[phillipbooker08]

Rig:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9650
• G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1100 (PC2 8800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8800CL5D-4GBPI
• GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
• ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
• Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
• Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
• EVGA 01G-P3-1281-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
• LIAN LI PC-60BPLUSII Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
• ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T
• ETASIS ET750 True 750W, Max 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

4 Case fans

• 2 80mm exhaust, top center, rear cpu,
• 2 120mm intake, front bottom, side GPU

Idle Temps 38, 38, 38, 38
Prime95 Temp Max I forgot but its low, maybe 55 tops

Ok in my trials, I've gotten:

CPU: 445 x 9 = 4.0Ghz
DRAM: 890Mhz
MCH Freq: 400Mhz
Something multiplier: 2.00D
CPU VCore: 1.26875 (under auto this was 1.344 resulting in 80+ temps)
Ram Timing: 5-5-5-15
Max Temp under Prime95 for 4 hours: 71, 67, 65, 65

CPU: 356 x 9 = 3.2Ghz
DRAM: 1138Mhz
MCH Freq: 333Mhz
Something multiplier: 3.20C
CPU VCore: Auto
DRAM: 2.1V
Ram Timing: 5-5-5-15
Max Temp under Prime95 for 4 hours: 65, 61, 59, 59

It seems I can push the CPU to a fine place, but the ram is supposed to run at 1100mhz, and it tops out at 1138mhz, runs stock at 1066? What ratio is the best? Should I get different ram? Whats the deal with ram timing? I couldn't boot with any changes to timing that Ive made so far. Will I notice a difference between the system @ 4.0Ghz, 890Mhz or 3.2Ghz, 1138Mhz? I don't particularly understand the MCH strap either. How do I determine what I want that to run at, as articles have told me all of them, however stability is hard to come by without changing a ton of options, and then you don't know if you are preventing errors or causing them. Once I get some decent settings I'd like to run a 12 hour or 24 hour prime 95 and a 3dmark06 to compare, but I cant seem to get a better OC than the 2 above. I've never overclocked before this attempt which started about 2 days ago. Thank you kindly.

Suggesting 1:1 DRAM:FSB is best, should I just set to 4.0Ghz/890Mhz and slowly increase FSB, bringing RAM to a better speed @ cost of further CPU overclock?

Assuming Ratio is not as important as Ram speed, should I continue to work on the RAM highpoint (3.2Ghz/1138Mhz) by adjusting various voltages? I think the ratio is 3:2 in this setting, and I've already failed Prime95 within 4 hours beyond this setting with increases to DRAM volts and MCH something only increasing the time before Prime95 Fail.

Is there another perspective I've completely missed?