# Can't get past 350 FSB without a boot fail



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

As a starter, I am completely new to overclocking. My system configuration is:

Intel Q6600 processor (G0 revision)
ASUS P5B motherboard
Kingston DDR2-800 RAM (5-5-5-18 @ 1.8V)
700W Thermaltake PSU

I started my overclocking 'journey' yesterday for the first time ever. I managed to get my FSB to 350 (Multiplier 9) but to a cost of a Vcore of 1.45, however prime95 seemed to fail on 1 core after 2.5 hours. I then decided to bring the FSB down to 340 and a Vcore of 1.437. So far, it is completely stable after 8 hours of stress testing.

The question is, when I try to push the FSB limit past 350, the system fails to boot properly (doesn't even turn the monitor on, although it is running):4-dontkno; I haven't exactly touched the northbridge, southbridge and termination (VTT) voltages (left them on auto); how should I proceed with these (although I have messed around with the northbridge and VTT voltages slightly, but to no avail for the FSB functionality).
What course of action should I take to get past the FSB limit without potentially having to up the Vcore, just to boot (whether that is my boot fail problem :s).

For the record, I have a Thermaltake Frio heatsink on my CPU, so heat should not be a problem (it hasn't been so far)


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

is your ram set to auto?

you need to manually adjust the latency timings before you do anything


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

The only things that I can set in regards to the ram on my P5B motherboard are the DRAM frequency and the DRAM voltage. I cannot put the timings out manually. What should I do, would you say?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

then lower the frequency

when you raise the fsb, you raise the ram as well, and that usually ends bad if you don't set the timings manually

when the ram is set to auto, it usually uses the highest frequency available, and by raising the fsb, ram goes up with the same timings and that messes up the whole system


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

Well, at 400 FSB, the lowest RAM frequency option is 800Mhz, which is basically what my RAM is (DDR2-800). The question is, what about the northbridge voltages, and VTT?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

there's no need to touch them, I guess your board isn't very good for overclocking :sigh:

you can maybe try to find examples where people overclocked with the same processor and/or mobo like you.. I have not used either intel or asus when overclocking so I can't tell you more.. mostly amd, gigabyte and asrock


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

ok... well thanks for the help then  I hope someone else will reply to this thread then


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

I managed to get past the 350 FSB barrier - it was the RAM voltage - I set it to 2.1V and voila, it's booting up. I am having a different problem. How can I stabilise the CPU (without upping the Vcore). The problem, one core fails on prime95, I read that I should up the northbridge voltages or something? :s Any ideas?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

be careful with voltages.. you can destroy your whole computer if you don't control the voltages

2.1 for RAM is way too high, I would feel insecure if I had my ram at that voltage :laugh:


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

Well, I read this guys thread: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19023932-P5B-Q6600-multiplier-stuck and he has my exact setup, and he has 2.1 on the EXACT SAME ram that I have. I will try putting it down to 2.0, we will see.


----------



## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Your RAM may be some of your problem with the OC'ing. Kingston is OK for general use but not a good performance RAM and I would definitely back the Voltage back to 2.0.
What GPU are you using? The ThermalTake PSU could also be an issue if you're using an upper tier GPU. OC'ing puts a lot of unnecessary stress on hardware and the PSU needs to be top quality to prevent damage.


----------



## Johnny1982 (Oct 15, 2010)

NB and SB voltages are tricky to play around with. I put mine up a bit and the pc wouldn't even bootup. No signal, nothing. I had to clear the CMOS in order for it to boot up, from that point never again mess around there. Remember some motherboards also have a FSB "wall" as they like to call it, maybe you've reached yours.


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

I have managed to keep my RAM at 2.0V whilst being able to get to 3.34Ghz (not completely stable at a Vcore of 1.53, one core fails in prime95, going higher with the volts here will be getting me into the 71+ temperature range, which I DO NOT WANT - the problem is that even though I have a brilliant heatsink, the case is definitely NOT the most ventilated).
I have tried getting the FSB to 400, but the system fails to boot, even with the RAM being on 2.25V. Oh, and I definitely need to reapply the thermalpaste since 2 of the 4 cores are at least 6 degrees lower at all times.

@Tyree: I am using an Nvidia 8800GT.

This PSU used to house my current primary PC which has an Nvidia GTX295, 5 hard drives of various densities, 4GB of RAM, a Q9650 etc etc. The PSU is definitely stable.


----------



## AVZ (Mar 19, 2008)

One more thing, what should I do with the Termination voltage (VTT). I have read that a lot of people have been able to stabilise their overclocks by changing that option to a particular voltage (while keeping lower core voltages).


----------

