OC q6600 G0

kainu7

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 24, 2007
Messages
81
Hey guys Im trying to overclock my q6600 G0 and looking for some guidance as Ive never done it.
I currently have Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L as my mobo, G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800, PNY 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM and a Thermalright Ultima 90 heatsink as my processor heat sink.

Let me know if I left anything out or if you need to know anything else, right now its just running stock 2.4 id like to at least go to 3.2 or maybe even 3.6.

Thank you!
 
I had my Q6600 on a Gigabyte P35-DS3R at one point. I couldn't get it past 3.3-3.4 or so. When I upgraded to a P45, 3.6 was no problem. So you might be limited a bit by your P35 but getting to at least 3ghz shouldn't be a problem.

Start by raising your FSB in small increments, but keep an eye on your ram multiplier. It runs your ram based on your FSB so as you increase your FSB you might have to make adjustments to keep your ram within spec. Once you hit the limit of your FSB overclocking on stock voltage, you can try bumping up the voltage slightly. A Q6600 should be able to handle up to 1.5v easily (assuming your cooling is up to task).
 
Right now i have as follows
Robust Graphics Booster [Auto]
CPU Clock Ration [9x]
CPU Host Clock Control [Disabled]
x CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) 266 This line is all blued out
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) [Auto]
C.I.A.2 [Disabled]
Performance Enhance [Turbo]
System Memory Multiplier [Auto]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) 800 800 This link is all blued out
High Speed DRAM DLL SETTINGS [Option 1]
********System Voltage Optimized*********** This link is all Green
System Voltage Control [Manuel]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control [Normal]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control [Normal]
FSB OverVoltage Control [Normal]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [Normal]
CPU Voltage Control [Normal]
Normal CPU Vcore 1.22500v

So what would I change to change the FSB? the CPU Host Clock Control to enabled and then change the CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) from 266 to like 300?
 
You need to enable host clock control and then adjust the CPU host frequency.

Set Performance Enhance to "Normal" instead of turbo.

Watch your RAM speed, in my experience RAM gets unstable with an overclock, so you may want to adjust the RAM multiplier down to 667, and then slowly increase the host frequency, making sure not to exceed 800 on the RAM.

Additionally, I usually set my PCI Express bus speed to 100Mhz instead of Auto, as I am paranoid about overclocking that.

Get Intel Burn Test (IBT) and use that for stability testing, and hwmonitor for monitoring voltage\temperatures (hope you have a good cooler?).

I am running my q6600 G0 at 3.4Ghz on a Gigabyte GA-x48-DS4, this seems to be as fast as I can run it without any stability issues, settings below:

Mult: 9x
FSB: 378Mhz
PCI-E: 100Mhz
RAM: 912Mhz
DDR2: +.30v
MCH: +.050v
VCore: 1.460v

Note, my ram has EPP of 1066Mhz at 2.1v, I am running a lower RAM multiplier which lowers it to 800Mhz @ 1.8v (or 912ish with overclock). So in order to get stability i have to over-volt RAM back up to 2.1v (You might not have to do this). The RAM is slightly underclocked which is NBD, the ram speed hardly affects performance.

my VCore is also a bit on the high side but that's what is required for my chip to be stable (I also have a decent cooler so it's not that big of an issue). My CPU is a high VID chip (1.32v), yours seems much lower (1.22v) so you're lucky, you might not need to over volt it much, or at all.

And lastly, my disclaimer, don't blame me if you follow any of my above advice and fry your rig (I am not an expert).

Good luck...
 
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Okay Ive changed a few things like ive disabled C1E, Tm2, EIST, and Virtualization Technology and also ive changed some thing in my M.I.T. as follows-

Robust Graphics Booster [Auto]
CPU Clock Ration [9x]
CPU Host Clock Control [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) [333]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) [100]
C.I.A.2 [Disabled]
Performance Enhance [Standard]
System Memory Multiplier [2.40]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) 800 800 This link is all blued out
High Speed DRAM DLL SETTINGS [Option 1]
********System Voltage NOT Optimized*********** This link is all RED
System Voltage Control [Manuel]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control [+.2V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control [Normal]
FSB OverVoltage Control [+2V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+.1V]
CPU Voltage Control [1.25000V]
Normal CPU Vcore 1.22500v

When I open Cpu-z at idle before i run Prime95 my core voltage is 1.168v not sure what it is while its testing forgot to check. Every time I run Prime95 I get a my 4th core failing after about a minute or two under Small FFT (trying to just stress the CPU at this time, ill do the CPU and ram later), should i keep increasing my vcore above 1.25000v? Whats the max I should go up too?
 
oh also i feel i should mention i took out my PNY 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM leaving only the PNY 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM, it wouldnt post at all when i was trying to OC, but that was before I changed alot like the the C1E and TM2 and what not
 
Ok.....

