Q6600 overclocking

[dpk33]

I know this is probably my third thread or so on this topic, but I've never really been able to get some straight answers. I have a Q6600 SLACR that i would like to get up to 3.2 ghz or 3.6 ghz. I have ddr2 pc6400 800mhz ram so 400 fsb would mean a 1:1 fsb:ram ratio. What kind of volts would i need? There's the vcore, cpu vtt, mch voltage, ich voltage and cpu gtlref and such. What kind of settings would I need to use on those to get a stable overclock? I have an ip35e motherboard, which has a vdroop of about 0.075.

TLDR: overclock Q6600 with ddr2 800mhz ram on Abit ip35e

 

[Idontcare]

On 367MHz FSB, with DDR2-733, you should be able to hit 3.3GHz with 1.27-1.30 Volts Vcc, stock everything else.

If you want your ram to be faster, or the CPU faster, then you are going to spend a lot more time/effort towards stabilizing the FSB and MCH than you'll likely ever get back in terms of actual performance gains.

 

[Shmee]

trial and error. What is the chips VID?

as long as you have good cooling, try 1.375-1.45 vcore, which is safe for your chip. CPU vtt doesnt need to be adjusted very much at all, set it mb one level above stock. MCH should probably be upped a bit.

I wouldn't worry to much with the other options for now.

What cooler do you have? What are temps like currently?

 

[dpk33]

I have a hyper 212+ on it with a push/pull configuration. And how much should MCH be upped?

 

[VirtualLarry]

For 400 FSB, you might not have to up the MCH at all. At least, I don't have to, to run my Q9300 CPU at 400FSB in a Gigabyte P35-DS3R board.

 

[dpk33]

For 400 FSB, you might not have to up the MCH at all. At least, I don't have to, to run my Q9300 CPU at 400FSB in a Gigabyte P35-DS3R board.

If not MCH, then it's only the CPU Vcore and fsb that need to be upped?

 

[pmccall2]

I still have my q6600 rig laying around =).

I have a q6600 in an Asus p5b mobo, with ddr2 800.

I bumped the fsb to 400, and dropped the multi to 8 to keep it running at 3.2 ghz and a 1:1 fsb/ram.

CPU voltage may need adjusting, but it should post at 1.25(which is stock). if necessary increment the voltage a little.

 

[rbk123]

I posted all of the bios settings I have with my Q6600 and IP35e in your other thread. Not sure how much straighter of an answer I can supply. Perhaps it's best you sit this one out?

 

[dpk33]

I posted all of the bios settings I have with my Q6600 and IP35e in your other thread. Not sure how much straighter of an answer I can supply. Perhaps it's best you sit this one out?

Haha sorry, probably didn't see it. I'll go check it out now.

EDIT: Okay i saw it. But are there any other voltages/settings you had to change to get that frequency? No CPU VTT or MCH or ICH voltage?

 

[dpk33]

Another thing, I set the fsb to 400, and the dram voltage to 2.1v (because that's what my RAM is rated for) and upped the CPU Vcore to about 1.65 (since my board has a vdroop of 0.15), to get 1.5v real. Everytime I'm running a stress test, the computer just shuts off without warning, no BSOD, nothing. I doubt it's the RAM, since i tried with 2 different sets of ram. The cpu temp never went past 70 degrees. Do i have a faulty board?

I doubt it's the CPU, but i'll lower the multi to 8x and see what happens.

EDIT: I lowered the multi to 8x, wont even post.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If not MCH, then it's only the CPU Vcore and fsb that need to be upped?

Pretty certain that's all I had to do, with both my Q6600, and my two Q9300 CPUs.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Another thing, I set the fsb to 400, and the dram voltage to 2.1v (because that's what my RAM is rated for) and upped the CPU Vcore to about 1.65 (since my board has a vdroop of 0.15), to get 1.5v real. Everytime I'm running a stress test, the computer just shuts off without warning, no BSOD, nothing. I doubt it's the RAM, since i tried with 2 different sets of ram. The cpu temp never went past 70 degrees. Do i have a faulty board?

I doubt it's the CPU, but i'll lower the multi to 8x and see what happens.

That's kind of high for voltage. Even with your vdroop. Did you say that you have an IP35-E? Those boards are known to have bad vdroop with 65nm quads, and are not the best board to overclock a Q6600 in.

I've got a nice brand-new DFI X48 board in FS/FT, but the price might be a little rich for your blood.

 

[dpk33]

That's kind of high for voltage. Even with your vdroop. Did you say that you have an IP35-E? Those boards are known to have bad vdroop with 65nm quads, and are not the best board to overclock a Q6600 in.

I've got a nice brand-new DFI X48 board in FS/FT, but the price might be a little rich for your blood.

Yeah, I'm sorry. $250 is a bit much for me. I'm looking for something sub-$80.

Also, 9x 400fsb, 1.65v just randomly shuts off in the middle of the stress test (no bsod). Almost as if it shuts down when it's approaching full RAM usage. I highly doubt it's the RAM. Tried with two different sets.

It won't even boot or even post with a 8x multi. Faulty board?

