hi. thanks to vrbublo for the help with settings and the link to the gtl settings. i am now stable at 4.0 ghz. it was indeed the cpu gtl ref which helped but i also had to increase the nb volts to 1.32v. i will try to bring this down to 1.30 by playing with the nb gtl ref. volts. i know that 1.28v on nb is unstable.

will continue to tweak a little to see if i can decrease any volts, but thanks to all on this thread for tonnes of valuable info.

my question now is , is 1.32v for the nb safe for 24/7 use? i have 2x 40mm scythe mini kaze fans tied side by side to the nb heat spreaders and i have good airflow (7x noctua npf-12 fans) as case fans but even so, is this a safe voltage for 24/7 use?