Q9650 overclocking

[faxon]

So i'm hardly a newb at the whole overclocking thing, but all of my past OCs sans 1 were on AMD systems, and the one that was an intel system was an e5200, which meant the only settings i had to tinker with were CPU Vcore and FSB MHz due to its 12.5x multi. This is my first time doing a heavy system OC and so far it's going pretty well.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img...421730533724580994.jpg

4GHz @ 1.325v bios (1.296 CPUz) With Load Line Calibration
MCH Voltage is 1.3v
VTT is 1.2v
6 hours OCCTv3 Stable

now, these are the only settings that i have set manually, everything else is on auto. im starting to hit the wall where i need excessive amounts more voltage, needing to go from 1.275 to 1.325 bios to get from 3.8ghz to 4ghz. i know this chip can probably go farther given the voltages im currently giving it, and i was hoping to see if i could do 4.4GHz with 4.2 as a 24/7 stable setting. if i cant, i wont be crying, this is already an incredibly fast chip as is.

so, what i need to know is simple. what's the maximum "safe" voltage for MCH Voltage and VTT on a Q9650 and a GA-EP45-UD3P.


full system specs:
Prolimatech Megahalems W/ push/pull low speed yates.
Q9650 (Packed Feb 5 09, 1.25VID)
GA-EP45-UD3P rev 1.1 F8 bios
4x2GB (8GB total) G.Skill 1066 5-5-5-15 @ 2v Bios
Vanilla EVGA 9800GTX 512mb
Coolermaster Real Power Pro 750w
X-Fi extreme music
150GB Vraptor and 3 7200.10 Barracudas

CPU Temps are around 58-62c @ load as measured from OCCT V3. I'm going to reseat the cooler once im done though to try for better temps.

I'm rereading the anandtech UD3P article for the 3rd time now to see if there's anything i am forgetting or i didnt notice before, but some recommendations or warnings would be great if you see me pushing something to hard or leaving something on auto that i shouldnt have

 

[spinejam]

for the UD3P, you should try for mch up to 1.40 -- vtt up to 1.38 -- cpu pll < 1.60. the cpu/mch ref votages are very influential in determining a stable overclock.


http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=197802

http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=205132

here are my settings fwiw: (prime & linx stable)

UD3P (F9 Bios) Q9550 E0 (L835B166) pack date: 11/11/2008

Robust Graphics Booster.....................[ Auto ]
CPU Clock Ratio.............................[ 8 ]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio........................[ 0.0 ]
CPU Frequency 4.0GHz........................[ 500*8.0 ]

******Clock Chip Control******

CPU Host Clock Control......................[Enabled ]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)....................[500 ]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz).................[100 ]
C.I.A 2.....................................[Disabled]

******Advanced Clock Control******

CPU Clock Drive.............................[ 1000mv ]
PCI Express Clock Drive.....................[ 1000mv ]
CPU Clock Skew..............................[ 0ps ]
MCH Clock Skew..............................[ 50ps ]

******DRAM Performance Control******

Performance Enhance.........................[ Turbo ]
Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)................[ Disabled]
(G) MCH Frequency Latch.....................[ 400MHz ]
System Memory Multipler.....................[ 2.00d ]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) .....................[1000 DDR2]

DRAM Timing Selectable......................[ Manual ]

CAS Latency Time............................[ 5 ]
tRCD........................................[ 5 ]
tRP.........................................[ 5 ]
tRAS........................................[ 15 ]

******Advanced Timing Control******

tRRD........................................[Auto ] PL=9
tWTR........................................[Auto ]
tWR.........................................[Auto ]
tRFC........................................[Auto(52)]
tRTP........................................[Auto ]
Command Rate (cmd)..........................[Auto ]

******Motherboard Voltage Control******

Load-Line Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Vcore [ 1.25 ]...............[ 1.3500 ] (1.328 CPU-Z)
CPU Termination [ 1.20 ]...............[ 1.28 ]
CPU PLL [ 1.50 ]...............[ 1.570 ]
CPU Reference [ 0.760 ]...............[ 0.835 ]

MCH Core [1.1 ]...............[ 1.32 ]
MCH Reference [0.760 ]...............[ 0.850 ]
MCH/DRAM Refernce [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
ICH I/O [1.500 ]...............[ 1.500 ]
ICH Core [1.100 ]...............[ 1.100 ]

DRAM Voltage [1.800 ]...............[ 2.02 ]
DRAM Termination [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
Channel A Ref [0.900 ]...............[ Auto ]
Channel B Ref [0.900 ]...............[ Auto ]

******Advanced BIOS Features******

Limit CPUID Max to 3........................[ Disabled ]
No-Execute Memory Protect...................[ Enabled ]
CPU Enhance Halt (CIE)......................[ Disabled ]
C2/C2E State Support........................[ Disabled ]
C4/C4E State Support........................[ Disabled ]
CPU Thermal Monitor.........................[ Enabled ]
CPU EIST Function...........................[ Disabled ]
Virtualization Technology...................[ Disabled ]

 

[Tempered81]

Faxon, I think that running 4.0Ghz on a Q9650 using 1.296 Vcore is great. Spinejam is running 4.0Ghz using 1.325v. I think if you master the other voltages (vtt,mch,pll), then you should have no problems getting 4.2Ghz 24/7 stable while remaining under 1.3625 Vcore Cpu-z.

 

[faxon]

yea thats what i was thinking as well jared. with the info spinejam provided i should be able to do that once i get home tonight. dont have time before work though. this is one hell of a chip, thats for sure

ed: bumped VTT up to 1.3v and my bsod on booting @ 4.1ghz turned into another run of OCCT while im at work. should be 9-10 hours before i get home, think thats enough? :evil:

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: faxon

should be 9-10 hours before i get home, think thats enough? :evil:

No, if it doesn't also passes Linpack.

 

[faxon]

yea no pass from when i got home. will tinker with it more later when i have time. i still have 2 midterms i need to do and i have work again tomorrow lol