Q6600 go oc

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17612922

I didnt read your link, but I know enough to say there is no one size fits all with overclocking (well unless you have a i7 920/930/950...but that isnt the point). Read that sticky and you will learn a lot. Take your time, it isnt a race and just because it seems stable for 20mins, doesnt mean it is. Make sure you do lots of testing to ensure your PC wont fall over down the line.
 
ohhh ofcourse, im an idiot lol thanks! excuse my n00bisms :D

so should i update my bios? ive never done so and the motherboard is about 3-4 years old, its a Asus P5N32-e

thanks
 
Provided you keep the cooling <70 ish most people limit themselves to 1.45v on Q6600s. There isn't a full consensus on whether they mean 1.45 in the bios/ idling in windows, or 1.45 under load (stress testing etc).

Motherboards have to have a bit of lee way as when you halt the stress test the stored charge can spike well above what you have set in the bios. More expensive mobos have more capacitors (and what-not, 'phases' etc) and the difference between what you set in bios and what you see - 'droop' will be closer. More capacitors also usually means less power efficient too. More expensive mobos tend to sap more power at idle and its not all that much to do with more features built in, but thats another topic.

Most people seem to screen shot their maximums under load, and generally thats what most people refer too when they claim to have got suchandsuchMHz out of tinyX.xxVolts. Makes you cringe ocasionally to think what bios setting was used to achieve it on cheap boards (p35s etc), but generally there have been very few cases of dead q6600s over the years compared with other cpus.
 
a lot will depend on your motherboard and cooler but.

this is a very basic explanation of overclocking

its basic maths. your Q6600 is rated at 1066mhz. you always divide this number by 4 so 1066/4= 266, this is your fsb.
then your processor (cpu) has a multiplier of 9 (it may say cpu clock)
so 266 x 9 = 2394mhz or 2.4GHz

unlink your ram, so it stays at stock speeds, you can overclock the ram later

can you raise the fsb?

try rising it to 280
boot into windows
download realtemp and coretemp (google them)
install and run them
then download Intel Burn Test (ibt) and run it.
have a look in task manager and notice how much free ram is listed.

in ibt set threads to 4 (for 4 cores) and then click on custom ram and enter an amount just below the free amount.
eg. i have 2520mb free ram. so i enter 2500 into the custom ram.
run the test for 5 passes. for now, and then at final speed you want, run for 50 passes,
(this is debateable, but a stable overclock is usually classed as 50 runs of IBT, but its personal preference)

keep an eye on temps (do not let it go over 80.c) or in realtemp, notice the distance to tjmax, never let it go less than 20

if test runs fine, go back into bios, and change frequency (fsb) to 300 and repeat the tests.
keep doing this in 20mhz steps until windows will not boot. then just go back a step (remove 20 from the fsb) to the last stable frequency, OR
just raise the cpu voltage a couple of levels. it should now boot.
its a balancing act, higher voltages will get you higher fsb, but it will also give you higher temps.

i have my B3 Q6600 at 1.39vcore in bios and its at 3.3GHz
Q6600 @ 3.0ghz is 333 x 9
3.6GHz is 400 x 9 (1600mhz) or 450 x 8 (1800 mhz)
 
thanks mate thats a great post! i shall have a look throught the bios and become familiar with it all!

so if i go too far, it just doesnt boot, like a safety feature so as not to damage the hardware?
 
it wont boot if the overclock is really unstable ... that doesn't mean you can't damage your hardware just because it doesnt boot :D if you went and stuck 2volts across it wouldn't be too good for the processor yet it may still boot because there's enough voltage there...

i have mine on 1.4875v for years now (bios) and im at 3.5ghz, air cooling, in IBT i get 80*C under load and thats the max i was comfortable with. aslong as you stay under these figures i'd say you'll be alright because mines run it for years, just don't go too crazy too fast. q6600's can do 3ghz easy (usually), so id up it 100mghz each time until 3ghz and test every step of the way, and watch the temps,
 
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