HOWTO: Overclock C2D Quads and C2D Duals - A Guide v1.0

Figure I'd post here...

When I first got my Q6600 I booted once and installed windows, trying out OCing real quick I locked the voltages @ 1.275 and 2.00 DDR, and the adjusted the rest of the settings, bumped the FSB to 333 and booted up just fine... never once crashed, I tried 350 and got 1 BSOD and left it back to 333, I never tested it with Prime but I'm doing that right now (typing from a 2nd computer)

With a Tuniq my load temps are 51-55c which seems decent, I'm willing to go up to mid 60's if I can get to 3.6ghz... but every attempt to go past 3.0ghz is met with a brick wall... I rather can't boot, get BSOD, or if I get to the desktop Prime fails the instant I start it or crashes.

Either way...

Q6600
Tuniq w/ Medium Yateloon
G-Skill 2 x 2 GB DDR1000
Abit IP35 Pro

I think that's all the useful information...

Any ideas? I tried Vcore up to 1.4, even with a simple bump from 333 to 366 I can't get it to run prime at all... Temperatures don't seem to be a problem, My room is getting colder actually and the load temps are dropping (49c on the coldest core now)
 
Opening a window a lot more is bringing temps down to under 50c under load :D

I'm at 44c for lowest, 48c for highest, I'll do some more fiddling cause it's not my temperatures that's holding me back...
 
Sounds like a voltage issue (needs more voltage). Not necessarily CPU vcore but to your RAM or ICH, or NB. If you can tweak them individually, you can begin playing the voltage game. My board allows for 4 different voltage + CPU vcore. ICH ad NB are the likely suspects. Jack them up and try it as well keeping the CPU vcore higher. You'll want to back off them one-at-a-time until you find out what's causing the instability. It's a LONG process of tweaking, testing, rebooting. 9x333 is pretty good for a B3 Q6600 (is your chip a B3 or G0)? You could hit 3.6 GHz, but it'll come at a pretty high cost of vcore and other board voltages in my experience.
 
Yea, I haven't done anymore testing, it was prime stable for 2+ hours... @ 3.0ghz

I think I might have some bad vdroop, I set it to 1.275 and it showed as 1.210 in CPU-Z I believe

http://lousyhero.com/blaze/qcold.jpg

It's a G0, got it from Clubit a little before christmas...
 
Maybe... it's not a huge concern...

I've been to lazy to tweak it anymore, I need to actually use it :D
 
Well, I've had some great fun lately.
2x1GB Corsair PC-5300 4-4-4-12
C2Duo 6300
ASUS P5B (The original one)
Palit Geforce 8800GT (Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 with turbo module).
Zalman CNPS9700
Thermalright passive HS.
2 low speed 120mm case fans (Sonata 2)

After a day, I've got the speed up to 7x400 = 2.8GHz. That's a 51% boost! My idle/load temps are 35/46C @ Vcore = 1.225V. I haven't touched memory timings, although I've got the memory set at PC2-4300 (1:1). Everything is so quiet too.

P95 has run for 10 hours with no error. I Can push it further, but I tried 7x433, but it won't post with all my USB peripherals plugged in. I've done a little bit of lapping, but I underestimated how much emery cloth I would need. What's cool though is I Have some optical polishing compound and some 5um grit paper.
So far, I'm happy with my results, and I don't think I will push it any further, the idle/load temperatures are exactly the same as my default settings with Vcore at Auto.

Are there any aftermarket or tweaked BIOS's for the vanilla P5B mobo?
 
I'm getting to my wit's end here! I've tried many things, followed the guides out there and still Windows freezes when I try the "easy" overclock of getting Q6600 to 3.0Ghz! Everything is a blur now and I'm even sure now if I changing the right settings. Can someone please tell me WHICH numbers I am supposed to change?

Setup:
Q6600 G0
CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145184 )
EVGA 680i LT

Pics of BIOS:










 
Madalienmonk said:
Can someone please tell me WHICH numbers I am supposed to change?
Click to expand...

