Q6600 overclock issues

[SeaWulf]

Hello, I'm new to the forum but I've been lurking for a while.


Over a year ago I was running my Q6600 at 3Ghz with the stock voltage on the stock cooler without issue. After running at stock settings for some months, I tried to overclock again with hopes of going higher since I have better cooling now, but I haven't had much success. I have to increase the voltage a bunch to even boot into windows; in order to boot at 333x9 I had to up the vCore to 1.40v and I can't push the clock up any higher, even with increased voltage

Load temps after a couple hours are below 45C in Prime95 at that clock/voltage

Any ideas? The only thing that I've changed since then was updating the bios from version F5 to F9, adding a few more drives, and getting better cooling.

Q6600 G0 cooled by Corsair H50 push/pull fan config in a well ventilated case
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L mobo
2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2
EVGA GTS450
Corsair 650W PSU


Thanks!

 

[Haiku214]

OC'ing your q6600 also depends on your RAM rated speeds. Is your ram ddr2 800mhz?

 

[mdlam]

Its broken. I'll buy it for 20 bucks if you want.

Hello, I'm new to the forum but I've been lurking for a while.


Over a year ago I was running my Q6600 at 3Ghz with the stock voltage on the stock cooler without issue. After running at stock settings for some months, I tried to overclock again with hopes of going higher since I have better cooling now, but I haven't had much success. I have to increase the voltage a bunch to even boot into windows; in order to boot at 333x9 I had to up the vCore to 1.40v and I can't push the clock up any higher, even with increased voltage

Load temps after a couple hours are below 45C in Prime95 at that clock/voltage

Any ideas? The only thing that I've changed since then was updating the bios from version F5 to F9, adding a few more drives, and getting better cooling.

Q6600 G0 cooled by Corsair H50 push/pull fan config in a well ventilated case
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L mobo
2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2
EVGA GTS450
Corsair 650W PSU


Thanks!

 

[SeaWulf]

OC'ing your q6600 also depends on your RAM rated speeds. Is your ram ddr2 800mhz?

Yes. Playing with voltages and timing doesn't seem to make a difference. Also tried running a 2.0x multi which worked fine, but I still can't push the clock past 340~

Its broken. I'll buy it for 20 bucks if you want.

Add another zero and it's yours

 

[spinejam]

That board has some serious vdrop/vdroop. I have a q6600 @ 3.6Ghz on one right now. My bios voltage is set to ~1.51 which translates to 1.454 @ idle and 1.408-1.424 under load (Prime95). Anything lower than that is a bust.

 

[Seb1]

+1 what spinejam said about Vdroop, I had that board.

Vdrop was usually -0.036 with a dualcore and -0.054 V with a quad.
For instance a q6600 needed 1.38 V at 9x333 MHz and 2.4 memory multiplier and relaxed timings (5-5-5-18). The board isn't picky about RAM, but it "likes" the more simple and value oriented modules, nothing fancy OCZ and high-voltage low-latency stuff.
Don't forget about the Performance Enhance setting, you should set it to Standard when going above 333 MHz FSB and increase the Static tRead Value (tRD) a little bit (I was lucky to run it at 7), tRFC should be set to 42.

What people should know about using this mobo paired with a C2Q and exaggerated Vcore: it has a poor processor voltage regulator circuitry, it can burn out or it isn't delivering stable voltage.

 

[js09]

Yes. Playing with voltages and timing doesn't seem to make a difference. Also tried running a 2.0x multi which worked fine, but I still can't push the clock past 340~



Add another zero and it's yours

 

[SeaWulf]

Last night I did some reading and it seems that there's a known Pencil-mod for this board that can reduce vdrop. I need to check to see if I have the right board revision and find my multimeter.


But, I may not because it looks like I'm picking up an i5 750 system, so this may processor/mobo may go to my mom and stay at stock clocks again She could use the upgrade from the pitiful Pentium D that she currently has.