Newbie Over-Clocking Help Please!!!

[vegettoxp]

Hello there Guys, Hopefully my question isn?t too weird, but I really need your guys input on this question of mine. As most of you may know I was lucky enough to get hooked up with a Free Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor clocked at 3.2GHz with 12MB of Cache and 1600FSB. If you didn?t know this before, now you know. I finally got my new Rig Up and Running and so far everything has been working out Really Well. The only think that I am gona change is the TV Turner, but other than that, I am really having fun with my system.

I have NEVER Over-Clocked anything in my entire life. A lot of people told me that I should OC my QX9770, but I was a bit nervous and afraid that I might kill the processor. Now this is where you guys come in. I am looking for some Good OC Guides and if you guys know of any, please share them with me. Also, what are the Pro?s and Con?s Of OC? And just to let you guys know, I am gona be OC on Air Cooling. I am not going near Water-Cooling yet. I mean the processor I have is based on 45-nm and I have read a lot of info online and some people have pushed the QX9770 on Air-Cooling into the 4GHZ Plus area. So please comment on this topic and help me out guys. Funny story is that I use to be so sacred to even Up-Date my System Bios in the old days, but now I am cool. So help this newbie out guys.

Quick Questions:

1) What are the Pro?s and Con?s of OC and in my case Air-Cooling OC?
2) Should I OC my System Ram too?
3) Should I also look into getting higher clocked System Ram (Like G-Skill DDR-2 PC2 8500 Kits)?

My Rig Config Info:

CM Stacker 830 Case
Corsair HX620W Power Supply
Asus Maximus Formula SE Mother-Board
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz Processor
G-Skills DDR-2 PC2 6400 - 4GB System Ram (I haven?t even OC my Ram Yet, So Scared!)
EVGA 8800GT Graphic Card

And if you guys need more info on my Rig, Please let me know. I hope with your guys help, I am finally get into the OC Party. Thank You for all your help guys. Your Guys Rock!!!

P.S. Fusion

 

[Raventon]

hi i am pretty new to overclocking as well.but with the very little knowledge of mine. i will try to share some of my experience and hope it does help you.i know the feeling of helplessness.lol
i guess for the 45nm processors they are very sensitive to voltage.so i think best is the you should start with the MAX VID to keep it in the safe zone and try to overslock as high as possible.so that you will have rough idea of how well it overclock.
i not sure if i have correct(i might be wrong)but i think that the greatest thing of the qx9770 is it has a unlock multiplier.this will prevent your ram from holding back your overclocking as you can always rise the multiplier instead of the fsb if you have slow rams.

Edit:by MAX VID i dun mean the max VID that is available to you on your motherboard...that will kill your cpu in seconds.i meant the MAX VID the intel stats on their official site or on your qx9770's box

 

[Foxery]

Be sure to check out the FAQ at the top of the forum; here's the short version for your situation -

Originally posted by: vegettoxp
1) What are the Pro?s and Con?s of OC and in my case Air-Cooling OC?

Pros: More raw speed if you are a power user, plus the warm fuzzy feeling of pushing the limit
Cons: Your system will raise your electric bill and heat up your house if you push far enough
Air cooling: Depends on what heatsink/fan you buy. The basic one from Intel won't get you very far. For $40-50, you can get some very impressive 3rd-party heatsinks.

2) Should I OC my System Ram too?

Up to you, since this particular processor is not locked. The performance gains would be trivial, so I'd say not to bother.

3) Should I also look into getting higher clocked System Ram (Like G-Skill DDR-2 PC2 8500 Kits)?

Nah. See #2.

 

[z1ggy]

Quick Questions:

1) What are the Pro?s and Con?s of OC and in my case Air-Cooling OC?
Pro: uhmm...it's faster? lol
Con: Higher temp's..void your warranty...Higher power consumption esp. with that cpu.

2) Should I OC my System Ram too?
That RAM is the same as I have and runs good as is.. I dont think you will see a big jump if you do.. but IF you do..it should be fine just raise the voltage up .1v if you want to take it over 900 or so. I hear that RAM can hit around 1000 if you wanted.

3) Should I also look into getting higher clocked System Ram (Like G-Skill DDR-2 PC2 8500 Kits)?
No.

 

[vegettoxp]

Ok Guys, I just got back from work and read your guys responds. First of all thanks for the input and I will look into your comments. Here is my feed back.

1) What is the best way for me to find out my MAX VID for my QX9770?

2) Regarding the Air-Cooling Solution, I am looking into buying the New Thermaltake True 120 Black Edition and I am gona put one or two fans with that cooler. Your Thoughts on this Heatsink?

3) And on the Ram topic, I wanted to know what are the Pro's and Con's On OC Ram? I guess it would run faster, but I am guessing that I would need some Ram coolers too right? Your Thoughts?

Once again Thx for the input.

P.S. Fusion

 

[Foxery]

Originally posted by: vegettoxp
1) What is the best way for me to find out my MAX VID for my QX9770?

