Overclocking Newbie Over-Clocking Help Please!!!

Hello there Guys, Hopefully my question isn’t too weird, but I really need your guys input on this question of mine. As most of you may know I was lucky enough to get hooked up with a Free Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor clocked at 3.2GHz with 12MB of Cache and 1600FSB. If you didn’t know this before, now you know. I finally got my new Rig Up and Running and so far everything has been working out Really Well. The only think that I am gona change is the TV Turner, but other than that, I am really having fun with my system.

I have NEVER Over-Clocked anything in my entire life. A lot of people told me that I should OC my QX9770, but I was a bit nervous and afraid that I might kill the processor. Now this is where you guys come in. I am looking for some Good OC Guides and if you guys know of any, please share them with me. Also, what are the Pro’s and Con’s Of OC? And just to let you guys know, I am gona be OC on Air Cooling. I am not going near Water-Cooling yet. I mean the processor I have is based on 45-nm and I have read a lot of info online and some people have pushed the QX9770 on Air-Cooling into the 4GHZ Plus area. So please comment on this topic and help me out guys. Funny story is that I use to be so sacred to even Up-Date my System Bios in the old days, but now I am cool. So help this newbie out guys.

Quick Questions:

1) What are the Pro’s and Con’s of OC and in my case Air-Cooling OC?
2) Should I OC my System Ram too?
3) Should I also look into getting higher clocked System Ram (Like G-Skill DDR-2 PC2 8500 Kits)?

My Rig Config Info:

CM Stacker 830 Case
Corsair HX620W Power Supply
Asus Maximus Formula SE Mother-Board
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz Processor
G-Skills DDR-2 PC2 6400 - 4GB System Ram (I haven’t even OC my Ram Yet, So Scared!)
EVGA 8800GT Graphic Card

And if you guys need more info on my Rig, Please let me know. I hope with your guys help, I am finally get into the OC Party. Thank You for all your help guys. Your Guys Rock!!!

P.S. Fusion

 

First of all, I would set all of the voltage settings to the lowest, and the memory voltages to the spec. NOT "Auto"! Then you want to bump up the FSB about 5MHz at a time. Test for stability using Orthos or something, a couple of hours, until it crashes. As you get more and more towards the limit, you will want to start testing for 8 hours at least. Everybody has a different method really.

 

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=149050

the sticky

 

You can leave your RAM to Auto... but it really depends on your motherboard and BIOS.
Your computer is a dual core 3.2Ghz... I say OCing this computer is a bit useless. If you want a big improvement, get a 10000RPM HDD.I saw such HDD in action, and it's freaking fast. Windows (Vista 64-bit) and the program startup insanely fast, and game loading is cut sometimes in 4 to 6.

 

The guide mentioned above is the best I've found, and I really needed the help.

The point about a faster HD has merit, although the size of the HD cache and having a SATA-II controller (I don't recognize your board so can't tell) are both likely to matter more than rotation speed.

The specs for that RAM kit (I checked b/c it is a leading candidate for my own build) have some surprising omissions in the chipset list.

 

where did you get that Intel Extreme processor? if you are not going to overclock, why buy that ultra expensive processor?
im confused.

overclocking is relatively easy, it's even easier for you, just up your CPU's multiplyer one at a time, and up your voltage a little. boot into Windows and test using Prime95.

what CPU cooler have you got? if you are using Intel stock cooler, forget OC for how and go buy a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

 

Ok Guys, I just got back from work and read your guys responds. First of all thanks for the input and I will look into your comments. Here is my feed back.

1) Regarding the Air-Cooling Solution, I am looking into buying the New Thermaltake True 120 Black Edition and I am gona put one or two fans with that cooler. Your Thoughts on this Heatsink?

2) And on the Ram topic, I wanted to know what are the Pro's and Con's On OC Ram? I guess it would run faster, but I am guessing that I would need some Ram coolers too right? Your Thoughts?

3) How did I get the processor, Well lest just say that someone works at Intel and I know that Person Really Well and I will leave it there!

4) And I have a Quad-Core System, not Dual-Core. (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 3.2GHz with 1600FSB)

Once again Thx for the input.

P.S. Fusion

 

1) Great choice, best cooler on the market.
2) There aren't really any cons to it, apart from more heat. Most heatsinks don't make a difference. You memory should be fine, don't worry about the temps on those.
3) Grrrrr

 

1. great choice on the cooler if you meant Thermalright Ultra 120 Black edition. i have extreme edition, same cooler, just not in the same colour
2. with your CPU, you don't need a highly OC-able RAM, just change your multiplyer, don't need to fiddle with FSB
3. can you introduce me

 

Thx for the input guys and I am glad that all you guys are cool with my Air Cooling Choice. (Thermaltake TRUE Black 120 is The name on Thermalright Website and I am gona get this one with probably will get Two Fans to Go Along with the heatsink. Any Recommendations?

And Yes, I got luck with the Processor. I was planning to get the Q9450, But Hell I will take the QX9770 FOR FREE Any Day!

