Q6600 Overclocking Help

rctneil

rctneil

rctneil

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31 Jan 2007
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Hey,

I want to get my Q6600 to 3Ghz. I know that FSB x CPU Multiplier equals CPU speed so I am aiming for 334 x 9 = 3006Ghz

What I do NOT understand is what I have to do with the RAM. I do not understand about the divider and so on. I ahve looked at online guides and they all seem to explain it in different ways and it's really confusing me. If someone could explain what I need to do with my ram and what the divider is then it'd be most helpful.

My ram is: OCZ DDR2-PC2-6400. It says 4-4-4 on it too.

What does this mean? I am no good with RAM so could do with simple explanations if possible.

Thanks
 
rctneil said:
Hey,

I want to get my Q6600 to 3Ghz. I know that FSB x CPU Multiplier equals CPU speed so I am aiming for 334 x 9 = 3006Ghz

What I do NOT understand is what I have to do with the RAM. I do not understand about the divider and so on. I ahve looked at online guides and they all seem to explain it in different ways and it's really confusing me. If someone could explain what I need to do with my ram and what the divider is then it'd be most helpful.

My ram is: OCZ DDR2-PC2-6400. It says 4-4-4 on it too.

What does this mean? I am no good with RAM so could do with simple explanations if possible.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What's your mobo?
 
when you increase the bus the mem speed will increase to, this sounds good in theory but chances are the ram wont be able to handle the speed and you will become unstable/wont boot.

the divider will lower this speed to more reasonable levels and enable you to overclock better. your ram is 800mhz so overclock and then choose the divider that gets close but not over 800 to start - most half decent mobos will have a wide range to choose from.

dont worry about timings as such for now, chances are your mobo would have set them to 5-5-5 anyway as is the standard for most 775 socket mobos...you can check with cpu-z.
 
I never really understood ram dividers on my old board. Thankfully, on the board I have, I enter the FSB I want to run at, and the bios has a pre set number of speeds my memory can run at (based on different dividers)

Important to remember to use a divider that runs about the same or a bit lower when first overclocking your chip. When it crashes (and it will) you'll have peace of mind that it's not the memory causing the problem.
 
ok, But how do you work out the divider? What is the calculation?

Also, how do you work out what speed your ram is running at?
 
rctneil said:
ok, But how do you work out the divider? What is the calculation?

Also, how do you work out what speed your ram is running at?
Click to expand...

fsbstraptonorthbridge.png


Hi rctneil

Here is the table of all the straps and associated ram dividers.

Now the straps are divided in 4 sections related to the fsb speeds and for each strap you have 3 ram dividers each having a particular dram to fsb ratio. E.g.

For the 333 MHz strap:

1st divider has ratio of 1:1 giving you ram speed of DDR2-667MHz
2nd divider has ratio of 6:5 giving you ram speed of DDR2-800MHz (which is default value in your case)
3rd divider has ratio of 8:5 giving you ram speed of DDR2-1066MHz.

It's giving you the formula for calculating the ram speeds:

Lets take 2nd divider for 333MHz strap as an example:

DDR2 speed = 2 x FSB x 6/5 = 2 x 333 x 1.2 = 799.2 = 800MHz

Now for overclocking your Q6600 to 3.0GHz; in the bios set the following:

-FSB Strap to Northbridge: 333MHz (as it is closest to your FSB of 334MHz). You can leave it on auto but i think it would just mean that you will get all the different ram speeds/dividers in your DRAM Frequency. Setting it to 333MHz ensures you get just the 3 associated ram dividers.

-FSB Frequency: 334MHz
-PCIE Frequency: 100MHz
-DRAM Frequency: DDR2-668MHz,DDR2-801MHz,DDR2-1069MHz

Choose the 2nd divider as highlighted although slightly overclocked. You can choose the first divider which will give you DDR2-668MHz (underclocked) if you want the ram factor to be taken out during overclocking although slight overclock of 801MHz shouldn't affect the overclocking process. This is what I did any way.

