M17x--Overclocking the Q9000 a joke? (and other issues)

I've noticed people who stated they overclocked their q9000 using the m17x bios, to 2.40ghz, but I'm wondering if anyone is able to overclock at even 2.3ghz, let alone 2.40ghz and have it stable.

Most people have mentioned that it was at 2.40 for only a brief period before they upgraded to a q9300, so I'm not sure if a stable 2.40 is even possible--for me, anything over 2.30 and it freezes right away.

To be honest, whenever I turn on a game (NFS Shift), it freezes even at 2.20 and only plays at the default 2.00ghz. So from my experience, overclocking is only stable at 2.30 at best and only while under non CPU intensive use, which sort of defeats the purpose of overclocking.

Anyone else have this issue or have any suggestions? Thanks.

One more non related issue, how do you switch the AlienFX to advanced mode? I can't seem to download the flash file to play the tutorial and would like to check it the advanced features.

edit: scratch that last question; I figured it out and feel dumb. Just start a new theme and click "advanced" duh.

 

you need to change memory timings and your FSB ...

its a long process it isn't just of hey lets up the FSB

 

Well I just left the memory as it is because I remember someone mentioning memory doesn't need to be touched. Do you mean there's a balance between how much the cpu is overclocked and how much the memory is?

Only thing I tried was starting at around 1280 (someone here mentioned they got it up to there before upgrading their cpu-- but I doubt it would be stable for long) and worked down in increments of 10 before it was stable at around 1240.

Where can I find optimum settings? Thanks.

 

The search button

A quick q9000 overclock search should pull up results

 

Put your main cas latency up. Or buy some better ram.

Your ram is probably unstable as mentioned.

 

The q9000 has never overclocked well on this chipset

Better ram will only get him to 2.4 if that's what's holding him back

 

Maybe that's the problem here. I've already read through hours of posts including the one you made on overclocking. I've read tons of numbers and everyone has their own value that works it seems. For the q9000, some claim it worked at 1280, most seem to average between 1240-1260, and I couldn't go above 1230. It seems there's no definitive stable number (someone mentioned it could be different even for the same cpu).

What really irks me is that overclocking just freezes an otherwise stable setting whenever I run something cpu intensive. I've tried 1220, which is pretty low and almost every RAM setting from the base 1066 up to 1240, and nothing works. The only thing that keeps the cpu stable during games (I've only tried NFS Shift) is keeping it at the default settings.

 

Its just the luck of the draw some people get better cpus . BTW use occt to stress your cpu it works great

 

It's not the CPU , they could all run at 2.8 + prolly .

The luck of the draw is in the chipset and CPU

 

I always keep the FSB and Memory speeds in the bios the same (but still entered manually - NOT linked)

For the Q900 this is 1280 on both

 

Moo's right. Remember the W90 users? They could overclock to around 2.8Ghz with the Q9000 thanks to an excellent chipset.

However, it is a combination of the chipset, memory, and the processsor itself. As the others have said above I'd highly advise linking the memory and CPU, you might just achieve a higher overclock.

You may have just got unlucky though and got a really poor CPU.

 

Mine overclocked only to 2.3GHz prime stable (48 hours) until I got a new mainboard. At that point it overclocked to 2.4GHz prime stable (48 hours). I've run it for a month like that before upgrading to a QX9300. I did have to have my RAM clocked the same as my FSB to achive this, however.

 

i have mine at 2.4 at stable i can even play crysis on very high and in 1200p, even tought i already bought a qx9300 on ebay, anyone interested on
a Q9000 for sale?

 

I have been stable at 2.325 for quite a while now. FSB and Memory speeds are the same but not linked.

I am satisfied with it and have not had any stability issues.

 

Just curious, did you do it through the bios? Is your RAM 1066? Personally, I found it far more stable when the RAM was at default and only the FSB changed. What did you set them to?
Thanks

 

Same here, I'm running at 2,4 stable (1285 FSB). Didn't do any OCCT, but no crash since 2 months. This is with 1333 memory.

 

Yes, through BIOS. here are my settings and yes my RAM is 1066

 

Thanks for the screenshots. Nice desktop btw...

 

Np. If you want a copy PM your email and I'll send you the desktop. File to large to post here.

 

I'm interested!

 

I had no issues running at 2.4 on my q9000 and stable. No BSOD at all.