[B3ar2123]

So i've searched and searched with no luck. I've read the OC guide on here, but i think i'm in need of a Super DUPER easy guide. I understand some things, but mostly i'll consider myself a noob. Anyway, if someone has a link on here or else where for a guide it'd be greatly appreciated.

Rig:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i
Raidmax Quantum RX 700w
C2Q Q6600 2.4G 775 65N
Artic Silver (i know ftw right?)
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm
9800Gx2
Antec 900(i know some might ask about how cool everything will be)


Also, my temps right now Ohio is crazy up and crazy down. This week we're mid 90's. Last week low 70's.

Sorry if this post is in the wrong spot. Thanks

[EarthDog]

Super duper easy? Well, wow. Its not going to be spoon fed to you bro. Have you even attempted an overclock yet? What are your questions if you have? You have to put your feet in the water sometime!!!!!!

And another ohioan, w00t! Where about in ohio?

[Metallica]

I wouldn't go looking for an easy guide. If it's easy, it's most likely not the best way to go about it. If you're going to do it, do it right. Read up, there are tons of post around here that will help you out.

Knowing what your doing, and taking it slow is the best way to go, and you don't risk hurting your hardware

EDIT: This came off as a little rude, which I didn't intend What I mean is - stick around, read up, and expand your knowledge of the topic. You'll know what your doing in no time.

[Theocnoob]

First off download CPU-Z from CPUID. It's free.
Knowing which model Q6600 you have would help (ie, SLACR, GO)

Download 'core-temp' and also CPUID's HWMONITOR. These will give you your temperatures while under operation.

Once we know what your baseline temperatures are and what model of CPU you have it'll help.

Generally though, the basis of overclocking a Core2 is as follows:

Your CPU's speed is the result of your front side bus (the actual number, not the 'quad pumped' number-- a setting of 400 in bios results in a 1600Mhz front side bus) multiplied by X, to achieve your CPU frequency.

For example, my E6550, by default, runs at 333X7, which is 2.33Ghz.
I'm currently running 450X7, which makes 3.15Ghz.

Then you also want to set your RAM timings to match those on the RAM itself (ie, most BIOS default to 5 5 5 18 even if you put in 4 4 4 12 RAM) and remember that you can overclock RAM as well, but you must do so more carefully. It's easier to kill.

You then want to set your voltages as low as they can go without crashing your system.
Less voltage is less heat. Heat is not your friend.

Don't screw with your RAM voltage though. If it says 2.1V on the sticker, feed it 2.1V and be done with it.

You can overclock your videocard as well. Download RIVATUNER. You can tweak core, shader, and RAM speeds independantly via a quick and easy slider bar. Make sure you jack the fan speed up to match.

You want to test your system for stability with torture tests like PRIME 95 and ORTHOS. Everything you need, basically, is either already on your system or is a free download. But read- this is much too simplified an explanation. We don't want to make your rig catch on fire.

Once you have everything tweaked and stable, you should be able to increase your system performance by atleast 30%

You'll especially appreciate the performance boost on a Q6600. The default front side bus is a pathetic 1066Mhz. As far as I know, the chip will take 1600Mhz with joy.

And, this goes without saying, but the more air you move through your case, the happier your components will be. If your ears will tolerate a 'high' setting on all your 120mm fans, do it.

[OnDborder]

Welcome to the Forum! http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=491697 B3ar2123

So you did read the sticky?? http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=515316

[B3ar2123]

Let me rephrase how i previously put it.

I fail at quoting but here we go

Earthdog; Eastern Ohio, 2 hours from pittsburgh. Cadiz area if ur familar.
Metallica; I don't mean easy, how about a THROUGH guide.
TheOcNoob; YES YES YES, but more explanation.
OnDBorder; YES, i read through it, but with idea's not pertaining to my particular mb/cpu i hestitate to attempt it.

Newegg CPU
Seems newegg is keeping information from me also, i got it OEM, so is there a way to see what verison i have? I threw out the box also.

I've attempted my own OC, but failed horribly, i don't know if it's possible but i believe i had to re install Vista. Is that possible???

[I.M.O.G.]

