Just got my e6600 (my first intel CPU since PIII), what should I know?

I just got my first intel e6600 CPU and I won't get the motherboard or RAM I ordered until Wednesday. What threads should I read for a little information on overclocking intel CPUs or what small tips does anyone have? I've been overclocking since socket A and 939 is my current rig. I understand RAM timings, speeds, and overclocking these types of systems. My current rig is 1:1 ram timing mushkin redlines at 270mhz along with my fsb @ 270mhz, and 2.7ghz dual core opteron.

My first question is simple, which number is the stepping on this CPU? Doesn't seem as straightforward as an AMD chip, which numbers are important?

6600 SL9ZL MALAY (I assume this is Model, stepping, and place of creation)
L71 0A262 (these I am less certain of)


Is this a good overclocker from what people have seen? Are the multipliers locked? (I think they are)
What speed should I shoot for, 3.6ghz or is that wishful thinking?

I come from the background of every 2500+ can hit at least 2.2ghz with the flip of a switch and any 939 can get at least 500mhz. Are Intel chips a bit less certain?

Sorry for asking all these questions. Any general help is greatly appreciated, like good voltages to shoot for, RAM timings (my first ddr2 set), and any bios settings that may be different from an AMD setup, thanks!!

This was my first OC and it was very very simple. I would shoot for 3.2 Ghz, and try to see if you can get 3.6+ (Aftermarket cooler of course, although you can shoot for 3.0 on stock if you're lucky) My E6600 is stepping 6, I have a week44 chip. Running 1.408 at 3.0, will change it to 3.2 400x8 soon. 12 hours stable in ORTHOS, you'll enjoy it

hope this helps: http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hopethishelpsax8.jpg

I'm going to use my xp-120 on it and a thermalright 120mm fan. Is 1.4v a lot for these chips? What does stepping 6 mean and can you figure that out from the chip itself or only from CPU-z (and other programs of that type)?

All E6600 are B2 stepping as far as I know (see link). CPU-Z calls it stepping 6 revision B2, but I think Intel calls it the opposite.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=2558&sSpec=&OrdCode=

Most of the E6600 O/C similarly, generally they will do at least 3.2-3.4 gig. A lot of them do 3.6 gig with good cooling and extra voltage.

The multiplier is 9X and is locked upwards, but you can drop down.

No, 1.4v vcore is low. They will easily handle 1.5v with good cooling and maybe more.

What motherboard are you getting? That is a factor in how much you'll O/C. Good DDR2 timings at DDR2-800 speed are 4-4-4-10.

vixro said:

I just got my first intel e6600 CPU and I won't get the motherboard or RAM I ordered until Wednesday. What threads should I read for a little information on overclocking intel CPUs or what small tips does anyone have? I've been overclocking since socket A and 939 is my current rig. I understand RAM timings, speeds, and overclocking these types of systems. My current rig is 1:1 ram timing mushkin redlines at 270mhz along with my fsb @ 270mhz, and 2.7ghz dual core opteron.

My first question is simple, which number is the stepping on this CPU? Doesn't seem as straightforward as an AMD chip, which numbers are important?

6600 SL9ZL MALAY (I assume this is Model, stepping, and place of creation)
L71 0A262 (these I am less certain of)


Is this a good overclocker from what people have seen? Are the multipliers locked? (I think they are)
What speed should I shoot for, 3.6ghz or is that wishful thinking?

I come from the background of every 2500+ can hit at least 2.2ghz with the flip of a switch and any 939 can get at least 500mhz. Are Intel chips a bit less certain?

Sorry for asking all these questions. Any general help is greatly appreciated, like good voltages to shoot for, RAM timings (my first ddr2 set), and any bios settings that may be different from an AMD setup, thanks!!

Click to expand...

the c2ds you can expect crazy clocks... i have done 4ghz with my e6600 but i keep it at 3ghz (25% oc) with the vcore at 1.225 (1.325 is stock... so 8% undervolt) todally stable... your gonna love ur chip... welcome to intel

at 3ghz this means 333x9... i run my ram at a 2:3 divider so it runs at 1000mhz... 4-4-4-12 @ 2.25v.... although i havnt messed with timings im sure i could do tighter timings.

and xp120... it will do well but not as good as say an Ultra120 / ultra120 extreme.

The motherboard I chose was the Asus Commando.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131149

So, running RAM on intel computers with dividers can increase performance instead of causing strange results? (like with AMD based systems)

AMD processors are more stand alone. You can set a divider and FSB to whatever. They are easier to get good clocks out of poor or cheap quality components. Intel you need to have good ram and board to get higher clocks but now most boards should overclock well and even value ddr2 ram seems to be efficient enough to reach 3-3.2ghz on air. Higher clocks you will need more recognizable brands for the mobo and ram. Especially if you think of going water or other type of cooling. The earlier processors have been reaching the 3.6ghz+ and the newer ones arent doing that well. Some have even said they can only get 3.0ghz so it is luck of the draw. Check other forums before you makle a decision

Hazaro said:

This was my first OC and it was very very simple. I would shoot for 3.2 Ghz, and try to see if you can get 3.6+ (Aftermarket cooler of course, although you can shoot for 3.0 on stock if you're lucky) My E6600 is stepping 6, I have a week44 chip. Running 1.408 at 3.0, will change it to 3.2 400x8 soon. 12 hours stable in ORTHOS, you'll enjoy it

hope this helps: http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hopethishelpsax8.jpg

Click to expand...

hi'
as your sig says it all,
don't push it too much unless you bank account is really wealthy

imho, turn a cpu built to run at 266fsb to 400fsb and over is a madness ... if you like to see how far ot goes, it's fine!
BUT, if you work with your machine, a cpu running @ 3ghz is
largerly enough.

and anyway, what would we gain? mhz? some
and also the risk to burn it ...

