Long Live the Q6600!!!

[DonPwnJuan]

Long time Stalker, 1st Time Poster.

So I have this ageing q6600 G0. When I first got it a couple of years ago, I tried OCing it with a Artic Freezer 7. When I couldn't get it past 2.7, I came to find out I was unlucky and got one with a terrible vid. I just ordered a Silver Arrow in hopes to get to 3.2 stable. Will I be able to get there even with a bad vid q6600? I'm running the tried and true p5q pro in a lan li case with decent air flow. I'm hoping this massive beast of a HS will get me there.

Also, 4 gigs of ddr 1066, an intel ssd, and a bottle necked 1g gtx cyclone 460: do I have enough to through to the next gen of intels? I'm hoping to skip the i7s if I can.

Thanks in advance for the advise.

-Don

 

[muddocktor]

I don't think you should have much problems getting to 3.2 or even higher with the Silver Arrow. I used to have a 1.35v vid Q6600 myself and I was able to get it 24/7/365 stable at 3.6 on water. The Silver Arrow is a damn good heatsink and should be able to handle your cooling needs with no problems. Plus, you can reuse it in the future when you do decide to upgrade to a more modern platform.

 

[diaz]

What voltage do you have it at? I had issues with that CPU until i learned to turn up the voltage to the proper levels..

 

[trekky]

Long time Stalker, 1st Time Poster.

do I have enough to through to the next gen of intels? I'm hoping to skip the i7s if I can.

Thanks in advance for the advise.

-Don

i went from a duo E6300, 2gb ddr2, 128mb gpu (a very low end 1) and i could not even overclock my cpu to my sig right now. so i know how waiting feels like.
i think ivy brige is come out soon (maybe in 4 months)

so i would overclock as much as you can and then get a nice new ivy

 

[LennyRhys]

I agree with mud on this one - if your cooling is good enough you should easily get more than 3.2GHz out of any Q6600. I had several Q6600s and all of them were absolute dogs (the lowest VID was 1.3000, ) but they would all do 3.2GHz no problem.

And your hardware is good, despite the graphics card being bottlenecked - 4GB of ram should be plenty.

 

[elari20]

3.2 is like walk in the park for 99.9% of the Q6600-s.

Follow those steps:

1. Ratio: 9
2. FSB: 356
3. CPU Voltage: 1.35 V
4. FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333 Mhz
5. DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
6. DRAM Read Training: Disabled
7. Mem OC Charger: Disabled
8. FSB Termination Voltage: 1.24 V
9. NB Voltage: 1.22 V
10. CPU PLL: 1.50 V
11. Load-Line Calibration: Enabled

Should give you stable (or very close) 3.2 Ghz.

 

[DonPwnJuan]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. I was using stock voltage for 3.0 on a artic freezer 7 pro and was cooking close to 75 C after about 20 mins under full load. I'll post back after I get the silver arrow in.


I like that the silver arrow will have some legs to it muddocktor. Hopefully it will fit the next gen of sockets too. I'm a hold one build as long as I can person.


If I up the voltage to 1.35 is it better to run it at 8 X 400 or 9 x 356? Also is the bios on my p5q pro similar to the p5q deluxe in your sig? Just wondering about all that mess for steps 5-11 elari.


I will post some temps as soon as the silver arrow arrives. I'm running about 32 idle -> 58 load with an artic freezer 7 @ stock right now.



-Don

 

[muddocktor]

Thermalright is pretty good about coming out with new mounts when needed for new sockets, so I would think they will update the mounting equipment as needed for your SA. They recently came out with a new mount adapter for LGA2011.

It all depends on your ram and how well it will clock, as far as what multi to run. Personally, I would leave the stock 9 multi and see what you can clock to. I would think that you should be able to get to at least 3.5 while keeping the vcore at 1.5 or under, and the SA should be able to handle the temps OK. Of course, all this depends on how well your proc will overclock. The 1.35v vid Q6600 I used to have wouldn't go much past 3.6 stably, but would run 3.6 perfectly stable while running BOINC. I also had another Q6600 that had a 1.25v vid that could bench at 4.0-4.1, depending on what benchmark I was running and it's normal overclock was around 3.8.

 

[DonPwnJuan]

AS5 + Silver Arrow + Q6600 = 3.4 prime stable. Mid 60's load temps. Not bad at all. I could get to 3.6 but my 4th core kept failing in prime. I'm super happy about a gig overclock though.

2 questions though overclocking gurus:

1. Is 1.45 vcore okay for a 24/7 OC even if temps never pass mid 60's (I know the q6600's are rated for 1.5, but for a 24/7 oc?)?

2. How much would a 7970 be bottlenecked? : D

Thanks again for all your help.

- Don

 

[LennyRhys]

1. Yes 1.45v is fine for a Q6600.

2. Depends on the software and how well optimized it is to use the CPU/GPU. It goes without saying that you'd get better CPU performance from a 2500K or similar, but a fair few people have reported that they get the same graphics performance after upgrading from a Q6600 to Sandy Bridge.

 

[elari20]

1. Is 1.45 vcore okay for a 24/7 OC even if temps never pass mid 60's (I know the q6600's are rated for 1.5, but for a 24/7 oc?)?
2. How much would a 7970 be bottlenecked? : D

1. 1.45V is piece of cake.
2. Depends on application but probably a lot.