Not getting 4Ghz on Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 on Gigabyte EP45-UD3P

I am looking for settings which can help to reach 4Ghz frequency on Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550. I tried sometime but system rebooted. This is due to overheating. After the adding liquid cooling in my system I am more confident to redo this. Thanks.

It is first to say that when you are doing this do on your own risk. I am providing you a some settings that can increase the performance on Intel Core i7 processor and you can reach the needed frequency. Please do not play with your system unless and until you are not aware about the entire process. You can destroy your motherboard, cpu forever. Before beginning this install a cpu monitor in your system. This will give you continuous update of cpu temperature and if crosses the limit you can stop it. Also enable cpu warning and cpu fan warning status from bios.

You to modify some factory parameters. This are the settings which are set by default and modification can only allow you to reach above 4Ghz.

• Set the Dram Voltage to 1.65v. This parameter must be changed carefully. This directly refers to your RAM stability. RAM are managed by the controller integrated into the CPU. If any wrong setting did here, can cause permanent death of cpu.
• Set the PCIE Frequency to 101MHz. This is for increasing the system stability. There are no major effect of this on the system.
• Set the CPU PLL Voltage to 1.8v. Under this the voltage settings depend on the motherboard support. If you re board does not support an prescribed voltage limit then there is no way to go further.
• Disable the Intel Turbo Mode. This function is responsible to disabled automatically some manual intervention on the main board related to CPU multiplier. You can disable the same.
• Set the CPU Ratio Setting to 20. Set this value to maximum available. In extreme editions of processors you can set this value on any multiplier.
• Set the DRAM Frequency on minimum value available. This is to ensure more stability while system is overclocked.
• Set the Uncore Frequency double the value you defined to Dram frequency. This is for removing stress fro the controller.
• And set the QPI / DRAM Core Voltage to 1.25V.

Try up the following things and check back.

Before doing all those step I will advice you to run OCCT. This tool will runs for hours on your system and provide you information that your system can overclocked or not. It is also better to find out issue related to overclocking.

What I want to say here is that many problems are liked to be related with the fsb or ram. There are certain manuals provided with the board which gives you information on overclocking. Refer to the same once and then try back. It is also recommended t modify the options vtt, mch, CPU, etc. Going through an advance guide will be more helpful for you. settings varies as per motherboard and different cpus.

Overclocking is always an risky job and I had found many less users reaching at 4Ghz on Intel Quad core cpu. That is not because of the limitation of tools but all hardware and application you are using to get at this stage much work together. A similar case where the system crashes due to RAM support. The ram was of low mhz and did not really provide great support for the processor to perform well. Anyhow my friend needs to change ram and opt for higher frequency. Other things too matter are cooling which plays an very important role in the same.

Increasing the the voltage can be used to stabilize your Overclocking but obviously this leads to higher consumption and therefore a greater heat releases. Keep a eye on temperature and stop overclocking upto an point. Yes with this you need good cooling for better overclocking. The instability is due to the difficulty of the I20processor to differentiate between 0 and 1, which are characterized by two different electrical states (Vcore and 0v), because of the increased switching speed of transistors that make up the processor (= increased frequency). The increase in Vcore thus increases the difference between 0 and 1 which again become easily differentiated for the processor => return to stability. Temperature is never the direct problem and affects relatively few of the overclocked systems. An cooler system gives better electrical characteristics to the component of the processor, and thus also allows a higher frequency, but unless the Vcore.

The rule increases the Vcore up to 70 ° C for your max frequency is always the best compromise, after if you can cool again and continue to increase the Vcore is better (with the w / c for xample). Shall affect the vcore by performance.

Upgrade your cpu cooler and then see. Keep the vCore on default settings and then check the cpu temperature. Do not force cpu to work more by using overclocking software. And if the crash is regular stop using the same.

I think is this because of your ram. Did you checked the ram mhz compatible with your board. Sometime due to improper configuration the issue appears. Just keep the vCore value in the ratio of 1:1 and then try again to 3.6 GHz with the same. I can get my system work at 3.2 properly without mush issue with 400 FSB. vCore is responsible to modify the current flow of your processor. So if you do not know much about this, really don't play with it. You can burn your system entirely. Overheating can kill your cpu and there is no warranty cover for that. Keep the cpu clock at a limited rate where it does not effects the performance.