I was at fsb 356 ... today didn' boot
back to fsb 333, everything's fine

i686

ps; it all depend if you want to OC for max or for comfort ...

installing now!!!!!

Complete failure. I am running into some major issues with the motherboard itself. For some reason, the Vista drivers won't install from the CD. The upgrade nor the regular disk. The LAN drivers are installed and found but I can't connect to the internet even with network resets and I'm on the internet on another computer on the same network. Overclocking the FSB from 266-275 caused immediate shutdown. Program installs are resulting in failures. My xp-120 bracket doesn't fit the motherboard so I had to use the retail HSF and my idle temps are like 42c, I haven't even checked my load temps because asus probe fails to load.

What the hell, can anything else go wrong?

Disabling UAC fixed the internet, amazing? Asus probe works now too. Now I just have to figure out the rest of these problems.




Ok, I guess this is just some sort of lowered usage when the computer isn't using the computing power. Is there an option in my bios to disable this? I couldn't find anything enabled that would do that. Anyway, I got up to around 3.15ghz with 1.35v, but when I ran orthos the CPU went up to 70c and orthos crashed. I am going to go back to 3ghz and see if I can find something a bit more stable until I find more suitable aftermarket cooling. My idle temp still worries me, it's 45C at this voltage, isnt 1.35v not that high? (of course it's much higher than default.)


I am back to 1.33v and my RAM is at 2.22v. Currently I am at 340x9 (which is about 3.06ghz) and the RAM is running at 1020mhz 5-5-5-12. When I tried to run Orthos, my temp went from 45c idle to 65-72c (and kept rising) in the first minute of running the program. I did not have any immediate errors, but those temperatures worried me so I turned it off. Is stock cooling doing this to me, or is the Asus Probe inaccurate for CPU temperature readings? Perhaps I applied the AS5 wrong (only the 10th system or so I've used it on). Either way, I am a bit unhappy and will mess with it some more tomorrow. I ordered a retention clip for my xp-120 so that I can install it onto this motherboard. Once I get that big bad *** thing on here I will feel much better about this. From the looks of it, my voltage is low for the speeds I had... hrm. Perhaps its just the cooling making me mad.

As you are finding out, the stock Intel cooler does not cut it when overclocking. That idle temp suggest you could improve case ventilation too. I would drop vcore back to default and drop the O/C down to maybe 300 FSB (2.7 gig) until you address the cooling issues. It's a dual core, it's gonna run hot.

Case ventilation is fantastic, I think that I may have mounted the stock cooler incorrectly and I'm not getting very good surface contact. The cooler was quite unique and I don't think I installed it properly because those temps are ridiculously high. The motherboard temperature reads in the low 30c region.

Disable C1E under advanced->cpu configuration to stop the multis from changing

Try out coretemp for temperature monitoring.

yea try reaseating that and upping that voltage a little

also... did you raise the nb voltage?

No, I have not raised the NB voltage, do I need to yet? The FSB is pretty low right now at only 340mhz.

vista & OC

hi'
seems to me that I heard that OC was more difficult to get under vista ...

anyway, better leave the NB alobe unless you have setup a good chip cooler

something that "you need to disable" vandepool technology"
needs to be at default setup to do so ...
also, intel speed step, disabled!
cpu ratio, disable if you use a 9x multi.

1.33v vcore for 340 is correct, could be 1.35v
vdimm; minimum when OC is around 2.00v and higher if you ram support it, running at 1000mhz, you could set it at 2.1 or 2.2v, check spec for your ram
SB; 1.50v do it ok.
fsb Termination voltage :1.40v
pciE: set at 100!
and pci : 33.33 lock this

and then play with fsb bit by bit, and rise volt a bit or loose ram timing to get it, but 340 fsb is nice already

i686

ps; you can reach fsb 360 easily, without problem, but do it slow
this were I was when I decided to step back to fsb 333 to get a conroe E6600 @ 3.0ghz, comfortable and fast enough

I got my xp-120 mounting brackets today and installed this. You don't appreciate aftermarket cooling until it's installed. I forgot how much I missed it. Not only is the chip quiet, but I have 35c idle and 47-48c load at 1.4v now. I am happy!!! I am still tweaking around a bit with the FSB, but I got up to 380x9 without too much trouble with 1.40v. Orthos ran for 10 minutes and I didn't crash out, I just wanted to find out what my temperature was. I'm going to tweak a few more things and then start benching once I find a stable enough setting.

edit: alright I finished with 360x9 1.4v. (3240mhz) and DDR1080 5-5-5-12 2.2v


I am happy. I may try lowering the voltage to see if I can maintain performance. I couldn't go above 370mhz stable and 390mhz+ wouldnt even POST with 1.4v. I didn't feel comfortable adding more volts, so I will stay here at this speed.

core2 chips are pretty nice

I got a boner from installing this on my Intel chip so I have to share the pictures.

I love my xp-120 and I felt naked without it.

nice setting

hi'
I was looking at your sig, and after thinking a bit I thought,
why doesn't he try a 8x400 with ram at 1:1 and less volt on it,
like vdimm:2.0v
and might be also low down the vcore a notch ...
take a look at my sig

did you try? coz your ram can do it easy with good timings

that' what I did, it rocks far better than the same speed with an 9x multi
just an idea... (imho of course)

friendly

i686

that heatsink! Holy crap, batman!