Overclocking a Q9550

Hi,
I have the following setup and would like to overclock this considerably:

Q9550 CPU with a Thermalright TRUE cooler and Scythe fan
GA-EP45-UD3R Motherboard
OCZ 4GB Kit DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Reaper CL5 (5-5-5-18)

Now I've simply tried upping the FSB in the BIOS and can get the PC to boot @ 3.0GHz (sorry cant remember FSB but the multiplier is 8.5x) but could not get the PC to boot any higher. Im assuming I need to change more settings but sadly i'm a noob and dont know which settings to change :( Does anyone have a list of the settings that should be changed for optimal performance? Any help from you guys would be massivly appreciated.

Cheers,

Read the sticky about overclocking Core 2 Duo processors (http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...beginners.html) that covers everything you need to know if after you have read that you have any specific questions then ask away.

And if your multiplier was 8.5 your FSB was 353.

My immediate reaction to why it was not booting is not enough voltage for the memory or the memory divider being set to high, again reading the guide will give you a better idea about how to set these up.

I've got the same RAM and processor as you, with a Gigabyte P35-DQ6 and a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme - just put it together today after 5 months of RMAs and faulty components. At the moment I can barely get it stable on stock though, so the overclocking might have to wait.

Kick the Trfc all the way down to 60 and you should be able to overclock much higher.
My Q9450 stuck at 366FSB max with CL6 ram, 410FSB with CL5 ram and 430FSB with CL4 ram.
Trfc already set as loose as possible on my (crap) board. All using 1:1 memory.

I have yet to find a pair of decent memory that will run at Trfc 42 (the most relaxed value I could set) above DDR2-850 regardless of voltage / rated speed.