Overclocking my C2D 6600

[niroswe]

I'm fairly new to overclocking, I would really appreciate any advice on how to start out. This is my system:

Asus P5W DH Deluxe 1.02G (1305 at the moment, trying to get 1405)
2x1GB Corsair TWIN2X 5400 DDR2 5-4-4-15 or something, I'm not sure.
HIPER Type-R Modular Red 580W ATX 2.2
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz 4MB with stock cooling.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CupCak3]

www.google.com

http://forums.anandtech.com/search.aspx

 

[FelixDeCat]

Well the first step is to increase the FSB. Since you are using stock cooling, you might want to be conservative. Keep an eye on your temps and find out what your limits are. Then upgrade your cooling and go farther.

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Well the first step is to increase the FSB. Since you are using stock cooling, you might want to be conservative. Keep an eye on your temps and find out what your limits are. Then upgrade your cooling and go farther.

Only do that last step if you're interested in spending money on it. Overclocking is addictive like heroin, onle heroin is cheaper . Know what you're putting yourself through.

Other than that, solid advice.

 

[orion23]

You need to test your RAM first.

Is that PC2 5400 RAM?

If it doesn't overclock, you will not go anywhere unless you buy ddr2 800mhz RAM

Your RAM and the FSB go hand in hand, if you up the FSB, your RAM will have to go higher as well!

 

[Skott]

I'd start with a 333fsb to start with. Thats a pretty safe overclock to start with. Pretty much guranteed to work on boot up without trouble. Then go up carefully from that point.

 

[MikeR397]

I'd start by increasing the FSB to 333 as well, that will give you 3.0ghz and should be stable without having to increase the voltage to the processor and ok temps with a stock cooler. Also, your ram's default frequency is 337.5 (675/2 becuase it is DDR), so anything under a fsb of 337 will not be affected by limitation of your ram. If you go above 337, you will start to overclock your ram and may run into problems. If i was you, dont' mess with anything above FSB 350 because that might be overclocking your ram too much and cause lock ups (even though Corsair is good ram). If you want to get PC 6400 ram, then you should be able to get up to FSB 380's , but you will also need better cooling, like a Zalman 9500 or water cooling.

I've currently got a E6600, Zalman 9500 fan, Corsair PC6400, and with 1.5375vCore (which is a lot but my temps are ok), i'm at FSB 389 or 3.5ghz. Hope this helps.

 

[niroswe]

Thanks guys, I'll start with setting the FBS to 333. I believe default is 5:4, how do I set 1:1? Should I?

 

[niroswe]

There we go, booted and running Orthos at 3.0ghz.
Ran 3dmark06, upped my score to 6068! 8)

EDIT: I also noticed that my compter acts different when rebooting now, it totally turns off the system and then starts it again. Why? 8(

 

[Skott]

For 1:1 with your fsb @ 333 you need to set RAM to 666MHz. If I understand the OCing theory correctly.

 

[MikeR397]

Ya, the P5W motherboard always restarts like that when overclocking. There is a good reason, at least i think: If you overclock too much and it freezes, normally you have to take out the batter or reset the jumper to set the bios back to stock from the excessive overclock. But the P5W alwyas applys the stock settings at first and then overclocks during the post, so if you do too much of a overclock, it lets to simply enter bios and change it back down without taking out the battery or moving the jumper.

Also, running 1:1 is the second option down on the ram frequency option. You should run 1:1 unless you want to go over 337FSB, if you want to try over 337FSB, use the first option on teh ram frequency options, that will downclock your ram a bit to let you get higher FSB's for the processor, and hence a greater speed.

Also, what week is your processor? It shoudl say on the box, it starts with L..... , is like L628.... If it says L628, you have the same week as mine and I can help you overclock it (such as adjusting the Vcore and monitoring temps).

I'm gald your running well so far, let me know if there is anything else i can help with.

 

[MikeR397]

Also, just to warn you, if you go much above 333 FSB, you are probably goign to have to increase the voltage to the processor to keep it stable. With stock cooling, do not increase Vcore past 1.4250v and make sure your Asus probe temps stay below 40 degrees at idle and 46 at load (during testing). The more voltage and the faster FSB will create higher temperatures and the stock cooling with the stock thermal paste on the fan are not teh best for overclocking.

 

[Madellga]

The ABIT AW9D Max does not shut down when changing overclocking settings. If it fails, it goes back to last good boot or you can reset it pressing insert, it goes back to defaults.

The gigabyte boards only shut down when changing overclocking settings. After that, it boots normally. This was the reason I passed the P5B, too many shutdowns for my taste.

