Need help stabilizing my Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz

Specs:

Q6600 G0
Abit IP35-Pro
4gb (2x2gb) A-Data DDR2-6400
MSI 3870 OC Edition 512mb
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme w/133cfm Scythe 120mm fan
Corsair TX750 PSU
Raidmax Smilodon Case w/one 133cfm Scythe 120mm fan for exhaust and one generic 120mm intake fan and 2 generic 80mm intake fans

So, i got it stable at 3.15Ghz on stock Vcore (450*7), but i can't get stable at 3.6Ghz (450*8 or 400*9, neither is stable). It boots into windows but two instances of orthos with the affinity set fail after 30 seconds. Core temps at 3.15 were all 49C or lower at load. I'm thinking that because of the low temps at the 3.15 and the fact that it does boot into windows, that i can be made stable at 3.6

Here are the voltages that i'm currently running:

Vcore 1.4950
DDR2 1.950
CPU VTT 1.27
MCH 1.48
ICH 1.15
ICHIO 1.55
DDR2 Ref +2%
CPU GTL Ref 0&2 67%
CPU GTL Ref 1&3 67%

Please let me know what areas you guys think i need more voltage in and what areas are too high, if any. I know that Vcore may be too high, but that is OK...after i get it stable, i will lower the Vcore until i find the lowest possible voltage that i can remain stable at.

You're pretty lucky; I am having trouble stabilizing at 3.0. :|

really? do you have a G0? to get 3.0 on my G0 i just raised the FSB reference clock to 333...didn't change any voltages or anything.

What does CPUZ say your temps are under load? you may need to increase vcore to offset the droop
i had to set vcore in bios to 1.54 finally to get rock solid stable which gives me a max vcore read by CPUZ of 1.50 under minimal load and down to 1.47 or so under prime95x4

Ok, so i started from scratch and reworked the voltages. i decided to focus on getting 400x9 stable since i wouldn't have to worry about the ram being overclocked and causing problems. Here are my new voltages:

Vcore 1.535
DDR2 1.950
MCH 1.44
ICHIO 1.55
CPU VTT 1.27
DDR2 +2%
ICH 1.15

I get 3 minutes into dual orthos stress testing with small FFTs before my computer locks up. The core temps at load are 61-61-52-54. I do get pretty big Vdroop from the 1.535 set in the bios to an actual voltage of 1.450 at full load. i'm wondering if that may be the culprit. i'm stress testing 425x8 (3.4Ghz, slight RAM overclock) right now with the same voltages and it appears to be stable. i'm getting the same temps at 3.4 that i was getting at 3.6

I'm also wondering why 2 of the cores run significantly cooler than the other 2. maybe its because the AS5 has cured yet?

does anyone here have the IP35-Pro with a Q6600 that can give me their voltages for reference?

My first post

Today Is also my first real attempt at overclocking other than upping to 333x9.
I tried 3.2 and 3.4GHz and now trying to get 3.6GHz.

Moto211 lets share some notes, as I am learning as I go
At the moment i got it at 3.6GHz(400x9)
vcore: bios set at 1.45, idle 1.41, load 1.35
ram ratio at 1:1
I started Prime95 30 mins ago and so far so good

Also had some issue with CPUz, it would randomly freeze the whole system. I deleted it and downloaded again. Fixed.

Changed ram to 1:1, default was 1:1.5. Would not post at 1.15. Also stock voltage of 1.8. I'll mess with the ram later.

system:
q6600 G0
Ip35 pro
Antec 900, medium/high Yate Loons on Sunbeam fan controller
Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme
2Gb G.Skill 6400
8800gt
Corsair hx620

moto211 said:

I'm also wondering why 2 of the cores run significantly cooler than the other 2. maybe its because the AS5 has cured yet?

Click to expand...

Are you sure the affinity is set up right? Try using the multi-threaded Prime95. It automatically loads all 4 cores. Then let us know if your temps are still far apart.

I'm at 5 hours with Prime95. 3.6GHz(400x9) at 1.45V.
I think I'll let this run for 12 hours then try a lower vcore.

F1F2F3F4 said:

I'm at 5 hours with Prime95. 3.6GHz(400x9) at 1.45V.
I think I'll let this run for 12 hours then try a lower vcore.

Click to expand...

That's darn good. I can run XP x64 stable @ 3.6GHz (vcore 1.455) but running games like TF2 cause intermittent freezes. I'm not sure that it's my heatsink combo either, since I have the window open sucking that -15F Wisconsin air right into my case (I bet I look silly as heck in my office wearing mittens and trying to use the mouse). Got temps to around 13C on all four cores but still got the intermittent freezing. I'm kinda wondering if maybe my RAM is limiting things instead.

I did get the OS to boot at 3.9GHz, but running anything remotely CPU intensive caused a lockup. Still was kinda cool to see that number though

Currently sitting at 3.4GHz, 1.416 vcore and absolutely rock solid.

Crap mine rebooted at the 7+ hour mark.
I'm going to do some cable rerouting and remount the heatsink and try again.

Core Voltage - 1.4575
Memory - 5-5-5-15 1:1
Frequency - 386.00 X 9.0 (3474.00)