Pls help a dumb and lazy guy overclocking his Q6600

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Nicolas554

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
156
Q6600, P5K-E, OCZ 2g 800MHZ (soon 4g Patriot viper DDR2 1066 5-5-5-15), Antec 900, GTX 285, BFG ES-800, Win xp 32.

At the moment in Core temp : G0 stepping, 267.28 x 9, VID 1.2500v. Temp : 34-32-34-34

(Note, i wont try to overclock my CPU with my current RAM, i want to wait and receive my new RAM and get it to work at 1066)

Can you guys help me to overclock it a little bit ? i just don't feel like reading overclocking guides for hours...

-First, is it worth to overclock it IN ORDER to get a better minimum FPS in COD4/COD WaW ?

-I wanna go super safe, can i get it to 2.70 ( 300 x 9 ) on the STOCK cooler with temps not too high ?

What would be the :

Vcore Voltage ?
FSB Voltage ?
Northbridge Voltage ?
Southbridge voltage ?
 
2.7ghz on a q6600 is an waste of time.. there is 0 performance gain off that.. just go as high as you can on the stock voltage..

do some searching in the forums.. you will find 100's of threads talking about overclocking the q6600.. go to the advanced search type "overclocking q6600" and highlight the overclocking and cooling section of the forum..


forgot to add this after what qwerty said..

read this thread it should help you out greatly..
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647
 
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What cpu cooler are you using? Honestly, just leave everything set to auto and give 333 fsb (x9 multi) a shot. You should be able to run it at 3.0 with no issues. I would highly recommend learning about it before doing it though. It's a bad idea messing with stuff like that without understanding what you're actually doing.
 
Thx.
I read the link posted by ''sirmonkey1985'' and followed the recommended setting in the guide. I tryed with 333 fsb leaving the Vcore and others voltage setting on auto. ( i put PCI exp to 100Mhz as recommended in the guide, but i couldnt find the ''PCI clock synchronisation which is recommended at 33.33mhz). idle is 40-38-40-40 (room temp is 25 celcius) and after 15min of COD5 it went to 50-48-50-50. But i don't really feel confident leaving thoses setting on auto, i'd prefer to find the best voltage for my CPU and get the lowest temp possible. I'll get back to the stock setting for the moment and i'll read more on how to get the best Vcore and voltages. I think ill get Prime to stress test my PC if i decide to leave it @ 333fsb.

PS: my cooler is the stock one btw....
 
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load up cpu-z.. then put the cpu under full load.. use intel burn test or prime95 to do this.. then write down the voltage that shows up in cpu-z.. if the load voltage is higher then the idle voltage use that one.. if the idle voltage is higher then the load voltage then use the idle voltage.. then go into your bios and change the cpu voltage to the number you wrote down.. and there you have it.. the stock voltage.. then see if you can overclock it on the stock voltage.. generally its ok to leave the cpu voltage on auto if you are doing a small increase in FSB.. its when you start getting into the crazy stuff like 400+FSB that you do not want to use the auto setting.. but if you are worried about it setting the voltage to high.. you can check it in cpu-z.. just make sure it doesnt exceed 1.5v even though you wont be able to run anything close to that on the stock cooling..
 
Nicolas554 said:
Thx.
I read the link posted by ''sirmonkey1985'' and followed the recommended setting in the guide. I tryed with 333 fsb leaving the Vcore and others voltage setting on auto. ( i put PCI exp to 100Mhz as recommended in the guide, but i couldnt find the ''PCI clock synchronisation which is recommended at 33.33mhz). idle is 40-38-40-40 (room temp is 25 celcius) and after 15min of COD5 it went to 50-48-50-50. But i don't really feel confident leaving thoses setting on auto, i'd prefer to find the best voltage for my CPU and get the lowest temp possible. I'll get back to the stock setting for the moment and i'll read more on how to get the best Vcore and voltages. I think ill get Prime to stress test my PC if i decide to leave it @ 333fsb.

PS: my cooler is the stock one btw....
Click to expand...

