Q9400 Overclock EP45T DS3R Help

[hanleyc]

Ok Jim,

I have successfully re booted into windows at 405x2.40b (972). Speed is at 3.24ghz.

I tried at 405x3.2, but no go...got a memory dump at the start of windows.

Here are some details if this helps...I increased the MCH core, and the Vcore one notch each....

[hanleyc]

Ok to edit from that previous post...its unstable at these settings. Started intel burn test, and got another memory dump, and then I got another when I tried to rum prime 95. Now I have the setting at 400x2.4=3.2ghz.

here is some info from the dump

[hanleyc]

following on from the last post again, those settings too crashed. I have now set it back to what was stable. Maybe I should take the 1gb ram out again to incease things?

Here is the data from the last crash...same as last...doesnt tell u much :(

[profJim]

Are you running again with 2x2GB + 2x1GB??
If yes, you're making it much harder and possibly impossible to overclock your system.

When I wanted to run with 8GB of ram, my Mushkin memory was no longer for sale.
I've tested before with mixed memory brands and sizes and had to jump through many hoops to get my system stable.
I decided to bite the bullet last summer and spend the big bucks for two 2x2GB kits of Kingston HyperX DDR2-1066 memory.
It helped that the total cost was only $84 after rebates.

BTW, bsod 0x124 is usually CPU Vcore voltage is too low with your LGA775 system.

[hanleyc]

Thanks Jim. I will take the 2x1gb back out. I'm about to go to bed, so I will continue on this adventure after work tomorrow.

Thanks for your help so far.

Regards

Craig

[profJim]

You're welcome.
Did you see my added information about bsod 0x124 at the end of my previous post?

[hanleyc]

I did Jim. Maybe I tweak up the v core a tad, and see what happens.

[profJim]

I did Jim. Maybe I tweak up the v core a tad, and see what happens.

And I hope this means running with a 2x2GB memory setup for now.
Once you reach your stable overclocking goal, it might be possible to run with 6GB of memory, but it will be much harder to stress test with 6GB of mixed memory at each step as you increase cpu speed. Don't be concerned with testing with the absolute lowest possible CPU Vcore for now, the key is to keep it reasonably low, but there isn't a specific voltage setting that applies to all Q9400's.

I suggest raising CPU Vcore 3 clicks higher than your current setting.
The Intel VID Voltage Range for the Q9400 is up to 1.3645 volts.
MCH Core might need minor increases, but it can't be too high or too low or there might be boot loop or stability problems.

[hanleyc]

I am having issues with intermittent internet, and a technician will be out tomorrow sometime to check my service. Most of the last 24hrs have been trying to get that sorted, so not much overclocking has been done.

As soon as I can I will post some results.

Thanks again for your help Jim.

Craig

[profJim]

Glad to help out.
The forum has been flaky early this morning (PDT) and has been reset several times already.
Right now there are only 6 forum members and 140 guests viewing the forum.
Our forum guru likes to use HCI MemTest: RAM reliability tester for Windows (freeware) for quicker stress testing. Check out the documentation on their website. Don't allocate too much memory or it will waste time forcing memory paging to the windows swap file. I've used it several times, running several instances at one time with each window accessing a portion of the available memory.