Q6600 "more responsive" at stock

mediaman

mediaman

mediaman

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Recently fixed a problem I was having with my system and decided to start clocking my q6600 again and had it fairly comfortable at 3ghz with the ram at stock. The system was prime stable over night and cpu temps were around 55 to 60 degrees c under load.

I am not noticing any noticeable difference, in fact the system seems to be slightly clunky with the overclock compared to running at stock. I have had this CPU at 3.6ghz prior to an issue I was having with the graphics card which forced me to put everything back at stock before I diagnosed the problem. I didn't notice this "clunkiness" then, so my question is what possible cause could be making the system feel clunky when running the system at a faster clock speed?

What is all this talk of running the RAM 1:1 with the FSB? I thought it was better to run the RAM at stock for stability purposes. For the purposes I use this system I don't really need to overclock the system, that said I like the idea of having something for nothing.

FSX is much more responsive with the faster cpu clock speed but windows is just clunky. If I drag a window across the screen rapidly I have slight stutter when I overclock the processor but at stock its smooth and windows just seems more responsive.

Any ideas?

Motherboard is a Gigabyte P45-DQ6 and I have 8GB of OCZ 1066mhz DDR2 RAM.
 
Little lost on this one.
@ 3.6GHz i run my RAM@ 533(1066) and thats 3:4 ratio.

Running RAM @ stock or slower for more GHz is on the whole better.
some motherboards memory tables dont like some memory dividers, but "clunky" doesnt fit.

If your sure of stability then run superPI at stock and then overclocked, if its faster overclocked then the chip is doing its job.

Only "clunky" I ever felt was a driver issue with some graphic card drivers.
 
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Also clunky might not be the right term, but it definitely doesn't feel as smooth. It almost feels like it takes longer for programs like cpuid to load etc. I am starting to think it is a memory divider issue. I definitely need to do a bit of trial and error when ive got a spare minute. Ill also give superPI a shot and see what that gives.
 
Have you looked towards your HDD? Maybe you need a good defrag, cleanup and full on tidy up of everything? My 3.6Ghz is a lot faster then 2.4Ghz, however I forgot to defrag for a while and my HDD was around 50% fragmented (I had been moving a lot of files around). After a defrag it felt like normal.
 
I've seen this mentioned in overclock guides before. Try adjusting your overclock a few Mhz either side, as sometimes the clocks don't seem to sync well (or perhaps don't "like" each other) at particular frequencies.

It was exactly as you describe, but you will have to 'suck it and see' when trying the clocks.
 
Hello mediaman :)

mediaman said:

  • Intel Q6600
  • Gigabyte P45-DQ6
  • OCZ 1066mhz DDR2 RAM
Click to expand...

mediaman said:
  • the system seems to be slightly clunky with the overclock compared to running at stock
  • what possible cause could be making the system feel clunky when running the system at a faster clock speed?
  • FSX is much more responsive with the faster cpu clock speed but windows is just clunky
  • at stock its smooth and windows just seems more responsive
Click to expand...

mediaman said:
  • Also clunky might not be the right term, but it definitely doesn't feel as smooth.
  • It almost feels like it takes longer for programs like cpuid to load etc.
  • I am starting to think it is a memory divider issue
Click to expand...
What you are referring to as "clunky" . . "doesn't feel as smooth" etc is something known as System Latency . . . This is something that doesn't show up so much in CPU benchmarks but is very much in the domain of user experience and how the system "feels" to use . . . System latency can be "measured" using EVEREST and SiSOFT SANDRA . . .

The problem is caused when the sync [1:1] memory multi is used instead of an upwards memory multiplier . . . combine this with an off-chip northbridge memory controller and you get high-latency which is not desirable in anyway, form or shape . . .