"pci clock synchronisation" is basically know as cpu spread spectrum, you want to disable this and if your m/b has pci-express spread spectrum disable this as well.
 
I ran prime95 with the CPU @ 333fsb x 9. I let the vcore and all the voltage to auto. In CPU-Z it show the Vcore is 1.240 idle, and 1.232 under load. Got no errors running prime95 for more than one hour. Decided to stop it cause i thought the temp was too high in Prime95, it reached 70-72... But the temps are fine, idle is 38-36-38-38 (room temp is 23.5 celcius) and in games around 52-50-52-52.

So idk, should i just leave it like that ? i don't wanna push it too much, 3.00Ghz is fine. I did notice an increase of FPS in games, in HL:2 episode 2 where my minimum FPS was 60-62 its now like 70-75. Same in COD4.

So idk if it's supposed to be stable of not. I guess i should have run Prime95 for much longer ?
Is it ok to leave it like that, with the Vcore and voltages on auto ? I really don't want to f*** up my CPU...

 
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It'll be fine, but you really should get a decent HSF (there's a guy selling a Xigmatech HDT-S1283 for $20 in FS/FT that'd be perfect) and push higher.
 
wow those temps =/ uhgggg i dont even like mine going above 50 on stress lol but 71 =/ damn h0t
 
Nicolas554 said:
So idk, should i just leave it like that ? i don't wanna push it too much, 3.00Ghz is fine. I did notice an increase of FPS in games, in HL:2 episode 2 where my minimum FPS was 60-62 its now like 70-75. Same in COD4.
Click to expand...

It will be fine, but I would get a decent HSF anyway.

My watercooled Q6600 (B3 stepping) went all the way up to 3.6 GHz with stock voltage.
 
silent-circuit said:
It'll be fine, but you really should get a decent HSF (there's a guy selling a Xigmatech HDT-S1283 for $20 in FS/FT that'd be perfect) and push higher.
Click to expand...

Is that a pretty good HSF ? How much would it lower my temp under load ? Would i need to put new thermal paste when i change the HSF ?And would it fit on a i7 if i eventually upgrade ??
 
Nicolas554 said:
Is that a pretty good HSF ? How much would it lower my temp under load ? Would i need to put new thermal paste when i change the HSF ?And would it fit on a i7 if i eventually upgrade ??
Click to expand...

Yes, it's a good HSF. It will fit i7 with a $10 mounting kit for LGA1366. You can probably get a 10+C drop in idle and load temps vs. the stock cooler, possibly more.
 
silent-circuit said:
Yes, it's a good HSF. It will fit i7 with a $10 mounting kit for LGA1366. You can probably get a 10+C drop in idle and load temps vs. the stock cooler, possibly more.
Click to expand...

Ok cool. What about the thermal paste ? Will i need to put new one, i guess the actual thermal paste is spread on the CPU and on the heatsink, so i'd loose some ?

And, can i just install the new HSF in my Antec 900 without taking out the mobo ? Would i have enough space to work it in ?.
 
Nicolas554 said:
Ok cool. What about the thermal paste ? Will i need to put new one, i guess the actual thermal paste is spread on the CPU and on the heatsink, so i'd loose some ?
Click to expand...

You should always replace the thermal compound when changing heatsinks. Clean the old compound off with rubbing alcohol.

The retail Xigmatek1283 comes with thermal compound. If you buy it secondhand you can use Arctic Silver or whatever you prefer.
 
I'll get the MX-2 paste i think.
But i just want to make sure the HSF wont obstruct the RAM on my P5K-E... i have 4 x 2 g so i use all the 4 slots. Also, i should be able to install the HSF without taking out my mobo right ??
thx !! :)
 
Nicolas554 said:
I'll get the MX-2 paste i think.
But i just want to make sure the HSF wont obstruct the RAM on my P5K-E... i have 4 x 2 g so i use all the 4 slots. Also, i should be able to install the HSF without taking out my mobo right ??
thx !! :)
Click to expand...