Possible problems:

2nd screenshot (or 3rd since they appear to be a different shot of the same screen), drop your Mem (DDR) core speed from 800 down to 667 and see if it works (this is so-called 1:1 mode).

If you insist on running the memory @ 800 MHz, you may have to boost your voltages on the board (my board calls them NB and IHC but perhaps they are CPU FSB and nForceSPP in your BIOS - this is just a guess on my part); best to verify the vcore requirements of the CPU @ 9x333 in 1:1 mode before doing so in my opinion. Plus, how can you run a FSB @ 333 MHz and your mem @ 800 MHz? That is using a divider I have never heard about.

333 1:1 is 667
333 4:5 is 833
333 2:3 is 1,000
333 3:5 is 1,111
333 1:2 is 1,333

333 and 800 would be 5:6.. maybe it's on your board, but not mine :) Again drop it to 667 and see.
5th screenshot: you might need to select some kinda high values initially to see if you can get a prime95 stable configuration. I just don't know on your board if auto will be enough juice.

4th screenshot: once you get a stable 9x333 you might wanna enable a few settings here including: speedstep and c1e.

Be sure to write back and lemme know if I was on the right track :)
 
Hey guys,

I recently tried to overclock my E6750 to 3 Ghz and it worked. But I am wondering how low I can go with the voltage. I'm trying to undervolt it so I can get as low temperatures as possible. I'm currently on 1.25000 and it ran Orthos stable for 3 hours and 15 minutes and then I stopped the test, so no errors or what.

So I want to know how low I can go with the Vcore.

Thank you in advance,

Koifim
 
Koifim said:
Hey guys,

I recently tried to overclock my E6750 to 3 Ghz and it worked. But I am wondering how low I can go with the voltage. I'm trying to undervolt it so I can get as low temperatures as possible. I'm currently on 1.25000 and it ran Orthos stable for 3 hours and 15 minutes and then I stopped the test, so no errors or what.

So I want to know how low I can go with the Vcore.

Thank you in advance,

Koifim
Click to expand...

Only you can answer this question. It can be a tedious process of running prime95 or orthos for 6 hours, rebooting and lowing it, repeating until you find a vcore that gives errors. Alternatively you could start at the bottom (1.1000 V or whatever) and work you way up. Rounding errors tend to hit pretty quickly when the vcore is too low. Otherwise it may take 2-3 h to see them.
 
With stock voltage getting to 3.0 may not be easy. It varies from board to board. I've been lucky, I have a xfx 680i LT board and probably the same ram. I worked mine up to 3.2 with 1.250 volts, but I am the unusual one. This is stable with 17 hours of Prime95 running.

I would leave the memory alone at stock. Mess with ONE thing at a time, otherwise how do you know what is working and what isn't? Bump your core volts up to 1.3 or 1.4 volts and try it at 3.0. If you get into windows, try something like super pi to see if it works. If it does, then run core temp (if you are 32 bit, I run speedfan with a 15 degree offset in Vista64) and run Prime95 ver 25.5. This will heat up all 4 of your cores. Keep an eye on it for the first hour or so. At 3.2 and a Zalman fan, I get up to about 58 degrees. If the temps are reasonable and it doesn't crash, then run it for 8+ hours. If you get NO errors, THEN ether try lowering your core volts bit by bit, or else try raising your FSB if you have higher goals. But do EVERYTHING in small dosages and then test the heck out of it. If you are trying to do things quick, you will fail.

OC is NOT quick. Plan on taking some time doing it, plan on taking a lot of notes to record what you are doing.
 
graysky said:
Plus, how can you run a FSB @ 333 MHz and your mem @ 800 MHz? That is using a divider I have never heard about.

333 and 800 would be 5:6.. maybe it's on your board, but not mine :)
Click to expand...