 

[lavaheadache]

woah woah woah............ 1.65 v core is wayyyyy too high. Go into the bios and reset everything back to stock.

Just to start off with a little note, Your motherboard isn't gonna be the best Quad clocker out there so it may be a limiting factor.

First thing you want to do after reset the defaults is find a stable fsb that you are happy with. I think 400 fsb is a good place to be. Go ahead and set it there but turn your cpu multi to 6 and set the mem divider to 2 so you are running linked and synced mem speed and fsb.

You shouldn't have to give any extra juice to the cpu at this point cause you will be running stock speed of 2.4 but at 6x400 instead of 9x266.

run prime or whatever program you are using for a little while just to ensure stability at this setting. Also, you should be running the stress program so you are NOT loading the ram since we aren't overclocking ram and it should be stable at stock speeds.

Come back in here and report whether or not you can run these settings easily. It will determine how friendly the board and cpu play together.

I have a ton of experience overclocking and esp. core 2 quads. If your rig is capable of more speed we will be able to find it.



=)

 

[dpk33]

woah woah woah............ 1.65 v core is wayyyyy too high. Go into the bios and reset everything back to stock.

Just to start off with a little note, Your motherboard isn't gonna be the best Quad clocker out there so it may be a limiting factor.

First thing you want to do after reset the defaults is find a stable fsb that you are happy with. I think 400 fsb is a good place to be. Go ahead and set it there but turn your cpu multi to 6 and set the mem divider to 2 so you are running linked and synced mem speed and fsb.

You shouldn't have to give any extra juice to the cpu at this point cause you will be running stock speed of 2.4 but at 6x400 instead of 9x266.

run prime or whatever program you are using for a little while just to ensure stability at this setting. Also, you should be running the stress program so you are NOT loading the ram since we aren't overclocking ram and it should be stable at stock speeds.

Come back in here and report whether or not you can run these settings easily. It will determine how friendly the board and cpu play together.

I have a ton of experience overclocking and esp. core 2 quads. If your rig is capable of more speed we will be able to find it.



=)

So far so good at 6x400fsb. Testing with Intel Burn Test with normal RAM usage (I usually test with maximum). About 50 degrees C load temps and CPU-Z reports 1.175 volts under load. Finished 5 runs without an issue, using 1024mb of RAM.

EDIT: Tested again with maximum RAM settings. Completed 5 runs yet again. Maybe it IS the cpu?

But what's bothering me is that even upping FSB to about 333mhz (with 9x multi) causes my system to shut down unexpectedly. My Q6600 is a G0 stepping too, so I believe it should be able to accomplish at least a bit more than that.

 

[lavaheadache]

So far so good at 6x400fsb. Testing with Intel Burn Test with normal RAM usage (I usually test with maximum). About 50 degrees C load temps and CPU-Z reports 1.175 volts under load. Finished 5 runs without an issue, using 1024mb of RAM.

EDIT: Tested again with maximum RAM settings. Completed 5 runs yet again. Maybe it IS the cpu?

But what's bothering me is that even upping FSB to about 333mhz (with 9x multi) causes my system to shut down unexpectedly. My Q6600 is a G0 stepping too, so I believe it should be able to accomplish at least a bit more than that.

It's too early to tell anything.

You really can't tell anything about true stability until you have atleast a couple hours into 100% load. But we are just shooting for a ballpark # now.

If you feel comfortable with 6x400 then try for 7. I know you know basic math but I'm gonna spell stuff out anyways =) So now you will be at 2800mhz. IMO experience a good q6600 will be stable at stock volts here but itis also a gamble due to your motherboard, regarding vdroop issues and the fact that it is a p35 chipset.

What are you doing to keep vdroop in check? DO you have LLC options, meaning load line calibration ? In theory this helps negate vdroop.


When you go to fire up with the 7 multi, leave everything at stock volts unless you need to change then to get stable.

First thing I would do is up chipset voltage a notch or 2 since that is the only thing besides the cpu that will be overclocked. I already said why I would leave the cpu at stock volts for 2800 mhz... cause a good q6600 should be able to do this speed on stock volts.




*** edit.... Make sure you have all voltage settings on user specified or manual.

 

[dpk33]

It's too early to tell anything.

You really can't tell anything about true stability until you have atleast a couple hours into 100% load. But we are just shooting for a ballpark # now.

If you fell comfortable with 6x400 then try for 7. I know you know basic math but I'm gonna spell stuff out anyways =) So now you will be at 2800mhz. IMO experience a good q6600 will be stable at stock volts here but itis also a gamble due to your motherboard, regarding vdroop issues and the fact that it is a p35 chipset.

What are you doing to keep vdroop in check? DO you have LLC options, meaning load line calibration ? In theory this helps negate vdroop.


When you go to fire up with the 7 multi, leave everything at stock volts unless you need to change then to get stable.

First thing I would do is up chipset voltage a notch or 2 since that is the only thing besides the cpu that will be overclocked. I already said why I would leave the cpu at stock volts for 2800 mhz... cause a good q6600 should be able to do this speed on stock volts.




