I am upgrading my E6750 with a brand new and sealed QX6850. I upgraded my BIOS from P30 to P33, and had no problems with the new BIOS on my computer while I was waiting for my new CPU. Once I received it, I uninstalled the old CPU from the device manager, and installed the QX6850. My computer will now continuosly reboot at the microsoft loading screen with the bar. I do not get any errors, but twice out of 100 reboots, I get a BSOD. I tried all types of CPU voltage settings. I also tried one memory stick in slot 0 at a time. With the same results. The only way I can get all the way into Windows is by disabling 2 of the cpu cores. With 3 or 4 cores enabled, it will never work. I have seen other people in these message boards, with the same problem, replace PSU's and clean installs with no luck. Anything else I can try? qx6850, windows vista home premium 32 bit, Corsair Dominator 8500C5D, dual xfx 8600gts in SLI mode, evga 680i 122-CKNF68-A1, Coolmax 600W power supply, Seagate ST350063 0AS SATA II Hard Drive, PLEXTOR PX-800A CD/DVD Drive

Doing more research and I found that with my motherboard, Revision C will not work with QX6850. Revision D will work with the CPU. But I do have the revision D motherboard.

Well, after reading on some threads about how evga 680i can have a range in the FSB that have "holes" in them, I decided to play around with it. I dropped down the FSB to 1200, and enabled all 4 cores. I was able to get into windows and it passed some quick 10 minute stress tests. I decided to go the other way with the FSB, up to 1400. Again, I was able get into windows, but it falied the 10 minute stress test. I decided to adjust the multiplier at FSB 1400 and bumped it to 10. I was able to get into windows, and it passed a couple of 10 minute stress tests. I guess the moral of this story is that you need to play with the FSB and multiplier settings, if you have found yourself in the FSB "hole" that other people are talking about with the evga 680i motherboard. I changed these, keeping all the voltage settings in AUTO, so I would not recommend changing voltage settings to fix this kind of problem. I will keep my computer on, and try to play resource intensive games like Crysis over the next couple of days. I will post final results later.

A better moral is that Intel CPUs work best with Intel based motherboards. A 2ndary moral is that running low/mid level cards in SLi is a waste of money. two 8600GTS SLi < one 8800GT I don't know what FSB speed you ended up with but make sure to underclock your RAM to match. Example, if the FSB is 1400MHz (350MHz), set the RAM to run as DDR700 (350MHz). "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

when i bought my video cards in summer of 2007, the 8600gts was on of the better cards to get. i will continue to make upgrades in the future. I will upgrade my video cards, probably my PSU, get 64 bit vista, and go with 4gb of memory. I just could not pass up a deal for a brand new sealed QX6850 for $300.

Another problem I found I was having was Everest only showing 2 cores being utilized. I used vista gadgets for monitoring quad cores, and they showed only 2 cores also. for anyone who upgrades from a dual core to a quad core... be sure to do this after you set up your bios. Go to system configuration>>> Boot>>> Advanced Options >>> Uncheck Number of Processors. I guess when you have a dual core, default is the have the box checked and set to "2" processors. It only has option for 1 or 2. So I guess my system was only booting two processors every time. I unchecked the box, and restarted. Now I have 4 cores on my Everest and vista's quad core monitor gadget. Yeah!!!! As far as the stability of my system, I did get 2 BSOD while surfing the internet throughout the day. But my system was beautifully stable while playing Crysis for an hour. So I am still up in the air about leaving my FSB at 1400. If I continue to get BSOD, then I will drop the FSB back down to 1200. I will keep ya'll posted.

What's a "10 minute stress test"? And what program are you using for this "stress test"? MOS 6510 rockin @ 1MHz!!!