Hello all,Well, I've got the new system running and up . . . however overclocking seems to be very confusing. My old Asus MB (P4899E) use a percentage from the bios and it was very simple. Any one have a tutorial on doing this combo, or a set of settings for the bios to hit 4.2 or so?Thanks in advance,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

I have the same basic setup you do, QX9650 and Asus Maximus Formula. Hoewever you didn't state the speed and type of memory you have or your cooling solution, both of which are pretty important.To start I recommend having a look through this very comprehensive article. It's based on a previous generation board but the same rules still apply and you'll learn a lot about each of your bios settings here.http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3156&p=4Getting to 4.2 ghz even with watercooling is going to be an exercise but it's doable, just be mindful of your temperature and voltage limits. That's going to be some expensive hardware to replace if you cook it. I have mine running at 4.0 ghz quite comfortably and it's rock solid stability wise, but pushing much beyond that means you're looking at some pretty high voltages. Do so with care.Cheers,-mike

Mike,Thanks for your response, well, at this point perhaps you could just give me your bios settings and I can give them a try. I don't seem to understand the CPU level up stuff. My p4800E Deluxe was much more simpler and less complicated. On the cooling, My case has 6 fans and I am running the 9700 Zahlman cooler on the CPU. My MB and Core temps are VERY cool compared to the P4. Also, my memory is DDR2 1066 by G Skill. I had a friend test this memory and it worked out as stable as Cruitial and Kingston Hyper X.Any other help you can give would be appreciated.Thanks in advanceClayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

Maximum rated core voltage is 1.45v for your processor. Default voltage at default clockspeed is 1.25v. I am able to run my QX at 4.3GHz rock stable at 1.45v, on air with the case cover off, and a stock HSF. If you have a QX you can just run your DDR2-1066 at FSB to achieve stock rated memory speed and just change the CPU multiplier to work out to a 4.0Ghz or better, but you will need a little more voltage most likely to your cpu. If you want to stay fully in spec, limit vCore to 1.45v. If you are willing to live on the edge a little more, you can probably handle 1.6v, but I'm guessing it will shorten CPU life, barelfy probably. According to Anand they are very hard to kill, even with over voltage, though at this price I'm not interested in trying to confirm that. These are great processors and you will get great performance.NoelQX9650 w/ Retail HSF|8GB Muskin PC-6400|ASUS P5E|EVGA 8800GT @700|Seagate SATA 2 x 4|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro|Vista 64--soon to be installed

4.3Ghz with the stock heat sink is pretty amazing, even with side cover off. Ahhh, . . . doin' (5000 BTUs! worth of) anything special there?

>4.3Ghz with the stock heat sink is pretty amazing, even with>side cover off. Ahhh, . . . doin' (5000 BTUs! worth of)>anything special there? Sam, here's a clip from another post I made recently. Yes, the rules have changed!"My QX9650 runs at 4.0GHz at a paltry voltage of 1.2875v. This is only slightly over default vCore of 1.25v. In fact, I've never tried to fine tune it to see if it would fly at less than 1.2875. I have moved beyond 4.0GHz and discovered mine does require vCore of 1.45 or slightly less to run (prime95 Torture Test passes) at 4.302GHz. 1.45v is the maximum rated vCore by Intel for this processor. This is on room air with case cover off. I have a low BTU air conditioner that I can use to blow directly at my CPU, video card, memory and mainboard, but I am finding I simply don't need it now, at least not for an overclock to 4.302Ghz. From Anand's article, they are happy using 1.6v for their testbed, which is water cooled. They can run this processor at over 4.5Ghz using this sort of vCore. I see no point in running past 4.3Ghz for now, but again, I'm sure it could. 1.45v seems like about as high as I'd like to go to keep the processore working for years to come."I guess if I decided to go for 4.5 or more I'd maybe need the AC. And then there's the GPU. It's pretty weird to not need this cooling, in fact I have used the fan only on the AC just cuz it does cool the thing down alot, and for the sake of longevity I will probably go ahead and use it. When the warm summers come I will use the AC as well. I tried 4.3G using full AC and at idle: 14C or so. At load, 28C or so. I had adjusted my ducting etc so it hit everything directly:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/186427.jpgQX9650 w/ Retail HSF|8GB Muskin PC-6400|ASUS P5E|EVGA 8800GT @700|Seagate SATA 2 x 4|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro|Vista 64--soon to be installed

Noel,Could you post a shapshot/.jpg or so or just write down the specs on your Bios so I could do some comparison?I finally got mine to 4.02GHz using a V core voltage raise to 1.45, and 10 CPU ratio, with OC tuner on manual, Dram freq at 1066, (which is what the ram is rated, DDR2 1066) and the idle temp is at 22C. http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

Wow Clay, that doesn't seem quite consistent with other reports, I mean needing that sort of vCore. Perhaps there is more variability in individual CPUs. I can tell you it doesn't matter on my machine if I run an FSB of 391 with a multiplier of 11.0, or other permutations to get to 4.3Ghz. It does take 1.45v to run stable, or maybe a little less which I haven't tested. I can run 4.0Ghz with an FSB of 333 and a mult of 12.0 at 1.2875v. QX9650 w/ Retail HSF|8GB Muskin PC-6400|ASUS P5E|EVGA 8800GT @700|Seagate SATA 2 x 4|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro|Vista 64--soon to be installed

What I have a hard time beleiving is 1.45 vCore and an Idle temp of 22C.Running at stock voltages and clocks and 22C would be hard to beleive on air (68F are you running cooler than ambient on air?)You had best be careful with that expensive CPU. I have a hard time beleiving that your idle temps at that speed and voltage are that low especially on a Zalman 9700. It sounds like your temperatures are being reported incorrectly which has been a known problem with some QX9650 CPUs.You would have the coolest running QX9650 known to man. I'm idling at 44C with a vCore of 1.4V at 4.0Ghz.What possible reason could they be reporting such low idle temperatures? The Diodes in the CPU are not accurate, or some revisions have poor contact with Core----->IHS.Be careful with your CPU m8.

I don't know. I am running at peak load at 3.66GHz at 1.25v (FS9 does not need even this horsepower, so I haven't been running above 3.66 for now, until FSX that is) and cpu temp is only 44C. I AM blowing fresh (albeit room) air at my retail fan . . .QX9650 w/ Retail HSF|8GB Muskin PC-6400|ASUS P5E|EVGA 8800GT @700|Seagate SATA 2 x 4|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro|Vista 64--soon to be installed

Sorry Guys, I just reread my post to confirm that my 62 year old fingers hit the wrong key, that should have been 32 at idle....at 4.02 GHz. And look at the numbers the quad core posts in FS9 for FPS its insane, LOL...finally all sliders full right in FS9 and everything maxed out and hitting 165 FPS, why couldn't we get that two years ago LOL.Anyways, I still need someone with my chip and MB who has OC'd to give me their BIOS numbers . . . if someone would be so kind, as I am not sure how I am 'really' doing with my specs and such.Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"