q6600 + p5kc voltages

Never bothered to overclock my cpu until now and im stuck with the voltage part of the overclock. Im pretty sure I have the fsb/cpu multiplier and ram settings correct but im not really sure about all the voltage settings and how to set them to make my system stable. My setup:

Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4ghz OC'd to 3.3ghz
Asus P5KC Motherboard
Gigabyte GTX 460 Video Card
Patriot PC2-6400 800mhz DDR2 4gigs
WD Viking Sata 10K RPM 150gigs HDD
Windows 7 64bit Ultimate

My problem is that when I try to run prime95 I get errors and it crashes, and even some games (Black Ops, Darkfall, Rift) just randomly completely close, and on occasion I do get a blue screen. I've looked around and most say that I need to up the voltages. But I dont know for sure what settings do what with voltages. Here is a CPUZ and Speedfan screenshot of my info:



I have tinkered with some of the settings but no matter what I did the vcore never seemed to go up in CPUZ. So as you can see im stuck and seeking some advice on and looking to see what others have for their voltages.

Here are my current motherboard settings:

CPU Ratio Setting: 9.0
FSB Strap to Northbridge: 333Mhz
FSB Frequency: 370
PCIE Frequency: Auto
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-889Mhz
DRAM Command Rate: Auto

CAS# Latency: 4
RAS# to CAS# Delay: 4 DRAM Clocks
RAS# Pre Time: 4 DRAM Clocks
RAS# ACT Time: 12 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: Auto
REF Cycle Time: Auto
Write Recovery Time: Auto
Write to Read Delay: Auto
Read To PRE Time: Auto

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control: Disabled
Adjust CHA Skew Support: Disabled
Adjust CHB Skew Support: Disabled

Transaction Booster: Disabled

CPU Voltage: Auto
CPU PLL Voltage: Auto
FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
DRAM Voltage: Auto
NB Voltage: Auto
Clock Over-Charge Voltage: Auto
Load-Line Calibration: Auto
CPU GTL Voltage Reference: Auto
NB GTL Voltage Reference: Auto
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

Can anyone help me with my current setup with the voltages? And how does the temps look? Any help would be appreciated.

Your DDR2-800 RAM is currently running at 889MHz on the 2.40 DRAM multiplier (5:6 FSB : DRAM ratio) at a FSB of 370MHz. Keeping the strap at 333, change the DRAM frequency to DDR2-740 (2.00 multiplier / 1:1 FSB : DRAM ratio). And instead of using Speedfan to monitor the core temp's, use either Core Temp or Real Temp. You might also want to post the VID of your chip, which can be found by opening Real Temp to the Settings page.

redduc900 said:

Your DDR2-800 RAM is currently running at 889MHz on the 2.40 DRAM multiplier (5:6 FSB : DRAM ratio) at a FSB of 370MHz. Keeping the strap at 333, change the DRAM frequency to DDR2-740 (2.00 multiplier / 1:1 FSB : DRAM ratio). And instead of using Speedfan to monitor the core temp's, use either Core Temp or Real Temp. You might also want to post the VID of your chip, which can be found by opening Real Temp to the Settings page.

Click to expand...

Ok I did that and raised my cpu to 3.4 and it boots and runs fine. Even played some online games and it ran fine (Black Ops and Darkfall). Downloaded and installed Real Temp and here is the screenie of it:



I also ran prime95 to see if it would run stable and I got errors right away:



Here are my exact settings:

CPU Frequency: 9.0
FSB Strap: 333
FSB Frequency: 376
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-752

CPU Voltage: 1.4
DRAM Voltage: 2.2
FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
NB Voltage: Auto

With those errors should I slow it down to where it will run stable with prime95 or my voltages not set correctly?

Leave all the settings as is, but boot to Memtest86+ and check the RAM for stability at 376MHz and 4-4-4-12. What are the SPD timings and voltage for that RAM at DDR2-800? And don't forget about posting the VID of your quad (click the Settings button in Real Temp).

redduc900 said:

Leave all the settings as is, but boot to Memtest86+ and check the RAM for stability at 376MHz and 4-4-4-12. What are the SPD timings and voltage for that RAM at DDR2-800? And don't forget about posting the VID of your quad (click the Settings button in Real Temp).

