Sad overclock :(

Hello all,

Put the following system together from spare parts:

Windows Server 2008 R2
Intel E6600 w/ Stock HSF
Asrock G41M-S mobo
4GB Crucial PC-6400
old but good 300W FSP PSU

Here's the situation:
I have only been able to overclock the rig to 305 FSB from the stock 266. This puts me at 2.745Ghz which isn't that great, I was really hoping for 3Ghz at least. If I try and go higher, I crash, I am using intelburntest and orthos to stress test. I have eliminated the memory as the issue because if i increase the timing and lower the memory speed I still get lock ups. Also, I don't think the PSU is an issue because before I put the E6600 in, I had an old P4 which according to my watt meter, consumed 30 watts more that the overclocked E6600.

My questions are related to voltages.

Currently I am at 1.40625V vCore which droops to 1.34 under load according to both CPUz and Speedfan. The NB is at 1.251V and the next step up from that is 1.351V.

Is it possible that the NB voltage is what is holding me back? I can also increase the VTT voltage and GTLRef Voltage but after doing some research I read that altering this does not help unless you are doing extreme overclocking with LN2.

Temps on the CPU under load do not go above 56C and power consumption has not gone over 130Watts.

What do you all think? more vCore? NB Voltage? Something else?

Thanks in advance,

That power supply might not be enough...

Thanks for your reply Joeteck,

I don't think it's the PSU for the reason I mentioned in the first post. I will try and get my hands on a more powerful unit to test. Wouldn't the rig just switch off if it wasn't strong enough?

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=478342

You may want to read that thread...

adict2jane said:

Thanks for your reply Joeteck,

I don't think it's the PSU for the reason I mentioned in the first post. I will try and get my hands on a more powerful unit to test. Wouldn't the rig just switch off if it wasn't strong enough?

Click to expand...

No... It will crash... freeze and start doing things unstable..

look around... everyone who over clocks have some beefy power supplies to handle the additional wattage... I have a 750.

I gotta agree with Joeteck on this. That 300w psu is not enough. Tho Fortron was good back during the socket A days, it isn't enough to power a 775 as the power requirements/demands are totally different from Socket A to 775.

You might want to look at a good name brand unit with a beefy 12v rail (28a or better)

OK, thanks for the knowledge guys. Haven't had a chance to try a more powerful PSU yet but I will. This morning I was a bit more aggressive and now I am at 320 FSB (2880 Mhz) with 1.41V (loaded) on the CPU, Tested stable!

I think that's a pretty high voltage for an e6600.

I had an e6300 a few years back and I was able to overclock it over 3GHz with ease.

Krogen said:

I think that's a pretty high voltage for an e6600.

I had an e6300 a few years back and I was able to overclock it over 3GHz with ease.

Click to expand...

I think the mobo is to maybe to blame for that, it really isn't meant for overclocking...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157165

UPDATE:
Even though I knew I was limited by my board I picked up a new PSU:
http://80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_reports/SP690_CWT_PUK500V-G_ATX12V_500W_Report.pdf

Really nice, 80plus Gold!

Unfortunately, it didn't help with my stability issues...
I did get more aggressive with the Vcore, currently I am at 334x9 = 3004 Mhz!!!
So I got to my overclocking goal, but at and extremely high Vcore, 1.5375 in BIOS and ~1.45-1.47 load in windows

Now I have to worry about killing the CPU with the high Vcore, gonna try and keep the temps under 65 Celsius, I assume the mobo will die before the mobo if i do so...

adict2jane said:

OK, thanks for the knowledge guys. Haven't had a chance to try a more powerful PSU yet but I will. This morning I was a bit more aggressive and now I am at 320 FSB (2880 Mhz) with 1.41V (loaded) on the CPU, Tested stable!

Click to expand...

Good chance that you can do 2.8 Ghz stably at 1.325V. Shouldn't need more until the 3.0 mark.

RJARRRPCGP said:

Good chance that you can do 2.8 Ghz stably at 1.325V. Shouldn't need more until the 3.0 mark.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.
I know what I "should" be able to achieve, unfortunately, my board sucks.