Q6600 G0 - A bit of Advice - please

Marse

Marse

Marse

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• Q6600 G0
• Gigabyte P35 DS3R R1 – F4
• 4 GB Corsair CM2X 1024-6400C4DHX

Without any tweaking CPU-z shows the CPU Bus Speed as 267 and the memory frequency as 400 MHz with timings 5.5.5.18 and FSB:Ram as 2:3.

Courtesy of Monstermunch:
1. Make sure that you have the latest chipset drivers and flash the board to the most recent bios version
2. On the main bios screen press Ctrl+F1 to open the advanced options within the menus
3. In the Advanced Bios Features Menu, Disable all of the following: CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E), CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2), CPU EIST Function
4. In the PC Health Status menu, set the FAN Speed Control Method to "Legacy" & FAN Speed Control Mode to "PWM" to maintain highest speed
5. Go into the MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT) menu at the bottom of the page, set the System voltage control to "Manual"
6. These boards have a default VDIMM of 1.8v, set the VDIMM to co-ordinate with your ram. The Geil I have is specced as 2.1v so I have mine set to +0.3v
7. Set the MCH Voltage to +0.1v
8. Set the FSB Voltage to +0.1v
9. Set the VCORE to 1.45v - Please be aware that this will increase temps!
10. Set the CPU Host Clock Control to "Enable"
11. Set the System Memory Multiplier to "2x"
12. You're set to go, just increase the System bus Frequency to Overclock
13. I would reccommend that you use Intels TAT to monitor temps
Click to expand...

Most of this seems fairly straightforward apart from ‘Set the System Memory Multiplier to 2x’.
The option in my BIOS is 2.5 or higher.

What I think I’m trying to achieve is setting the FSB:Ram as 1:1.
This would allow me to run the ram at its rated speed of 400 or less and give me ample scope for some modest overclocking.


  1. Am I right in thinking that setting the System Memory Multiplier to 2 would give this Ratio of 1:1?

  2. Presumably with the Memory Multiplier at 2.5 the Ratio would be 1:1.25 - I assume this means the memory will be running faster to achieve a given clock speed?

  3. Is it reasonable to leave the System Voltage Control on auto initially and check out what is happening before setting it to manual if needed thereafter?

I would prefer to use very safe settings which would initially give the stock clock speed and tweak it up from there.
 
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When you change the memory multiplier on the P35 DS3R it tells you what the ram speed will be, keep it as close to 800mhz as you can while you are testing the oveclock on the CPU, once you have a stable high overclock, then go back and tweak the ram speed/voltage etc.
 
Have you pressed CTRL+F1 in the bios for the extra mem settings?
1: yes it would be 1-1
2: yes because at the default bus speed of 267, your ram is running @DDR534. If your ram is rated @DDR800, you can use a multi to get it higher.
3:You can leave it on auto, my B3 was stable to 3ghz on auto, then needed 1.406v for 3.2.
An FSB of 400 on a x8 multi with your ram at 1-1, will give you 3ghz with your ram at DDR800.
An FSB of 356 on a x9 multi with your ram at 2-2.4 (think) will give you 3.2 with your ram at DDR856.
Hope it helps.
 
Thanks Biffa.

I did a dummy run although I can’t remember all the settings I changed in the BIOS.
I entered various speeds ie:

200 gave 800 / 500
267 gave 800 / 668
400 gave 800 / 1000

Presumably with the multiplier being 2.5 - 320 would have given me 800 / 800.

You say keep the ram speed as close to 800 as possible.
That is the first value given by the BIOS?

If I enter 267 will that give me 2.4 GHz?

It’s a bit hairy first time round with all this nice new kit.


Thanks Katoom.

Katoom said:
Have you pressed CTRL+F1 in the bios for the extra mem settings?
………..If your ram is rated @DDR800, you can use a multi to get it higher.
Click to expand...
Yes I used Ctrl+F1.
The memory is PC6400 – 400/800 MHz.
Not sure what you mean by using a multi to get it higher?

I’m not sure if I can get 1:1 with this BIOS. The minimum System Memory Multiplier seems to be 2.5.

Auto volts is appealing for starters.

Edit: Sorry I think you meant overclocking the Ram.
I bought PC6400 to give me plenty of headroom without needing to overclock it.
Theoretically PC6400 should give me up to 3.6 GHz with the Ram at normal speed. I’ll settle for that or somewhat less :)
 
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Yes if you enter 267, your cpu multy is x9 = 2.4.
If your ram multi is 2.5, then 267 x 2.5 = 667, (your ram speed).
If your ram multi is 3.0 then your ram will be 800.
I think the first figure is the ram speed ATM, the second is what the speed will be after you change the FSB or the mem multi (this is what you are trying to keep near 800)
 
I think this is starting to make sense.

With a System Memory Multiplier of 2.5 the best I can achieve is 320 giving me 800 and 2.88 GHz without overclocking the Ram.

The System Memory Multiplier seems to be a major issue.

The guy on this current post - Overclocking Q6600 differences – seems to have set the Ratio at 1:1 with the same MB and identical Ram.

3.2 (8 * 400) memory running 1:1 with processor @ 400 @ 4 4 4 12

3.2 (9 * 356) memory running 1:1 with processor @ 356 @ 4 4 4 12
Click to expand...