*** edit.... Make sure you have all voltage settings on user specified or manual.

Okay, I'll go check that now. And I have no LLC, which is a shame. Vdroop is about 0.15 on this board. It's pretty horrible. Well, I'll go try 7x multi and upping the chipset volts to the next level.

 

[Idontcare]

FWIW here's my old "OC your Q6600 how-to guide" post. It might be more exhaustive than what you are looking for, but I've never had a dissatisfied customer from following it.

 

[dpk33]

It's too early to tell anything.

You really can't tell anything about true stability until you have atleast a couple hours into 100% load. But we are just shooting for a ballpark # now.

If you feel comfortable with 6x400 then try for 7. I know you know basic math but I'm gonna spell stuff out anyways =) So now you will be at 2800mhz. IMO experience a good q6600 will be stable at stock volts here but itis also a gamble due to your motherboard, regarding vdroop issues and the fact that it is a p35 chipset.

What are you doing to keep vdroop in check? DO you have LLC options, meaning load line calibration ? In theory this helps negate vdroop.


When you go to fire up with the 7 multi, leave everything at stock volts unless you need to change then to get stable.

First thing I would do is up chipset voltage a notch or 2 since that is the only thing besides the cpu that will be overclocked. I already said why I would leave the cpu at stock volts for 2800 mhz... cause a good q6600 should be able to do this speed on stock volts.




*** edit.... Make sure you have all voltage settings on user specified or manual.

Same results with 7x multi. No shutdowns. I'm guessing I try 8x next time? But 8x just simply doesn't boot. 9x does though, but it isn't stable.

FWIW here's my old "OC your Q6600 how-to guide" post. It might be more exhaustive than what you are looking for, but I've never had a dissatisfied customer from following it.

I'll check this out tomorrow I have to go to bed.

 

[lavaheadache]

If you aren't booting when you try 8 it could be a few things.

First off, you will be at 3200 mhz, which is 800 over stock and a sizable overclock. I can almost say with certainty that your motherboard is incapable of using the 9 multi @400 fsb. That would be 3600 mhz and you need an awesome p45 chipset minimum to get there.

Now onto 3.2 ghz using 8x400. You are going to need more volts into the cpu for this. What is your stock VID or otherwise known as vcore? Keep in mind the least amount of voltage to hit desired speed is best, this holds true for all parameters we are adjusting. Go a little bit at a time. one or to clicks until you can boot. If you start treading into the 1.45volts range then it is something else keeping you from booting. Could be SPP, MCH or a similar voltage setting. Remember one or 2 clicks at a time

 

[rbk123]

EDIT: Okay i saw it. But are there any other voltages/settings you had to change to get that frequency? No CPU VTT or MCH or ICH voltage?

The CPU voltage setting is listed. Those are the ONLY settings I use.

1. Frequency change
- for CPU
- for Memory
2. CPU Voltage change
3. Memory timings
4. C1E and EIST

That's it. You are making this far harder than it needs to be.

 

[dpk33]

If you aren't booting when you try 8 it could be a few things.

First off, you will be at 3200 mhz, which is 800 over stock and a sizable overclock. I can almost say with certainty that your motherboard is incapable of using the 9 multi @400 fsb. That would be 3600 mhz and you need an awesome p45 chipset minimum to get there.

Now onto 3.2 ghz using 8x400. You are going to need more volts into the cpu for this. What is your stock VID or otherwise known as vcore? Keep in mind the least amount of voltage to hit desired speed is best, this holds true for all parameters we are adjusting. Go a little bit at a time. one or to clicks until you can boot. If you start treading into the 1.45volts range then it is something else keeping you from booting. Could be SPP, MCH or a similar voltage setting. Remember one or 2 clicks at a time

Okay, I just got back. I'm going to try 8x multi asap. But what bothers me is that the system wont post at 8x, but it will boot at 9x with the same voltages and settings.

The CPU voltage setting is listed. Those are the ONLY settings I use.

1. Frequency change
- for CPU
- for Memory
2. CPU Voltage change
3. Memory timings
4. C1E and EIST

That's it. You are making this far harder than it needs to be.

400fsb, 9xmulti, 1.65v (0.15 vdroop), C1E and EIST disabled. Unstable. Shuts off in the middle of stress test.

 

[lavaheadache]

Okay, I just got back. I'm going to try 8x multi asap. But what bothers me is that the system wont post at 8x, but it will boot at 9x with the same voltages and settings.



400fsb, 9xmulti, 1.65v (0.15 vdroop), C1E and EIST disabled. Unstable. Shuts off in the middle of stress test.

It could be shutting down from voltage being that high.... what are your temps when it shuts down?

 

[dpk33]

It could be shutting down from voltage being that high.... what are your temps when it shuts down?

High 60s.

 

[bryanW1995]

1.65 is way too high in bios. I'm at 1.42 and even that makes me a little nervous, though I really push mine hard with dc 24/7. If you want this thing to last you for a couple of years then keep bios voltage at 1.5 or lower. There is nothing inherently incapable of getting you to 3.6 on an ip 35e, though you need some luck bc the mono doesn't handle super high temps/voltages as well as, say, an ip 35 pro or dq 6 does.

Didn't I give you my settings as well in your other thread?