Question about MCH and FSB voltages

[a_kraker99]

I looked through the stickies but I couldnt really find the explanation that I was looking for on MCH and FSB voltages. From what I read so far I should really need to increase those at all. Is that right? How would I know to up those voltages instead of the vcore if I am unstable?
I have my memory underclocked right now just so I can rule that out of any failures.

Also, Just a side question but my q6600 is running at 62 C under full load. Is that acceptable for a G0 Stepping? How does everything look below?

 

[BillParrish]

Leave the FSB voltage alone until a last resort, that is normally changed only when all other options are exhausted and you are trying to get the last littel bit of OC out of a board (in fact I recommend you dont go there at all unless you are very very hardcore ). This setting changes the voltage levels of the signals going from the cpu to the MCH which determines what is a logical one or a zero, the levels of the data signals. Very touchy stuff and seldom need or should be messed with unless you know exactly what you are doing.

The MCH voltage, on the other hand, is very critical to Intel chipset overclocking and is one of the first things (just after Vcore) that you bump up to see if you can get a higher stable FSB speed. This voltage determines the voltage that feeds the MCH chip and is for the MCH just like Vcore for the cpu. As you overclock the FSB speed the MCH becomes overclocked just like the cpu (and better cooling helps it just like better cooling helps the cpu) and giving it some more voltage, up to a point, will help the MCH cope with FSB speeds beyond its basic specifications.

You did not mention which motherboard you are using and that makes a difference in what the Intel spec is for Absolute Max voltage rating for the MCH. You can find the Intel spec sheet for your MCH at Intel.com. Normally I recommend you give it and extra .1V from the word go just to increase stability and usually this also helps with increased FSB speeds. More than .2V and you need to be sure the MCH is cooled properly. People have cranked in insane (IMO) MCH voltages but for the older chips the stock voltage is 1.25V and the rated Max is 1.375. Just depends on your chipset and which MCH you have. People have gone way over 1.4V and the chip survives but I dont recommend it or at least make sure you understand exactly what you are doing and the risks. It is your stuff.

Check your memory mulitplier so your memory is running close to its rated speed or just over.

You might try 8 x 400 = 3.2GHz with a 1:1 (2.0 on gigabyte boards) memory ratio to run your ram right on spec. Thats a really nice sweet spot for performance if your board will do the 400 FSB. Usually if the board will do that you can slowly adjust up the FSB in 5 MHz steps until your memory does not like it to somewhere around 415FSB for a little more cpu speed and a mild OC on the memory and at that point unless you are going for some record or something the machine is nicely responsive without being stress too hard and your attention should change to your video card and its OC if you are a gamer or unless you want to get into advanced OCing.

temps good, Nothing to even be concerned about until it gets into the 80C range. I would run at least 1.30Vcore for stability but if your chip does not need it and you are happy /shrug. That chip will not even break a sweat at 1.375Vcore but I recommend most people dont go above that. It is better to run the lowest Vcore you can at your target OC to reduce heat and stress on teh CPU. This "lowest Vcore" can only be established by the kind of stabilty testing you are doing. So it becomes a balance between the OC speed you want and a high enough Vcore to get there stable but not more Vcore than you actually need. Sometimes an OC and Vcore will run all the stability tests in the world all day long but you will crash in a game. So its not a cut and dried process and not something you can nail down in an afternoon. But its good to use the stability programs and then just use the heck out the the machine. IF you get random crashes just bump Vore (and perhaps MCH voltage) up a notch and go at it again.

 

[a_kraker99]

WOW! That helped alot. Thanks for taking the time to write that. Anyways. My motherboard is a Foxconn P45A-S. I have strapped a small fan onto the stock NB heatsink to help out a little as stated in the OC sticky. How can I find my NB temps? Is is TMPIN0 on my screenshot above? What are good temps for a NB? I have been running stable for 2 hours now from the same test on the screenshot above so hopefully I wont have to up and voltages anymore.
Next I am going to mess with the Memory. I have been having trouble getting it to run at its rated speed of 1066. This is a common problem with my RAM according to reviews on Newegg.