need help with OC my Q6600

zero80472

zero80472

zero80472

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hay guys been lookin around the net for the best settings to oc my processer (as i cant afford to get my self a new one atm)

my target is at least 3 gighz

pc specs are

Mobo asus p5n72-t
CPU Q6600
Cooler Corsair H80
i have 4 gig of ddr2 memory at the moment sticks at x2 @ 1gb at 1066 mhz and x2 1 gig at 800 mhz
i have a 4 gig X2 2 gig sticks of corsair DDR2 800 DHX memory being sent to me as the sticks i bought where faulty :<

also any tips on overclocking a GTX260 graphics card (asus Stock cooler ) at 100% fanspeed all the time
highest temps is 57 when playin BF3
?


will post cpu-Z screens

p.s soz for spelling on my laptop (sticky keys )
 
Would recommend you overclock with the 800mhz ram removed, four sticks can be problematic when overclocking, especially when you have two sets of different modules. What cooler have you got on the Q6600, it's a good idea to check you temps at stock speeds before you start overlocking (core temp is a popular program for this).
 
your motherboard is not great for overclocking quads.

download cpu-z and load it up.
have a look at the revision, if its a G0 you are good to go, a B3 its slightly harder,
A B3 needs more power and is hotter, but you should get either to 3.0 fairly easy.

this is a very basic explanation of overclocking

its basic maths. your Q6600 is rated at 1066mhz. you always divide this number by 4 so 1066/4= 266, this is your fsb. (or cpu frequency)
then your processor (cpu) has a multiplier of 9 (or cpu ratio)
so 266 x 9 = 2394mhz or 2.4GHz, your stock speed

boot into bios,
and disable C1est, and any other power saving features.

unlink your ram, using the ram divider, so it stays at stock speeds, you can overclock the ram later.
this means leave it at 667mhz or 800mhz or 1066 or just under (whatever your ram speed is)

can you raise the fsb? yours is now 266. try rising it to 280 you may have to raise the vcore (cpu voltage a few levels now, because of your mobo)
boot into windows
download realtemp and coretemp (google them)
install and run them
then download intel burn test (IBT) and run it.
have a look in task manager and notice how much free ram is listed.

in ibt set threads to 4 (for 4 cores) and then click on custom ram and enter an amount just below the free amount.
eg. i have 2520mb free ram. so i enter 2500 into the custom ram.
run the test for 10 passes. for now,
and then at final speed you want, run for 50 passes
keep an eye on temps (do not let it go over 75.c)

or download prime95 and run the torture test/large fft's

if test runs fine, go back into bios, and change frequency (FSB) to 300 and repeat the tests.
keep doing this in 20mhz steps until windows will not boot. then just go back a step (remove 20mhz from the fsb) to the last stable frequency,
or
just raise the cpu voltage a couple of levels. it should now boot. Test again and if it passes, then start raising the fsb again, and on and on

its a balancing act, higher voltages will get you higher fsb, but it will also give you higher temps.
Most G0's will do 3.0GHz (333 x 9) on stock volts, but you may need to raise it a couple of levels.
Max voltage for a Q6600 is 1.5v,


the trick is to do this step by step,
and make sure you have a proper cooler ;)
 
You should hit 3Ghz without upping the voltage any higher than its VID, I managed 3.3Ghz with my GO Q6600 at 1.26V, currently sitting happy at 3.6Ghz with 1.36V temps when running IBT hit 79 degrees, I know a little hot but im working on bringing voltages down.

Also you have a decent cooler so you should be good to go
 
Tried the guide and it does boot at 3.30ghz and 3.0ghz, However cpu temp shoots through the roof. Possible stock cooling fail?

Tried lowering the VCore voltages but was getting same problem.
 
GraZC said:
Tried the guide and it does boot at 3.30ghz and 3.0ghz, However cpu temp shoots through the roof. Possible stock cooling fail?

Tried lowering the VCore voltages but was getting same problem.
Click to expand...

How hot?
 
Hmm, I'm not sure it's really hitting 100c, unless you are seeing this yourself with some kind of thermal monitoring. Did you try going into the bios to see what the temperatures were?

As mentioned previously nforce chipset based LGA775 boards were known to not overclock quads that well. Try a milder overclock first, perhaps 2.6ghz and 2.8ghz.
 
GraZC said:
Tried the guide and it does boot at 3.30ghz and 3.0ghz, However cpu temp shoots through the roof. Possible stock cooling fail?

Tried lowering the VCore voltages but was getting same problem.
Click to expand...

you should overclock in small steps, as every cpu and motherboard is different.
just do the guide i said above.
Also from my own expierence, 3.0ish is the limit for a stock cooler.
you should not really overclock with a stock cooler.

GraZC said:
Guessing over 100c as it was stalling and refusing to boot at times.
Could this be down to the guide not using a Q6600 cpu?
Click to expand...

yes,
how can you follow a guide to overclock a different cpu, then apply the same settings to a Q6600 :confused:
the principles are the same, but different cpu's have different voltages, max temps, fsb etc...
Also the cpu will not be at 100.C at boot, as there is no load on the cpu, that is why we stress test.
the main reasons an overclock will fail at boot up is because of too low a vcore or the ram has been overclocked too far.

the biggest secret to overclocking, is to take your time, and go in steps, unless you are familiar with the cpu/mobo ;)
 
After seeing the high temps though i was intreged to check on how the hsf was doing and well, it warrented a hell of a good clean and then decided to change it for another i had sitting on an old system. Not forgetting a nice new layer of arctic silver.

With so many different layouts im finding it hard to actually know what i should to be changing and to what. Ideally i would like to just push this from 2.4 to 3.0 and be stable.

One interesting/disturbing thing i found was when i actually looked at my ram it states 4-4-4-12 but cpu-z is showing 5-5-5-18. Anything to do with dual channel or 4 sticks?
 
Would like to recommend you check your temps first at stock speeds, you may have a good cooler but it is important to establish it is doing is job first. Use core temp to display temps on your cores, then run Prime 95 on Large FFT's (maximum power and heat) for half an hour and let us know your maximum temps.

Four sticks of ram is not optimal for overclocking in my experience, you really want to remove your ram from the equation while you are establishing a cpu overclock. I would recommend removing two sticks - when you eventually get a stable overclock you are happy with then you can put the other sticks back in, and if you find instability then you know the problem is your ram and not the cpu and you can begin to tweak your ram settings to establish stability again.

Another thing I would suggest is making sure you have the latest bios for your motherboard. Check the manufacturers website for the latest bios, if there is a newer version then it is usually best to upgrade to it, but a little googling never hurts to see what others may have found with a particular bios version for your board. If you do find a newer bios and want to upgrade and haven't done this before, post back here for the best advice on how to do so (for example, you can flash your motherboards bios from Windows, but this is rarely recommended - get some advice first).

Once we know your temps are good and that you have the best bios then we can proceed :)
 
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