And I am a bit confused on what to OC. Do I play with the Voltage, FSB or Multiplier? What order to I follow?

P.S. Fusion

 

Voltage should only be touch if absolute necessary (ie: stability if you can't reach it), increasing it just a bit can permanently damage your CPU. Sometime the effects won't be visible now, but maybe after a year your CPU might die be dmaaged whicg could make your computer be a monkey and have everything to piss you off.

Touch the voltage if you REALLY know what you are doing, or about to change your CPU very VERY soon.

You must also note that each CPU and motherboard OC differently.
The safe bet is to increase the multiplier, then you'll have to increase other things to push even more the multiplier.

 

Sounds like you are getting some great advice, stick by it and you can't go too wrong.
Just remember patience really is the key in good OCing, softly softly catchy monkey

 

Overclocking can be easy, it can also be hard depending on how hard you want to push your system. If you want you can just change the multiplier on your cpu to up its clock speed (thats the easy part). Up it until the system wont run stable. then drop it a notch and just test the system with prime95. let it run for a few hours. if it doesn't have any errors, you should be good to go.
or you can increase your fsb as well to overclock basically the entire system. How to do it is up to you. But the point of an extreme edition cpu is having the unlocked multi to play with.
If you start upping your fsb, dont leave anything on auto. if you dont know what a setting does or what to set it to, look it up. set it properly.
Some things that cought me when I was overclocking,
I had to increase northbridge and southbridge voltage to stop bsod's. The con to that is that they will get hotter. too hot and they burn out killing your motherboard.
I had to set all the settings for my ram. all of them. otherwise i would get blue screens. I dont suggest you overclock your ram too much. the main killer of ram is increasing the voltage. Mine is 8500 and is at 2.2v, the warrenty goes to 2.3 The manufacture suggests that at 2.3 you have direct airflow on the ram. as in a fan attached to the ram. otherwise it will get too hot and burn out. but thats just for my ram, yours will be different.

as for what order to overclock things in, some people do the ram first, find the max speed it will run at. (test it with memtest in widows or from a boot drive) then run the ram at stock, find the max fsb the system will run at, then set it to stock and find the max mhz the cpu can run at. finally try all 3 and see if it runs stable.
my suggestion isn't to go for the max overclock possible. there isn't any need, my system runs more than fast enough for me with just a q6600 B3 stepping at 3.0ghz. you are already getting better than that.
and dont forget that the biggest game performance increase comes from a good video card. and a STABLE system. not a good video card and a pushed to the limit system.

 

Also guys I forgot to ask you one important thing regarding Air Cooling. Like I said I am planning to get the Thermalright True Black Cooler With Probably Two Fans (Any Recommendations?)

And I was hoping to push my QX9770 either close to 4GHz or at 4GHz. So the question is, Will the Thermalright True Black Cooler W/ Two Fans be Able to keeps my Temp in the 30's or in the 40's?

Your Thoughts?

 

dont touch the voltages until you really need to, upping the voltage helps sort out any overclocking unstabilities.

The higher the multiplier is set the more voltage is generally needed in order for the CPU to function at that set multipler.

The QX9770 clocked at 3.2GHz still has a little more headroom but you must consider the fact that it is indeed running at 8x 400Mhz, and 400Mhz is getting close to the limit on alot of DDR-2 PC2 6400. I would suggest just bumping the multiplier up to x9 and leave everything set to auto. If your motherboard is any good (I dislike ASUS for many reasons) it should auto compansate for the increase in demand of voltages and set them correctly. this jump in multiplier will generate 3.6GHz.

if everything is rock solid then come back and we shall see if we can get the ram running a little faster.

My Q6600 is running at 3.6Ghz and it dose get toasty, so keep an eye on your temp's if there mid 50's or 60's degrees C then your cooling isn't up to the job.

 

quad core at 4Ghz isn't an easy task, and you'll need to sacrifice quietness if you want to do it on any air cooling.

get some very high CFM fans for TRUE, quiet fans like Yate Loon i have won't be able to cope with 4Ghz. try something like Slipstream

 

At least you have a thermalright True! iv got a freezer pro 7, i know i can get more speed but i need water cooling as nothing else fits my dam case.

 

3.6Ghz all the time on AC7 is very impressive!
i only managed 3.4Ghz during summer time. 3.6Ghz would push just over 70c when Prime. hopefully winter will allow me to go higher.

 

Like I said guys, I have a CM Stacker 830 with Atleast 7 120mm Fans Installed (4 on the Sides, 2 Up Front and 1 On Top). All of them run in the 1200RPM. So Noise will be no problem with me as long as the Thermalright Keeps my Processor Cool. And On the Fans for the Thermalright, Do you guys have any recommendtaions?

My magic number to go is 4GHz Quad-Core with Thermalright True Black Air Cooling With Two Fans. (Any Lower Clock Speed Would be OK too)!

Your Thoughts!

 

how about Delta fans if you want extreme?

1200rpm isn't noisy at all! try 4000rpm.