Q9300 and P5K-E - OC'ing Newb

[omni]

My Computer Specs
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 590
Fans: 2x 120mm Hard drive Fans, 3x 120mm case Fans
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
CPU Fan: OCZ Vendetta 2
Motherboard: Asus P5K-E (P35 Chipset)
Graphics Card: XFX Nvidia 9800 GTX
Memory: Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 (4x 1G) PC2-8500 Eased Latency
PSU: OCZ GXS600
Hard Drives: 1x IDE 320GB Maxtor, 1x Sata 320GB Seagate, 2x Sata 320GB WD, 2x Sata 500GB WD
DVD Burner: 1x LG GH20LS10 SATA Light Scribe DVDRW 20xDual Layer

A good starting point such as a recommended FSB and a temp range to shoot for would be appreciated.

I run Home Premium Vista 32, Home Premium Vista 64 and Debian Linux. I mainly use Vista 64.

I have gone and started to overclock slowly, I have followed the suggestions for the settings to everything, except of course VCore, Multiplier and Bus Speed. ( I followed this guide: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=515316 )

VCore is on auto right now, will follow your guide to reduce once I know its "stable", Multiplier is at 7.5 and Bus is at 400 (400.4) according to CPU-Z.

The recorded VCore Temp on auto right now is fluctuating from 1.24 to 1.28, staying closer to 1.24, this is of course what CPUID is reporting.

My Initial temp readings are 42-45*C while idling for each core, and with Prime95 Running, they are peaking at 57-62*C. According to intel.com, this is a full ~10* below the rated temp.

As I have said above I am fairly new to OC'ing, but I can grasp concepts and ideas pretty well. Has anyone done an OC on a Q9300 and can they relay their results.

I am not shooting for over the top OC'ing, I am shooting for a stable 3GHZ, as that would give me an extra 500Mhz which would make me happy If you think I could go faster without going crazy on stability etc..., let me know, especially if you have done a Q9300 OC, however, I will not be using Water cooling, I know you can go higher than us simple air cooling ppl, so please keep this in mind

Just so you don't have to go searching for the chip details, here they are from intel.com:

 sSpec Number: SLAWE
CPU Speed: 2.50 GHz
PCG: 05A
Bus Speed: 1333 MHz
Bus/Core Ratio: 7.5
L2 Cache Size: 6 MV
L2 Cache Speed: 2.5 GHz

Package Type: LGA775
Manufacturing Technology: 45 nm
Core Stepping: M1
CPUID String: 10677h
Thermal Design Power: 95W
Thermal Specification: 71.4*C
VID Voltage Range: 0.85V – 1.3625V

 

[Uconnball83]

Welcome to OCF!

First off download Coretemp and let us know your VID. Once you know your VID if will give you a general starting point as far as CPU vcore. The Q9xxx series seems to have a FSB wall around 455-460.

That being said you may start with 400 fsb and vcore of 1.28-1.3 see if its stable with Prime95 or Orthos... if you need those programs just google for em.

 

[omni]

I am running Prime95, already, as stated in first post. I will post my VID when I get home, currently at work.

Currently I have it running at 400 FSB w/ a multiplier of 7.5, also stated above. The vcore is in auto and its being run though 1.24-1.28, according to CPUZ. When I get home, Prime95 will have been running for about 10 hours, and I have CPUID running at the same time, which is giveing me hardware temps for a max/min, so that way I know if it peaked at all while Prime95 was running.

 

[omni]

I have attached screen shots of CPU-Z and the hardware monitor, keep in mind that the hardware monitor screenshot was taken with the computer at idle. I ran Prime95 for 10+ hours and there were no problems. The temp never went over 62* for any of the cores. I know I need to bring down my VCore now, but I am wondering if there is anything else I should do now that could increase performance.

EDIT: My VID is 1.225

 

[omni]

I have done some simple testing, see screen shot for results. I wonder if you can help me improve or adjust my settings. It seems to run okay, without doing extensive P95 tests. I will be doing some extensive tests tomorrow, but right now I am removing the OC settings to ensure that nothing goes wrong while I am asleep.

Are the temperature ranges I am getting normal for my CPU or are they a little high. I think they are a little high when on load, but to be honest I don't know.

 

[omni]

I am currently running at 1.3 VCore with a core speed of 3.3 GHz.

I just ordered a WC'ing parts, so I am hopeing I may be able to push it furter to around 3.6+