P5K Premium here, running exactly this right now with setup in sig
 
I've finally decided to o/c my E6400 on a P5W DH deluxe. I've managed to get to 310MHz with Prime95 for about 10hrs, no errors. Now the funny thing is the vcore that I set in the bios to get to 310 is 1.5000v but under the "Hardware Monitor Tab" in the bios it reports the vcore between 1.088v - 1.204v. CPU-Z also reports the same voltage as the hmt, 1.088-1.204.

Temps under load are not that high, 42c using coretemp. Using a Thermalright 120ultra with as5. I would like to get up to 375MHz or close to it but the vcore that is set in the bios is 1.5000v. I did go to 320 with the vcore set at 1.5125 but after 9min with Prime95 I got an error. At 1.5000 and 320 got an error right away in p95.

So the vcore monitor in the bios reports a lower vcore than what is actually set. Do I try setting the vcore higher? Do I leave it be and just settle for 2.48GHz? Sure would like to get it higher.

Right now I have the FSB, MCH and ICH on auto. Memory is at 1.8v
 
Just experiment with the settings and keep an eye on your temps. If you're dialing in 1.5 in the BIOS but it's only delivering 1.0 in the o/s something is wrong. My board delivers what I dial into it. You might wanna see if that has been addressed in a BIOS update for your board or verify that it is some sort of safety mechanism.
 
graysky said:
Just experiment with the settings and keep an eye on your temps. If you're dialing in 1.5 in the BIOS but it's only delivering 1.0 in the o/s something is wrong. My board delivers what I dial into it. You might wanna see if that has been addressed in a BIOS update for your board or verify that it is some sort of safety mechanism.
Click to expand...

The bios I'm using is from Nov.07. There are three new ones. The first one does this..."Fixed CPU will reach high temperature after system resumed from S3." Not sure what S3 is. I'm thinking maybe resume from hybernate? The latest two "Support new CPUs".

I decided to check the vcore in Aibooster. In the main window it says 1.10v but if I go to the "Display tuning panel" it says the vcore is 1.5125v. Temps are 34c at idle right now at 320MHz. Haven't had a chance to change it yet. It's been like that for about 21hrs now.

I found this site. Some people there are using 1.575v so I'm feeling more confident that going over 1.5v might not be an issue.

I will be diving in now to try a higher vcore.
 
graysky said:
Dude, you want a lower vcore, not a higher one. Re-reread the o/c'ing guide :)
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I'm not sure what the deal is but I'm not able to push this cpu very high. I'll have more time on my weekend to try out more settings. I'm just not getting the o/c like a lot of people using the same board and cpu as mine.

Good guide btw.
 
Each chip is different. You may have a "bad" o/c'er. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw.
 
Nice overclocking guide. I read it once through and I got my E8400 stable at 3.6GHz. It was a bit more complicated then when I was overclocking my 4200+ X2.
 
New to all this and I need some guidance and details to overclock to 3.2 - 3.6ghz.

PC
Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP Intel P35
4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz
INTEL E6600 Quad
ATI GRAPHICS
Power Enermax 600W
Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU Cooler with AS5

Thank you
 
I did read the very helpful guide and got it to 3ghz without any problem but I am a computer illiterate!

However I have try to 3.6ghz but my pc will boot with an error, I would like to tweak the bios and need real help???

9x400mhz - what should be the voltage numbers???

Bios pics - http://www.francophile.co.uk/asus.html



Thank you
 
@pjlb - just because my q6600 runs 9x333 @ 1.2625V doesn't mean that your chip will do the same. You'll have to up the vcore and then if it's stable begin to lower it until the stability goes away. 9x400 is pushing the limit of a Q6600 if it's a B3, but go ahead and try to give it 1.5 v of vcore, then work your way down from there according to the guide.
 
Decided to give overclocking a try for the first time a few days ago. I've been a computer nerd for a while and an enthusiast for a couple years. Never overclocked anything cept for my video cards. I ran this rig at stock since Oct 07. Decided its time to be [H] about it and just go for it. If I toast something, well, live and more importantly, learn.

