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Q6600 Overclock

Etherton

Etherton

Will Bang for Poof
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
6,996
I am lost when it comes to Overclocking. I've looked into it a few times and could use a little help. I just ordered a XFX 5870 and now am worried about my CPU bottlenecking the GPU. Here is my current system and any help would be great!

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - G0 (Stock) w/ a Thermaltake cooler (can't remember the name)
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DQ6
OCZ Gold 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad kit
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache (Main)
ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT 620W SLI/CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM (Storage)
Samsung SyncMaster T260 Monitor
Windows 7 Ultimate - 64bit

I got it to these settings :

Untitled-5.png


Am I safe?
 
You have a pretty good overclock there. ~3.5GHz @ 1.288v is nice with all 4 of your DIMMs populated. I can only get my G0 Q6600 to around 3.2ish because of its high VID and this goofy Foxconn motherboard I use. :D
 
better than mine.

Not worth messing with the cpu much. What is your "memory performance enhance" in the MIT menu ?
 
You are in great shape. I'm running a Q6600@3.2ghz with a 5870. I'd be higher on my CPU but boo at 1.325VID
 
that is a very healthy overclock for your setup. is that stable at high load?
 
I played a couple hours last night of Crysis (you know that game really isn't that good imo) and other than being slow at High settings it did not seem like nothing was wrong. The temps raised a little but not much. I'll try a program like Prime95 or if there is a better testing program let me know. I'm not sure about the RAM settings. Will look at those tonight when I get home. I know I set the RAM to 2.0 instead of AUTO. I think its 800 / 880. My terminology may be completely wrong here since I am just starting OCing. Thanks for all your help guys!

edit : other than shortening the life of the CPU is there any danger to the rest of my setup from OCing?
 
The only way something could permanently be damaged is with the voltage settings. All of the important chips will shut themselves down if temps get out of control.

The most dangerious one is the cpu voltage control as it will allow you to set voltages ( > 1.55 V) that far exceed Intels max Voltage spec for the CPU.

Just running it faster with reasonable voltage and temp readings will not hurt a thing and the worst thing that could happen is a freez up that might trash your windows install and/or force you to reset the cmos/bios settings and have to enter in all your settings again. Testing with any of the stablity test programs can eliminate or almost reduce to zero those possibilities.
 
Drop the temps more and you might be able to overclock that chip more on your motherboard.

Temps are too high for my liking, but technically fine.

Running at 3.5 is way better than running at the stock 2.4 for that chip, but you will still be CPU bound in some stuff depending on what resolution you run at.
 
Wow, I can only hit 3.6ish at 1.48V... 3.5 at 1.288v is awesome, unless I'm misreading something.
 
I have my Q6600 at 3.6GHz but with a core voltage of 1.464.
I should try lowering it.
I want to get it to 4GHz.
 
I can only reach 3.6ghz with vcore of 1.48v... you should run Prime95 small FFTs and see if it's stable after a few hours.
 
I tried lowering my cpu voltage to 1.4 but it blue screened at the "starting windows" screen.
Upped it to 1.47 & it loaded fine.
 
I got a stop error 0x00000124 when I was at 3.6GHz.
Gonna try upgrading my video driver since that is one issue I found to cause it.
 
wow thats a nice clock....i can only get my chip to hit 3.0 with 1.26v. It wont go above 3.0 no matter what I do.

Might have to pick up that MB.
 
I try setting the cpu voltage lower than 1.4 with a 400FSB & it blue screens. I have to run at least 1.47 to 1.5.

Since I upgraded video drivers, I can run at 3.6 again.
 
ezac said:
wow thats a nice clock....i can only get my chip to hit 3.0 with 1.26v. It wont go above 3.0 no matter what I do.

Might have to pick up that MB.
Click to expand...


I am actually kinda surprised that the author can get that high of a fsb on a 965 based motherboard.

My 975x board would only do 333fsb with my Quad, my P35 could get up to 460 and my
P45 board can do somewhere in between 480 and 490fsb with my Q6600.
 
Anyone know the true cause of the 0x00000124 stop error?
I tried an fsb of 410 & got it just after the starting windows screen of Win7.
 
Had to drop it down to : Q6600, 3366 MHz (8 x 421). I was getting random blue screens.
 
Just curious why the 8 multi instead of 9?

I am up to 405 FSB now. No bsod this time.
 
I don't know, would it be more stable? Like I said I've never done any overclocking before.
 
eth3ton said:
I don't know, would it be more stable? Like I said I've never done any overclocking before.
Click to expand...

what have you done for stability testing so far? I would reccomended trying interlburntest, its great for finding problems and establishing a baseline. since you were getting bluescreens, you might have been pushing it way too far and are still unstable now. run intel burn test 20 runs on max settings, see what happens. then you can tweak and run further tests base on if it failed or passed. its better to put in some time now and get some confidence than worry about it later.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
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I ran that test for my 400 FSB & it blue screen within less than a minute. :(
Doesn't blue screen during MY normal play though, such as Crysis & COD4.
 
