Wheres my Q9450 FFS

[dsio]

I tried a higher divider than 5:4, still same problem. It just doesn't go over 350Mhz. Its like there is some hard limit there. I'm on the latest F3 bios, everyone else with this board can pull 450Mhz without breaking a sweat, but even if I use the windows overclocking tools, watching the clockspeed in CPU-Z as it increases, once it hits 350 and I increment it to 351, the clockspeed in CPU-Z flickers between 351 and 350, then at 352Mhz it flickers between 352 and 350 Mhz, then above that it stays at 350Mhz, no matter what I set. Its like there's some sort of safety limit imposed.

If I get the Q9450 in this board and its stuck at 350Mhz then I may as well have bought an AMD. It just won't clock high enough to be impressive.

It is not unstable at all above 350, there's no crashing or rebooting, it just limits it, so that no matter what I set it to, it will reset to that speed. Gigabyte won't respond to me about the matter.

[dsio]

An interesting post with a near identical problem at guru3d:

Motherboard FSB Limit? (Gigabyte X38) - Guru3D.com Forums

What do you think of their answer?

[ccperf721p]

I'll take a look, I haven't found anything in the manual that helps yet. Have you turned off C1E and any other speedstep related settings?

Not 100% on the answer that was given, I can go 450 on a P35 with a 2140, but it could be the comination of the X38 and the E2xxx..

[dsio]

I still can't figure out why I'm stuck at 350Mhz. Makes me very nervous with a Q9450. Can't find many instances of this or a solution.

[dsio]

Just found this thread, VERY interesting: Does your E21x0 have a FSB wall? - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

[ccperf721p]

A CPU with a FSB wall is different from what you are experiencing. A FSB wall on a CPU just stops the CPU from going any higher, but will not force the board to keep the same numbers regardless of setting.

Edit: I'm not having a whole lot of luck getting any solid information on your problem. There just isn't many Gigabytes floating around with the people I know and trust. I tried a couple of them and gave up, so did my close friends.

[cloasters]

Giga-Byte has a good rep and I was thinking about getting one in place of the usual Asus. Now not quite so much. Sorry you're having this hassle, dsio.

[dsio]

Best price I can get in Australia is $555 for the Q9450 with a 1 month delivery time. Thats US$512.

I see Newegg have it listed for $379, just wondering what kind of prices you have CCPerf?

[ccperf721p]

I can get OEM for 359 US, they have those as of yesterday. Still no date on retail box.

[dsio]

No need for retail box, so they are in stock at that price?

[ccperf721p]

In stock at that price ready to be shipped.

Email is 1quiksbc(at)cox.net if needed.

Heat is under CPDMF, ebay under AOA username for references..

[dsio]

You have mail =)

[Samuknow]

Things like this is what makes this place great.

[ccperf721p]

Mail back to you.

Sorry about not getting back sooner.

[dsio]

That's cool. Just curious though, you think there are any issues with shipping something like this overseas? wrt US export regulations and/or shipping practices that may damage it.

[ccperf721p]

I've had 100% success with international packages arriving on time and undamaged over the years. They seem to get much better treatment than domestic packages..

[Samuknow]

I shipped a CPU to ThunderRD a while back. It was cheap and got there in no time. And that was pretty far away.

[Daniel ~]

Recently shipped to England, well, Jersey, no problems, as far as taxes and what not It's a Gift... but be sure to ensure your gift for the ride over...which tends to be a bit slow over seas...":O}

[cloasters]

Any new Quad-core goodness grace your doorstep, dsio? If not, I hope one will materialize soon!

[dsio]

According to the USPS It departed Los Angeles April 11th at 9:44PM on its way to Australia.

You wouldn't believe the premium on these chips here at the moment. At swap meets and local computer classifieds they're averaging $700-$800 a piece.

E2200 is about to be put out to stud, as a stock CPU =)