Q6600 mATX build

Biffa

Biffa

Biffa

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Hiya,

I know that some of you might be interested in my experiences with a Q6600 in a mATX setup, so here we go.

OK started off with an X-QPack with 939 Mobo and Opteron 165, which I was able to clock up to 2.3Ghz mainly due to limitations on the motherboard more than anything. (HT options were only 1000, 800 and 200) well it was time for an upgrade as this was my VMWare box, running 3 server sessions, it was also one of my Folding crunchers, so as you can imagine got pretty toasty.

No mods to the case, just a standard XQ black windowed jobbie. Only thing I had done is replace the rear 120mm fan with a Silent one.

So with the latest quad prices that seemed like a good way to go given the job the system did :) So off to the shop:

1 X Gigabyte GA G33M-S2 Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
1 X Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
1 X Zalman CNPS8700-LED Aero Flower CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/775/AM2)
2 X OcUK 1GB (2x512MB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

I had a budget, which was around £300 so didn't want to go drastically over that, and there are obviously space limitations in the XQ case which I had to take into considerations with regard to the cooler. But all in all I felt I had the best components given the limitations.

On with the build:

Package arrives (after Citylink failing to deliver it once)
itshere.JPG


All the bits
thebits.JPG
 
Arctic Silver applied as per their reccomendations for Dual/Quad Core
as5.JPG


Great finish on the Zalman, also checked the heat spreader was flat and it wasnt too bad.
hsf.JPG


Fitted and ready to go into the case
mobo_ready.JPG
 
This is the old kit coming out of the case
old_kit.JPG


New kit in the case, excuse the wiring mess, but the main areas are free for the limited air flow.
in_case.JPG


Overclocking/Temps/Speed:

Initially I was getting quite bad temps and couldn't really get over 2.8Ghz without getting worried. Did a bit of searching on the net and one of the main things people do is reverse the rear fan so its pulling air into the case then letting the PSU exhaust the hot air out of the case. At the same time I thought I would switch back the old Blue light 120mm fan that comes with the case because although its noisier its got better CFU than the fan I had. The case isn't anywhere anyone will hear it so noise isn't an issue at this time.

After doing that, and tweaking a bit more the final stable clock I was able to generate was 3.2Ghz @ 1.41V (check the vdroop on CPuZ!!)
screen.jpg


Next stage is to try the following (I've got the parts coming next week)

1. Switch 4 x 512MB 6400 DDR2 for 2 X 1GB 8500+ DDR2 to rule out the 4 slots full Overclocking limitation

2. Better PSU, the one I have is a 400W Sparkle which I got to replace the Xpack one that comes in the case which blew. So I have a 500W Silverstone ST50EF-Plus-SC coming with the shorter cables

3. Try a different motherboard, the Gigabyte is a great board, but I thought I'd try the Asus P5K-VM iG33 to see if it offered better options.

The PSU and the mobo switch are mainly to try and get better voltages, the Vdroop on the Q6600's and the G33 mobos is horrendous.

Well thats it for now. Thanks for listening.
 
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Very nice indeed. Been toying with the idea of dropping a Q6600 into my SFF but at the very least I think i'd wait for the G0 stepping.

Then again I may just wait for Penryn. :)
 
cokecan72 said:
out of curiousity, what temps do you get at stock with the zalman?
Click to expand...

At stock unloaded when I first put it in around 32 degrees. 100% Prime95 loaded around 45

At 2.8 unloaded 36, loaded around 71

These were before I turned the rear fan around, and probably before the AS5 had time to settle in. I found temps dropped a good 5 degrees just by doing that. Its a good little heatsink I reckon. The 7700 I had on my Opteron always seemed to do a good job too.

Nothing compared to the Ultra 120 etc, but needs must. The case could do with better airflow too, its really suffering on these hot days. But hasnt crashed from overheating yet.
 
I'm not 100% on those temps @stock, I looked through my CoreTemp log (which is 20MB now) I do remember it was a cold night when I built the machine (wish it was now) so ambient was pretty low. TBH it only stayed stock for about 2 reboots before it went up to 2.8Ghz which was where I began testing. Thats when I found the "reverse the fan for effective cooling" trick. Also the Arctic silver settling in had quite a good effect on the cooling, I'd say by at least 3 or 4 degrees.

There is also the fact that I'm not using the stock cooler and that some people can't fit a HS to save their lives ;) , and some chips run cooler than others.
 
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All depends what you want to do :) As a VMWare box mine thrives on 4 cores. Plus FAH likes em too :)

Are you running the 6850 at stock? What are the temps like. I'm pretty sure the Sugo is a much better cooled case than the X-QPack, but if its your main desktop rig then I can see why not having noisy fans to eke out those last few Mhz from a chip would be a bonus.

I would have been happy at 3.0Ghz and may drop it down to that, the main problem I have right now is the Vdroop is so huge (1.41V in the Bios, 1.28V under load). Hopefully a better PSU and the Asus might alleviate that a bit. Also I'm pushing the memory (OcUK 6400) a bit hard at 473Mhz as there is no 1:1 divider on this mobo.

Anyway if and when my parts arrive I may have good or bad news, certainly this heat at the moment is bad news, with peak temps hitting 85degrees :eek:
 
OK look, I'll get some screenshots of temps at different speeds, I don't really want to spend the time rebooting so I will leave the voltage at 1.41 and use Easytune to modify the speeds, and let you make your own minds up. :)
 
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