L.o.D. said:
I ran that test for my 400 FSB & it blue screen within less than a minute. :(
Doesn't blue screen during MY normal play though, such as Crysis & COD4.
Click to expand...

well its your pc, feel free to do with it as you wish. others are concerned about not having a system that crashes in 'less than a minute' under a serious load.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Well to be honest, running Crysis & COD4 on high settings isn't exactly a minor load on the cpu. :D
 
eth3ton said:
Ok I ran that test and it crashed on me :

Untitled-6.png
Click to expand...

what are you running at now for an overclock? probably best to keep the multiplier at 9x, then raise the bus speed slowly. for reference, 9x333 will put you at an even 3ghz and 9x366 will get you to 3.33 which is a good target for 965 board. 965 boards are not great for overlocking with high bus speeds.

start at slower speeds, check for stability, raise the bus speed, check again, repeat, repeat... once you have a problem, you can start working with raising the voltage and such. if you want a stable system, its going to take some patience. don't get caught up just shooting for big numbers, if the system is going to be flaky, its crap.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
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Those temps are a bit high. Either you are living in a hot place, your HSF isn't installed correctly, or your case airflow needs a bit of work.
 
I'm thinking my quad is stuck at 3.6. I don't think I can get it to 4GHz.
Any FSB I try above 400 causes the 0x00000124 error.
CPU voltage is at 1.5.
Dram voltage at 2v.
I tried 3 different settings for the NB voltage.
I even tried setting the FSB termination voltage.
When I tried an FSB of 450, I lose the video signal. What causes that?
Any ideas or am I stuck?
 
Nice to see some good Q6600 overclocking is going on!

I'm running a GO Q6600 on a single loop using an EK Supreme Plexi and single 120mm rad with push pull fans.

I run 2.4Ghz day to day, but can get up to 3.8GHz stable and 3.9GHz not so stable (crashes during stress testing) can get closer to 4GHz when the weathers cold but its seriously unstable and a little mental on the vcore.

3.9GHz - 9x433Mhz using a 200Mhz strap (slow ram) at 1.495 vcore

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=763073
 
OP, you sure your voltage isn't set to "Auto"? I can't see getting 3.5 stable at 1.288 volts.
 
Who here has a Q6600 on a Rampage Formula at 4GHz?
I am at a wall with mine, can't get passt 3.6.
 
This is my G0 at 3.6ghz running on my Gigabyte P45 UD3R
I need to go into the garage this winter and hit it with some subzero air and some real vcore. :cool:
12hourp95.jpg
 
I tried setting my FSB to 433 with the FSB termination at a few different settings & cpu voltage at 1.5 but when I save & it restarts, it loses the video signal. But it seems to continue to load anyways according to the LCD monitor.

Any ideas on the cause of the signal loss?
 
L.o.D. said:
I tried setting my FSB to 433 with the FSB termination at a few different settings & cpu voltage at 1.5 but when I save & it restarts, it loses the video signal. But it seems to continue to load anyways according to the LCD monitor.

Any ideas on the cause of the signal loss?
Click to expand...

You mentioned you were hitting a wall at 3.6GHz, its best to try and build from there. Were you trying a 433 FSB with a 9x multiplier (3.9GHz)? Thats a big ask even on water. I can reach 3.9GHz but its too hot for my loop to handle under load.

If I push any further I also get video signal loss, as for the cause? too much overclocking :cool:
 
My temps are in the hi 20s low 30s. So not worried about that.
using the 9x.
It's not crashing when the signal is lost though. It still loads as it should, according to the monitor.
 
L.o.D. said:
My temps are in the hi 20s low 30s. So not worried about that.
using the 9x.
It's not crashing when the signal is lost though. It still loads as it should, according to the monitor.
Click to expand...

Have you tried relaxing the timing on your memory?
 
Actually, the memory timings are at default which I think are what they are supposed to be at.
5-5-5-18 2T
I have never messed with the timings other than setting to the recommended from the manufacturer, but the mobo did it for me.

EDIT:
Ok, I was wrong. It doesn't continue to load, but also does not blue screen. I noticed that it seems to stop at detecting dram. Would that mean I need to overclock the ram now?
I had it's freq. at DDR2-866 without any luck.
So I started fiddling around. Tried a few different settings with the fsb termination & it would get to where I pick win7 to load. It would say "loading windows files" instead of "starting windows". Then it would restart.
Still no blue screen.

I never got any bsod during this session.
I did get the signal loss a few times & I "think" it stopped at the vga bios.
 
L.o.D. said:
Actually, the memory timings are at default which I think are what they are supposed to be at.
5-5-5-18 2T
I have never messed with the timings other than setting to the recommended from the manufacturer, but the mobo did it for me.

EDIT:
Ok, I was wrong. It doesn't continue to load, but also does not blue screen. I noticed that it seems to stop at detecting dram. Would that mean I need to overclock the ram now?
I had it's freq. at DDR2-866 without any luck.
So I started fiddling around. Tried a few different settings with the fsb termination & it would get to where I pick win7 to load. It would say "loading windows files" instead of "starting windows". Then it would restart.
Still no blue screen.

I never got any bsod during this session.
I did get the signal loss a few times & I "think" it stopped at the vga bios.
Click to expand...

Your RAM is at 866MHz so I presume your still trying 433MHz FSB? You need to get back to a stable clock speed and work from there slowly building up the speed. As your using 800MHz RAM (PC2-6400) (I do too) you will be limited to a 1:1 strap at higher FSB speeds.
 
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