Possible, but unlikely. Usually if you make bad overclocking settings, all that is required is resetting BIOS to get things back up and running.

You need to start by following theocnoob's advice. Download and install the applications he recommended and post the details he requested.

irst off download CPU-Z from CPUID. It's free.
Knowing which model Q6600 you have would help (ie, SLACR, GO)

Download 'core-temp' and also CPUID's HWMONITOR. These will give you your temperatures while under operation.

Once you've posted the details from that for us, we can give you specific instructions, telling you what to change to start out with a very modest overclock that is safe and easy so that you get the basic idea.

The general ideas with overclocking are the same across different hardware, so the sticky applies as well to your hardware as it does to any hardware. You modify FSB, multiplier, and vcore - thats overclocking in a nutshell. You can do more and make it harder, but thats as easy as it gets.

[Bobnova]

Here is the really, really, really simplified version.
It'll get you an OC, but not nearly as much of one as if you did what the guide shows.

First off download coretemp and run it. Write down the number in the VID box.
Now reboot and go into the bios. Find the overclocking section, and find the "Vcore" setting, this is the amount of voltage fed to the cpu. Set this to the number you wrote down from the VID box. Do NOT use auto.

Now find a setting that talks about ram speed, it will either give you a number like 800, or a multiplier (like 1:2). If it gives you a number set it to 667. If you get a multiplier, set it to be lower.

Now find a setting for FSB, or Front Side Bus.
It'll be at either Auto, or 266. This is the actual overclocking part, if you turn this number up you get a higher CPU speed (and also ram speed, which is why we turned the ram speed down to start with, we just want to overclock the CPU).
Set this to 293 and reboot.
Load windows and run CPUz, you should see a 10% higher CPU speed.

Party, your computer is now overclocked.

Next up, run CoreTemp and leave it running, then download prime95 and run the torture test Small FFTs. Let it run at least 10-15 minutes while watching the core temps in CoreTemp. If they go over 70*c, close prime95 and set the bios back to defaults, then buy a better CPU cooler.
If they stay under 70 and prime95 reports no issues, you can go back into the bios and raise the FSB by 10, save/quit and head back to windows for coretemp/prime95 again.

Keep doing this until either prime95 reports an error, or windows simply fails to load. Then go back into the bios and set the FSB to the last value that worked.


Then use this newfound speed to re-read the stickies and look up anything you don't understand (or ask questions about specific bits, though searching first is appreciated), and get a good idea about what you're doing. Once you've done that you can move on to more advanced (and generally much much higher) overclocking.

Doing the super simple approach got me to 3200mhz from 2500, doing the advanced bits got me 3800 stable and 4000 benchable.



A fair warning: I've never used an nvidia chipset mobo, it may well be wildly different then the intel chipsets i'm used to. There'll still be a vcore box and a FSB box though.

EDIT:
Hwmonitor is great too, it's what i generally use for monitoring temps. You can use as many different programs at once as you want to.

[OnDborder]

You might want to do a "search" in the Intel 775 board section for info on your Evga 780 board.

[B3ar2123]

Hope this is big enough...
Think my CPU is G0. In Core Temp it says Revision: G0

[Theocnoob]

Well your idle temps look decent.
You got a GO, so you're good.

Notice your VID is 1.16...V-- this is your voltage after what's called Vdroop- your set voltage will 'droop' to your VID voltage. All this means is, when you set a voltage in bios, you need to check your VID to see what it actually is at as a usable value.

See how it's at 266x6? That's 'speed stepping', basically the CPU throttles down when it's not being used much so it doesn't waste power. When under load, it'll go to 266x9. 9 is, as far as I know, the maximum multiplier available on that CPU, and it can not be unlocked to go higher.

Anyways, I say start by jacking your system up to 2.7Ghz.

Just go into your BIOS, and set your FSB from 266 to 300 with a multiplier of 9.
don't touch any voltages. Don't touch any other settings- except to make sure that your RAM setting remains at 800Mhz. As RAM frequency and FSB frequency are tied, you may inadvertently over or underclock your RAM when moving your FSB setting around.

