.675
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.56
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.28
DRAM Voltage: 2.0-2.10
NB Voltage: 1.34
NB GTL Reference: 0.640
SBridge Voltage: 1.20
PCIE SATA Voltage: 1.60

Load Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
CPU Clock Skew : Auto
NB Clock Skew : Auto
CPU Margin Enhancement: Optimized

Advance CPU Settings
CPU Ratio Setting: 8.0
C1E Suppport: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel® Virtualization Tech: Enabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled

 

[Ghostcustoms]

On my Asus P5q-e with a q9400 any time I took pll or gtl off auto I lost stability for some reason. Other than that, I always had to use a bit more FSB voltage than everyone else I found or read.

 

[Brash]

On my Asus P5q-e with a q9400 any time I took pll or gtl off auto I lost stability for some reason. Other than that, I always had to use a bit more FSB voltage than everyone else I found or read.

Thanks guys.

Ghost, what VCore/FSB did you end up with?

 

[hank123]

Ghost your pll if on auto it was way high. good way to kill a chip.

 

[Coreyoliseffect]

Here are my settings for my Q9400 and P5Q-E combo. I do have a 3.120 rad cooling it.

ASUS P5Q-E Template :

JumperFree Configuration Settings
AI Overclock tuner: MANUAL
CPU Ratio Setting: 8.0
FSB Frequency: 490
PCI-E Frequency: 100
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 400 MHz
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-980MHz
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: AUTO
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information : 5-5-5-15-3-54-6-3
CAS# Latency: 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : AUTO
Row Refresh Cycle Time: AUTO
Write Recovery Time: AUTO
Read to Precharge Time: AUTO

2nd Information : 8-3-5-4-6-4-7
READ to WRITE Delay (S/D): AUTO
Write to Read Delay (S): AUTO
WRITE to READ Delay (D): AUTO
READ to READ Delay (S): AUTO
READ to READ Delay (D): AUTO
WRITE to WRITE Delay (S): AUTO
WRITE to WRITE Delay (D): AUTO

3rd Information : 14-5-1-6-6
WRITE to PRE Delay: AUTO
READ to PRE Delay: AUTO
PRE to PRE Delay: AUTO
ALL PRE to ACT Delay: AUTO
ALL PRE to REF Delay: AUTO
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
AI Clock Twister: AUTO
AI Transaction Booster: Auto

CPU Voltage: 1.53750
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2): AUTO
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (1/3): AUTO
CPU PLL Voltage: AUTO
FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
DRAM Voltage: 2.20
NB Voltage: AUTO
NB GTL Reference: 0.680
SBridge Voltage: Auto
PCIE SATA Voltage: Auto

Load Line Calibration: Auto
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
CPU Clock Skew : Auto
NB Clock Skew : Auto
CPU Margin Enhancement: Optimized

Advance CPU Settings
CPU Ratio Setting: 8.0
C1E Suppport: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel® Virtualization Tech: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled

I hit right at 60C. I found the same thing that Ghost found. I had all of the settings changed to something different at one time. This is by far the most stable yet.