OC QX6700 & 965 chipset mobo

Hello,

I just bought the QX6700 & definitely want to OC it.

Before I purchase a mother board & memory I want to research around to find out which are the best choices for OC the QX6700 but also to consider that I will be doing a RAID 0 with 4 HD so have to make sure that the mobo can support at least 4 SATA HD (for example Asus P5WDH cant)

I found an article on Toms Hardware saying that the new 680i mobos dont perform well with 4HD in a RAID 0 so that is why I want a 965 chipset one.

Currently I was thinking about the Asus P5B Deluxe.

Does anyone have experience with a QX6700 & a Asus P5B Deluxe mobo ?

What can I expect to get in OC it ? Over 3GHZ possible ?

What memory should I use ? I have had success with Core 2 CPUs with Corsair DDR2 800.

Also ideally if someone could give me BIOS settings.

Or any other 965 mobos & memory combos that would work well together.

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Thank you,
Jeff

the p5b-dlx is the board to get if you are using the qx6700, because it will give you the highest FSB.

also, if you are into RAID, you are in for a treat. it has Intel Matrix raid. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=467848&highlight=raid

3ghz should be very simple. you should aim for around 3.2-3.5ghz.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

3ghz should be very simple. you should aim for around 3.2-3.5ghz.

Click to expand...

Agreed with everything but this.. Carefull HBB this isn't a C2D anymore, heatload at 3.5Ghz will take some cooling.

Go by temps and report back, It would be nice to see more results out in the wild

I've got two up and running now

One on an Intel XBX and the other on a Gigabyte board. FSB doesn't go up very easy without a lot of hangs in my experience. Easiest way is to just up the multi. They are unlocked. Multi of 12x (3.2) is pretty easy on stock air and about 1.4 volts. 13x multi (3.46) is a bit harder. I've got a 3.42 that runs 24/7 on stock air at 1.41v and a 3.24 that runs at 1.41v 24/7 both load (4 cores folding) at 66-67C. At 70 (readout on Intel's desktop tools) they usually will reboot.
I also sanded down the top of the one running 3.46. I think this does help a bit.

greenmaji said:

Agreed with everything but this.. Carefull HBB this isn't a C2D anymore, heatload at 3.5Ghz will take some cooling.

Click to expand...

that's why i said around

What would a "good" temp be for QX6700?

My QX6700 runs 49C idle and 72C loaded with TAT+prime95+superpi (TAT can only max two cores). That's on a Tuniq tower. I'm wondering if I need to reseat or if that's reasonable for stock volts (3% overclock).

Looks like the GX6700 is rated to 100C rather than the lower ratings on the duos - so maybe 70C is ok, but...

Hope this isn't a hijack, it seems relevant to defining how hard you can push a QX6700 since they are thermal limited in most cases.

lol i still woudnt go near 100, otherwise you would be having a cook off

Thermal spec is 65C only about 4C higher then C2D
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9UL

btw.. the deisgn power *TDP* is 130W stock.

Hmmm, I'm getting very high temp readings too. @ 85% load, 70-80C. Also, with the QX6700 and a EVGA 680i board, I can't change the bus speeds, only the multiplier... This seems weird since it's an intel. Has anybody else notice the bus speeds locked, and the multiplier being unlocked?

Hmm, well that's 65C thermal spec for the middle of the IHS. But I don't have a temp reading for that spot.

I'm reading the temps with coretemp / TAT which supposedly is closer to Tj. The processor won't kick into TM1 or TM2 until coretemp/TAT readings approach Tj max of 100C on the QX6700 or 85C on the core2duo. So that's what I meant by Kentsfield having a higher thermal limit.

But I assume from everyone's reaction that my TAT temps are higher than normal for this chip. Will work on that.

gudwyn, where are you getting these numbers from?

TjMax is reported by CoreTemp; Question might be, what is it you mean by TM1 and TM2.

Sorry, until recently I worked in CPU development and forget that not everyone tracks Intel power management closely.

TM1 is "Intel Thermal Monitor 1". When the CPU reaches a certain temp, it triggers the chipset to start throttling the CPU frequency by sending a STPCLK waveform of a certain duty cycle to the CPU. When STPCLK is asserted, the CPU halts. This has linear active power savings with the decrease in effective CPU performance. But you still have leakage, so the power savings are sublinear.

TM2 is "Intel Thermal Monitor 2" When the CPU reaches a certain threshold, the CPU multiplier drops to it's lowest value (six for core2 I think) and then the voltage regulator drops the core vdd to the minimum voltage necessary to run the processor at that speed. This reduces power consumption by significantly more than it reduces performance - usually cutting power consumption by more than half. TM2 is normally set to trigger at slightly lower temp than TM1.

Several problems here for overclockers.

1. TM1 isn't very effective because as you raise VDD (core voltage), the leakage power goes up. When a CPU is idle, effectively all the power draw is leakage. So if you see idle temps go up that's leakage.

2. TM2 assumes the parts FSB is running at stock. So it drops multiplier to 6, it thinks the CPU is now at 6*266=1600mhz. Then the voltage drops to the minimum necessary to run at that frequency. But if your FSB is overclocked, your part may not run at the lowered voltage since the actual frequnecy is higher.

3. CPUs get significantly slower as they heat up. So most overclockers are using some of that margin to get higher performance. Since we can't alter the TM1/TM2 thresholds, the part stops working right long before the Tj temp is hit that kicks in TM2/TM1.

4. There is a temp / voltage curve where permanently bad things happen to transistors. If you over-volt, you have to keep temp lower than the Tj specification. And TM1/TM2 can't help you there due to non-programmable thresholds.

So I know all that. But I still don't know what a QX6700 typically has for a Tj temp on a well seated Tuniq. Doh!

Why not run two instances of TAT (or Orthose) from seperate folders, and set affentiy to each core in task manager?

I wasn't aware of there being two TM values.. TM2 was what I was aware of as being the TM value according to your description, being non-progamable was assumed.

The Tj specification temperature you speek of in #4 is reported by CoreTemp as TjMax correct?

Yes, the Tjmax reported by coretemp is the Tj specification. The part is forced to that temp and tested at stock voltage/frequency before being shipped.

I run a QX6700 on water at 3.45GHz at around 1.4ish volts, and run in the 70° range when fully loaded. I have also heard that throttling doesn't start happening until at least 100°, which doesn't necessarily mean you want to get in that ballpark, but short of seriously overvolting it, I think you will become too unstable for your system to function, before the processor bakes. Lifespan is obviously going to be reduced running at these temps with overclocking, but if you are going to max performance, I don't think you will have the same processor for 5 or 10 years anyway. Quad-cores are still overkill for everyone except the hard-core graphics and audiophiles, but who cares what's practical, I have a little weiner I have to make up for with my hugely overpowered computer!

I run a QX6700 on water at 3.45GHz at around 1.4ish volts, and run in the 70° range when fully loaded. I have also heard that throttling doesn't start happening until at least 100°, which doesn't necessarily mean you want to get in that ballpark, but short of seriously overvolting it, I think you will become too unstable for your system to function, before the processor bakes. Lifespan is obviously going to be reduced running at these temps with overclocking, but if you are going to max performance, I don't think you will have the same processor for 5 or 10 years anyway. Quad-cores are still overkill for everyone except the hard-core graphics and audiophiles, but who cares what's practical, I have a little weiner I have to make up for with my hugely overpowered computer!

More on point, I run the P5W DH Deluxe, and other then the fact that the current BIOS has a bug with the multiplier, which doesn't allow more then a 10x multiplier, I love it. Easy RAID if you so desire, and enough I/O ports for all your extra goodies.