Q9550 & P5Q-Pro: 3.8ghz achieved. Need help with voltages.

[PanicProne]

Hey guys, before getting to the serious business that is overclocking, I just wanted to say hi to everyone!

So, to business then:

After much work of trial and error and more reboots than I care to admit, I have finally achieved the 3.8ghz mark.

Now, this CPU can do much more, but my motherboard really struggles to keep this monster stable above 430 FSB.

I'm now running with the following settings, which seem to be stable.

FSB: 447mhz (x8.5 = ~3.8ghz)

Vcore: 1.28v (I don't think I need to increase it because I've tried increasing Vcore on small increments all the way to 1.45v and it didn't help).

NB Voltage: 1.34 (quite safe I presume?)

CPU PLL: 1.60v

VTT: 1.38 (am I too close to the red line?)

CPU GTL Ref: .61x (I only have one GTL setting, no multiple CPU or NB GTL options)

DRAM: 2.00v (894mhz)


NOTE: VTT, CPU GTL Ref and NB voltages are what seem to be crucial to hold this CPU at 3.8ghz. I have tried decreasing both of these volts and up the Vcore up to 1.45v and it didn't work.

I have played a lot with VTT settings and GTLs to try and achieve the apparently desired value of 0.80-1v (vtt x GTL ref multiplier = GTL voltage)

Nothing seemed to work until I tried 1.38 VTT and .61x CPU GTL Ref.

NOTE: I am now stress testing with prime95 blend test as we speak (i'm on my eee PC), seems to be stable so far.

So, with nothing to worry about Vcore in this case, I want to know what you guys thing about the other voltages.

Any less NB or VTT and it simply isn't stable. Is this safe for a long term, daily OC (not necessarily 24/7)?

 

[PanicProne]

After 15 minutes, Prime Blend is still running on all 4 workers.

Good sign, because 1 or 2 workers usually stopped running in first few minutes, even in the first few seconds.

Funny thing is, with less VTT and somewhat less NB voltage, I am Linx stable for as many runs as let it go at.

But I've discovered that Prime95 is still the closest stress test to "real world" apps. I didn't crash in Linx or IBT, but as soon as I fired up a game or a benchmark, it would crash. Sure enough, P95 would also crash.

If I pass P95, computer is stable for anything.

 

[evolucion8]

I used your same settings and I found that I was able to lower my Vcore slightly and still totally stable with Linpack, my Vcore was set at 1.2350 and everything else on auto and it was stable, setting your same VTT, NB, FSB settings, I was able to lower the Vcore to 1.2200 and It was stable, someting that didn't work before, so now I have slightly less power consumption and heat dissipation, great.