Need help getting the most out of my Q9300

A

AshleyG

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
272
I'm trying to get a little more juice out of my Q9300. This system has been rock-solid stable for the past two years with no issues whatsoever. I'd love to upgrade, but times are tight and every time I get caught eyeing Newegg my wife points to the HDTV I got her for Mother's day *cough*.

Anyway, here's the requisite "Stuff I've got" list.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 - GigaByte EP35-DS3P - Thermaltake i1 cooler
8GB Corsair DDR2-800 - VisionTek 4870
MaxLine III 250GB - Hitachi7k250 250GB
Samsung 2433BW - CoolerMaster CMStacker
Corsair HX620

Right now, in the BIOS, the CPU Frequency is listed at 2.50Ghz (333x7.5). I have tried raising the 333 to 400, but after a reboot or two it reverts back to 333. CPU Host Frequency is set to 400 and the Memory Frequency is 800.

I know there are many people adept here at squeezing every bit of juice out of a CPU. I look forward to trying out your suggestions.
 
I think dropping another LGA 775 into that mobo would be a poor choice. Sure you'd get more performance, but the platform is becoming pretty long in the tooth at this point and I think you'd regret it in the long run.

As far as overclocking goes, are you also raising the voltage? What are the temps looking like? If everything is going swimmingly, there shouldn't be any reason for the motherboard to revert after a reboot. Anyways, the Q9300 is a relatively poor overclocker, but 3.3GHz is a pretty good range for it.(Make sure to watch those temps!).

Also, if you don't mind me asking, what's the reason for wanting to upgrade? That's a pretty capable rig, maybe a year old or so. Specific games not running as well as you hope? The only way to go from this point seems like an i7 rig. The 930 can be had for not too much, but the real problem is you'll need a new mobo and RAM.

To be honest, you've still got a pretty beefy system, and unless there's something it's not doing for you, I'd wait it out for a little while longer.
 
AshleyG said:
I'm trying to get a little more juice out of my Q9300. This system has been rock-solid stable for the past two years with no issues whatsoever. I'd love to upgrade, but times are tight and every time I get caught eyeing Newegg my wife points to the HDTV I got her for Mother's day *cough*.

Anyway, here's the requisite "Stuff I've got" list.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 - GigaByte EP35-DS3P - Thermaltake i1 cooler
8GB Corsair DDR2-800 - VisionTek 4870
MaxLine III 250GB - Hitachi7k250 250GB
Samsung 2433BW - CoolerMaster CMStacker
Corsair HX620

Right now, in the BIOS, the CPU Frequency is listed at 2.50Ghz (333x7.5). I have tried raising the 333 to 400, but after a reboot or two it reverts back to 333. CPU Host Frequency is set to 400 and the Memory Frequency is 800.

I know there are many people adept here at squeezing every bit of juice out of a CPU. I look forward to trying out your suggestions.
Click to expand...

You cannot just jump the FSB up like that. The 8GB (four sticks I assume) will make it touchy to OC.

Set Vcore to 1.375V
Set memory timings manually dont leave it on auto. At first set memory mulitplier to 2.0 which will underclock your memory for now. Come back to it later after you see what the cpu will do.
Set Memory Performance level to Normal (again, just for now)
Set memory votage to the highest recommended by the manuf and still covered by warranty, if you have XMS memory that is +.3 (1.8 normal +.3 = 2.1V) if plain jane Corsair go +.1 for a total of 1.9V. Check their website for your exact memory specs.
Set MCH voltage to +.2
Set FSB voltage to first extra increment available. (dont remember off top of head) .

Set FSB to 350, reboot, see what happens. stress test etc. If ok then jump 10 MHz steps testing as you go.

Download and boot from a Memtest86+ CD and let it run 2 passes as you do the FSB jumps above, when it craps out, back off 5MHz test again. If that passes back off 3 MHz and call it a day. Then work on a memory mulitplier that will get your memory close to its rated speed. Little underclocked is ok, you have gained so much system horsepower from the cpu overclock a little loss of memory bandwidth will not even be noticed. See if you can get Memory Performance on the FAST setting. Use the Memtest CD - This will keep you from booting OK but having windows freeze on loading and screwing up your install. You have been warned. Takes 5 min to download the zip of the .iso and burn a CD. Use the F12 (I think) boot menu key. Disable the "Full Screen Logo" so you can watch it boot and count memory etc.

There is reams and reams of OC tips on this board in the OCing and cooling section. As I mentioned the 4 sticks is a bit of an issue but you should be able to get quite a bit of free extra performance out of it and if you take your time, test properly, you can have a rock solid reliable and much faster machine for no or little cost ot you.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366

Give the above a go and come visit us in OCing and Cooling with results/questions etc. 3.0 rock solid should be cake with a little rational tweaking and testing.
 
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