Q6600 First overclock in process, need advice

kevy1986

kevy1986

kevy1986

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Hey Guys,

Right i'm on my first ever overclock and would like a bit of advice from someone. I'm running the following setup....

Q6600
Artic Freezer 7
Artic 5 Thermal Paste
ASUS P5Q Pro
OCZ 8500 Gold ram 1066 4 x 2 ( 8 Gig )
NVIDIA 8800 GTS ( 320 Meg ):D
Antec 902

I've just overclocked to...

CPU : 3.3 ( 367Mhz x 9 ) AUTO
RAM : 1106 ( 5-6-6-18 ) MANUAL

Confusion starts here......
VCore is showing as 1.44V ( Speed Fan )
VCore is showing as 1.44V ( CPUZ )
VCore is showing as 1.325V ( Core Temp )

Speed Step : Disable
Max CPUID : Disabled
CPU TM-Function : Enabled ( am I right this stops it blowing up ? )
Execute Disable Bit : Enabled
PCIE : Set to 100 ( Not going over in case of damage to GFX card )

I've also left NB on Auto as didn't really wanna mess with it but I read 1.4 is a giid voltage to set it at on this mobo but unsure if its a good idea.

This is running on Vista 64 bit OS and case fans are turned on medium as don't want it to sounds like a alien spaceship as it already looks like one :)

*I have just ran Prime95 for over an Hour and the CPU temps are reading at*

67
67
62
61

I'm quite happy with this as did not want to go over 70 althought I would like it if it were cooler. I feel the VCore is a bit much too. I'm now thinking of lowering the voltage to see if I can make it got a bit cooler.

I was wondering where would be a good place to start. I was thinking of lowering the VCore a little bit at a time then running Prim95 for 30 mins. Any suggestions on what to VCore to start with and how much I should take it down each time ? Also unsure if SpeedFan is a good program to check VCore with as CoreTemps shows it as 1.3250V, Where should I start ?

Sorry for the big post. Hope I've covered everything in it and would really appreciate some help.

Thanks

Kev
 
The vcore shown in coretemp is actually the vid of your cpu (stock voltage for default clockspeed of 2.4ghz) your best of setting the vcore manually when overclocking the cpu as auto tends to overvolt a bit. Regarding your NB voltage, you wont need to go near 1.4 on it, +0.02v above auto setting should be a good starting point on the NB, also set the CPU PLL, and FSB TERM voltages +0.02v above the auto setting, as the p5q boards overvolt by a signifigant margin if left on auto or lowest manual setting.
 
Thanks for your reply appreciate the help. OK so would I be right i'm going with the VCore on CoreTemp then, Well at least to start on them move it down ?

Regaurding the NB what program will tell me the Voltage is is currently on with auto ? And same question for the CPU LL and FSB TERM voltages ? ( I essume these are settings in bios )

Thanks,

Kev
 
OK i'll go an change some of these voltages and see what happens. I'm going to put the NB up as instructed and also try the VCore at 1.3250 down a notch and hopefully we'll see the temps come down a little bit. Fingers crossed
 
Forgot the rest!!

CPU PLL is 1.5v and FSB TERM is 1.2v.

Try setting the CPU Voltage to 1.3v and see if it's stable from there. Mine is running at 3.4GHz @ 1.3v and load temps are 68-69.
 
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What do you mean forget the rest ? Surely I need to take down the VCore to make it run cooler ? Can you explain to me what CPU PLL nad FSB TERM is ?
 
The vid shown in coretemp should be your starting point when overclocking, with the system at stock speed, input the vid, (in your case 1.325) manually in the bios, set the fsb to 333mhz, 9x cpu ratio. This will result in a cpu speed of 2997mhz (3.0ghz, which most q6600's will do on stock voltage) test with p95 for 20 mins or so, if stable go back into bios and up the fsb 5-10 mhz and see if you can boot into windows and test with p95 again, its a matter of doing this until the system wont boot or p95 fails, then you have to go back and up the vcore a notch or 2 to get it stable again. Its also a good idea when overclocking the cpu to run your ram below its rated speed, this helps to stop the ram being overclocked along with the cpu, therefore taking ram stability out of the equation.
 
I meant I forgot to add the rest into my previous post! Sorry for the confusion!

Setter's advice is spot on. Just takes time and patience.
 
You could jump straight in at 367 fsb, but its a matter of finding the voltage you need to set manually to achieve it, due to auto settings being liberal with the voltage (therefore increasing temps) i always work from the bottom up as i know that im working from a stable base, but you could try setting the vcore manually to 1.4v and test it out, if things are stable you can then go about dropping the voltage, if unstable its a matter of upping it instead.
 
Sweet I set it manually to 1.3250 and windows wouldn't boot.
So thought **** it and and pushed her up to 1.350 and hey preso Vista Loaded and idle temps seem lower, About to start Preim95 and see what happens. Just out of interest if this all goes to hell it won't blow up my new pc will it ? Will the mobo turn off if it don't like it ?
 
Itll be safe enough, as long as you dont go crazy with the vcore, 1.5+ is considered by most people to be the upper end on good air cooling, and temps of below 75'c when running prime small fft test, most thatll happen is having to clear the cmos to load the default bios settings if an oc fails.
 
Temps seemed much cooler in idle but Prime stopped on 3 cores after lik 5 mins. Should I up the voltage to 1.4 you think and see if it stable them bring it down ? Thanks for all your help btw :)
 
Ok i've ran prime for like 20 mins and kinda stabling at like 66, Gonna try take down voltage. Any idea of what increment I should use ?
 
OK i've taken it down as low an increment as the mobo would let me. So it's now at 1.39375. I'm running this at like 3303.1 Mhz and ram running at like 1011 Mhz. I've kinda just gone for gold right away but seems to be working I guess. What would you say are acceptable temps ?
 
If you can keep the temps below 70-75'c when priming youll be fine mate, for normal daily use your unlikely to see temps this high. As an example, my own q6600 at full prime load reaches 68-68-62-62, however when gaming it rarely goe's over 55'c.
 
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