This guide was so very much mostly extremely absolutely etc etc the most useful thing I've used on this forum. Thank you graysky. Made my first o/c experience much easier. Eliminated a ton of guess work. Like I had a tutor to refer to and answer most of my questions.

Bravo.
 
In the HWMonitor, I see SYSTIN, CPUTIN, and AUXTIN. the SYSTIN and CPUTIN are about 40-45 degrees C, but the AUXTIN varies about 101-119. What are these three temperature measurements? The temperatures I wrote down were taken while prime95 was running on my Q6600 CPU. The SYSTIN and CPUTIN temperatures differend than what Core Temp showed. The high AUXTIN temperature makes me worry that something in the computer is actually that hot. I've been using the same system with an E6600 CPU for about 1.5 years; the only part I changed is the CPU.
 
Got no idea what AUXTIN might be but I doubt anything is that hot (if it's °C). I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Something I should also note is that if you’re using high memory dividers (a.k.a. running your memory in asynchronous mode), you might have to manually tweak your NBvore and your ICH vcore to get the memory to run stable. For example, I had to up the NB vcore by +2 steps and the ICH vcore had to be set to the maximum value or else I couldn’t run my PC1066 memory at the higher dividers.
Click to expand...

spotted a typo. Great guide! I hope I can get a good clock in my new build.
 
I read through that guide which was very informative, however I have been unsuccessful at overclocking my Q6600 to 3.0ghz. I'm new to OC'ing and don't want to jeopardize my new hardware.

Specs:
Q6600 G0
GA-P35-DS4
CORSAIR DDR2-1066
Tuniq 120

My first question is, since I've fiddled with the voltage but never going over the recommended voltage, and that the machine never got to POST and just dumped back to the default settings, have I done any damage to the hardware?

Second, any suggestions on why I can't get this board to overclock? I left everything on AUTO and just changed the FSB to 333, and turned off the power saving options.
 
This thread is for noobs and that's me :(

I am building the system in my sig this weekend but I know little of the 775 Intel format. Until now I have used AMD stuf.

This thread is for C2D and C2D Duals but I don't know if the CPU in my sig is that degination or not. Please advise. If it's not is there another link for the one I'll use?

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1938452

I'm looking for good water blocks for CPU and video coolers too. I've heard that Swifteck is good. Any others out there top of the line too?

What format do I look for? I've seen Maz3 etc.


Thanks!
 
WNx Jango said:
This thread is for noobs and that's me :(

I am building the system in my sig this weekend but I know little of the 775 Intel format. Until now I have used AMD stuf.

This thread is for C2D and C2D Duals but I don't know if the CPU in my sig is that degination or not. Please advise. If it's not is there another link for the one I'll use?

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1938452

I'm looking for good water blocks for CPU and video coolers too. I've heard that Swifteck is good. Any others out there top of the line too?

What format do I look for? I've seen Maz3 etc.


Thanks!
Click to expand...
First off, Welcome :D

This thread is for Quads and Duals, the Q6600 is a Quad (4 core processor), your in the right place.
If you haven't already ordered your Q6600 and you have a Microcenter nearby I believe they are selling these suckers for $200 a pop (here is the thread for $200 Q6600 @ Microcenter), so you can save yourself the $55 by getting it there.

As for your question about water cooling, sorry I can't help you there I've never been a fan of mixing water+electronics, but I am sure there are plenty of other people on these forums who will be of assistance. Or you might want to post a query in the Watercooling sub-forum.;)
Good luck, happy OCing.
-BassKozz
 
I have an E6600 and an Abit IN9-32X MB. I recently lowered the multiplier to 7 and raised the fsb to 350 and booted into windows. Ran Orthos and it had reported that I was clocked at a 9 multiplier even though everest confirmed the 7 multiplier...

The strange thing I noticed was that when I was done stress testing the windows calculator window had a lot of trails and ghosting. More so than usual. Rebooted at 9x300 and it went away....

Weird.
 
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