To OC that Quad first make sure you have the newest BIOS version for the board.

Secondly you need power to the chip.

I'd increase the FSB voltage....to +.3V
Make sure the memory voltage is whatever the DDR2 is rated at.....I think 1.8V.
The MCH (memory controller) should be at least + .2 if not + .3V.
Don't overclock the memory, leave the dividers to match or slightly reduce your stock speed.
Now give the chip some gas man. The Q6600 can stand over 1.4 VCore.....so easily go to 1.35V and the start increasing your FSB.

FSB x multiplier = clock speed.
I would target 350 = 3.150 for starters.

The chip is going to get hot....some make sure you have good cooling.

To monitor your stability, run orthos for all 4 cores. Orthos is a 2 core stresser, s you need to enable 2 instances, then go into the task manager, find the orthos.exe, right click on one .exe and set it for cores 0,1....then do the other for cores 2,3.

Run orthos for 30 minutes at least. If it's stable then up the FSB and repeat.

Start at 300 FSB and work ypur way up. If you crash, give the chip more juice.

download Hardware monitor to look after your temps. Orthos will take the cores near 70C on air....don't go over about 85 . If you do, shut down the stress test and get better cooling.

Just remember real life will never get thr cores as hot as Orthos will.
Another test is Intel Burn Test.....a bit faster, but I'm old school, so I still like Orthos.
 
Well Im pretty sure I dont have the latest Bios version for my mobo because Ive never done a bios update lol, so I just have to download the latest one, then what? I have no idea how to install it.
 
Check out my sig...P.M. me if you want to know what the other voltages are that you need to do in order to get this clock IF you have good cooling.
 
Check out my sig...P.M. me if you want to know what the other voltages are that you need to do in order to get this clock IF you have good cooling.

Maybe Im missing something but you have a i7 920 D0 @ 4ghz (1.4v) Im running a q6600...we are totally different arent we?
 
lol its alright, i seem to be getting somewhere now with it =) right now im running fine at 3.0ghz for 20minutes temps is as low as 61 on one core and as high as 67 on an other one.
 
ok so for the past hour ive had it running at 3.15ghz (350fsb) at 1.3500v my temperatures for each core are 73, 71, 66, 67. Should i go higher?
oh thats under load.... lol
 
Pretty hot for such a low OC/voltage. You're safe up to around 80 but I'd look into maybe reapplying some good thermal paste or re-evaluating your cooling setup. Have you tried higher clocks at this same voltage?
 
nope havent tried any other clocks yet, was letting this run to see how it was, 1hr 40min no issues, im gonna say its good an go up another 10fsb and leave the voltage the same and see where i get.
 
I feel it important for me to say right now at idle my core temps are 47, 44, 42, 45. so under load they are raising only 24degrees or so
 
within the first minute of the stress test core 4 had an error and stopped, the other 3 cores have kept going but im stopping it do to a failure in core 4. I guess i cant go 10fsb higher at 1.3500v

ok i ended the 3.19ghz (355fsb) test after 13minutes got an error on core 4 again and my temps are 73, 71, 66, 68.

Currently the best ive gotten is with settings posted below. 3.19ghz for just under 2hrs no issues

Robust Graphics Booster [Auto]
CPU Clock Ration [9x]
CPU Host Clock Control [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) [350]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) [100]
C.I.A.2 [Disabled]
Performance Enhance [Standard]
System Memory Multiplier [2.00]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) 800 700 This link is all blued out
High Speed DRAM DLL SETTINGS [Option 1]
********System Voltage NOT Optimized*********** This link is all RED
System Voltage Control [Manuel]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control [Normal]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control [Normal]
FSB OverVoltage Control [+3V]
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control [+.3V]
CPU Voltage Control [1.35000V]
Normal CPU Vcore 1.22500v
 
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If you want to get schooled on the Gigabyte BIOS you have on your board, read this.....I couldn't find it last night........http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1169366&highlight=965p

The BIOS on your P35 is essentially the same as the P965......I have a P965 and I easily got a C2D to a 425 FSB, but alas they weren't as good for Quad Cores. I got my Q6600 to 3.2 I think.......it was a while ago.

