Can i overclock my QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 ?

[Hayna]

Hello, i will buy a new one in a couple of months... but meanwhile i`d like to use the most of what i have.

So i tried to OC it but the pc didnt boot, i changed from x333 to x374 and it failed, so before i do some crap ill regreat i`d like some light

My config:

QuadCore Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300, 2500 MHz (7.5 x 333)
Mobo: Gigabyte G41MT-S2P
2x Corsair Vengeance 4 GB DDR3-1866
Satellite SL-X1000EPS 1000W
ATI Radeon HD 5770

thanks before hand

[Agamany]

you just jumped to much into the OC... try going with 10 mhz increments instead until it wont boot... then if you feel comfortable with it.. add voltage... 1 step up at a time till stable.. if not.. back off the mhz till stable. 41mhz to start is just too big of a jump in FSB

[DarkBlade6]

Dont forget to decrease the RAM multiplier as well, because everytime you increase the FSB , you memory overclock as well. So this can make your system unstable, so try to stay as close as 1866mhz as possible , if you go way too low , you can always tight the timing.

Also im just wondering if you got an aftermarket cooler , because this is mandatory if you want to OC. Intel stock heatsink is just not good enough to keep your CPU cool, if you increase the voltage and FSB.

[Ghâzh]

Also im just wondering if you got an aftermarket cooler , because this is mandatory if you want to OC. Intel stock heatsink is just not good enough to keep your CPU cool, if you increase the voltage and FSB.

Aftermarket cooler definitely isn't mandatory. As far as you watch your temperatures while stress testing there's nothing wrong with trying. You should actually be able to quite confortably overclock to 2.8-3.0GHz region with stock cooler. You won't obviously be as effective with stock as you'd with aftermarket cooler but there should still be some headroom above the stock speeds.

I'd try that 7.5 x 374 again with adjusted voltage, something like 1.3 volts to start with. If it still fails you can try upping it by 0.025 increaments (1.325 -> 1.35 -> 1.375..etc) all the way up to 1.4 area which is still considered safe (if you feel like pushing it, 1.45 is the absolute maximum I'd risk).

If for some reason that still doesn't boot start reducing the FSB. Controversially, if it works you can up the FSB as long as you stress test between tries and watch the temperatures (75-80 degress during prime 95 would still be reasonable, if it goes above 85-90 I'd definitely abort and reduce either volts or FSB).

You can try to fine tune by reducing RAM speed and/or losen the timings. For more tips and settings to fiddle with try to google "Intel core 2 quad Q8300 overclocking guide), should always yield some additional info.

Good luck and make sure to post results!

[Hayna]

Thanks for the tips, later today ill test them and post it

---------- Post added 2012-07-24 at 12:55 PM ----------

Well i tried it all and the max i could reach was
from 7.5x333 -> 7.5 x 343 now with 1.3 volts

i increased the volatage but didnt pass 343 anyway, othe thing i did was change the memory multiplier.
A lil wierd thing i found was that I did the performance test from Windows 7, and my points went down from 7.2 to 7.1 for the processor and the memory, is this right?

Also theres any more i can do or thats my limit? thanks

---------- Post added 2012-07-24 at 01:58 PM ----------

Some pics of what i have now:

[owboygames]

i wanna OC my Q8300, and i have the same Mobo, so ill be seeing your results and try myself later.

[glo]

Aftermarket cooler definitely isn't mandatory. As far as you watch your temperatures while stress testing there's nothing wrong with trying. You should actually be able to quite confortably overclock to 2.8-3.0GHz region with stock cooler. You won't obviously be as effective with stock as you'd with aftermarket cooler but there should still be some headroom above the stock speeds.

I'd try that 7.5 x 374 again with adjusted voltage, something like 1.3 volts to start with. If it still fails you can try upping it by 0.025 increaments (1.325 -> 1.35 -> 1.375..etc) all the way up to 1.4 area which is still considered safe (if you feel like pushing it, 1.45 is the absolute maximum I'd risk).

If for some reason that still doesn't boot start reducing the FSB. Controversially, if it works you can up the FSB as long as you stress test between tries and watch the temperatures (75-80 degress during prime 95 would still be reasonable, if it goes above 85-90 I'd definitely abort and reduce either volts or FSB).

You can try to fine tune by reducing RAM speed and/or losen the timings. For more tips and settings to fiddle with try to google "Intel core 2 quad Q8300 overclocking guide), should always yield some additional info.

Good luck and make sure to post results!

What? TCASE for Q8xxx is 70c. If he was hitting temperatures of 75-80c, that would be ending the life of said processor rather quickly.

