Newbie Overclocking a Q6600

DHB07

DHB07

DHB07

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Joined
27 Jul 2011
Posts
14
Location
Northumberland
Hello all, as you can see, it's my first post here so go easy on me! I've been an ocassional reader of the forum for a couple of years now, since building up my machine at the end of 08. At the time I think it was a decent build- Q6600, 4GB ram (800mhz), GA p35 DSL and a GT8800 GPU.

It's been pretty bloody solid... Until recently! For the first time it couldn't cope with something I threw at it - blue ray rip (1080p), 40GB worth of it! So, I decided that I'd prefer to do as much as possible to improve the performance without spending (too) much.
Having read about overclocking in the past, and monitoring my temps I knew I needed to get rid of the stock cooler so ive got an Arctic freezer 7 Pro and a couple of extra case fans.

So, the OC. Currently I'm running at 3.18GHz - FSB 353 x 9. It feels fairly stable here, it stands up to OCCT CPU test for as long as I've run it - 3-4 hours, and prime blend for just as long. However, if I knock the FSB up just 1 click it errors or BSODs within the hour on OCCT, and any higher it bluescreens very quickly. The above is with 1.44 Vcore before OCCT starts, and drops to 1.38-1.4 when it startS testing. (anyone explain this? Resistance in the cores as temp increases?)

Throughout all, the core temps don't go beyond 66C.

So, what I'm asking is where would you guys take it from here.?I've heard that's 1.5vcore is OK, but also that 1.45 is tops, and some people wouldn't go that far on a Q6600.
I'm thinking I might back it down to 3.15GHz, and then start dropping the Vcore until just stable.
But I'm brand new to this all, and would love your advice!

Secondly, one of the first things I had problems with was my RAM speed. The "memory multiplier" was set to auto, and as a result, my RAM was running up past 1000 MHz. Now I've got it on a multiplier of 2, which is a 1:1 divider, or so I've read. It's running at 706 now, so below it's stock. 2.4 is the next option, which would run it well above stock. What's safe, and what's not? And can someone explain in layman's terms how RAM interacts with the CPU?

Sorry for the endless post, but I'm sure there's a lot of guys on here who will look forward to helping me out.

Thanks in advance guys, Ben
 
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well ram is like your cpu, you cant just expect it to oc without failing, i say leave the ram as is. the difference in speed increase on ddr2 is so negligible it isn't worth it.
 
One cheap update might be to lap your CPU and cooler for better temps - I know on my Q6600 it ran much cooler once lapped and meant I could run it at 3.6
 
Is your CPU a G0 or a B3 (check in CPU-Z), if it's a B3 then you're out of luck as they don't clock past 3.4Ghz and they use a lot more volts.
 
Thanks again for your replies guys.

Jamtheoneno, I appreciate that RAM can't be OC'd too far without it giving up the ghost - I was wmore inetrested as to what level I could probably run it at, and also, how RAM and the CPU actually "talk" with each other, if that makes sense?

Jennidc and oldgamer, I'm more concerned about the voltage, rather than the temps I think, although you guys may be worried about my temps. Does the fact I've been running the CPU for almost 3 years now (albeit at stock settings) mean it's perhaps a bit worn and not optimal for OCing?
 
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DHB07 said:
So, the OC. Currently I'm running at 3.18GHz - FSB 353 x 9. It feels fairly stable here, it stands up to OCCT CPU test for as long as I've run it - 3-4 hours, and prime blend for just as long. However, if I knock the FSB up just 1 click it errors or BSODs within the hour on OCCT, and any higher it bluescreens very quickly. The above is with 1.44 Vcore before OCCT starts, and drops to 1.38-1.4 when it startS testing. (anyone explain this? Resistance in the cores as temp increases?)

Throughout all, the core temps don't go beyond 66C.

So, what I'm asking is where would you guys take it from here.?I've heard that's 1.5vcore is OK, but also that 1.45 is tops, and some people wouldn't go that far on a Q6600.
I'm thinking I might back it down to 3.15GHz, and then start dropping the Vcore until just stable.
But I'm brand new to this all, and would love your advice!

Secondly, one of the first things I had problems with was my RAM speed. The "memory multiplier" was set to auto, and as a result, my RAM was running up past 1000 MHz. Now I've got it on a multiplier of 2, which is a 1:1 divider, or so I've read. It's running at 706 now, so below it's stock. 2.4 is the next option, which would run it well above stock. What's safe, and what's not? And can someone explain in layman's terms how RAM interacts with the CPU?

Sorry for the endless post, but I'm sure there's a lot of guys on here who will look forward to helping me out.

Thanks in advance guys, Ben
Click to expand...

i didn't see every answer but i have a B3 revision Q6600 at 3.4GHz.
As wingzero30 said, its a shame to run a q6600 at stock speed.

You have a decent motherboard, so you may be able to get higher.
My B3 Q6600 needs 1.44v to get to 3.4ghz,
but i have got it to boot at 3.8ghz with 1.5v but its no where stable.

