Hello there been searching the forums for an answer but have been unable to find one so heres my thread.

I've been trying to overclock my cpu but am running into problems. First time i tried a '10% increase' overclock and the result was me having to get the tusty windows cd out to repair the system, also lost 50gb of random files. 2nd time i tried a manual increase from '333' to '350' cpu frequency and lost access to the internet and had to do a system restore. Now windows just doesnt want to load.

I've tried overclocking through the bios aswell as the asus software (AI suite) that came with the motherboard. Also updated to newest bios version. Also tried overclocking through the nvidia control panel which wasnt a good idea as u cant access that in safe mode :s.

Right some system specs you might want to know
Windows Vista 64x
CPU: Q9450
GPU: 9800gx2
MB: ASUS Striker II (nvidia 790i chipset)

Any help would be much apreciated
Thanks

Before you manually overclock change the multiplier first. Also what kind of power supply do you have. this motherboard is primo for overclocking. Also if you read around, the board is kind of a hit or miss. Either its all good or something may be wrong. With the specs that you listed. I'd suggest at least a 800 watt power supply.

The Q9450 has a locked multiplier like most chips on the current market (minus the QX series) He has to increase the FSB.

I have read some people getting to FSB on the Q9450 to the mid 400s, but OCing properly really is an art. Have you ever done it before? You really have to know how much voltage to put to the CPU and other buses. And you have to know how to test stability and make sure heat is under control. If you have never done it before, I would practice on an old machine you have lying around or something because its not worth messing something up.

A review has been made about the chips OCing performance. You can find it HERE
You really have to keep in mind that these guys know there stuff. He got it to a 463 FSB which is 3.7ghz. But dont expect numbers like that off your board.

And one last note. Why overclock? You have a very strong chip, why subject it to increased heat and stress? I know it seems cool to do, but when your chip dies because of the added heat, it wont be worth it. You really need to increase the cooling to get decent numbers and to keep the chip from over stressing.

Hope this Helped
Sean