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Advice Requested RE: 9550

E

Eradan

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 7, 2006
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I'm running an engineering sample Q9550 (C0) on an Asus P5B-E at stock speed with stock Intel cooling (full system specs in sig). I use the PC for gaming (primarily WoW, Dawn of War), ripping music, Photoshop, browsing, etc. My system feels sluggish.

I've researched the possibility of upgrading to the i7 platform versus overclocking my existing hardware. The impression I get is that the cost to upgrade (around $500 for new chip, mobo, DDR3) isn't worth the increase in performance over my current system.

My Asus P5B-E supports my chip but given the age of the chipset, there's not much overhead left for overclocking the 9550. I could pick up a new motherboard for the 9550 that will allow me to overclock it. Does that sound like a reasonable solution? If so, can you advise me on a good motherboard?

I'm not a extreme overclocker. I'd prefer an air cooling solution. I don't mind upgrading from the stock Intel cooler if I need to. I also would prefer to not toy with voltages, but I don't know if I can get enough additional horsepower from an overclock without doing so to make it worth even bothering with.

I would appreciate any advice, suggestions you may have to offer. You can even call me names if you want to.

Thanks,

E
 
The Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P is cheap and has a great reputation for overclocking Quads.

Computers usually feel sluggish because of bloated features in the operating system or bloated anti-virus programs. Autoruns is a good program to find the 101 things that start up when you start your computer. You might be able to get rid of some of the junk on your system or find something that is running in the background that is sucking up your computer's resources. Even a brand new Core i7 upgrade will feel sluggish if your computer is full of junk.

I still use an Asus P5B Deluxe which is very similar to your P5B-E. It works great with the 45nm Dual Core chips but it doesn't have as good a reputation when overclocking Quad Core CPUs. If you are not an expert overclocker then it might be easier for you to use your P5B. It has less options in the bios so isn't quite as mind boggling when first starting out.

With any board you have to be willing to adjust the core voltage when overclocking. It's not rocket science so don't be afraid of making some changes. The AUTO setting on the P5B can be dangerous when overclocking because it can use way too much additional voltage for your CPU. You're far better off setting it manually so you have full control of this. CPU-Z can be used to check your core voltage.

Here's how my bios looks when running an E8400 at 4 GHz.

p5bsettings512mbx2.png


With some more tweaking, here's what an old P5B is capable of:

superpi10250.png


There are lots of users here and on other forums willing to help if you're willing to help yourself.
 
That's some great information. How are you cooling your CPU?

E
 
I'm just using a Tuniq Tower. My room temp is only about 20C to 21C which helps out.

If you go for a more modest overclock like 3.6 GHz, these 45nm Core CPUs can run reliably at full load for hours at pretty much any temperature.

Here's how my E8400 looks running Prime95 Small FFTs with the CPU fan turned off to create a worst case scenario:

hote8400fw5.png


After 3 hours I got bored waiting for it to crash and stopped the test. Thermal throttling usually starts at 97C so you need to keep it below there but other than that, as long as you're stable you don't have to worry about the details. This CPU still runs fine.

Something like 425MHz x 8.5 would be a good number for you to shoot for with the P5B board.

Have you updated the bios yet? 12.38 is the latest version on the Asus website for my P5B Deluxe but I haven't checked for your version of the P5B. They use a different bios version. I'm very happy with this old board and haven't found a real need to upgrade it.

If you're not sure about some other bios settings then just let me know.
 
I have an E8400 as well (stock speed).
4510.9MHz ? OMG ... I mean, OMFG.

The temperatures ... I get are between 32 to 36 degrees (idle) with the stock cooler according to Everest.
And regarding updating a BIOS, ... my BIOS is from end of 2007 (Asus P5E-VM HDMI), so I should update it but no way I'm gonna be brave enough.
Firstly I have never done a BIOS update, and secondly ... you shouldn't fix what's not broken, correct ?

Just wonder if my current BIOS could cope if I used a (45nm) quad core ?
And maybe using a SSD drive could be a problem too ?
 
Cov said:
I have an E8400 as well (stock speed).
4510.9MHz ? OMG ... I mean, OMFG.

The temperatures ... I get are between 32 to 36 degrees (idle) with the stock cooler according to Everest.
And regarding updating a BIOS, ... my BIOS is from end of 2007 (Asus P5E-VM HDMI), so I should update it but no way I'm gonna be brave enough.
Firstly I have never done a BIOS update, and secondly ... you shouldn't fix what's not broken, correct ?

Just wonder if my current BIOS could cope if I used a (45nm) quad core ?
And maybe using a SSD drive could be a problem too ?
Click to expand...
You should start a separate thread for your questions, since none of them have anything to do with this topic.
 
i set my q9550 to 1.36v and 450 fsb and it ran fine for weeks until i inherited my q9650 and i did the same thing, 1.36v 450 fsb, haven't touched it for months

I am using a TRUE , i have a freezer 7 pro but the temps arent very good @ 4+ ghz on the quad, it was fine on my old e8400 @ 4200 however, would look into better cooling for overclocking the quads, even the copper core intel coolers tend to suck

I was able to run 450 fsb on a p35, p45 and my x48 board with all 3 cpus, e8400, q9550 and q9650

hope it helps
 
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