If you want more OC on the Q6600, go ahead and increase the VCore to 1.3625 or 1.370, the cpu can handle it, but watch your temperatures.;)

What are you using for a cooler? I could run my Quad all day long using an ArcticCooling Freezer Pro7........they cost all of 30 bucks.

Make sure your CPU fan setting is on "manual" and running 100%
Also put some air towatrd your Northbridge heatsink.

As for RAM speed.........the divider is merely multiplied times the FSB.......so, FSB of 350 X divider of 2 = 700 MHz......most 800 RAM can do 1066 without any voltage tweaks....but you may have to adjust the timings a bit.:D
 
ive disabled C1E, Tm2, EIST, and Virtualization Technology

Just wanted to say, there is absolutely NO reason to disable any of those. Some people take things a bit overboard assuming that it is going to give them a little extra headroom on their overclock if they disable those features but in reality it makes almost no difference, while technologies such as speedstep can help offset the increased heat output due to overclocking.
 
Just wanted to say, there is absolutely NO reason to disable any of those. Some people take things a bit overboard assuming that it is going to give them a little extra headroom on their overclock if they disable those features but in reality it makes almost no difference, while technologies such as speedstep can help offset the increased heat output due to overclocking.

+1, I always leave these options on and have seen no difference in my overclocks with them disabled. I believe the only reason you should turn these off is for certain benchmarks which don't cause the motherboard to throttle the cpu up when it's necessary and thus giving you slightly lower scores than you should theoretically be getting at a given overclock. Otherwise, for day to day use, the lower idle volts/clocks are really a great way to extend your cpu's lifespan, especially with an aggressive overclock.
 
ok i turned C1E, Tm2, EIST, and Virtualization Technology all back on, i think ill leave my OC at 3.2ghz, but i think im going to change the fsb to 400 and the multiplier to 8 so that my ram will be still be at 800, that would be alright right?

also my gskill ram is 5-5-5-15 and has 1.8V - 2.0V on it, the pny ram is 4-4-4-12 and has 2.0v on it, what should i put for those two to play nice with each other?
 
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Try 2.0v and 4-4-4-12. If that doesn't work then bump it down to 5-5-5-15 and try 1.8v. If that doesn't work, try 1.9v then 2.0v. 5-5-5-12 @ 2.0v should work 100%.
 
Should i change the
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD)
Rank Write To READ Delay
Write To Precharge Delay
Refresh to ACT Delay
Read to Precharge Delay
tRD
tRD Phase Adjustment

also the Refresh to ACT Delay has a 52 in white, i guess thats the normal number,its a 0 in yellow (being what i can set, it has no auto, should i set it to 52 or just leave it be at 0?


also what is the normal for the the computer to run the ram at? 1.8v? so i have to change the DDR2 OverVoltage Control to a +1 for a 1.9v and a +2 for a 2v right?
 
well i couldnt get the two differnt ram to work with each other at all not on any of the settings cre3d suggested, just took out the gskill ram and left the pny in this time.
 
Should i change the
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD)
Rank Write To READ Delay
Write To Precharge Delay
Refresh to ACT Delay
Read to Precharge Delay
tRD
tRD Phase Adjustment

also the Refresh to ACT Delay has a 52 in white, i guess thats the normal number,its a 0 in yellow (being what i can set, it has no auto, should i set it to 52 or just leave it be at 0?


also what is the normal for the the computer to run the ram at? 1.8v? so i have to change the DDR2 OverVoltage Control to a +1 for a 1.9v and a +2 for a 2v right?

Read that tutorial I linked by Bill Parrish, it will answer ALL your questions.

DDR2 OverVoltage Control__ [+0.300V] <-- default is 1.8V, 1.8 + 0.3V = 2.1V set this to add up to your ram's voltage requirement.

Read that tutorial.....it is one of the most well written threads I've ever seen.....UNDERSTAND what you are doing, don't just push buttons like a monkey.:D
 
Hey just letting you guys know I have it stable at 3.20ghz but still only the 4gig of ram, I gave up on the ram....But thank you for all the help guys!
 
I'm a little late to the Q6600/OC party - but looks like I'm in good company. I couldn't seem to get mine stable past 3.33 GHz, but am stable at 3.2 GHz at stock voltages on a D975XBX2, so I'm thinking that's where I'll leave it. Looks like I'm not the only one with a Q6600 who had this issue.

I went up to 1.45v on the CPU, 1.4V on the FSB and 1.6v on the MCH, not sure how much headroom I had left but I couldn't get it run for more than a minute under Prime, and wasn't really sure it was worth the stress on the hardware for the extra 200 MHz.
 
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