The 3rd divider gives you DDR2-1069MHz which is a highly overclocked ram and this is to be ignored. Otherwise choosing this divider means that your ram is already overclocked and this is highly likely to fail your overclock. I hope this helps:).

Edit: Here is the link from where I got the table. It talks about Asus ROG rampage mobo but I assume asus has the same bios overclocking options for skt 775 mobo as the Gigabyte does anyway.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2427/4
 
Last edited:
rctneil said:
ok, But how do you work out the divider? What is the calculation?

Also, how do you work out what speed your ram is running at?
Click to expand...

its not important to know how to work it out when your first starting, just that it has to be equal or lower then the rated speed
pretty much all mobos will tell you in the bios what speed your ram is running at. if it doesnt you shouldnt be overclocking full stop as your mobo is a POS.:p
 
WingZero30 said:
fsbstraptonorthbridge.png


Hi rctneil

Here is the table of all the straps and associated ram dividers.

Now the straps are divided in 4 sections related to the fsb speeds and for each strap you have 3 ram dividers each having a particular dram to fsb ratio. E.g.

For the 333 MHz strap:

1st divider has ratio of 1:1 giving you ram speed of DDR2-667MHz
2nd divider has ratio of 6:5 giving you ram speed of DDR2-800MHz (which is default value in your case)
3rd divider has ratio of 8:5 giving you ram speed of DDR2-1066MHz.

It's giving you the formula for calculating the ram speeds:

Lets take 2nd divider for 333MHz strap as an example:

DDR2 speed = 2 x FSB x 6/5 = 2 x 333 x 1.2 = 799.2 = 800MHz

Now for overclocking your Q6600 to 3.0GHz; in the bios set the following:

-FSB Strap to Northbridge: 333MHz (as it is closest to your FSB of 334MHz). You can leave it on auto but i think it would just mean that you will get all the different ram speeds/dividers in your DRAM Frequency. Setting it to 333MHz ensures you get just the 3 associated ram dividers.

-FSB Frequency: 334MHz
-PCIE Frequency: 100MHz
-DRAM Frequency: DDR2-668MHz,DDR2-801MHz,DDR2-1069MHz

Choose the 2nd divider as highlighted although slightly overclocked. You can choose the first divider which will give you DDR2-668MHz (underclocked) if you want the ram factor to be taken out during overclocking although slight overclock of 801MHz shouldn't affect the overclocking process. This is what I did any way.

The 3rd divider gives you DDR2-1069MHz which is a highly overclocked ram and this is to be ignored. Otherwise choosing this divider means that your ram is already overclocked and this is highly likely to fail your overclock. I hope this helps:).

Edit: Here is the link from where I got the table. It talks about Asus ROG rampage mobo but I assume asus has the same bios overclocking options for skt 775 mobo as the Gigabyte does anyway.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2427/4
Click to expand...




Apologies for not replying sooner. I got stuck in talking on another forum about overclocking but not getting anywhere there so will try some suggestions from here I think (please bare in mind I'm not saying the advie on the other forum was bad or incorrect, just that I want to try elsewhere for the time being)

I first set my CPU FSB to 334 and set the vcore to auto and vcore to auto, set the pcie freq to 100mhz as suggested too. and it failed to boot.

It does the windows 7 startup animation and then bsods.

I then set the vdimm to 2.1 as that is reccommended by OCZ for my set. Intel gives a range of 0.8500v - 1.5v for the vcore but how do i know where within that range to start?

I also have the following list of options which I don;t really know what they are or what to set them too?

-FSB Termination Voltage: ops(auto, 1.2v, 1,3v, 1.4v, 1.5v)
-MCH Chipset Voltage: ops(auto, 1.55v, 1.65v, 1.75v, 1.85v)
-ICH Chipset Voltage: ops(auto, 1.05v, 1.20v)

-Microcode Updation: ops(Enable, Disable)
-Max CPUID Value Limit: ops(enable, disable)
-Execute Disable Function: ops(enable, disable)
-Enhanced C1 Control: ops(auto, disable)
-CPU Internal Thermal Control: ops(auto, disable)

I would appreciate it if you could give me a hand here.

