ok, after fun with flash & a dvdrw making noises & 1 dieing hdd i replaced the lot. re originalpost. http://www.computing.net/cpus/wwwbo... as per Jam suggestion sli disable fsb linked ratio 1:1 ~& tried sync mode cpu host freq 400 actual mem clk 400 cpu ratio x7 system voltage auto cpu voltage upped from to 1.32 to 1.35 finally boots into winxp during 3dmark3 it hangs miserably. ok so somthing needs a tweak, from sabertooths link CPU Vcore at 1.475V (dont think ill go this high as i only want a slight performance increase) FSB voltage control at +0.20V Memory Voltage at +0.275VV HT Voltage at +0.2V North Bridge at +0.2V South Bridge at +0.2V which should i start with any suggestions. im running on stock intel cooler as the silentpipe run hot at standard speed until i figure a way of cooling them separately a custom cooler cannot cool them at the same time a bad design but there gigabyte go. and the ram can run at VDIMM of 2.35V does it do this automatically or is this a tweak also? cheers

2coled if you see this post plz drop some info regarding your set up voltages thanks.