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q6600: lower VID = better?

wuyanxu

wuyanxu

wuyanxu

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i have currently got a q6600 with a VID of 1.325v.

my friend, who has 1.2125 (or 1.25, wasn't clear on the phone) q6600 said he will be selling it, he only overclocked to 3.4Ghz once, all other times are 3.2Ghz.

so is lower VID = better CPU, no FSB/overclock wall, and guaranteed lower voltage for same overclock??

my current CPU don't have any sort of walls, i can hit 3.9Ghz with enough voltage through my RAM, and extremely loose timing. and i plan to get the OCuk's G.skill PC2-8000 RAM, hopefully hit 4Ghz with my friend's lower VID CPU.
 
It's not always the case...some people have high VID chips that clock very well.

My VID is 1.3v though and my CPU requires 1.49v to run 3.5ghz....so I think we see a correlation of crapness there :(
 
It's not always the case...some people have high VID chips that clock very well.

My VID is 1.3v though and my CPU requires 1.49v to run 3.5ghz....so I think we see a correlation of crapness there
Click to expand...

You are on the edge there with regards to top end VID mate! Intel does not recommend anything above 1.5V! You risk damaging your cores!
 
Mine is 1.25v and it won't do anything more than 3.5gig no matter how much extra volts I use so I don't think the vid makes all that much difference to overclocking. It probably does help heat and power usage though.
 
MikeHunt79 said:
Remember not all motherboards are the same and the VID will vary from board to board
Click to expand...

The maximum VID is factory set for each cpu, the Vcore (Vcc) can will vary from board to board.

Intel said:
Each processor is programmed with a maximum valid voltage identification value (VID), which is set at manufacturing and can not be altered. Individual maximum VID values are calibrated during manufacturing such that two processors at the same frequency may have different settings within the VID range.
Click to expand...
 
Stonedofmoo said:
Mine is 1.25v and it won't do anything more than 3.5gig no matter how much extra volts I use so I don't think the vid makes all that much difference to overclocking. It probably does help heat and power usage though.
Click to expand...
this is the bit im interested in.

IF i swap CPU with my friend, (aka, me going from VID 1.325v to 1.21v) will i be able to get higher clock or hit some form of FSB/overclock wall??

in another word, do lower VID tend to have some sort of overclocking wall at higher frequencies? (but below 4Ghz, my goal is 4Ghz on air)
 
All a lower VID really means is a lower thermal profile (TDP) for the cpu to achieve the default speeds. That is, the cpu is stable at a lower/higher voltage. It doesn't necessarily mean it will overclock any higher. Although obviously a lower VID means a lower stock Vcore and more headroom in theory. One problem though, a lower default Vcore at those higher voltages will be using more power than one that started out higher. I've seen all kinds of theory's on VIDs, steppings etc. One that sounds interesting is the wafer position. The nearer the centre of the wafer the better the cpu. I dunno, its all a bit hit and miss.
 
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fornowagain said:
All a lower VID really means is a lower thermal profile (TDP) for the cpu to achieve the default speeds. That is, the cpu is stable at a lower/higher voltage. It doesn't necessarily mean it will overclock any higher. Although obviously a lower VID means a lower stock Vcore and more headroom in theory. One problem though, a lower default Vcore at those higher voltages will be using more power than one that started out higher. I've seen all kinds of theory's on VIDs, steppings etc. One that sounds interesting is the wafer position. The nearer the centre of the wafer the better the cpu. I dunno, its all a bit hit and miss.
Click to expand...

Makes sense in a way, lower VID cpus might be from the center, where there might be a more pure silicon and somewhat more transistor density so better clocks at lower vcore? so at a given voltage it might consume more power due to more transistors and thus run hotter than an outer wafer cpu with less density. Makes sense in a way with my old L629B E6600s, clocked amazingly well but ran hotter than a furnace than other stepping E6600s. Just my crackpot theory.
 
Well i currently have 2 1.325 VID Q6600 one @ 3.6Ghz 1.4v and the other at 3.2Ghz 1.3v (quiet rig). Also have a 1.25 VID at 3.4Ghz 1.35v, needs 1.4125v for 3.6Ghz, so it does vary though the overall average seems to point to lower VID being better.
 
seems like the general thing here is that there is no FSB/clock wall for these lower VID processors.
but they do run hot at same voltage.

so, what do you guys say?
do i swap my higher VID CPU with my friend or not? (we've agreed it'd be free :) )
 
There will probably still be a FSB wall, i dont think this wall is linked to the VID in any way.

I would definatly do the swap, it will tend to need less vcore to acheive the clocks of your current G0 but may be a little warmer.

My G0 has a VID of 1.2125 and im currently running it @ 3.8Ghz with only 1.37v prime stable.
 
fornowagain said:
All a lower VID really means is a lower thermal profile (TDP) for the cpu to achieve the default speeds. That is, the cpu is stable at a lower/higher voltage. It doesn't necessarily mean it will overclock any higher. Although obviously a lower VID means a lower stock Vcore and more headroom in theory. One problem though, a lower default Vcore at those higher voltages will be using more power than one that started out higher. I've seen all kinds of theory's on VIDs, steppings etc. One that sounds interesting is the wafer position. The nearer the centre of the wafer the better the cpu. I dunno, its all a bit hit and miss.
Click to expand...

Source?

I've never heard anything that would suggest there's any truth at all in that?

cheers :)
 
Come on peeps its not that complicated....

Most will agree the safe limit on a Q6600 on air is 1.5v

So the lower the your VID, the larger the range you got to work with...

Mine is 1.325v (the most pants that is sold I think)...So I have much less chance of hitting a relatively high frequency than most other people do (duuuhhhh).

Obviously its not guaranteed, there will be some 1.325v chips that will do better than some 1.2xxv chips but overall all, on average 1.2xxxv chips will clock much higher than a 1.325v chips (duuuhhhh, again).

Lets say I need to raise my vcore to 1.5v to get 3.6Ghz (Which I do and this is stable). Someone with a 1.325v VID chip would - ROUGHLY SPEAKING only need to raise their voltage to 1.4v....

Understand?

Yes this is over simplified, yes, its never going to work like that in reality for ALL chips, but its a damn good indicator. I would gladly swap my 1.325v VID for a 1.225 VID for £20 any day of the week and I would feel quite confident I'd get an extra 200-300mhz out of it too.

If you've got some superdooper extreme cooling then I'm sure ANY Q6600 will do 4Ghz, the high VID means more volts needed for a given overclock, more volts means more heat...

Too much heat and your cooler won't cope.
 
wuyanxu said:
i have currently got a q6600 with a VID of 1.325v.

my friend, who has 1.2125 (or 1.25, wasn't clear on the phone) q6600 said he will be selling it, he only overclocked to 3.4Ghz once, all other times are 3.2Ghz.

so is lower VID = better CPU, no FSB/overclock wall, and guaranteed lower voltage for same overclock??

my current CPU don't have any sort of walls, i can hit 3.9Ghz with enough voltage through my RAM, and extremely loose timing. and i plan to get the OCuk's G.skill PC2-8000 RAM, hopefully hit 4Ghz with my friend's lower VID CPU.
Click to expand...

If you're hitting 3.9Ghz stable, then DON'T SWAP IT IN A MILLION YEARS....

Most 1.325 VIDs won't even do 3.5Ghz, I've got mine to 3.6Ghz with a lot of effort.

Even the low VID chips aren't dead cert 4Ghz, they are generally dead cert 3.6, prolly 3.8Ghz if you got evertything set right but no more than that for defo.

You'd be a fool to swap, unless you could definately swap back ;)
 
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