MSI P45 Platinum/Q9400/4 x 2GB DDR2 800 Overclock query

[ESX_BOY]

Hey Guys,
Just wanna start off by saying thank you for everyone's help/advice so far since being on this Forum. Really appreciate it.

So, I have an oldish PC that I'd like to overclock to get more out of it without having to replace anything (Unless I need too). My setup is:

MSI P45 Platinum motherboard - BIOS v1.60
Intel Q9400 with Zalman water block
2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (400Mhz)
2 x 2GB Samsung DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (400Mhz)
8GB RAM total, two different kits.
ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB with water block (Soon to be 7850 2GB as a hand-me-down from my little Bro! )
FSP PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Everything is default at the moment, and I ran a AIDA64 yesterday for several hours to get a baseline. I've read through the forum including Graysky's Core 2 Overclocking Guide, which was very helpful, as well as scouring over the internet too.

I completely understand that different components work differently together, and also two of the same parts work differently too. If it was as simple as find a guide that lists my exact components and a step by step guide to oc then great, by I know it's not as simple as that.

Yesterday I tried "simple" changes in the BIOS including changing the FSB to 375 from 333 and selecting 1:1 for the FSB: DRAM. I also disabled Spread Spectrum. But all I got was the PC beeping and rebooting a couple of times before it finally started and said basically my new settings were pants so do I want to change them back to the original settings? I obviously selected yes, and I got back into Windows.

From my research, I believe with my setup, I can run a max of 400 FSB? Which will give me a new CPU speed of 3.2Ghz? I know overclocking isn't straightforward, and that it's a long winding process of changing a setting in the BIOS, rebooting, running a Stress Test, shutting down, changing a setting in BIOS, etc.. But could someone who is familiar with my hardware help me achieve an improvement on my system please? I'd by most appreciative.

Many thanks in advance,

Andy

 

[arthurh]

Hey Guys,
Just wanna start off by saying thank you for everyone's help/advice so far since being on this Forum. Really appreciate it.

So, I have an oldish PC that I'd like to overclock to get more out of it without having to replace anything (Unless I need too). My setup is:

MSI P45 Platinum motherboard - BIOS v1.60
Intel Q9400 with Zalman water block
2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (400Mhz)
2 x 2GB Samsung DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (400Mhz)
8GB RAM total, two different kits.
ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB with water block (Soon to be 7850 2GB as a hand-me-down from my little Bro! )
FSP PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Everything is default at the moment, and I ran a AIDA64 yesterday for several hours to get a baseline. I've read through the forum including Graysky's Core 2 Overclocking Guide, which was very helpful, as well as scouring over the internet too.

I completely understand that different components work differently together, and also two of the same parts work differently too. If it was as simple as find a guide that lists my exact components and a step by step guide to oc then great, by I know it's not as simple as that.

Yesterday I tried "simple" changes in the BIOS including changing the FSB to 375 from 333 and selecting 1:1 for the FSB: DRAM. I also disabled Spread Spectrum. But all I got was the PC beeping and rebooting a couple of times before it finally started and said basically my new settings were pants so do I want to change them back to the original settings? I obviously selected yes, and I got back into Windows.

From my research, I believe with my setup, I can run a max of 400 FSB? Which will give me a new CPU speed of 3.2Ghz? I know overclocking isn't straightforward, and that it's a long winding process of changing a setting in the BIOS, rebooting, running a Stress Test, shutting down, changing a setting in BIOS, etc.. But could someone who is familiar with my hardware help me achieve an improvement on my system please? I'd by most appreciative.

Many thanks in advance,

Andy

Hello Andy

That M/BD has been know to go up to 500 MHz FSB. Almost all of your Voltages for the CPU will have to taken off AUTO and adjusted in small increments to have a successful OC. One of the things you are actually doing with that generation CPU is trying to get two dual core CPUs on one die to work flawlessly together. Thus why you have so many voltage adjustments available to you for that CPU.

Google your M/BD and check out in reviews how some other CPUs ('cause they may not have used the one you have) got a successful OC and that will be priceless.

One other note; you are using two different memory kits and this will impede your endeavor to OC and the newer graphics card might make your system OC unstable as it will put a larger demand on your CPU.

Good luck to you.

 

[ESX_BOY]

Hey Guys,
Just wanna start off by saying thank you for everyone's help/advice so far since being on this Forum. Really appreciate it.

So, I have an oldish PC that I'd like to overclock to get more out of it without having to replace anything (Unless I need too). My setup is:

MSI P45 Platinum motherboard - BIOS v1.60
Intel Q9400 with Zalman water block
2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (400Mhz)
2 x 2GB Samsung DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (400Mhz)
8GB RAM total, two different kits.
ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB with water block (Soon to be 7850 2GB as a hand-me-down from my little Bro! )
FSP PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Everything is default at the moment, and I ran a AIDA64 yesterday for several hours to get a baseline. I've read through the forum including Graysky's Core 2 Overclocking Guide, which was very helpful, as well as scouring over the internet too.

I completely understand that different components work differently together, and also two of the same parts work differently too. If it was as simple as find a guide that lists my exact components and a step by step guide to oc then great, by I know it's not as simple as that.

Yesterday I tried "simple" changes in the BIOS including changing the FSB to 375 from 333 and selecting 1:1 for the FSB: DRAM. I also disabled Spread Spectrum. But all I got was the PC beeping and rebooting a couple of times before it finally started and said basically my new settings were pants so do I want to change them back to the original settings? I obviously selected yes, and I got back into Windows.

From my research, I believe with my setup, I can run a max of 400 FSB? Which will give me a new CPU speed of 3.2Ghz? I know overclocking isn't straightforward, and that it's a long winding process of changing a setting in the BIOS, rebooting, running a Stress Test, shutting down, changing a setting in BIOS, etc.. But could someone who is familiar with my hardware help me achieve an improvement on my system please? I'd by most appreciative.

Many thanks in advance,

Andy

Hello Andy

That M/BD has been know to go up to 500 MHz FSB. Almost all of your Voltages for the CPU will have to taken off AUTO and adjusted in small increments to have a successful OC. One of the things you are actually doing with that generation CPU is trying to get two dual core CPUs on one die to work flawlessly together. Thus why you have so many voltage adjustments available to you for that CPU.

Google your M/BD and check out in reviews how some other CPUs ('cause they may not have used the one you have) got a successful OC and that will be priceless.

One other note; you are using two different memory kits and this will impede your endeavor to OC and the newer graphics card might make your system OC unstable as it will put a larger demand on your CPU.

Good luck to you.

Hi artherh,
Thanks for getting back to me. I actually read some of your help regarding this type of CPU on another thread here . I read through that, and saw that it looks like a pain in the a*se!
A couple of queries for you mate:

i.) Do you think I would be able to overclock at all with my two different RAM kits, or are you saying I might not be able to overclock as much?
ii.) Would you recommend I replace the GPU first, and then attempt to overclock?
iii.) I will specifically search online my motherboard for some sort of overclocking guide, but as the basic's can you suggest what kind of order I would carry out on the CPU? increasing FSB first, FSB : DRAM ratio, voltages etc...

Once again, I appreciate all your help.

Many thanks,

Andy

 

[ESX_BOY]

Can anyone help me with the points in my last post please? I would be most appreciative.

Thanks in advance.