True enough, I don't like to splurge out of necessity either, and I agree pushing it on the voltage side has diminishing returns anyhow. Oh, I did not mention that my e8400 is C0 stepping . . . I got one of the first batches so getting E0 was like stabbing in the dark at the time. The C0 stepping does require significantly more voltage above the 3.4-3.6 GHz mark. I finally lapped my HSF and IHS and with the 7C I gained at idle (12C at load (!), man that Tuniq Tower 120 was horribly uneven - the IHS was not bad, but definitely benefit from the lapping) in heat dispersal I am now trying for the 4GHz again. The way I figure it, the CPU is very close to a year old now, and it has been a good processor, but the Q9650 is looking like a sweet deal . . . so if I screw the e8400 up, its quad core 4.0GHz time! And it is guaranteed E0 stepping on the Q9650s.
To the OP, I have a FSB wall around 485 - I was trying for 500x8 but no amount of tweaking and 'safe' voltage increase would get me there. If you have a spare 150 bones or so, there are some good options for a new motherboard to facilitate relieving the FSB wall that is more than likely caused by your MB. The new e8400s usually get AMAZING results with low voltages and high FSB, so there should be no reason why you can't get above 400FSB except that the MB is not good in that regards.
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