Stock CPU temps are approx 25-30 C and my system is watercooled.

Mobo is Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Intel Q660 G0 stepping - bios 2206
OCZ DDR2-6400 $gb CL4 Edition

Thanks
Neil
 
When I had my P5W, I found with a Q6600 it would not go over 333fsb what ever I did with it and had to swap it out for P5K which will go as high 460fsb with no issues what so ever.
 
rctneil said:
Apologies for not replying sooner. I got stuck in talking on another forum about overclocking but not getting anywhere there so will try some suggestions from here I think (please bare in mind I'm not saying the advie on the other forum was bad or incorrect, just that I want to try elsewhere for the time being)

I first set my CPU FSB to 334 and set the vcore to auto and vcore to auto, set the pcie freq to 100mhz as suggested too. and it failed to boot.

It does the windows 7 startup animation and then bsods.

I then set the vdimm to 2.1 as that is reccommended by OCZ for my set. Intel gives a range of 0.8500v - 1.5v for the vcore but how do i know where within that range to start?

I also have the following list of options which I don;t really know what they are or what to set them too?

-FSB Termination Voltage: ops(auto, 1.2v, 1,3v, 1.4v, 1.5v)
-MCH Chipset Voltage: ops(auto, 1.55v, 1.65v, 1.75v, 1.85v)
-ICH Chipset Voltage: ops(auto, 1.05v, 1.20v)

-Microcode Updation: ops(Enable, Disable)
-Max CPUID Value Limit: ops(enable, disable)
-Execute Disable Function: ops(enable, disable)
-Enhanced C1 Control: ops(auto, disable)
-CPU Internal Thermal Control: ops(auto, disable)

I would appreciate it if you could give me a hand here.

Stock CPU temps are approx 25-30 C and my system is watercooled.

Mobo is Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Intel Q660 G0 stepping - bios 2206
OCZ DDR2-6400 $gb CL4 Edition

Thanks
Neil
Click to expand...

First run coretemps and it should give you the VID (stock voltage). Generally most Q6600s can easily reach 3.0GHz on the stock voltage. Take note of the VID, go back into bios and set vcore to that value. Don't run vcore on auto as this is will result in instability. It is always best to manually set the vcore when overclocking.

You don't really need to bother with those other options apart from Enhanced C1 control which you should disable to prevent instability issues.

MCH chipset voltage is Northbridge voltage (975X chipset)
ICH chipset voltage is Southbridge chipset voltage

I didn't realise that you had 975X chipset which is pretty old. The settings above are usually for P45 chipset which is one of the best for overclocking but try those settings anyway. You may need to up the vcore couple of notches from the stock voltage if you can't get Q6600 @3.0GHz on stock voltage (VID).:)
 
ok, i'll give that a go. I take it i leave northbridge and southbridge at auto volts?

Also should i set ram setting to "from SPD" or set the timings and voltage manually?

Thanks

Neil
 
rctneil said:
ok, i'll give that a go. I take it i leave northbridge and southbridge at auto volts?

Also should i set ram setting to "from SPD" or set the timings and voltage manually?

Thanks

Neil
Click to expand...

yeah leave them on auto.

just leave your ram setting to 'from SPD' for now and see if you can make it to the desktop.
 
I set all the settings as described above and the vcore to stock volts of 1.25v and it bsods just after win7 animation. I upped the vcore a bit and same, then upped again to 1.3v and it does exactly the same.

Any other ideas?
 
ok, i'll clear the cmos and re enter all the settings above.

The PSU is brand new it's an Antec True Power New 750w

Yes, the pc works fine at stock 2.4. Basically, when i change the settings like you say, I enter them and save it in the OC Profile within the bios so when i want to use the pc normally without trying to overclock, i can restore defaults and use the system fine. then when i want to go back to when i was messing with oc settings i just restore from the profile i saved.
 
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