Either his older BIOS is different to mine in this respect, which seems surprising, or perhaps I set something in my BIOS which is then limiting the values it is offering under System Memory Multiplier, which also seems surprising.

Many thanks for the help Katoom it’s much appreciated.
 
I’m surprised I haven’t seen mention of this before. Perhaps I just missed it.

I understood that using faster Ram simplified the overclocking process since you could set 1:1 and avoid overclocking the Ram.

It appears that some Motherboards offer this facility and some don’t.

The MB suits because I needed a serial port, the parallel port and the three 32x PCI slots.
There aren't many boards offering that nowadays.
Overclocking is a bonus but I’m surprised Gigabyte don’t offer a 2x Multiplier.

A shame you have to overclock 400/800 MHz Ram to get more than a 20% overclock.

Edit: Perhaps I don’t really understand this after all.
I enter a value of 267 with a Memory Multiplier of 2.5 giving a Ram Speed of 667 : 9 x 267 = 2.88 GHz.
I enter a value of 267 with a Memory Multiplier of 3.0 giving a Ram Speed of 800 : 9 x 267 = 2.88 GHz.

Apart from the fact that the memory is then working at its rated speed why use the higher multiplier.

Have I got something wrong here?
 
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Katoom said:
I have the same board, not sure of the bios, my mem options are; auto, 2.5, 3.0, 2.0, 2.4, 3.2 and more.
Click to expand...

What are your mem speed options? There is a 2.0 in the middle of my figures.

267x 2.4 = DDR765, if you could get it 1-1, you could get 400 x9 = 3.6 @DDR800.
 
My thanks and apologies Katoom.

The brain, or at least mine, has its own way of looking at these things and on scanning the figures it didn’t register that the values don’t follow an entirely logical sequence. I read them as increasing from 2.5 without spotting that they dip in the middle.

You have restored my faith in Gigabyte and humanity with your kind perseverance.

It looks like I can at least make a start in the right direction and see how far I get.

You’re a gentleman and I’m getting too old for this.
 
I have same board/cpu running OCZ (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series, if I make any change whatsoever to the CPU mutliplier/clock the system resets itself before posting and then reboots with the CPU reset to 9 x 266 and CPU Host Clock Control has changed back to 'disabled'.

Any ideas?
 
Matt Van Dam said:
I have same board/cpu running OCZ (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series, if I make any change whatsoever to the CPU mutliplier/clock the system resets itself before posting and then reboots with the CPU reset to 9 x 266 and CPU Host Clock Control has changed back to 'disabled'.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Your own thread - 1st time Overclocking - Q6600 on Gigabyte P35C DS3R - is next to this one as you posted - perhaps you'll have more success here :)

I'm busy dabbling so I'll report back on one or other thread – probably this one since I wouldn’t want to hijack yours :)
 
Caution is my middle name so I’ve progressed rather carefully.

I’m now on 275 and a clock speed of 2.467 MHz.

Running Prim95 on all 4 cores the temps were up 15 to 17 deg C compared to idle with the worst core up from 32 C to 47 C.

The timings improved as soon as I selected Auto volts to virtually their default values with the volts up from 1.9 to 2.1 – normal for this Ram.

I’ll see what the next few days brings.

I've used TAT although I'm using Everest most of the time which gives almost identical readings.
What amazes me is that on shutting down Prime95 the temps drop 11 C on each core in 15 seconds - something must be working well in the cooling department.
 
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I’m busy overclocking and have got up to 3 GHz and I’m surprised the temps seemed to have stopped rising with increasing Clock Speed.

Without re-checking the detail, the temps, using Everest 4.2, increased until I got to around 2.8 GHz and seem to have stabilised.

I’ve only been running Prime95 for around 30 mins each time since they are fairly modest overclocks.
I’m now getting maximum temps across the cores of 50 C through to 57 C.
The maximum can drop by to 2 C for extended periods during the test.
The difference between the cores seems to be normal with this chip.

I’ve left CPU Enhanced Halt, CPU Thermal Monitor 2 and CPU IEST Function enabled.

I’ve previously tried Core Temp with Everest running and it crashed the PC immediately so I haven’t tried again.
TAT gives similar temps to Everest.

Obviously running Prime, the CPU has all 4 cores fully loaded and the temps don't seem excessively high so I assume nothing is kicking in effectively throttling the CPU?
 
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Your Go quad will throttle @85deg so try to keep temps under that. I've had my B3 @96deg for a short burst and its still going fine!

Search through the posts, i think people are getting 3.4+ on air, try having a look at their settings.
 
Thanks Katoom.

I'm on 3402 now. I was was getting tired and lazy so I jumped from 3.2 to 3.4 then to 3.6.

OK on 3.6 until i stress tested and it wasn't happy.

I may leave it on 3.4 overnight - what's left of it - it's been on 1 1/2 hrs so far.

The temps are fine at 57 C max on worst core so I suspect the 1.248v Vcore on load and other volts may be holding it back. The volts are on auto.

If it survives the night I'll post a pic.

This is fun :)

Edit: I'm getting tired. I’ve left CPU Enhanced Halt, CPU Thermal Monitor 2 and CPU IEST Function enabled throughout the testing !!!.
 
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