How do I Overclock a Q9300 on a UD3R?

[MMarroquin1024]

Well, I'm quite new to this overclocking thing, and I obviously need Help.

I'm not sure but I think these are the only things that come into play when overclocking.

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R
RAM: Patriot Viper 4GB
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
COOLING: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7
CASE: Antec 900

I've gone into the BIOS and I king of got a little scared after seeing how many things can be changed. I wasn't scared about the amount of changeable things, I got scared when I realized how many combinations could be achieved, and mostly the fact of knowing that only a limited number of them would work.

I ask for your Help, Please.
I'm looking to overclock to at least 2.8 GHz, if possible with this cooling fan to 3.0, 3.2, or even 3.4, whatever is the highest stable overclock, I need your help, please tell me what values to change, and what to change them to. Why do I need to overclock? I need to overclock to get better performance from programs like SONAR, FL Studio, Reason And Many VSTs and VSTis...

Thanks.

 

[theAnimal]

Read the sticky in the CPU section of OC.

 

[Shadow703793]

See: GUIDE: Overclocking On EP/P35-DS3L
Most BIOS settings are smiler in all Gigabyte boards.

 

[jsc]

And keep in mind that because the ACF7P is "only" a good, inexpensive HSF, you will not be able to reach a high overclock frequency.

 

[donfm]

I have a similar board to yours. I have read the tutorial linked above. It was very helpful. I now understand the SPD multiplier. I also have the same questions you do. There is a lot of setting in there I don't want to even mess with at this point. I just want to overclock a little to see how to do it. At a later date I will get more serious. I have yet to find a tutorial specifically for the EP45 Gigabyte boards.

 

[cadder]

I have that motherboard and a Q9400. I was able to get mine to run limited stress tests at 3.7GHz, but for everyday use I run it at 3.4GHz.

In the BIOS, I changed the CPU frequency to 425, set the PCI express to 100, changed SPD to 2.00D.

You will want to start at lower frequencies and work your way up, and at each step run your system at that frequency for awhile under heavy load such as prime95 and monitor cpu frequencies with coretemp or realtemp. With your cooler you might end up being limited by the cooler. Depending on your ram you might have to change some of its settings if you go much above 400.