Once you do that go back into windows, check your VID. It should be substantially higher. Your idle temp will be higher as well.

when you go to bed tonight run orthos blend for 12 hours. When you come back, if nothing's blue, on fire, off, or otherwise out of whack, you have a solid overclock. Leave the temp monitoring on while you torture your system to see how high you go. If you're substantially below 70, and I have no doubt you will be, you can keep going higher.

You're running Vista 64 bit right?

Just a footnote- you know your core max temps are all over the place right? They should all be the same unless you were under sporratic load. Run coretemp with orthos blend running for 5 minutes before you continue to confirm that under load all cores hit the same max temp.

If they DON'T, you have to take your cpu heatsink off, remove the thermal paste with rubbing alcohol, patience, a Q-tip, and very good fine motor control, then reinstall the heatsink and CPU making sure that there is perfect contact and that the heatsink is properly in place with all four connections fully seated.

[EarthDog]

A couple things.......

Just a footnote- you know your core max temps are all over the place right? They should all be the same unless you were under sporratic load. Run coretemp with orthos blend running for 5 minutes before you continue to confirm that under load all cores hit the same max temp.

It is VERY common to see several degrees between cores.

Originally Posted by Theocnoob

Notice your VID is 1.16...V-- this is your voltage after what's called Vdroop- your set voltage will 'droop' to your VID voltage. All this means is, when you set a voltage in bios, you need to check your VID to see what it actually is at as a usable value.
ated.

This is incorrect.

VID= stock voltage. It has nothing to do with vdrop (setting in bios vs actual setting in CPUz with no load) nor Vdroop (load voltage vs setting in the bios). VID plays no other role except for the bios to setup its stock voltages for the CPU.

[Theocnoob]

I learn by putting my foot in my mouth and seeing what it catches while it's in there
I think I should make an avatar of a guy with a foot in his mouth...
<---Still says noob. Be not ye fooled by all the stars.

[B3ar2123]

Alright im in the BIOS but i'm lost in here.

Currently i'm looking at
System Clocks
FSB & Memory Config
CPU Config
System Voltages

I went into FSB/Mem config but all hell breaks loose in there lol.

Only options i can go to atm are FSB - Memory Clock Mode set to AUTO
you can link or unlink it. If i unlink my FSB (QDR), MHz opens up, but it's set at 1400.
Below that there's MEM (DDR), MHz and it's at 800. In your post you said to go from 266 to 300 but i'm not seeing that option anywhere.

Also: At the top it says CPU Freq, MHz 3150.0 x 9 and then one at 2400.0 x 9. soooo, ya i'm lost.

[B3ar2123]

bump, sitting at the bios not sure what to do.. scared to mess around with things lol

[EarthDog]

your reall should continue to put that nose in the guide, this is essentially explained! you need to set the pcie lane to 100mhz. unlink the fsb and your ram and set the ram to 800mhz. then you can raise the fsb by 10mhz increments. you should see your cpu speed increase as you raise the fsb. if you cant tell by now, teh bios on the 780i shows quad pumped so your actual fsb you can divide by 4. save and reboot. if it boots to windows, jump back in the bios and keep going. eventually it wont boot, and you will need to raise some voltages. as stated in that guide (notice a trend here about that guide???) you should set your voltage manually. the good thing about the 780i is that it shows default and currnt. the most important ones to set are memory, cpu core, cpu fsb, and spp. set them to their fefaults. once that is done, start raising the fsb

[Bobnova]

If it's not a voltage adjustment, you can't kill anything with it.

Worst case you have to reset the bios via battery or jumper.

[EarthDog]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...highlight=780i

you can also search this site in the meantime for threads that have 780i in it. here is one i pulled that should be helpful

[Theocnoob]

Can you take pictures of all your bios screens? That sounds like a very 'different' config.

Likely, in your FSB settings, you have to turn something off 'auto' to start tweaking. It should have an FSB setting of 266 in there somewhere, or, in a highly unlikely event, it could be rating 1066 (your 4x speed)

[B3ar2123]

Thanks for the link to the other thread.

I ran through and did 1400 and got all the way to 1450. So from what it says it's Core Speed is 3262.7 MHz x 9


UN-STRESSED

STRESSED


5 mins after the test, temps are back down 35 38 33 36. Seems Core2 is a bit hotter than the rest.