Q6600 And An "old" Board

[zeno0771]

Before anyone asks, yes I've read the C2D/C2Q OC guide both here and a few others.

As my sig shows, I have a 1st-revision Gigabyte 965-DS3 board which still for the most part cranks and a Q6600 @ 3.6 GHz. Well, it was, until I upgraded from a 7600GS video card to a 9600 GT. I know that running 4x1 GB sticks of RAM isn't good for OC, and I'm looking at swapping them for a set of 2x2GB Esoteria's, but instability seems have become an issue with the new vid card. Ordinarily I'd say the card was the problem, but it also happened with a 7950GX2; also, when I bring the CPU down to 1.35 and clock @ 3240 MHz, the problems go away. I got a stable 3.6 (with the 4x1GB's, mind you) on 1.456 vcore, so I'm not sure it's *just* the card. This board runs 4x1GB RAM at 533 (quirk of the board, so I hear) and at 1:1 that brings them to *almost* 800:

 

SPD multi 2.0 (720MHz @ 3240 MHz CPU, 800 MHz @ 3600 MHz CPU)

PCI-E freq I leave at 100

RAM timings at 5-6-6-16 (Ultras are rated 4-4-4-12 but I've never seen them run long-term stable at that even with more volts at stock-clock)

TRRD 3

Write to Read 3

Write to precharge 6

Refresh to ACT 42

Read to precharge 3

DDR2 +0.2 (2.1v)

PCI-E +0.1v

FSB +0.1v

N'Bridge +0.1

Vcore 1.350 @ 3240 MHz,1.456 @ 3600 MHz

 

My hunch is it's a combination of the RAM and the card; the voltage calculator says I'm alright with my Ultra X-Finity 600w PSU. However, this board is famous for vdroop to the tune of -0.04v and that may have something to do with it too. My choice was either get a new board to run the GX2 (MAN that thing is BIG) or get a newer vid card. It's not a driver issue since one of the problems is that it reboots during POST while (or shortly after) checking the RAM (hmmm, wonder if that's significant? )

I'm probably getting the new RAM anyway (someone wants 2 of the sticks I have now and who am I to turn down money) but I don't want to have to start from scratch and while I'm not a gamer I like my desktop to not act like it was coded by a 5 year old, so I'd prefer not to have to go back to the 7600GS.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I have all of Intel's CPU tricks disabled in BIOS except thermal monitor-

Edited May 4, 2008 by zeno0771