@cryptik i ran LinX. seems i passed. also look how low i have to have vtt and vnb. if i have the vnb any higher i get errors in prime95. now is it my processor that require me to have to use such low volts or is it my motherboard. for example, if i was to get another E8500 co and run it on this board would it have to run the same low volts or would it be more like my P5Q-deluxe in which i was able to use basic starting point settings of vcore1.4/pll1.56/vtt1.26/vnb1.26 / 9x450@4050 W/ mem@1081 and be almost perfectly stable. see thats what i tried when i got my maximus and boy did that not work! so, low volts cpu or board?