Help with overclocking Q9550 E0 Stepping CPU with Asus striker II formula motherboard

[c0rrupts3ct0r]

Help with overclocking Q9550 E0 Stepping CPU with Asus striker II formula motherboard

The specs are in my sig, Also i am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit.
I am wondering if anyone can help me with overclocking. so far i have got to 3.2 ghz successfully but any higher ( like 3.4 ) the PC locks up in the bios or it fails to boot.
At 3.2 i havent had to raise any volts but at 3.4 i have raised the cpu volts to 1.25 and the ram to 1.84....

It is just not stable at that speed ( 1600fsb x 8.5 ) is 3.4 ghz
at 3.2 it is noticeably faster but i want to go to 3.4. I have the zalman 9500CPS AT cooler at full speed ( dropped temps considerably about 25C)

does anyone else have the parts i do and has it to 3.4 or above and can share the bios settings (particulary volts) ?
any help would be much appreciated

 

[||Console||]

I think your Goal should be doable . That is a NV chipset right ?

Take your ram out of the Equation set it @ 800 .
400x8.5 will give you 3.4
So 1800 for fsb and 800 on your ram

I would try setting your Vcore @ 1.3 and work down .
FSB term @ 1.2
MCp @ 1.625

 

[c0rrupts3ct0r]

I think your Goal should be doable . That is a NV chipset right ?

Take your ram out of the Equation set it @ 800 .
400x8.5 will give you 3.4
So 1800 for fsb and 800 on your ram

I would try setting your Vcore @ 1.3 and work down .
FSB term @ 1.2
MCp @ 1.625

Yes it is a 780I chipset. I will try that in a sec and see what i get.....
Also do u think maybe my RAM might be holding me back? like maybe i need to get a diffferent brand? like maybe crucial ballistix or maybe going to 1066?

thx

 

[c0rrupts3ct0r]

I have tried what you said but it didnt work. But i have a question about 2 of the voltage settings you told me to try.
1. the MCP i assume that was southbridge. i didnt have 1.625 but i had 1.65 and 1.6 i put that at 1.6
2. the FSB term.. i dont have that. Did you mean 1.2 HT voltage? i put that at what you said.
had the fsb at 1600 and the ram unlinked at 800

also had vcore at 1.3 and ram at 1.84

it booted to the bios screen and locked. then it restarted itself and i had to shut it off and repower on to use normal bios settings to go back to what i had before so i can type this.

here is a pic of my bios voltage page.

[img=http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8989/1000196e.th.jpg]


What can you reccommend?

 

[hank123]

dude this will answer about 90% percent of your questions. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=515316

Let me guess you have not run orthos stress test.

What kind of temps are you getting?

 

[Richthofen]

I have the same board, and it comes with some pre-loaded OC profiles.
You have the option in the BIOS to OC 5%,10%,15% or 20%. Try using the 20% OC profile which should give you 3.4ghz. Since this is an automatic config on the board then it should give you that speed with stability. In order to advance further you have to do it yourself, but it might be a good idea to check if the board can make the system stable at 3.4.

I have it paired with a q9650 which is currently at 3.6ghz, 400x9 running in sync with the Ram which is DDR-800. It's stable as a rock, and i didn't use the auto profile, i set it up myself. So i'm guessing the problem isn't in the mobo, neither should exist one, have you checked if the latencies of the ram are correct?

Use the automatic config, under "AI Overclock" in the bios and see if it can help you.

Cheers

 

[c0rrupts3ct0r]

dude this will answer about 90% percent of your questions. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=515316

Let me guess you have not run orthos stress test.

What kind of temps are you getting?

I think my problem might be my Striker II formula's NB runs at around 75C all the time. I am contemplating putting a fan on it, or just taking the heatpiping off and cleaning it off and putting on some Thermal grease.

My other temps are fine.. CPU never goes above 48C
and i cant run a stress test if the PC doesnt post right or boot up.

 

[c0rrupts3ct0r]

I have the same board, and it comes with some pre-loaded OC profiles.
You have the option in the BIOS to OC 5%,10%,15% or 20%. Try using the 20% OC profile which should give you 3.4ghz. Since this is an automatic config on the board then it should give you that speed with stability. In order to advance further you have to do it yourself, but it might be a good idea to check if the board can make the system stable at 3.4.

I have it paired with a q9650 which is currently at 3.6ghz, 400x9 running in sync with the Ram which is DDR-800. It's stable as a rock, and i didn't use the auto profile, i set it up myself. So i'm guessing the problem isn't in the mobo, neither should exist one, have you checked if the latencies of the ram are correct?

Use the automatic config, under "AI Overclock" in the bios and see if it can help you.

Cheers

I tried that. locks up at BIOS page and reboots... I have it stable at 3.2 and it is faster. but want to go to 3.4.... I know its doable.. and for the latencies of the RAM i have put them in manually from what CPUZ reports....

 

[Richthofen]

I think my problem might be my Striker II formula's NB runs at around 75C all the time. I am contemplating putting a fan on it, or just taking the heatpiping off and cleaning it off and putting on some Thermal grease.

My other temps are fine.. CPU never goes above 48C
and i cant run a stress test if the PC doesnt post right or boot up.

Your NB runs at 75C???

The striker II is famous for it's northbridge high temps, but that's a bit off the scale i guess. I can't recall the exact temps i've been getting with the NB but i would certainly notice 75outofnothingºC... Have you checked if the NB voltage is correct? I don't know what the default voltage is though.

I ain't at home right now so i can't give you numbers about my mobo setup, will do that as soon as i can.

Good luck!

 

[c0rrupts3ct0r]

Your NB runs at 75C???

The striker II is famous for it's northbridge high temps, but that's a bit off the scale i guess. I can't recall the exact temps i've been getting with the NB but i would certainly notice 75outofnothingºC... Have you checked if the NB voltage is correct? I don't know what the default voltage is though.

I ain't at home right now so i can't give you numbers about my mobo setup, will do that as soon as i can.

Good luck!

Update: The Striker II is toast.. After attaching a fan to the northbridge ( which did drop the temp to 56C ) i plugged in the PC and it would not post on the top PCi-E slot.... Only on the middle PCI-E slot.... i since got a new board ( asus p5q) and i have that clocked to 3.4 easy.... with no problems...
We took the heatsinks off the Striker II and the cores came off the sb and nb.. the heatstink compound hardened and stuck to the nb and sb when we pulled them off i heard a CRACK and that was it.... boards toast.... I dont think I will be getting another one of those again..
But thanks for all the help. the P5Q is a lot easier to OC than the striker was...... Im happy with 3.4 oc that i get..

 

[TTimmy]

You should be able to hit 4GHz pretty easily. I also have the Asus P5Q Vanilla and an E0 Q9550, I have it stable at 471FSB x 8.5 with 1.3625vCore, max temps 70-72c in Prime Small FTTs and OCCT.