Overclocking a Q6600 - best kit ?

Dark_Angel · 5 Jun 2008 at 11:50

I own a Q6600 G0 with 1066 MHZ reaper X ram, but a measly overclock at the moment of only 3GHZ because of my rather terrible for clocking quads P5N-E SLI.

I need a few motherboard suggestions that will allow me to get a nice overclock.

I do not need SLI, Wifi or anything lik that. 4 sata ports should be fine. (am not running a raid either).

I need a few recommendations of a motherboard on a few different cash amounts, say 1 of about 80, another of about 100, and the other say 130.

Is the Ip35 great for overclocking ? I noticed Easyrider is using the asus maximus formula and got his chip to 4GHZ, so I assume that is a great board

Lastly, cooling.

Is it worth considering water ? I never really looked in to it before, or is good air almost as good in terms of performance ? I do on occasion move my pc to a friends house, so not sure if it is a good idea to move around a PC a lot if it has water cooling ?

Thanks for any advice guys

Pilky01 · 5 Jun 2008 at 11:54

any p35 board will do you fine. Gigabyte, abit and asus are all good brands. Just choose the one with the features and layout you like.

Water cooling will not get you much of a boost when it comes to overclocking, maybe 200-400mhz. Watercooling is only really worth it when you spend £150+, any cheaper and it will not be any better than high end air cooling.

Richie P · 5 Jun 2008 at 12:24

qwerty321 said:
any p35 board will do you fine. Gigabyte, abit and asus are all good brands. Just choose the one with the features and layout you like.

Water cooling will not get you much of a boost when it comes to overclocking, maybe 200-400mhz. Watercooling is only really worth it when you spend £150+, any cheaper and it will not be any better than high end air cooling.

Always two sides to the coin with watercooling. Performance and Noise.

While a well specced cheapo system might not be any better than aircooling, it might be quiter.

uv · 5 Jun 2008 at 12:27

Richie P said:
While a well specced cheapo system might not be any better than aircooling, it might be quiter.

you're not gonna get any quieter than the Noctua U12P without going passive, and you're not gonna get a water kit as cheap as the Noctua

Richie P · 5 Jun 2008 at 12:53

uvmain said:
you're not gonna get any quieter than the Noctua U12P without going passive, and you're not gonna get a water kit as cheap as the Noctua

Notice the "might" in my sentence. Obviously it depends on the cooler.

There's +/- for both and what's best for one person might not be the best for the other. That's all I was saying.

Dark_Angel · 5 Jun 2008 at 14:07

Which air cooler would you guys recommend ? I don't mind a little noise (as long as it doesn't sound like my PC is throttling up to lift off towards space or something).

benjo · 5 Jun 2008 at 14:10

For a Quad, most of the towers are good

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...malright IFX-14 CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...=Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

I'm using the ninja, and with it's own fan it's pretty quiet. They will all be able to keep a quad cool with a decent overclock

easyrider · 5 Jun 2008 at 14:50

qwerty321 said:
any p35 board will do you fine. Gigabyte, abit and asus are all good brands. Just choose the one with the features and layout you like.

Water cooling will not get you much of a boost when it comes to overclocking, maybe 200-400mhz. Watercooling is only really worth it when you spend £150+, any cheaper and it will not be any better than high end air cooling.

First off not all P35 mobos clock the same.

The Abit P35 Pro is not as the Abit P35 E due to the difference in the phase Power.

And watercooling WILL allow you to max your chip without worrying about temps. So I have no idea where this sweeping statement of 200-400mhz comes from.

The Apex Ultra KIT is the one I use.

Been using it since C2D came about. Its maxed every chip I have thrown at it.

Heres a screenie of my 6400 prime stable at 3.8ghz.

This could not have been done on air.

Dark_Angel · 5 Jun 2008 at 15:18

Is IP35 a good motherboard for overclocking a quad ?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17882971

Since that one is on special offer and all

easyrider · 5 Jun 2008 at 15:25

Dark_Angel said:
Is IP35 a good motherboard for overclocking a quad ?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17882971

Since that one is on special offer and all

The Abit P35 Pro is a good board yes.

Pilky01 · 5 Jun 2008 at 15:43

3.6ghz can he done on air, like yours 4.0ghz can be done on water. hence the 400mhz

1kiwi · 5 Jun 2008 at 19:18

Check out the Quad core database, that will give you a good idea of what all the big boys are using.

mmorpheus1 · 5 Jun 2008 at 19:25

My Q6600 GO is on a Rampage Formula , dropped it in and set FSB to 450x8 at first boot up , been running at 3.6GHz ever since without it even breaking a sweat. Bit of an expensive board but in my opinion its worth it

KE1HA · 5 Jun 2008 at 19:35

mmorpheus1 said:
My Q6600 GO is on a Rampage Formula , dropped it in and set FSB to 450x8 at first boot up , been running at 3.6GHz ever since without it even breaking a sweat. Bit of an expensive board but in my opinion its worth it

I agree, Maximus Formula and Rampage Formula ROCK !!

All the Quads I've seen running descent RAM are hitting upwards of 3.4GHZ with very little effort. Slap the vCore a bit, bump the FSB up and your in there. Easy-Peazy.

[EDIT] The P5W an P5E's are good boards as well. I'm not stuck on ASUS, but theye are making some awesome boards for OC'ing right now.[/EDIT]
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w3bbo · 5 Jun 2008 at 20:27

P35/P45 are simply the best boards out for overclocking. Get a good board with a decent power phase design and aslong as you have a decent chip then you should be good to go.

See sig for details