Further, suggesting someone overclock 500Mhz on stock cooling is absurd. Please don't suggest uninformed users misinformation that could lead to them ruining their hardware.

@ OP - Stop what you're doing and buy an aftermarket cooler if you wish to overclock. Doing so on stock cooling is a death sentence to your processor.

[Hayna]

@ OP - Stop what you're doing and buy an aftermarket cooler if you wish to overclock. Doing so on stock cooling is a death sentence to your processor.

Really should have been my first change, sorry.
But dou u think the way it is now is a problem for my hardware? or do you suggest me to go to the old configuration?

[Ghâzh]

What? TCASE for Q8xxx is 70c. If he was hitting temperatures of 75-80c, that would be ending the life of said processor rather quickly.

Further, suggesting someone overclock 500Mhz on stock cooling is absurd. Please don't suggest uninformed users misinformation that could lead to them ruining their hardware.

@ OP - Stop what you're doing and buy an aftermarket cooler if you wish to overclock. Doing so on stock cooling is a death sentence to your processor.

I might have been too broad by just speaking of temperatures. I had no intention to advise him to aim for 75-80c TCase but rather core temperatures at around that area, as quite frankly they are two different things. My mistake.

Never did I suggest him to overclock 500Mhz stright away. Like I said there should be no damage done if you take it slowly and watch your temperatures and stress test in between tries. Doesn't matter if you had a stock or aftermarket cooler as long as you don't go crazy and jump the voltage or frequancy to ridiculous amounts.

As far as the "safe" suggested core temps go, the Q8xxx will shut down at around 110c to prevent damage. Even if you listened to no word at all of what I've said and managed to hit that, there'd most likely be no permanent damage whatsoever. Most likely as there's always risk in overclocking. The OP's exact words were: "i will buy a new one in a couple of months... but meanwhile i`d like to use the most of what i have.". To me that sounds like he's not trying to make the CPU last for the next ten years but rather make the best do with what he has and be done with it afterwards.

And to be honest here, it's nearly five years old chip, it's cheap by todays standard. Better to play with something that's quite redundant rather than blow your brand new 3960x that's hundred times as costly don't you think?

And I'm not trying to promote reckless overclocking here. Just saying that if you are careful it's just all right to experiment with it and see where's the limit.

But do u think the way it is now is a problem for my hardware? or do you suggest me to go to the old configuration?

As long as you are within reasonable temperatures and/or voltage it won't damage anything. Have you stress tested those settings yet? Download Prime 95 and let it run for twenty minutes or so in blend test while watching the temps. If it goes above 80 (watch for core 1,2,3 and 4 temps in your monitoring program), you are stretching it. If it doesn't you are quite safe.

[Deleted]

Never did I suggest him to overclock 500Mhz stright away.

I'd try that 7.5 x 374 again with adjusted voltage

It is 300 instead of 500 but still way to much for one go for that CPU.
Best way is to increase the FSB by steps of prob 5, and when it doesnt boot try to increase voltage. That is (i think) the safest way off overclocking.
And i think you can turn the FSB increases for the memory off. So it would only have an impact on the CPU, which should also increase stability.

[Hayna]

Have you stress tested those settings yet? Download Prime 95 and let it run for twenty minutes or so in blend test while watching the temps. If it goes above 80 (watch for core 1,2,3 and 4 temps in your monitoring program), you are stretching it. If it doesn't you are quite safe.

after one hour using Prime 95 i got this

And i think you can turn the FSB increases for the memory off. So it would only have an impact on the CPU, which should also increase stability.

Decrease the FSB for the memory? In the case i got to its limit the way it is now, i still whould go back? I thought the increase was a good thing, seeing the PC looks stable.

[Deleted]

Decrease the FSB for the memory? In the case i got to its limit the way it is now, i still whould go back? I thought the increase was a good thing, seeing the PC looks stable.

If it is stable dont touch it
I had an E8400 and tried ocing it, and one of the first things i found was that you should turn that off. Meaning the RAM would just run at it normal speeds, seeing as RAM is usually not the limiting factor, and OCing rarely give any increases in games. Also OCing ram can be pain, AFAIK, which can negatively affect the stability.

[Hayna]

One thing that i didnt get it is that after these changes the Default Windows 7 Test, my scores for Processor and Ram decreased from 7.2 --> 7.1 , i really thought the would increase =/

[Ghâzh]

Windows performance index is just plain inaccurate and can't be taken seriously. If you want something better use cinebench (free) or such, run a benchmark and compare results. Wouldn't hold my breath though as thats really mild overclock and different results might just be within margin of error.