Noob with a Q9550/Rampage Extreme

[IrishSJ23]

Q9550 with a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on a Rampage Extreme mobo. Just wanted to make sure I could safely OC the FSB to 400 to get 3.4 and leave the voltage on auto.

Other components:

4GB 2x2 OCZ DDR3 @ 1600
1350 watt Coolmax PSU
4870X2
Armor+ Full tower with 4 140mm fans and the big 230mm side fan
640gb WD

Thanks guys. Let me know if it would be better to manually set the voltage to 1.3 or 1.4 instead of auto. This is the first PC i've ever built I've always gotten gay dells and whatntot lol.

 

[myocardia]

Welcome to anandtech. Never leave your Vcore on Auto, when overclocking. Auto almost always gives you way too much voltage. And you didn't need a Rampage Extreme to be able to hit 400 FSB with a quad, but it's definitely a nice board.

 

[Narynan]

nice choice on board and nice CPU too. however, if for whatever reason you think you need to hit 400fsb to get that magical 1:1 pairing with your ram, dont over do it at first. I'm guessing you are using a 9X multi? to get 3.4 you are going to need to go 375FSB and thats still not 1:1. Dont go for any kinda of number in your head. You might not ever get there and then be disappointed. I would say start with 9x333 for that 3ghz mark or, ( and I am feeling to lazy to look it up) 9.5x333 for almost 3.2 But start somewhere modest and slowly move it up. Dont just jump into 4ghz because some nut on some forum made it there once. Start modest. And if you get there, sweet. But if you don't dont let it wreck you. I never made it to my ideal 4Ghz, but I have a rock solid 3.2 machine that is P95 stable for 72 hours in 100 degree days. An extra 25% out of my CPU was quite an improvement from the 2.4 I bought.

Keep us up to date

 

[Narynan]

I am a meathead and didnt realize you are going ddr3. Ignore my magical paring mumbojumbo.

 

[IrishSJ23]

Narynan: I am also stuck at 8.5 multi with the Q9550; it wont go beyond that. I keep hearing about the 1:1 but I dont know how that would work out with 1600mhz DDR3.

 

[IrishSJ23]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Welcome to anandtech. Never leave your Vcore on Auto, when overclocking. Auto almost always gives you way too much voltage. And you didn't need a Rampage Extreme to be able to hit 400 FSB with a quad, but it's definitely a nice board.

In the future I can see myself getting water and wanting to go higher this is just the start

 

[bharatwaja]

ur processor is multi locked, so it won't go above 8.5, but i guess u shud already be knowing that...

Dont ever put the voltage on auto... and 1.3-1.4 still is high voltage for the penryns.... i.e. u don't need to go so high on the vcore to get a 400 FSB...
Read the Sticky about OCing C2Qs in the CPUs and Overclocking forum... (the first thread).............

for 1600 MHz ddr3... divide 1600/3 which is ~533 MHz, so the FSB should be 533 to get 1:1.... forget about all that for now...

Try to overclock in steps, don't fix ur mind upon something.... Get to 400 FSB, then 420... 440.... and more if u please....

First set the vcore to default value at default clock.... keep on reducing the vcore and stress test... find the lowest stable vcore for default clock and start ocing from that point on... then you keep bumping the vcore if the system can't boot for a given FSB... (just one bump at a time).... Keep on doing this till u get the hang of things and then we can move onto things like NB/SB voltages, CPU PLL voltage, etc....

But remember to keep the "Loadline calibration" option in BIOS "Enabled".... Makes your life much much more easier while OCing as it reduces vDroop considerably....

And finally, Welcome to AT............

P.S.: Please read the Sticky about OCing thoroughly............

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: bharatwaja

for 1600 MHz ddr3... divide 1600/4 which is 400 MHz, so the FSB should be 400 to get 1:1.... forget about all that for now...

Fixed..perhaps you should read the sticky too

 

[IrishSJ23]

I have the FSB @ 400 with the voltage at 1.2 right now and everything is stable @3.4ghz. Might try increasing FSB later on in the day after work. Thanks guys.

 

[bharatwaja]

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: bharatwaja

for 1600 MHz ddr3... divide 1600/4 which is 400 MHz, so the FSB should be 400 to get 1:1.... forget about all that for now...

Fixed..perhaps you should read the sticky too

oops.... my bad
Was kinda sleepy when i posted that I guess.....