Click to expand...

Ok, here is the screenie and the only thing that I see with VID is whats in the screenshot along with the SPD and voltage of my ram:



Going to try out memtest86+ and see how that goes now.

A VID of 1.2625V is pretty high for a Q6600, and although it's a G0 stepping it's going to need a considerable amount of Vcc (Vcore) to hit any substantial clocks. See the Settings button at the bottom of the main screen in Real Temp? That's what I was referring to when I noted the "Settings page", but the pic. you posted of the VID should be fine.

Been messing with different settings and so far the most stable settings were this here:


Was able to run prime95 stable and at full load temps were 58-61. When I try to go any higher I simply get errors right away on prime95. But I am curious to what these other voltage settings do here:

CPU PLL Voltage: Auto
FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
NB Voltage: Auto
Clock Over-Charge Voltage: Auto
Load-Line Calibration: Auto
CPU GTL Voltage Reference: Auto
NB GTL Voltage Reference: Auto

These are all still on Auto, any chance those could help stabilize my system at higher frequencies??

Since the P5K is a P35 board, and w/ 4GB of RAM installed at a FSB of ~400MHz, you might want to bump FSB Termination Voltage (VTT) from Auto (1.20V) to 1.30V, and North Bridge Voltage from Auto (1.25V) to 1.40V. Leave the GTL vREFs on Auto for the time being, including PLL voltage. And you might want to experiment w/ LLC (Load-Line Calibration) by enabling it, then comparing the Vcore shown in CPU-Z while running Prime w/ that as set in the BIOS.

redduc900 said:

Since the P5K is a P35 board, and w/ 4GB of RAM installed at a FSB of ~400MHz, you might want to bump FSB Termination Voltage (VTT) from Auto (1.20V) to 1.30V, and North Bridge Voltage from Auto (1.25V) to 1.40V. Leave the GTL vREFs on Auto for the time being, including PLL voltage. And you might want to experiment w/ LLC (Load-Line Calibration) by enabling it, then comparing the Vcore shown in CPU-Z while running Prime w/ that as set in the BIOS.

Click to expand...

I will try that. Is there a difference from when I use 8.0 on the cpu frequency vs 9.0 performance wise? Seems you still come out with the same ghz speed wise on the cpu.

You're looking to achieve the highest FSB w/ the highest clock, but since you're limited by your 400MHz RAM w/ a 1:1 FSB : DRAM ratio, you may not be able to go much higher w/ the FSB. A lot depends on the quality of your RAM, and how well it does w/ higher frequencies. You could always try loosening the four primary timings, loosening the available sub-timings, increasing the DRAM voltage, or supplying more vMCH to try and compensate. You'll just have to experiment and see what your RAM is capable of, but 4GB just adds to the difficulty.

redduc900 said:

You're looking to achieve the highest FSB w/ the highest clock, but since you're limited by your 400MHz RAM w/ a 1:1 FSB : DRAM ratio, you may not be able to go much higher w/ the FSB. A lot depends on the quality of your RAM, and how well it does w/ higher frequencies. You could always try loosening the four primary timings, loosening the available sub-timings, increasing the DRAM voltage, or supplying more vMCH to try and compensate. You'll just have to experiment and see what your RAM is capable of, but 4GB just adds to the difficulty.

Click to expand...

Alright gonna flip the hat backwards and go to work! Anyways, thanks for all the info and help, you have been very helpful dude! Much appreciated

Been tinkering with the vcore and curious to know why is it when I set the vcore to a setting in the bios, it doesn't show the same vcore in cpuz? I have it set higher in the bios and it always shows lower for some reason on cpuz. I have it set to 1.37 in the bios and it shows a variation between 1.304-1.312 in cpuz.

Enable LLC, monitor the Vcore while running Prime, then again compare that w/ the Vcore as set in the BIOS.

I enabled it and checked and idle on cpuz it shows 1.320v-1.328 and when I ran prime95 the vcore went way down to 1.240v-1.248v. Now why would it go down while running prime95, I would have thought with such a test that would go up and not down lol. So confused haha.

Edit: Even with LCC disabled, I got the same exact results with the vcore while idle and running prime95. Idle was higher vcore, and when I ran prime95, it went down to 1.24v. Odd