My first foray into overclocking

semper_si

semper_si

semper_si

Associate
Joined
1 Dec 2006
Posts
25
So I've bought a Q6600 with a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. An Antec 900 case. Geil Ultra PC-6400 RAM. All sat on an ASUS P5E board.

So far so good.

My overclock so far:

FSB 430 Muliplier 8: 3.45GHz
Vcore 1.30 (starting at 1.224)
RAM voltage: 2.1V
Timings 4-4-4-12 Ratio 1:1

Temps using Core Temp:
Prime95 small FTT - max 51 degrees, Blend - max 47 degrees

Mobo temp read by Asus 30 degrees.

Now I've tried increasing the FSB to 440, but can't load into Windows. I've slackened the timings, increased Vcore to 1.35V, increased the RAM voltage but all to no avail - I suspect its the RAM holding my back.

However, even with a multiplier of 9 I struggle to get over an FSB of 380 without the computer getting rather miserable.

So have I reached the natural ceiling for my CPU despite good temps? Or should I struggle on? Or should I just be a happy that everything runs nice and fast, and pretty cool, and leave it at that?

And long term, so as to give the CPU a more normal shelf life, should I run the CPU at stock more of the time?

Cheers in advance! Hope I don't sound too much of noob :)
 
try with the Vcore to 1.4, ram volts 2.25 but keep the timing 4-4-4-12. This ram seems to have problems on asus imo with slacking timmings
 
Thanks for the tips.

Tried 1.4V vcore and the RAM set as you said, but alas an FSB of 440 seems too much for windows to load.

Have managed to get to an FSB 435 with a multiplier of 8 on a vcore of 1.34 (10% over starting) and its loading into Vista okay - but keeps freezing on Prime95.

The CPU seems to run reasonably cool, so I'm guessing either the RAM or the mobo is limiting its overclock.

I suppose I could keep just pumping volts into the vcore, but I'm getting a little anxious of this with just air cooling - currently core 0 is at 58 degrees.
 
Drop the multi to 6/7 what ever the lowwest that you can set, and try to find your Highest FSB, then you can see what is limiting you, if you still can't get it to boot at a lowwer multi, its your mobo/ram, if its fine at the higher FSB your need more Volts on the CPU - it will take up to 1.6 as long as temps are okey - personally i don't go over 1.55
 
Thanks for the advice.

I'm pretty happy with the overclock I've got and its nice and stable. Figured the higher FSB over speed would help with the quad core, and its certainly made a real world difference in Vista.

So I'm at an FSB of 430 with a multiplier of 8. Might flash the BIOS and fiddle again at some point in the future, but for now I'll get back to games and stuff!

Of course, then there's watercooling, but that's for another budget ;)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom