Q6600 3ghz - vcore 1.375v needed??

Billzz · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:09

Hi all,

After my recent success at overclocking my E6600 I have now set about upping my Q6600 to 3ghz. I'm clocking to 9x333, vcore 1.375v (set in BIOS), RAM is 5-5-5-18 at 1.9v.

I have to run at that vcore to get stability in prime for several hours. Does this seem a little high? According to core temp my VID is 1.3250v, is that why I need such a high vcore for such a mediocre overclock?

My temps are really good 50C after 8 hours of prime all four cores maxed.

System specs:
Q6600(G0) with Tunic Tower 120
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P
Corsair 4gb DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX

Any thoughts? Is this vcore considered 'mild'?
Cheers for any replies.

steve258 · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:12

It is a little high for 3Ghz but some Q6600s are just worse than others.

VID of 1.3250 is very high for G0 my B3 has 1.3V VID and will do 3Ghz at stock :/

Yep temp is very good should have some headroom left, probably good for 3.3/3.4Ghz just an educated guess.

Space Monkey · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:14

Temps seem ok for now but have you tried running the 3.0ghz overclock on stock vcore, I have mine at 3ghz on stock volts and its prime stable

Smorgasbord · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:17

Yo, my Q6600 has the same VID, at 1.4v, i have managed to get 400*8 so i can run at 3.2GHz, with the memory in sync (800MHx obviously)

Hope this helps.

P.S. Does software base the cpu's clock speeds on the highest possible multiplier, e.g. Vista is saying on mine Intel Q6600 @ 3.6GHz even though it's 3.2 :S ?

Billzz · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:18

Thanks for the swift reply. Just my luck to get a bit of a poor one! 3ghz is plenty fast enough for me right now. I still find this CPU quick even at stock.

Just one more question though, will I be limiting the life of the CPU by running it at that kind of voltage or will it not really matter in the long term?

D.M.: yeah I tried at stock voltage but it failed prime after about 10 seconds ... 1.375 seems like a minimum for prime stable for me

steve258 · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:22

Even if the CPU life is shortened by overclock you'd have upgraded at least several times anyway so doesn't matter at all imo.

Smorgasbord said:
P.S. Does software base the cpu's clock speeds on the highest possible multiplier, e.g. Vista is saying on mine Intel Q6600 @ 3.6GHz even though it's 3.2 :S ?

Yes some software just assume the cpu is running at its default multi.

Billzz · 11 Apr 2008 at 22:29

Smorgasbord: I might well try to push a little harder if this works out ok. Thanks everyone for the replies/advice, you put my mind at rest!