So......if the highest I can boot my E6420 stable is around 8 x 445ish, then there's a chance that the CPU is to blame and not the Motherboard???

I checked using a different Multi and came up with the same problem.
Nothing above 7 x 445ish and I didn't test it with 6x.

Any clarification here would be awesome if the answer to my issue is obvious so someone more knowledgeable in the subject than myself.

Thanks!