q9550 on 750i at 3.4ghz not prime stable HELP

[alwaysoc0nfused]

Hey guys, this is what i have;

q9550 cooled with a tuniq 120
750i evga ftw mobo
4 gigs corsair ddr2-8500 ram
gtx 260

ok, stock on the q9550 is 2.8ghz. My goal is 3.4ghz on air.

I have finally reached where i can prime for more than 8 hours, and then the first two cores usually fails. What does this mean? I have upped the voltages accordingly and not i have not put too much. can anyone shed any light on this matter? thanks

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

anyone?

 

[Jim_L9]

What is the highest you have reached that is stable? It means that the overclock is not stable and might come back to bite you if you don't fix it now.

 

[antiacid]

am I just supposed to magically find out your voltages to tell you what's your problem exactly?

post some numbers and then we'll try

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

cpu core - 1.3500 (stock - 1.2)
fsb - 1.3000 (1.1)
mem - 2.1000(1.9)
nforce spp-1.45 (1.3)
nf200 - 1.30 (1.2)

Those are my readings. I figured that if i start off high and can get it stable i can then start lowering everything and testing it to see what the lowest i can get stable on.

I prime95 on blend for 10+ hours, Last night it went for more than 10 hours and then one core failed and a couple of hours later the 2nd core failed. 3rd and 4th core kept going.

cpuid reads vcore at 1.28 or something.

 

[Jim_L9]

Try 1.37 vcore and watch the temps and vcore under load.

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

temps max after like running for over 10 hours at one point hit 71c at the current vcore. So all my other settings i should leave alone? they look okay to you? just raise the vcore?

 

[bobbknight]

Ummm maybe they can't take it.

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

bobbknight what do you mean by they cant take it? who what?

 

[htoonthura]

Hey guys, this is what i have;

q9550 cooled with a tuniq 120
750i evga ftw mobo
4 gigs corsair ddr2-8500 ram
gtx 260

ok, stock on the q9550 is 2.8ghz. My goal is 3.4ghz on air.

I have finally reached where i can prime for more than 8 hours, and then the first two cores usually fails. What does this mean? I have upped the voltages accordingly and not i have not put too much. can anyone shed any light on this matter? thanks

I would call it very mild oc from 2.8 to 3.4. I, however, would call it stable for 8 hours of prime test. This is just my opinion. Here is why. When you go beyond manufacture stated frequency, any oc processors or components will fail. It is a matter of time. So, do not be fooled when someone say to you that the system is prime stable for 3 days. It is just wrong. It will fail.

In real world , it is very unlikely to continuously use 100% of processor time for , for example, more than 1 hour. So, if you have got it stable for 8 hours, you should not be worried.

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

htoonthura thats what im thinking, but how are my settings looking? is anything too high ? should i do anything differently?? This is my first OC and i am very nervous about it all. so all and any help is appreciated.

 

[Jim_L9]

It seems like heat may be your issue. Try it with the side off of the case and a 110V fan blowing into the case. If it works then your system is getting too hot and you need to improve airflow into the case.

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

comp never froze up or restarted itself. Max temps it ever went up to while running for 10+ hours were 70c. under normal conditions and while playing crysis, fry cry 2, and red alert 3 the temps NEVER went above 60c.

I have a cm690 case, with 2 top 120mm fans blowing out on top of the stock fans.

If you still think my case can get better air flow ill surely do what i need to do.

 

[htoonthura]

htoonthura thats what im thinking, but how are my settings looking? is anything too high ? should i do anything differently?? This is my first OC and i am very nervous about it all. so all and any help is appreciated.

I would do a google search. Search for your motherboard and processor or both. Read them carefully and ask us quesitons here if you are not clear.

I am sorry for not being helpful. I am at work and there are many things to cover. As a general tip, keep your system cool as much as possible. Beef up your cooling system or use the lowest vcore as much as possible. Disable all the stuff that you do not need or use. Go slow and take time. You will need some time to find the sweet spot and test it stable for a few hours.

 

[htoonthura]

P.S. I want to add to my above post. Know your cpu limit. i.e. what is the maximum voltage limit, and thermal limit. You can find that out from intel site.

 

[antiacid]

0.07v of vdroop is intense. You might want to look at modding your mobo for vdroop if possible. You shouldn't see it go much below 1.32 when it's set for 1.35.

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

Ok after a lot of fiddling around with everything I came across something that passed OCCT test for an hour. everything else within 10mins or so gave me an error code 1 or overheating;

cpu core - 1.3
fsb - 1.2
mem - 2.1000
nforce spp-1.40
nf200 - 1.25

Now the same settings that passed OCCT and was stable didnt last 10 mins on P95, failed one core within 10mins.

Any idea what is going on? temps were in the lower 50c when it failed in p95.

 

[alwaysoc0nfused]

ok so i got annoyed and went back to microcenter to exchange my 750i and the q9550. Turns out with my luck they didnt have any more left in stock. So i picked up the 780i and i went all the way out to NJ to get my q9550.

I came home installed everything. Started it up and everything worked great and to my pleasant surprise the q9550 was an E0!! Also on top of that my idle temps are:

core 1 = 23c
core 2 = 29c(it never moves, i guess its a stuck sensor? and on real temp the sensor test reads zero)
core 3 = 20c
core 4 = 20c

Under load it never went above 40c (prime95).

I am going to wait till the weekend and try my luck overclocking this q9550. Ill keep you guys posted.