HSF to OC Q6600 to (at least) 3.2GHz - £50-60

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Hi guys,

I currently have Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler but my CPU temp at full load is already 60-65C without any OC. So either I have completely wrong fan speed settings (see the BIOS settings below) or I need a better HSF?!

I'm looking into a few HSF here on overclockers to get my CPU OC-ed to 3.2 GHz (or even 3.4GHz). I would like to spend in the region of £50-60.

Options I've looked at, any comments / suggestions are appreciated:

Gelid GX7 High Performance (£40)

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan (£58)

Prolimatech Panther CPU Cooler (£38)

Prolimatech Super Mega CPU Cooler (£60)

Thermaltake Contac 29 CPU Cooler (£27)

Zero Infinity Shiva CPU Cooler (£45)

Zalman CNPS11X Extreme (£46)

I've read that one cannot go wrong with Prolimatech but I'd need to add ~£20 for fans and clips with the Super Mega option, right?

mobo: Asus P5KC (BIOS 1203)
cpu: Q6600 Kentsfield (6-F-B) @ 2.4 GHz (1.25V)
ram: 4xCM2X6400 (8GB) 800MHz 5-5-5-18 (1.8V)
gpu: nVIDIA GTX280
psu: Arctic 700 (+3.3v = 30A / +5v = 38A / +12v1 = 22A / +12v2 = 22A / -12v = 0.6A / +5Vsb = 3A)
case: Thermaltake Armor+

BIOS Settings:

hucK9.jpg
 
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Associate
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I would check the seating of the cooler as said above and airflow through the case.

My old q6600 ran at 3.4 day to day with the same cooler as you have. The temps only got that high when maxed out. But looking at your screen shot above then your vcore is a lot lower than mine.
 
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Thanks, I've cleaned the heat sink and the fan completely of dust and I'm seeing the same temp ... I'll have a look at the seating ...

So, you guys are saying that the HSF I have should handle OC up to 3.2GHz without too much problem?

I wouldn't mind paying some money to get the temp a bit lower anyways, any of those I've listed that should be better than AC freezer 7 pro?
 
Soldato
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The Q6600's generally have an imperfect ihs (intergrated heat spreader), I've owned 2 Q6600's and both had concave ihs which required lapping to make proper contact with heatsink. Once lapped, temps plummeted dramatically, you can check ihs by holding a credit card on its edge across top of cpu.
 
Soldato
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Thanks, I'll have a look at the IHS as well

There are some guides around if you google 'Q6600 lapping' or similar, it's quite easy once you get into it and very satisfying when you see temp improvements. All you really need is a very flat surface (I used the back of an unframed mirror) and the varying grades of sandpaper, I can't remember the grades I used as it's quite a while ago, but the guides will detail what you need. I'll do some googling and see if I can find a decent guide for you.
 
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Thank you smit, I'll google that - just ordered a set of sandpaper (320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1200). I'm assuming I'll need a thermal compound so I'll get one of those shown here (e.g. Akasa AK-455 Thermal Compound)

There no point lapping the CPU if your gonna use rubbish thermal compound, Get yourself some AC MX4 or similar only a bit more expensive but well worth it.;)
 
Associate
OP
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p.s. I tried to OC to 2.7GHz but the temp climbed past 70C after a few seconds of prime95 testing so I stopped and went back to 2.4 and will start with lapping and reseating once the materials come ... thanks for all comments
 
Soldato
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cant you get a 2d hand cooler? im not sure its worth spending mega bucks on a 775 cooler....

i just sold my old E6600, i ran that bad boy @3.5GHz @ 1.55v (yeah it wasn't the best chip), it stayed at 62c under 24h of prime testing (bit high but meh) and the cpu AND cooler sold for just £35 posted....
 
Caporegime
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An overclocked q6600 will run a lot hotter than an equivalent dual core. I had a freezer 7. It was good upto 3.4ghz, (1.375 vcore), after that i had to invest in a better cooler. Got a Thermalright ultra extreme 120, took that chip to 3.8ghz. I also used the ultra on the spec in sig, though i then replaced it with a super mega. Another good cooler, but a bit expensive once you add a couple of fans.
 
Soldato
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An overclocked q6600 will run a lot hotter than an equivalent dual core. I had a freezer 7. It was good upto 3.4ghz, (1.375 vcore), after that i had to invest in a better cooler. Got a Thermalright ultra extreme 120, took that chip to 3.8ghz. I also used the ultra on the spec in sig, though i then replaced it with a super mega. Another good cooler, but a bit expensive once you add a couple of fans.

wow a 3.8GHz q6600 is pretty hardcore....
 
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