Need Approval/Help With Overclock (Q6600) Please!

Noc0de

Noc0de

Noc0de

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I'm kinda new to this overclocking stuff. I've had a q6600 (B3) for a while now but I've been running it at stock for ages. I've finally got around to overclocking it and I've dived straight in at 9 x 333 for 3Ghz.

I'm running a q6600 (B3) on a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R. I'm also running 4GB (4 x 1GB) on DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz.

I'm just after a sanity check from you guys out there that know what you're doing to see if:
(a) is my overclock is ok? Do I need to change any of my settings?
(b) looking at my current temps, should I consider pushing my overclock higher? The temps at idle are: 40/42/35/31. The temps at load are: 61/61/59/59.
(c) are my memory settings ok? I think I'm underclocking my memory.

I've had to up the voltage a few times to get it to run Prime95 (Small FFT's) solidly. It completed a 22hr run last night/today without errors. Should I do anything else to test of stability? Large FFT's or Blend?

I'm currently running the CPU voltage @ 1.33125v in the BIOS. When I get into Windows, CPU-Z shows the CPU voltage @ 1.264/1.280v. So that's a vdrop of 0.06725/0.05125v - is that normal?
Also, under load the voltage drops to 1.232/1.248v - again is that vdroop normal?

Here's a screenie of my overclock settings/temps etc:

3gigOverclock.jpg


Here's 2 screenies of my BIOS settings:

P1010125.jpg


P1010127.jpg


Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you!
 
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Just a quick update... So far I have this overclock (9 x 333) running @ vcore 1.33125v in the BIOS. It's ran:

22 hrs - Prime 95 (Small FFT's) without error. Load temps were 61/61/59/59.
10 hrs - Prime 95 (Large FFT's) without error. Load temps were 59/59/57/57

It's sitting at home running Prime 95 'Blend' tests today. I'll see how it is when I get home from work.

Should I try pushing the overclock higher? How would I go about doing this?

Thanks.
 
Bradley8988 said:
Yah push higher. Your temps are good and you have a fair bit more voltage left to push it.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Where would you go from here? Would you try 3.2 via dropping the multiplier to 8 and upping the FSB to 400? Or is that too ambitious to set the FSB that high?

What are considered 'safe temps' on a Q6600 (B3)? Anything < 70C?

Is the vdrop and vdroop I'm seeing an issue?

Should I do anything with my memory? It's rated at 1066Mhz but I'm running it at 800. Do I need to tighten any of my settings? I'm a bit perplexed by all the advanced timings (e.g. ACT delay etc). I always see general CAS/RAS settings like 5-5-5-15 or 5-5-5-18 banded-around, but not sure about the other stuff.

Thanks again, and apologies for sooo many questions!
 
70c-75 is about max mate. Keep the multi high and keep going up in 5mhz jumps with a quick test that its kinda stable then go again. Do you have a option for loadline calibration in your bios as this should help your vdrop and vdroop under load but i wouldnt worry about it. My gigabyte in the bios has the vcore set at 1.21v but under load its around 1.16v.

As for your ram keeo that underclocked for the mean time while your getting your CPU to the desired speed then after you have tested it to make sure its fully stable then you can up the memory multi to get it to its rated speed. Set the rams voltage manually in the bios to whatever its rated for. Its normally around 2.1-2.2v for 1066mhz DDR2.
 
Thanks Bradley. I'll keep the multi @ 9 keep going up in 5mhz jumps then. I guess my next goal is to get it running at 355 x 9 (3.2Ghz), see what temps are like and then try for 378 x 9 (3.4Ghz)? I guess as per the sticky, I try 30 mins of Prime95 (small FFT's) to see if stable and if not, I up the vcore a notch until it runs without error?

I'm not sure about the "loadline calibration" option. I haven't seen anything like it in the BIOS. I'll have a read of the manual and see if it's an option that's come out in a later BIOS release - probably not though. Am I right in understanding that the vdrop isn't really a big issue because it's a voltage drop between the BIOS and Windows across the board. It's the vdroop that's annoying because you're essentially giving the CPU more voltage when IDLE to compensate for the drop at LOAD?
 
Thanks Bradley. I'll keep the multi @ 9 keep going up in 5mhz jumps then. I guess my next goal is to get it running at 355 x 9 (3.2Ghz), see what temps are like and then try for 378 x 9 (3.4Ghz)? I guess as per the sticky, I try 30 mins of Prime95 (small FFT's) to see if stable and if not, I up the vcore a notch until it runs without error?
Click to expand...

yep.