The Intel® LGA775 platform becomes lower latency and "snappy" when you run the memory as fast as possible . . . [1:1] sync is to be avoided where at all possible . . . your Q6600 system which runs at a native 266MHz-FSB (1066MHz System Bus) can make full use of DDR2-1066 even at stock 2.4GHz speed using the [2:1] memory multiplier and will "feel" really snappy and fast when configured with the effective system bus speed running as fast as the effective DDR2 speed i.e:

  • 1066MHz System Bus (266MHz-FSB Quad Pumped)
  • 1066MHz DDR2 (533MHz Double Data Rate)
Of course as one needs to adjust the FSB upwards to overclock the chip it will not really be possible to maintain the DDR2 memory using the [2:1] memory multiplier but its possible to use a slightly lower upwards memory multiplier to keep the memory running as close as possible in speed to that of the effective system bus . . .

straps.png


The full spectrum of Intel® LGA775 clocking is not known by many . . . it seems for most people the focus is 95% on the CPU clock alone with not much attention paid to the Northbridge/NBcc clocks and tRD and the memory speed and CL rating . . . there is so much more to having a faster, snappy, responsive system that just having a fast processor frequency! ;)

If you want to really understand how to get the best from your LGA775 platform then put some time aside and read this article . . .

ASUS ROG Rampage Formula: Why we were wrong about the Intel X48

25th January 2008
 
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Thanks a lot for that. I have only read some of that article and already I feel as if I have a greater understanding of this. My eyes are playing up now so Im going to have a proper read tomorrow and have a look at what changes I can make. Cheers.
 
I used to run 400 x 9 all the time (3.6ghz) Now i have speed step on as im mainly on music and internet so its lowered to 400 x 6. All games work at 3.6ghz, desktop at 2.4ghz.

I did do an import of a plugin in an app that CPU intensive and it went to 3.6ghz. Windows seems to work better with speedstep on, might just be in my head though!
 
Big.Wayne said:
Hello mediaman :)


The problem is caused when the sync [1:1] memory multi is used instead of an upwards memory multiplier . . . combine this with an off-chip northbridge memory controller and you get high-latency which is not desirable in anyway, form or shape . . .
it seems for most people the focus is 95% on the CPU clock alone with not much attention paid to the Northbridge/NBcc clocks and tRD and the memory speed and CL rating . . . there is so much more to having a faster, snappy, responsive system that just having a fast processor frequency! ;)

If you want to really understand how to get the best from your LGA775 platform then put some time aside and read this article . . .
Click to expand...

Im paraphrasing but this is great info, Still GHz is better than any memory dividers/timings.
It could be the memory table causing this but @ 3.6GHz you could run your memory @ any old divider and improve system performance over stock.

I could run 450FSB with a bad divider or 440 with a good divider and for a fact will score better with more GHz.

Depending on the BIOs memory tables more GHz is far more desirable.
That bein said at the edge of your overclock more CAN mean less.
3.6GHz in not the edge.
 
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redshadows said:
I could run 450FSB with a bad divider or 440 with a good divider and for a fact will score better with more GHz
Click to expand...
redshadows stop gunking up this thread with your "facts" please! :D

CPU MHz are not the whole picture unless you sit in your room running "CPU" benchmarks . . . once that data leaves the processor/processor cache you need to learn about a good bit of northbridge tweaking and a good bit of memory overclocking/ tweaking if you want the most speed from your LGA775 system! ;)

If you want to help the O.P please be my guest! :cool:

mediaman said:
Q6600 "more responsive" at stock
Click to expand...
 
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Big.Wayne said:
redshadows stop gunking up this thread with your "facts" please! :D

CPU MHz are not the whole picture unless you sit in your room running "CPU" benchmarks . . . you need to learn about a good bit of northbridge tweaking and a good bit of memory overclocking/ tweaking if you want the most speed from your LGA775 system! ;)

If you want to help the O.P please be my guest! :cool:
Click to expand...

LOL, to polish your overclock you do that, get stable with you CPU and then polish.
Memory is right after that.....NB tweaking...lol ok FACT<<<lol

I could run 450FSB with a bad divider or 440 with a good divider and for a fact will score better with more GHz, that is fact, more GHz is better....score wise....damn benchmarks I just cant get away from them

Oh wait sorry for recoding, gaming and folding (bigadv) its better as well.
 
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