Maximus formula 2 & Q6600 overclocking

JHLOW · 8 Jan 2011 at 19:06

It's been a while since iv'e posted here, It's good to be back. Iv'e searched the forum high and low for info on this cpu/mobo combo to no avail so thought id ask. Iv'e just upgraded my mobo to an Asus maximus formula 2 running a q6600 with a vid of 1.3125 (i know not great but hey gotta go with it) Im attempting to get a decent overclock with good temps but not having much luck and im not sure where im going wrong, and was wondering if anyone could help, below is a screenshot of where im at currently, i can also take some pics of the bios if needed. I think it may be voltage related.

I have 4gb 800Mhz ocz platinum rev2 ram running at 2.094v

temps at idle are 40-46 degrees ish, I have run intelburn test and it's stable on 5 runs standard but temps get to over 80 degrees.

3d mark 06 gets a score of 3300

The temps are average 25% more on idle and load compared to my old g41 board and prime results are awful in comparison too.

The psu in my sig is on RMa to ocz at the mo so running it on a winpower 750w temporarily until i get the replacment and got a slow ide OS drive in too, waiting to upgrade to 1tb F3.

If anyone can help id be really greatfull many thanks James..

TNA · 8 Jan 2011 at 20:21

I know P35 and P45 chipset motherboards overclock better, I am on a P35 my self and I am at 3825MHz @ 1.44v

Your temps seem a bit high, best get better cooling case and heatsink/fan.

Try this buddy:

Transaction Booster = DISABLED
CPU Spread Spectrum = DISABLED
PCIE Spread Spectrum = DISABLED
C1E Support = DISABLED
Max CPUID Limit = DISABLED
Vanderpool Technology = DISABLED
CPU TM Function = DISABLED
Execute Disable Bit = DISABLED
PECI – I usually disable this = DISABLED
Intel ® SpeedStep (TM) Tech = DISABLED

oh and enable loadline calibration . Hope that helps

JHLOW · 8 Jan 2011 at 20:30

Thanks TNA ill take a look and adjust bios as neccessary and re check temps etc, The board im running is a p45 chipset. thankyou

JHLOW · 8 Jan 2011 at 21:36

I went through the bios and tried your list...
Transaction Booster = DISABLED - Cant disable only change to manual, but wont boot then so still set to auto
CPU Spread Spectrum = DISABLED - yes
PCIE Spread Spectrum = DISABLED - yes
C1E Support = DISABLED - yes
Max CPUID Limit = DISABLED - yes
Vanderpool Technology = DISABLED - not in bios
CPU TM Function = DISABLED - yes
Execute Disable Bit = DISABLED - yes
PECI – I usually disable this = DISABLED - not in bios
Intel ® SpeedStep (TM) Tech = DISABLED - not in bios

here is a current screenshot I had some bios pics but iv'e got to take them again cos my camera buggerd up.....

pingu666 · 8 Jan 2011 at 21:51

you may want to check for a fsb jumper on the board, i know it sounds silly but mine had one and i couldnt get past 333 or something pathetic till i changed it. my htpc asus mobo had one for s3 sleep aswell, wont do s3 sleep if jumper is in default place. drove me mad till i discovered that :|
could u make the screenshots bigger, i can barely read them

JHLOW · 8 Jan 2011 at 22:29

I have looked and don't think there is any fsb jumpers on the board as far as i can see, s3 sleep mode?? whats this?

Below is full size pics of my current bios settings..

JHLOW · 8 Jan 2011 at 22:32

pingu666 said:
could u make the screenshots bigger, i can barely read them

I cant seem to make the screenshots bigger, could you possibly enlarge them using IE or win7 magnifier maybe..... Here are the direct links to the pics..
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/jayhangslow/Pc screent shots/overclock2.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/jayhangslow/Pc screent shots/3GhzIdle.jpg

pingu666 · 9 Jan 2011 at 00:51

flick through the manual, there probably isnt one, but asus can be quirkey about things. the s3 sleep is a irelivance for you, but S3 sleep uses *very* little power, on my htpc its 3-4watts more than turned off

EniGmA1981 · 9 Jan 2011 at 02:17

Why can't my bios have that many options!? my bios sucks poo

it's so limiting it's unreal

TNA · 9 Jan 2011 at 09:26

Did you enable Loadline Calibration?

mojojojo1972 · 9 Jan 2011 at 09:41

Have you tried the Northbridge voltage on auto, Your cpu voltage is high for a 3ghz oc, 1.4250 will give off a lot of heat

How did you get to this voltage was it going up in increments or coming down till you found a stable test

JHLOW · 9 Jan 2011 at 15:09

TNA said:
Did you enable Loadline Calibration?

Yes load line calibrations is enabled to help with Vdroop..

mojojojo1972 said:
Have you tried the Northbridge voltage on auto, Your cpu voltage is high for a 3ghz oc, 1.4250 will give off a lot of heat

How did you get to this voltage was it going up in increments or coming down till you found a stable test

THe NB voltage was on auto but i increased it 2notches above auto to see what the outcome was.
After a lot of reading on the forum the poeople who had clocked with a vid of 1.3125 had to increase their Vcore to get stable so i tried at much lower voltages which were unstable so then just set it at 1.4250, it has been ok since but temps are high.... What voltage would be best at 3ghz? or should i just try reducing a bit at time, then run intelburn for say 5 passes and see what happens.