Intel Processor Finder: QX9770
Max safe Vcore is listed as 1.36 volts.

2) Regarding the Air-Cooling Solution, I am looking into buying the New Thermaltake True 120 Black Edition and I am gona put one or two fans with that cooler. Your Thoughts on this Heatsink?

The TRUE is very popular and with good reason. It should come with a fan, no?

3) And on the Ram topic, I wanted to know what are the Pro's and Con's On OC Ram? I guess it would run faster, but I am guessing that I would need some Ram coolers too right? Your Thoughts?

Since you have an unlocked processor, faster RAM isn't necessary. The speedup will be miniscule, and not worth the money. For reference, high-end RAM tends to come with heatspreaders attached.

 

[dakels]

Why do you need to OC this anyways? That is an absurdly expensive processor to endanger. I'm a novice but I find it strange that you spent so much on that processor which you intend on OCing further and went so cheap on the ram and vid card. I also wouldn't OC a $1500 processor without considering water cooling at least.

I'm curious. Nice rig though regardless, GL OCing.

 

[betasub]

a Free Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor

Sweet! You should first stick to multiplier overclocking with that unlocked baby (good cooling and safe VID already discussed). Keep your memory and northbridge at stock if possible, and find an "easy-overclock" limit based on the CPU alone.

 

[vegettoxp]

Originally posted by: dakels
Why do you need to OC this anyways? That is an absurdly expensive processor to endanger. I'm a novice but I find it strange that you spent so much on that processor which you intend on OCing further and went so cheap on the ram and vid card. I also wouldn't OC a $1500 processor without considering water cooling at least.

I'm curious. Nice rig though regardless, GL OCing.

Well like I said, I got the Processor For Free and why do I want to OC. Couple of reason, one I have never OC in my entire computer life and two from what I have read that if you do OC a processor you tend to see the results in certain areas. I am still not sure if I want to OC or Not, but I do want to push my QX9770 to atleast 4.0GHz on Air With Thermalright True Black Edition and I will probably put two Fans.

And I am a bit confused on what to OC. Do I play with the Voltage, FSB or Multiplier? What order to I follow?

Your Thoughts Please!

 

[virtualskunk]

Look at the OC guide, read it through, this will be a good resource to you.

 

[vegettoxp]

Also guys I forgot to ask you one important thing regarding Air Cooling. Like I said I am planning to get the Thermalright True Black Cooler With Probably Two Fans (Any Recommendations?)

And I was hoping to push my QX9770 either close to 4GHz or at 4GHz. So the question is, Will the Thermalright True Black Cooler W/ Two Fans be Able to keeps my Temp in the 30's or in the 40's?

Your Thoughts?

 

[Foxery]

No, that's not a reasonable expectation for temperatures - that's barely above room temp. The chips operate just fine at 70C or higher, and 60-75 is a normal range for an overclocked system on air. (It's nothing to worry about.)

 

[vegettoxp]

Originally posted by: Foxery
No, that's not a reasonable expectation for temperatures - that's barely above room temp. The chips operate just fine at 70C or higher, and 60-75 is a normal range for an overclocked system on air. (It's nothing to worry about.)

Thx for the input man. So You would recommend me the Therlmalright True Black With Two Fans and this cooler will be able to keep my Processor clocked at 4.0GHz in the Safe Temperature Zone Area.

Your Thoughts?

P.S. Fusion

 

[nyker96]

First, if this QX version has unlocked multiplier it's easy OC, don't need to worry about anything else. Just put the mulitpler higher to gain more speed. You problem here is you need a good cooler, don't OC with their retail cooler unless you monitoring the temp. But just to be safe with such an expensive chip get a Xigmatec S1832 or Vendetta 2. Just to be safe. And monitor the temp using real temp, use ortho/prime95x4 to burn it at 100% load all 4 cores. Use realtemp to monitor it, make sure it is more than 30C from Max T junction.

It's not too hard, I think you can OC that unlocked chip just by changing multipler on the cpu, leave everything else as is at 400FSB.

 

[z1ggy]

Yeah you are really going to want to get a solid HSF...It will make a ton of dif. I hear that those chips can get pretty hot and esp. if you run orthos like nyker96 suggested (to test stability) you will be running under 100% load for more than 12 hours at a time. Those temps need to be controlled or you might damage something... I am sorry if I didnt read everything but what did you say you were using this computer for? Gaming..? Graphic desgisn?....Other?

 

[vegettoxp]

Originally posted by: z1ggy
Yeah you are really going to want to get a solid HSF...It will make a ton of dif. I hear that those chips can get pretty hot and esp. if you run orthos like nyker96 suggested (to test stability) you will be running under 100% load for more than 12 hours at a time. Those temps need to be controlled or you might damage something... I am sorry if I didnt read everything but what did you say you were using this computer for? Gaming..? Graphic desgisn?....Other?

Well this systen will be used for Gaming, Video Encoding/Editing and Casual User. I will also be using this Rig to Watch TV, DVD and Video Files. So I guess you can say that this Rig is a Multi-Media Rig.