I'm not sure about the "loadline calibration" option. I haven't seen anything like it in the BIOS. I'll have a read of the manual and see if it's an option that's come out in a later BIOS release - probably not though. Am I right in understanding that the vdrop isn't really a big issue because it's a voltage drop between the BIOS and Windows across the board. It's the vdroop that's annoying because you're essentially giving the CPU more voltage when IDLE to compensate for the drop at LOAD?
Click to expand...

Yea my votlages are Bios = 1.21v windows idle = 1.186v windows load = 1.16v.
 
You should be ok up to around 3.2Ghz with a B3 I wouldn't push more than 1.4v through it on air and you may find that you need a lot of volts to push past 3.2/3.4

Heres what I had my B3 running at:

32Ghz_screeny.jpg
 
Thanks Biffa. I think I would be more than happy with 3.2 Ghz. Are your temps above under load? If so, they are very nice temps!

What's the VID that I see in CoreTemp? I notice that your's is 1.2750v and mine is 1.3125v. Is this like the default voltage the CPU needs to run? Is it considered like the overclocking potential the CPU might have? Or is it something else altogether?
 
Not sure what Coretemp reported bak then, I think its the default vcore that the chip should use, this was quite some time ago and I've replaced that CPU for a G0 shortly afterwards so I could push a bit further :)
 
Ah, ok so Biffa's (1.2750v) vs mine (1.3125v) would probably suggest he could get a better overclock than me to start with then?

I'll try upping my FSB incrementally with the target of 9 x 356 and report back on my findings.

In a quest to lower my temps I did try lapping my CPU and HS at the weekend because I thought my Q6600 would be fairly cheap to replace if I screwed it up. Here's the pics in case anyones interested or cares to comment. I had to re-do the last bit of the CPU lapping as I was doing figure-of-8's from 1500 grit onwards and it just seemed to scuff the finish. They weren't a mirror finish, but I guess not bad for a first attempt. It lowered my temps by 2-3C per core.
 
Well, I got my Q6600 (B3) to 3.2GHz last night (9 x 356). However, to be stable in Prime95 it's requiring a CPU voltage > 1.4v which seems like quite a step-up from the 1.33125v required to get my 3Ghz overclock stable.

The load temps for 3.2Ghz are 69/69/68/68 which seems a bit too high for my liking. Running at 8 x 400 wouldn't be any cooler would it?

I think given the high temps, I'll probably end-up leaving it running at 3Ghz as the temps are ~ 8-10C cooler under load on each of the cores. Perhaps I've just got a chip that won't overclock particularly well?
 
Ok, cheers. Thanks for all your help Bradley & Biffa.

I'll see if I can run some more Prime95 tests a bit longer to see how 3.2Ghz fairs. I only ran it for ~ 45 mins last night. I'll also do some benchies to see if running at 3.2Ghz is worth it or not.

I'm also going to look at some later BIOS versions as the "loadline calibration" might appear in a later release. Although last time I flashed my BIOS it wiped-out my RAID array membership and I had to set it back up again and reinstall the OS - doh :-/

How to go about tweaking my memory configuration? The memory is running at something like 800Mhz when I run at 3Ghz, and 840Mhz when I run at 3.2GHz. The memory is supposed to be rated at 1066Mhz, so I'm wondering if I should setting it to that? How do I go about tweaking all the CAS times as well? Is there a procedure for testing whether the selected timings work or not?
 
Heh you've got the bug allright :)

B3's run hot, much hotter than G0's and have limited overheads because of the scary voltages you have to push through it, if you are happy at 3.0 you aren't going to gain that much for the extra 200mhz

I wouldn't worry too much about tweaking the memory timings thats not going to gain you anything in real world usage really. Just up the memory multi till you get close to the rated speed of the memory.

I'd also give it a try at 8x400, it can't hurt to try and would most likely give you a closer memory match

What is that chipset cooler thing you have on the P35 looks scary :eek: and takes up a lot of space. Have you tried with the noctua pushing air out the back? Or won't it fit that way?

So B3 Q6600's = Hot mofo's :D, sell it on if you can and put the money towards a G0 or a Q9[3/4/5/]600
 
Biffa said:
Heh you've got the bug allright :)
Click to expand...

Hehe, aye. I never tend to do things by halves. I've since taken-out the lower hard-disk and floppy bays from my Akasa Mirage and mounted them into the 5.25" bays with a mounting kit. Should improve airflow a bit. I've also put a blowhole or two into the case :)

The northbridge heatsink is this. It's a Noctua NH-U12. Again, I think I just wanted to splash some money a while back and bought that to mount instead. However, it had the downside of not being able to orientate my CPU HS to push-pull air out back towards the exhaust fan. I had to orientate it to blow air up into the PSU. Not great I know, but seems to work ok-ish.
 
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