TNA · 9 Jan 2011 at 16:16

Don't know what is best, but from what I recal I think my 3.6 profile is on 1.35v. so one would assume 1.3v should work at 3GHz. Just do as you said, keep doing down a notch and run IBT until you find your sweetspot.

coleman · 9 Jan 2011 at 17:38

i also agree that you current voltage is to high, my q6600 runs at 1.325 stock and is currently running 1.4v @ 3.2 ghz with all stepping features disabled in bios.

my temps idle around 30 and max out at 55 after running prime for 12 hours. I have a zalman 9700 and antec 900 case.

try, stepping down your vcore one notch at a time then test with prime95 for 15 - 20 mins until it passes the first set of test. repete until prime gives you an error. then obviously put it back up a notch and test with prime over nite or while at work.

my thoughts are you should be able to go below 1.4v @ 3ghz

JHLOW · 9 Jan 2011 at 20:23

TNA said:
Don't know what is best, but from what I recal I think my 3.6 profile is on 1.35v. so one would assume 1.3v should work at 3GHz. Just do as you said, keep doing down a notch and run IBT until you find your sweetspot.

Will Thanks TNA

coleman said:
i also agree that you current voltage is to high, my q6600 runs at 1.325 stock and is currently running 1.4v @ 3.2 ghz with all stepping features disabled in bios.

my temps idle around 30 and max out at 55 after running prime for 12 hours. I have a zalman 9700 and antec 900 case.

try, stepping down your vcore one notch at a time then test with prime95 for 15 - 20 mins until it passes the first set of test. repete until prime gives you an error. then obviously put it back up a notch and test with prime over nite or while at work.

my thoughts are you should be able to go below 1.4v @ 3ghz

Well i changed my Vcore to 1.375V and set my NB volts back to auto, I ran IBt passed test ok although the freeze test froze for about 5 seconds twice on the first pass but fine from then on. I have been running prime blend test for and hour and half now and still running while im posting this, temps seem ok i think. Iv'e read that the CPUPLL volts are important and must not go above 1.6v is this right? because Asus pcprobe is telling me that CPUPLL is 1.69v. couple of screen shots during prime test.

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coleman · 9 Jan 2011 at 21:09

i am not familiar with CPUPLL im sure a good google search will give you the awnser to that question. from what i can see all looks well, just a matter of reducing the temps a little.

the temps are within reason (below 75c) however i feel they should be lower than that. have you tried reseating your cpu cooler and applying new thermal paste recently? also which direction does your cpu fan blow? from what i have read and tried, having the fan blowing towards the exhaust fan gives best results.

post back with results

JHLOW · 9 Jan 2011 at 22:16

Will have another go tomorrow off to bed now work early in the morning. Thanks for the input greatly appreciated.

mojojojo1972 · 9 Jan 2011 at 22:24

My 3ghz oc was on 1.3185v..If you have an asus motherboard download the asus AI suite for the cpu temp and download a program called OCCT and do quick 3/4 min runs while getting your voltage sorted. I used this little program and if i was short on volts or to high on temp you were finding out very quickly,then once you have found your sweet spot run prime or what ever else you use.

I have recently in the past week went from 3ghz to 3.2ghz and I had finally set my northbridge to auto as I kept getting failures at 3.2ghz and as soon as i set it to auto it all went nicely,I think i am at 1.3485 now for the 3.2

OCCT lets you know if its a core problem which will indicate voltage or a temp problem which you can set,It has coretemp built into it as well

Good luck

JHLOW · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:29

coleman said:
i am not familiar with CPUPLL im sure a good google search will give you the awnser to that question. from what i can see all looks well, just a matter of reducing the temps a little.

the temps are within reason (below 75c) however i feel they should be lower than that. have you tried reseating your cpu cooler and applying new thermal paste recently? also which direction does your cpu fan blow? from what i have read and tried, having the fan blowing towards the exhaust fan gives best results.

post back with results

I only installed chip on this mobo around a week ago so it is freshly seated with new thermal paste, and the fan is blowing towards the rear exhaust fan so ok there. but idle is still around 40-45 degrees, on load they are around 5-10 degrees lower though..

mojojojo1972 said:
My 3ghz oc was on 1.3185v..If you have an asus motherboard download the asus AI suite for the cpu temp and download a program called OCCT and do quick 3/4 min runs while getting your voltage sorted. I used this little program and if i was short on volts or to high on temp you were finding out very quickly,then once you have found your sweet spot run prime or what ever else you use.

I have recently in the past week went from 3ghz to 3.2ghz and I had finally set my northbridge to auto as I kept getting failures at 3.2ghz and as soon as i set it to auto it all went nicely,I think i am at 1.3485 now for the 3.2

OCCT lets you know if its a core problem which will indicate voltage or a temp problem which you can set,It has coretemp built into it as well

Good luck

Hey, I was using AISuite but uninstalled it because i didnt like it. i use coretemp and probeII although probe throws up some really strage way off temps sometimes lol (like 114degrees cpu temp), I have now set my Vcore to 1.35v and run IBT all passed (the freeze test did run slow for around 45 secs), i also downloaded OCCT as suggested and ran for 10 minutes and all passed ok, here are the graphs it produced..

coleman · 10 Jan 2011 at 20:39

your temps are a lot better now you have reduced the vcore, also remember they will not get that high in normal day to day use, so it is safe to say that your temps are ok. you may also be able to reduce the voltage furher.

if you wanted to reduce your temps even more then a new heatsink would be a good idea as well as a nice new antec 902/900 case(also good for cable managment and airflow).

glad to be of assistance i your overclock.

jourdain