Q6600 O.C. problems.

[LightningJR]

Yeah, the Q6600s are a bargain for the price. You say you are a newbie at overclocking you should read the guides on overclocking but just to tell you increasing voltage and overclocking go hand in hand. Very rarely you will not need to push some type of voltage when it comes to overclocking a cpu. Your mobo may need some more volts to get higher bus, or you cpu may need more volts to get higher. Plus, it's a quad core. When you bring up the cpu 100mhz, it's really 400mhz because it's quad core and that requires voltage.

[road-runner]

Yeah, the Q6600s are a bargain for the price.

Yes they are, ordered one today from clubit guaranteed G revision.

 

Order Detail:

*CPU,INTEL C2Q Q6600 2.4 S775 SLACR RTL

Item Number: CA1938452

Quantity: 1

Unit Price: $275.99

Ext. Price: $275.99

[LightningJR]

Imo getting PC2-6400 is a bad investment IF you want to overclock UNLESS you have high quality PC2-6400 ram other wise it may limit you overclocking potential. If your mobo doesn't have a big selection of multiplyers you could be in trouble.

 

Let me take you step by step on what I do when I overclock.

 

The first thing I test for highest overclock is the BUS. I decrease all other variables (ex/ CPU(multiplyer), RAM(using dividers) and if you have a AMD HT(multiplyer)) The I start to increase the bus. When I come to a bus speed that is unstable, usually by crashing/restarting or not starting at all I then up the chipset voltage and keep on pushing (always watching the chipset temp) then when I come to the boards max bus I then bring the bus back down to the default value (but not changing the voltage back to default. I do this because this voltage will allow me to remove the BUS as a variable for the next overclock). You may have only a few ram multiplyers and this may hurt your bus overclock. If this is true you will have to do step 2 first and even then your bus may be holding you back SO in the case of this terrible, TERRIBLE situation you will need to overclock your bus and RAM in tandem and find what overclock you bus and ram can handle together.

 

The second thing I test is the RAM. I put the ram multiplyer back to what the ram's spec is clocked at and start pushing the bus. As soon as I come to an unstable clock I then I bump up the ram voltage and keep pushing the bus to increase the ram. (if possible keep checking the ram to see how hot it gets) When I get to the highest possible speed for the ram I bring the ram multiplyer back down to the lowest setting possible and the bus to it's default keeping the ram and voltage at it's overclocked state. This will also remove the ram as a variable when overclocking the CPU.

 

(remember the bus and ram voltage are at their overclocked state)Then I overclock the CPU. I bring the cpu multiplyer to it's default and start to increase the bus when I get the the CPUs max stable overclock I then bump up the CPU voltage and keep increasing the bus. Keeping a close eye on temps. Sometimes you can overwhelm you bus when overclocking the CPU. The CPU may be able to overclock extremely well and take you mobos bus to it's highest stable overclock as tested in the first step overclock. There is nothing you can do about that unless you have a CPU that has it's higher than default multiplyers unlocked. Also if your mobo has a garbage set of ram multiplyers then you may come to the rams max clock shown in the second step overclock. When you come to your CPUs best overclock then I bring the ram to it's highest clock and start stress testing.

 

Stress test your CPU/RAM and Chipset to see how high the temps get and if your PC is stable when those components get that hot. You will most likely be unstable because you never stressed tested for heat limitations. When you do become unstable bring down one component at a time to keep variables in check and then test again too see if the PC is still unstable bring down another component and test again, still unstable, bring down the last component and test again. Keep doing this until things become stable. (do not change voltages) Then when things become stable you can start to bring the voltages down to see how low you can run these overclocked parts. When you get a stable setting THEN you do a LONG, TIRESOME and BORING stress test to see if the PC is purely stable.

 

You can then start to, Mhz by Mhz, voltage increase by voltage increase, tweak the ram, cpu and chipset for a little more. Where you have brought down your voltages you now have decreased you temps and may have unlocked a little more overclocking potential. I test after each bump(not a short test but not a LONG test) until I get an error in the tests or signs of unstableness. Then you bring the speeds/voltages down to the last stable overclock and test for a longer test and if stable do the last LONG, TIRESOME and BORING stress test to make sure the overclock is perfect if not then bump down a small bit more then then do the long test.

 

NOW, I hope I have helped you. I do not consider to be a pro at this stuff but I do know how to overclock. I did not overclock a c2d or c2q before so some things may be wrong or some problems might arise. But I am a true overclocking GEEK I love to overclock it's my passion and I like to think I know what I am talking about. It's not the best guide it's MY way of overclocking I hope you enjoy.

[IndieRock13]

You say you are a newbie at overclocking you should read the guides on overclocking but just to tell you increasing voltage and overclocking go hand in hand.

 

I used 4 different guides when I first started. I read every day for like 2 weeks before trying it so I'm pretty comfortable with the basics of it. I'm just worried about my new expensive toy smoking all over the place lol.

 

So I think it's a combination of the RAM not being the best for my Asus board and just needing more volts. I cranked it up to 1.41 and it still wasn't working with the RAM not at 667 or 800. Then I tried making the multiplier 8x and the FSB 400 which brought me to 3.2Ghz and it works like a charm. Not a hitch so far although I haven't stress tested it for an entire session yet. Definetely seems like for stability I will need the RAM to be at 800. I read that Asus boards are picky with RAM and though a similar type of A-Data RAM is on the list, the ones I got are not. But I'm happy with 3.2 for now as I got this RAM at a good price and it has good performance as long as I do its bidding and give it the frequency it wants.

 

I do still have to up the volts quite a bit to get it to run at those settings though so it wasn't all the RAMs fault. I'll definetely upgrade to PC2-9200 RAM at some point in the future though.

Edited September 19, 2007 by IndieRock13

[LightningJR]

I had PC3200 running at 500Mhz @3.00V

[road-runner]

I had PC3200 running at 500Mhz @3.00V

Yea but thats DDR1 you do not want to put 3 volts to DDR2...

[LightningJR]

Thats true. DDR1 default 2.4V, DDR2 default 1.8V.