http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115042

is my cpu

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor

is my case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119136

and my cpu fan is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118020

i was thinking of just ocing it to 3ghz. what is the highest you think i can get with fan cooling.

mobo is EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188024

it depends...

did you get a good cpu batch... sometimes one cpu batch overclocks really far other times it doesn't...

but it mainly depends on your motherboard... and I don't know the max stable fsb on that motherboard... but then again it depends on whether its a good MB or a bad one...

i'd say you can easily reach 3ghz... probably even 3.2 on stock voltages... but any higher you'll need to do extensive tests and raise voltages

No two parts are alike in electronics, its strickly trial and error when it comes to overclocking. Enter at own risk.

I don't know how that motherboard does but I am running at 3.2 and my voltage is just over 2V. 3.6Ghz is usually the limit on air cooling from what I have seen with raised voltages. Also just because the processor by default runs at 2 v does nto mean it is bad to run higher. In fact on the Retail box it says maxe Volts 2.25 I think it was. So if you stay within the envelope you should be fine.

The 7xxi mobos from Nvidia has real issues with OCing, so while 3GHz is very doable and should be no sweat for the Q9450, it may take days to get it right on that mobo.

With that cooler, and assuming the mobo is stable, I should say 3.4GHz isn't an issue.

thanks for the quick replays yea ill do bit by bit

2 volts is high for an overclock. Are you sure it wasn't 1.25 volts for q9450.

I don't think any motherboard can do such a high vcore...

Lol, 2volts for q9450 = instant burnout.

I have often wondered if the new chips can withstand the massive barrage of VDrop and vdroop that NVidia is so famous for in their chipsets!

Hey Gad! Will you do me a favor, please? next time you place the thing on stock with speed step disabled, Run Core temp, note the VID of your processor, re start and go into the Bios and manually select that exact vcore voltage and boot into windows.

Keeping track of the VID, so you know what the voltage in the Bios was, look in CPUz when you get into windows and list the current VCore while idling. That will reflect your VDrop, once you make note of the value it idles at, run Prime 95 Small FFTs torture test on all the cores, and note the now diminished VCore value in CPUz again. That is your VDroop.

Please list those three here!

Thanks alot!

--Lupi

so what are the VID these days for the new 45nm quad?1.1xxV?

I got unlucky and got VID=1.25V for Q9450.

whats the lowest and highest? so the 45nm doesnt run at "much" lower voltage then the 65nm ones.interesting...

I'm at 3.3ghz on stock voltage with my Q9450. So I'd say you could hit 3.0ghz easily no matter what mobo without too much trouble.


edit: added signature with cpuz validation