One thing i noticed, once i got over 3.0ghz using the x9 multiplier, i kept getting bsod's.
Then i changed it to a x8 and its been fine ever since. But this may just be me or my mobo.;)
so for my 3.4ghz i use 425 x 8, with 1.44v (in cpu-z) so it may be worth giving this a try.
here are my cpu-z settings. Ignore everything else, it was for a different forum ;)

sisoftlatency.png



edit,
temps are good. 66.c is good for now. max temp i have had mine was 80.c :eek: and the pc shut down.
dont forget that more vcore equals more heat.
my ram is also overclocked. i just added .1v to the ram and then changed the memory multi as high as i could get it stable
 
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J.col, funnily, I've just dropped it to 394x8 = 3.15 (I dropped it back to 3.15 this morning for fear I may have been a little too close to the edge on)

I've been running OCCT now for 15 mins with no errors (it's usually been showing them within about 10) so things are looking promising. If it lasts another hour on OCCT then I'll push on for 405MHz.

I must admit, I wasn't too happy when it was looking like I wouldn't even reach 3.2! You've shed hope on my mission. Thanks!!!
 
i noticed on the other thread you have a G0 revision chip.
on 1.4v you should easily get higher.
personally i use intel burn test for testing an overclock, it uses linpack so is similar to the OCCT cpu test.
Just google it and download it and then read wingzero30's posts here on how to run the test properly.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18297411&highlight=ibt
This usually finds an unstable oc with 5 runs.
so raise the fsb to 405 then run IBT or OCCT for 30 mins and if it passes then bump the fsb upto 420 and test again,
once its unstable, it may be worth retrying x9 again, eg. 388 x 9 = 3.5ghz
some mobo's have a fsb black hole, so the x9 might work with a higher fsb
or just raise the vcore to 1.5v and test again
also imo, the difference between 3.2 to 3.6ghz in gaming is only about 5 fps (but i may be wrong ;-))
 
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I thought I should show this here aswell...

OC315394x8.jpg


What do people make of this? Too much Vcore? ...thought so!
 
DHB07 said:
I thought I should show this here aswell...

What do people make of this? Too much Vcore? ...thought so!
Click to expand...

yep ;) but leave it alone for now
just do as i said above, keep buming up the fsb in 20mhz jumps until its unstable or too hot.
Also download realtemp and keep an eye on temps, as Q6600's are hot!
dont let it go above 80.c
your ram is at 1:1 with your ram. ie. they both are at 394mhz
ddr2 800mhz ram is 400 x 2 as its ddr2, so you are just below stock speed.
if you are going higher with the fsb, personally i unlink the ram, so it stays at stock speed (400mhz) at least that way it doesn't interfere with the cpu oc.
leave the ram timings alone, the 5-5-5-15 bit.

thats really it, just take your time and watch your temps
 
Cool, cheers! I've been running Coretemp as my guide... Good enough? Or is Realtemp that little bit better?

As for RAM, I'm unsure how to "unlink" it from my FSB.

OCCT has been burning away for an hour now, which is the time I've been running it for between sessions. I'll go in to BIOS, bump the FSB and see if I can find anyway to keep the RAM running on its own.

Thanks again!
 
Ok, so it seems (to me) that something a little bit dodgy has happened...

I pressed on to 414 x 8. ran OCCT and BSOD almost immediately. Fair enough...
Knocked it back to 404. Ran OCCT and BSOD after 5 minutes.

So, I went back in to BIOS to turn the clock down a bit more, came out, opened CPUZ and it told me I was running at 266 x 8. (stock FSB)

Went back in to BIOS - BIOS is readiong 400FSB and Host Frequency Setting is clicked to "enabled". Fired her back up and the same thing again.

So, for some reason it seems that regardless of what I'm tapping in to BIOS, it won't ACTUALLY run the FSB I'm setting it to, despite allowing me to alter it. Any ideas????
 
More as a helper to anyone else, I've manage to fix the problem:

It seems that I'd managed to corrupt the Main BIOS, and that it was booting off the Backup BIOS. However, and this is just guess work, Main BIOS still had the final say as to what FSB I was running. That, or the Backup BIOS I believe I was in wouldn't then let me alter the FSB.

Updating BIOS using QFlash did nothing atall, altghough, atleast now I have the latest BIOS version.

I shorted out the CMOS and, just to be sure, remopved the battery from the MoBo for a minute or so. Now, CPUZ reads the same FSB that I'm tapping in to BIOS. Pretty exciting (read "scary") stuff for a fella who's new to all this!
 
Yep, I've disabled the above.

I'm still hitting walls at around the 355 FSB marker. Could it be something like FSB overvoltage? What are the consequences of knocking it up a notch or two?

All seems very strange, as most people have no issues pushing to 3.4 with lower volts than myself. I'm wondering now if it's not the VCore that's holding me back, and rather something, like I say, such as FSB voltage etc...?
 
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