I'd strongly recommend you get the bolt-thru kit for it if the seller doesn't include it -- pushpins don't distribute pressure as evenly or reliably, so, yes, you would have to remove the motherboard from the case.
 
you will, my HS is messed up from those crappy pushpins (one point doesn't lock). I would have replaced it already but my temps never reflected it. Next time I'll be going with a bolt thru setup
 
I received and installed my Dark knight yesterday !! It was very easy to install :) and im very happy i went with the backplate instead of the push pins.

So far im very impressed with the results. My Q6600 is @ 3.30 (FSB 367, Vcore auto show 1.272 in CPU-Z) and my RAM is @ 1100Mhz.

I ran Prime95 for 3 hours and 30 minutes, got no errors or warning, decided to just stop it.

Temps in Prime never passed 50-50-52-52. Idle with room @ 23c = 31-28-31-31. In games its about 42-40-42-42.
Before, when it was overcloked to 3.00, temp was like 72 in Prime, 36-38 Idle and 56-58 in games.

Only one downside, it make more noise than the stock HSF. (PS, i just checked this out in the BIOS, it was on ''optical'' mode wich was like 2033RPM, i set it to ''performence'' mode, which is 1240RPM, noise is gone, and temp in Prime is the same :)

Just one question. I can't seem to be able to just overclock my CPU without overclocking my RAM. For exemple, with 367 FSB, the RAM speed choice it give me is 1100, with 377 FSB the RAM choice is 1134.... There's other choices also, but it never offer me to just leave the RAM @ 1066.
 
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You have to change the ram ratio, lower it a bit, maybe all the way, overclock as high as you can go, then bump up the multiplier until your satisfied.

Or the other option is to unlock the two and set it at 1066.
 
I dont seem to have that option in my BIOS.... If i dont want to run my RAM under its 1066 rated speed, i can either go with fsb 367 (3.30Ghz) which put the RAm to 1100Mhz and its stable in Prime. If i want 3.4Ghz ( 377 FSB) the RAM i can set is 945mhz or 1134mhz, and its not stable with 1134mhz in prime.
 
x8 multi is the sweet spot.

Input all your ram timings from the companies website, get the mutli to x8 and 400 fsb, bring up the voltage if it doesn't post and when it does you need to stabilize it.
 
Ok so, im trying to get a stable 3.5Ghz... (438 x 8) Ram 1096 2.10v. (stock RAm is 1066....)
I manually set the Vcore to 1.43 in the bios, and i got one error in prime95 after 9 hours and 30 minutes running large FFT test (temps were like 58c on the 4 cores).... I wanted to get like 12 hours without errors :(
I decided to try the Vcore @ 1.45 and now im starting Prime again....
But idk, Vcore of 1.45 seems a bit high to me for a 3.50Ghz overclock, or is it in the normal range ?
Btw, i let the other voltage option on auto, should i just try to let the Vcore to 1.43 and tweak the other voltage a bit instead of raising the Vcore to 1.45 ?

thx
 
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anything below 80C is fine IMO...

My q6600 gets up to around 75C with a tuniq at 1.4v running at 3.4ghz
 
coolxboxgamer said:
anything below 80C is fine IMO...

My q6600 gets up to around 75C with a tuniq at 1.4v running at 3.4ghz
Click to expand...

Btw, i see in your sig you got your Q6600 @ 3.6 with 1.37v... Is that the Vcore you got in your BIOS or is it the Vcore shown in CPU-Z ? (Mine is 1.45 in BIOS and show 1.34 in CPU-Z for 3.5Ghz)
 
Nicolas554 said:
Btw, i see in your sig you got your Q6600 @ 3.6 with 1.37v... Is that the Vcore you got in your BIOS or is it the Vcore shown in CPU-Z ? (Mine is 1.45 in BIOS and show 1.34 in CPU-Z for 3.5Ghz)
Click to expand...

ya my sig is wrong im running 1.4-1.415 V in bios for a 3.4ish OC
 
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