 

[niroswe]

Mike, thanks again!

Here's what I've found out during the night, I had Orthos running for 12 hours. (Didn't mean to sleep that long LOL)

IDLE: ~35 degrees
LOAD: ~45 degrees

Overall that's an increasment of 3 degrees in both idle and load, not too bad considering its a 25% oc. Oh, about 1:1, when I overclocked the FSB to 333mhz the memory setting changed to DDR666 as well, meaning its running 1:1.

http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?image=16sxm8.jpg

The box said L628A347.

 

[coolingoff]

On the p5w Deluxe theres an automatic oc'ing utlity.
Just select what % oc you want from a drop down list and the motherboard will do it for you.
You have the option of 5% to 30% oc in that utility.

So if you're just looking to run your e6600 at @~3.1Ghz, then you probably use that utility and save yourself some time.

Just wanted you to know that you have that option.

 

[MikeR397]

Thats good news. The week 28s are the best retail overclockers beside the week 27's. Your temps seem fine right now but keep an eye on them if you go up an more in FSB or Vcore. Also, you don't really need to frequently test Otrhos for 12 hours. First b/c nothing you do will use that much processing power, and second b/c it takes so long. I would recommend only using orthos for that long when you find a frequency you think you are goign to stick with. You can use 3Dmark for the cpu tests for a quick determinant of stability. If it pases that and you are happy with the overclock, then you can do orthos to make sure it's super stable for those 12 hour stretches when you'll be manageing to use 100% cpu processing . Good luck.

Also, after you get the processor where you want it, you might want to look at your ram spec (specifically the timings and the voltage for the ram) and adjust them in bios under the chipset section i believe (for the timings, voltage for the ram is where the fsb is). DO NOT change memory timings before you are done with the cpu though b/c it is just another varialbe that might introduce problems in stabilty and will be harder to single out. If your ram is supposed to be 4-4-4-10, and you change it from your current settings, you will notice a fairly significant difference in CPU scores (such as in 3dmark). Look up what your ram stock timings are and what voltage to use. (My P5W incorrectly sets my ram timings too)

 

[niroswe]

I think my goal right now should be 3,2ghz. I'm thinking the temps should be somewhere around 40 degrees idle and 50 in load, and that's as far as I want to go with my current cooling. I know very little about memory timings and stability, so I'll probably need some help later on.

If I were to clock the CPU to 3,2ghz, what would my FSB be? Will the memory be clocked then, or will the divider kick in?

 

[orion23]

Your E6600 has a multiplier of 9. If you divide your target speed by the multiplier, that will give you the needed FSB

3200 / 9 = 356 FSB

Your RAM will need to run your FSB X 2 meaning 356 x 2 = 712


Your RAM is rated @ 675mhz, if it's any good, it will overclock to 712, if it doesn't, You'll need new RAM. DDR2 800mhz will do the job!

 

[niroswe]

Thanks, that's really helpful!

 

[MikeR397]

Your ram has a pretty good chance of getting to 712, if not, downlock it with the first ram option. I am almost positive you will have to take the voltage to about 1.3875 or 1.40 to get 3.2ghz. Hopefully not, but i bet you will.

 

[niroswe]

The CPU voltage?

 

[orion23]

Yes CPU voltage or Vcore

 

[niroswe]

Running 3,2ghz and idling at 33 degrees, gonna try some load now.

EDIT: Started up Orthos and right away I hear a static sound in my headphones, its not high but noticeble.
EDIT2: Nevermind that, I had the volume on highest!

AI Booster is reporting ~50 degrees in load, that's about as far as I want to go right now. My memory timings are really bad tho, I'd like to tighten them up if possible.

 

[niroswe]

I'm now certain that with my current cooling and memory, I'm most likely not going to be very successful overclocking any futher. So I thought I'd get the timings a bit better. The stock spec for my memory is;

675mhz (4-4-4-12) @ 1.9V

Right now, I'm running them at;

712mhz (5-6-6-18) @ 1.9V

If I were to increase the Voltage a bit, think I could get it to the stock timings?

 

[MikeR397]

Probably. I'm almost positive Corsair lets you increaes the voltage to 2.1v without voiding the warranty. Try 2.0v first though b/c it'll only make excess heat if you overvolt. If you get the blue screen of death and random lockups after intensive cpu usage, just put the memory back where it was. Memory times are not super important for the conroe chips as they ahve a lot of L2 cache though, not nearly as important as for AMD stuff. Nevertheless, they do help.