Overclocking help Q6600 and H20

TONY · 29 Jul 2007 at 20:41

Running a Q6600 on an Abit IP35 pro motherboard with a swiftech Apex water cooling kit been used for the cpu only, the max I can set the cpu external clock to and still be able to boot into widows is 305 (2745 mhz) @ 1.3 vcore. I have run 4 instances of sp2004 to stress all 4 cores at these clocks and the most my temps went upto after an hour was 65 degrees and it is currently idling at 29 degrees so I feel there should be some headroom there but if I try anything more windows displays error messages, I have tried increasing the vcore with no effect and the board will not allow me to lower it below 1.3 vcore so I cannot try that does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can get a couple of hundred more mhz out of it?

Cob · 29 Jul 2007 at 21:46

Which memory and which divider is it set to?

TONY · 30 Jul 2007 at 00:11

I have G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit X2 and it's set to 1.1.50 (ddr 900) on the divider

TONY · 30 Jul 2007 at 23:29

I am now runnong at 3 ghz with a cpu temp of 47 degrees when all 4 cores are running sp2004 with 1.38 vcore, the problem I had before is that I had ignored the ram voltage and after increasing it slightly I was able to increase the cpu speed no problem, the only issue I am having is with the temp readings as my cpu goes up past 75 degrees at 1.37 vcore but doesn't go above 47 degrees with 1.38 vcore so I think there may be something wrong with the readings.

smit101 · 31 Jul 2007 at 00:14

TONY said:
I am now runnong at 3 ghz with a cpu temp of 47 degrees when all 4 cores are running sp2004 with 1.38 vcore, the problem I had before is that I had ignored the ram voltage and after increasing it slightly I was able to increase the cpu speed no problem, the only issue I am having is with the temp readings as my cpu goes up past 75 degrees at 1.37 vcore but doesn't go above 47 degrees with 1.38 vcore so I think there may be something wrong with the readings.

What are you reading temps with? TAT or core temp are generally regarded as the most accurate,expect high temps with a Quad though,I found my temps dropped markedly after lapping the IHS,it seems a high number are either convex or concave.

TONY · 31 Jul 2007 at 02:22

Neither of those programs will run on my pc, I don't know if it's anything to do with me running Vista 64.

I have just been using the Abit motherboard utility to measure temps atm but I do need to get software that can measure the core temps individually.

Thebug · 31 Jul 2007 at 07:04

smit101 said:
expect high temps with a Quad though,I found my temps dropped markedly after lapping the IHS,it seems a high number are either convex or concave.

Mine was really bad - took me about ten mins to get this far

loads better now its flat, im getting low 40s on air over these warm days.

Kingy1968 · 31 Jul 2007 at 07:31

Keeny1979 said:
loads better now its flat, im getting low 40s on air over these warm days.

Not using water cooling now then?

Thebug · 31 Jul 2007 at 07:38

Kingy1968 said:
Not using water cooling now then?

no not at the moment - no point really with temps this good on air, should go down a bit more when my as5 arrives tomorrow

Kingy1968 · 31 Jul 2007 at 07:41

Sound keep it up

TONY · 31 Jul 2007 at 15:08

Seems like I have one core that isn't as good as the others and that means I have to have the vcore at 1.38 for it to be stable, the other cores are fine with the default 1.3 vcore. It's temperature goes no higher than the others but it cannot stand more than a few seconds of sp2004 if the other cores are running it aswell when the vcore is at 1.3 but when I raise it to 1.38 it runs stable.

I have just tried Speedfan and it gives me temp readings of 83/83/80/80 degrees when running sp2004, I am not too bothered about the temps getting so high as long as the chip doesn't throttle itself, when just 1 core is running it's around 68 degrees.

smit101 · 31 Jul 2007 at 15:23

TONY said:
Seems like I have one core that isn't as good as the others and that means I have to have the vcore at 1.38 for it to be stable, the other cores are fine with the default 1.3 vcore. It's temperature goes no higher than the others but it cannot stand more than a few seconds of sp2004 if the other cores are running it aswell when the vcore is at 1.3 but when I raise it to 1.38 it runs stable.

I have just tried Speedfan and it gives me temp readings of 83/83/80/80 degrees when running sp2004, I am not too bothered about the temps getting so high as long as the chip doesn't throttle itself, when just 1 core is running it's around 68 degrees.

Those temps are quite high,even for a quad on air,you could probably knock a good few degrees of with a spot of IHS lapping,a true contact with the heatsink really is vital with these quads.

If you look in the 'advanced guide to overclocking and cooling' sticky,you'll find a good guide on IHS lapping.

Cotti · 1 Aug 2007 at 16:32

Im using speedfan to although I had to adjust the temperature readings by +15 to get them accurate with core temp/tat.

TONY · 1 Aug 2007 at 16:43

Well I have been and got some wet and dry paper, 400, 800 and 1200 grade so when I get some spare time I will give the heatspreader a good going over and see if I can get my temps down.

TONY · 2 Aug 2007 at 20:54

I just lapped my cpu and the edges were high all round, just checked temps again while running sp2004 on all cores and I am getting 52/50/46/46 so a big drop from what they were before and I am now running the fans on my rad at 7 volts so it's even quieter too and even managed to get it stable at 1.33 when before it needed 1.38 @ 3 ghz. Now I just need to do something about my pwm (cpu power circuit) temps they are going up to around 108 degrees, it has a copper heatsink on it but because there isn't any air been blown past it as I don't use a cpu fan the temps are through the roof. I think I may install a small fan to push air over it and bring the temps down, has anyone else had problems with this?

maleprozz · 3 Aug 2007 at 00:13

My PWM temp is around 80-82 when running prime95 for 1+hour, its got an auto shutdown on the abit pro @ 90c i think.
I can't really improve the cooling as my cpu heatsink blocks off the area all around

.

I've reached my max overclock on the Q6600 : 3.2ghz, 1.3975v. Hits high 70s under load idles low 50s..maybe i will lap my cpu :confused:

I have a Thermalright HR-03-plus on my ultra which is leaving a lot of hot air around my case so quite pleased with the temps :eek:

keep an eye on your pwm temp, it shouldnt be 100+c

TONY · 3 Aug 2007 at 01:09

maleprozz said:
I've reached my max overclock on the Q6600 : 3.2ghz, 1.3975v. Hits high 70s under load idles low 50s..maybe i will lap my cpu

Mines idling at 31/31/29/29 atm, I don't know what I can get out of my chip yet as I am not bothered about going over 3 ghz just yet I will think about it if I think there is any need to go higher.