Originally Posted by McFool2

Noted. I felt that 71, 67, 65, 65, were decent MAX temps for prime, being that for the most part it hung around 65 or less per core, until the end of a few tests where it would spike up to that max temp for maybe a minute or two until the test ended. I've read that intel rates the q9650 max at 64.5 and i was like whats a few degrees among friends. In the first trial, my ram is underclocked as far as i can tell, at stock it should be 1100 mhz, its pc2 8800. This was merely a test and the settings to run @ 4.0 stable for 4 hours.



I've thoroughly read a large number or articles, links, and guides, the sticky at the top of the page, etc. I did not feel testing for 7, 8, 12, 24, hours was necessary until i got a nice oc to play with. To test stability of settings when i made adjustments, i felt running for 4 hours without flaw was good enough to consider a setting stable, and worth further playing with.



The second trial was supposed to see how far I could push the Ram, and as i noted, i got it to run stable at those settings @ 1138 Mhz for 4 hours in prime, at which point i ended the test. You mention lowering the ram freq but its only 38 Mhz over what its rated for.



As per various reading, it seems the proper approach is to find stable highpoints for CPU, Ram timing, and then Ram speed all individually, then find a medium of these that runs best based on benchmarks and acceptable temps. You didn't answer any of my questions, regarding ratios, ram timing, MCH Straps, amongst other implied concepts. All I've learned from you is that you think my methods are flawed. You gave me no advice, input, or reason to believe you are correct in your statements. Do the rest of you share greebrucelee's view point? Can anyone answer my questions regarding MCH strap, ratio, and timing? I did manage to get 4-4-4-12 @ 800 mhz on the ram, but other than that had to stay @ 5-5-5-15 beyond that point. More opinions please?