Need help with eVGA 680i / qx6700

Hello guys- I recently RMA'd my board with eVGA to receive the new version with better FSB support for quad core CPU's. My full spec's are in my signature; I was wondering if there are others on this board that have a similar setup, and what they are OC'ing to? I have done a lot of research and am finding that the FSB doesnt go up as high as i would like w/o errors and crashing. I am aware that my qx6700 is rated at a 1066 FSB. I was able to get a somewhat stable 3.4 clock with a 13X multi at 1077 FSB, but I would still get random crashing from time to time, but more importantly my CPU was still running a little hotter than I would have liked at load (69 degrees) with my new HSF (paired with a AeroCool Xtreme Turbine 120mm).

Do you guys recommend a higher FSB / lower multi or the opposite? I have read the stickies on the link and sync BIOS settings in the eVGA forums,but I am not sure what others think. Kingston rates my memory for 800 at 2.0v with a 4-4-4-12, but I think it should be lower and at 5-5-5-15 with higher OC? Is there still a problem with this board and 4 slots of memory filled? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated

That's a hell of a rig...

Thanks, it's my first build, and hopefully will last me for a while as it broke the bank lol. I went from Dell training wheels to this- not a bad jump eh?

Whelp, after all day screwing around with BIOS resets, it looks like my rig is stable at 3.2 under full load with orthos, temps running an average 0f 63 degress celsius. I guess an 83% OC is pretty good lol, I don't know why I had this notion that it was going to be 3.5 on air or bust, this seems to be the spot for my PC. Any thoughts?

I am wondering if having memory that overclocks faster would let me OC my CPU higher as well?

No way man, you can clock better! Did you try going straight to 3600? There's a FSB hole from 375ish-410ish, that's probably the first most common problem experienced clockers come across. You wouldn't know it's there unless you just jumped over it, or someone told you lol. I didn't know about it and was stuck around 3.3ghz. The hole has to do with strapping at certain FSB.

I have my q6600 over 3.55ghz 24/7 settings. Vcore at 1.3875, I can't remember other volts off the top of my mind, but I do know what held me back was the hole. Try that first beforey ou think about the memory.

bluesugar said:

Whelp, after all day screwing around with BIOS resets, it looks like my rig is stable at 3.2 under full load with orthos, temps running an average 0f 63 degress celsius. I guess an 83% OC is pretty good lol, I don't know why I had this notion that it was going to be 3.5 on air or bust, this seems to be the spot for my PC. Any thoughts?

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Just to let you know, I'm not sure how you calculated an 83% OC.

3.2 Ghz - 2.66 Ghz = 0.54 Ghz increase

0.54 Ghz / 2.66 Ghz = .20300751

So you actually only have a little over a 20% OC.

An 85% OC would be about a 2.26 Ghz, increase for you. Meaning..

2.26 Ghz / 2.66 Ghz = .84962406

So an 85% OC would be 2.66 + 2.26 = 4.92 Ghz !!! lol

Sorry for the math, but I was like when I saw 83%. Wanted to clear that up for you. But you should be able to do better, try what treatmentx stated. It isn't your ram, and is surely the 680i chipset.

Maybe it's a brain fart, I have those all the time =)

For real, reseat it, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Those numbers, there's definitely something wrong and the most common problem is mounting.

This is the exact setup I am looking to get. Not so much because it's the best clocking board but because of EVGA's customer support which is top notch. I just rma'd an 8800 superclocked and am getting it cross shipped. I have messed up so many boards and cards that EVGA seems like the way to go for me, so please let us (or me) know how you make out clocking.

Maverick0984 said:

Just to let you know, I'm not sure how you calculated an 83% OC.

3.2 Ghz - 2.66 Ghz = 0.54 Ghz increase

0.54 Ghz / 2.66 Ghz = .20300751

So you actually only have a little over a 20% OC.

An 85% OC would be about a 2.26 Ghz, increase for you. Meaning..

2.26 Ghz / 2.66 Ghz = .84962406

So an 85% OC would be 2.66 + 2.26 = 4.92 Ghz !!! lol

Sorry for the math, but I was like when I saw 83%. Wanted to clear that up for you. But you should be able to do better, try what treatmentx stated. It isn't your ram, and is surely the 680i chipset.

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Yeah lol that math WAS a brainfart. BTW to the person that said there is a hole in the FSB, what are your volts in your BIOS? I have air cooling and it does a great but not amazing job- 3.6 on Prime95 at all 4 cores scares me a little. What volts do you have to be stable?

BTW you said you have your q6600 at 3.55, but I have B3 stepping and heard that my QX6700 probably wonmt stably OC over 3.2-3.4

bluesugar said:

BTW you said you have your q6600 at 3.55, but I have B3 stepping and heard that my QX6700 probably wonmt stably OC over 3.2-3.4

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You should be able to get over that, generally for whatever reason most of these chips get iffy around 3.6ghz. Anything after that requires water or some luck. Whether it be a Q6600 or a QX6700 or a E6600 for that matter.

I did say 3.55ghz, but I only played with it for a 3 days or less. I'm at 3.8ghz stable daily now, and can get up to 4.0ghz to bench. I think it could be re-seating probs to get temps down, and also the FSB holes to jump over. Remember, 350-375FSB (x 4) are iffy, due to strapping issues.