Overclocking Q9300 with DDR2-800

[nticompass]

I have a Shuttle SP35P2(v2). Inside is a Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5Ghz, 8GB DDR2 800 RAM (1.9v, 5-5-5-15), and a Nvidia 9800GT.
For some reason it was running at only 2GHz (333*6.0). My roommate noticed this, and told me to raise the multiplier to 7.5, so it would run at the marked 2.5 GHz.
After doing that, I thought, hmmm, what else can I do to this baby? I raised the FSB to 400, and set the RAM to 1:1 ratio (400MHz). 3.0GHz, at 1.1V. It seems stable so far. I haven't stress tested it, but it seems ok.
Is there anything else I should do to make sure my CPU is stable? What stress-tests should I run?

 

[PigLover]

What you've done is modest as will almost certainly be stable. You are not stressing any limits of anything.

24 hour stress test with Prime95 will probably tell the story. Check your temps during the stress test to be sure you are happy with it.

 

[nticompass]

Thanks. It doesn't seem to be running any hotter than it was before, which is good. I will run Prime95 later today.

 

[stevedave]

that is likely you max, given the board, cpu, and ram.

Unless your ram and board can go above 400fsb. I know my q8200 is stuck at 400fsb 2.8 unless I buy a new board.

 

[EricFX1984]

that is likely you max, given the board, cpu, and ram.

Unless your ram and board can go above 400fsb. I know my q8200 is stuck at 400fsb 2.8 unless I buy a new board.

not bad... most people dont even get that out of a q8200

 

[defaultluser]

I have a Shuttle SP35P2(v2). Inside is a Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5Ghz, 8GB DDR2 800 RAM (1.9v, 5-5-5-15), and a Nvidia 9800GT.
For some reason it was running at only 2GHz (333*6.0). My roommate noticed this, and told me to raise the multiplier to 7.5, so it would run at the marked 2.5 GHz.

That's because the CPU idles at 2.0 GHz when it's not stressed (it reduces the multiplier to do so). This is how SpeedStep works.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/intel-wolfdale_11.html

By the way, Wolfdale processors, just like their predecessors, drop the frequency multiplier to 6x in case the workload is low.

If the quad core 45nm processors are like the dual cores, they also idle at 2.0 GHz.

The reason your heat didn't increase noticeably is because you weren't really overclocking.

FYI: once you start messing with the voltage or multiplier in the BIOS, SpeedStep is automatically disabled.

 

[EricFX1984]

FYI: once you start messing with the voltage or multiplier in the BIOS, SpeedStep is automatically disabled.

weird... my ip35 pro doesnt do that... neither did my asus P5k, or my Gigabyte ep45-ud3p

some motherboards do that others do not...