Q6600 OC Voltage with MSI P45 Neo-F

[SeraphTC]

Hi Guys,

This is my first post, so bear with me a little!

First, my system:

Intel Q6600 G0
MSI P45 Neo-F mobo with 1.9 BIOS (factory installed)
Thermaltake Soprano case
8GB Kingston HyperX T1 1066 DDR2 (@ 800)

Changed the 120mm case fans for Thermaltake ISGC 12's
Changed the Stock Cooler for a CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 with an additional BladeMaster 92 fan in a push/pull config.
Used MX3 thermal paste.

Everything is running fine at stock settings.

I would like to get a bit more juice out of the CPU if I can - The PC is mostly used for work and general internet/mail, but I do game on it and I would like to get as much out of it as I can.

I've done quite a bit reading, and looked at a lot of other posts/forums, but I just can't replicate what others are doing with similar setups.

My problem is this:

I can get the chip stable at 3200 in Prime95, but only if I ramp the core v up to 1.4850. Most people with the same setup and similar cooling seem to be able to achieve this at a much lower voltage - usually around 1.37v or so.

Can anyone point me to where to start looking for the problem here?

I haven't done a lot of overclocking before and I'd appreciate some advice.

Thanks,

SeraphTC

 

[gregmacknass]

Use CPU-Z to see what your vcore is with the vdroop. The voltage you set in bios is rarely the actual voltage that the processor sees. Second, MSI boards are not the greatest for overclocking (speaking from experience) so that might also be your issue. Try backing off the processor voltage slightly, and upping the NB voltage slightly to see if that helps with stability. Also make sure that you have EIST and C1E disabled in your bios.
-Greg

 

[SeraphTC]

Use CPU-Z to see what your vcore is with the vdroop. The voltage you set in bios is rarely the actual voltage that the processor sees. Second, MSI boards are not the greatest for overclocking (speaking from experience) so that might also be your issue. Try backing off the processor voltage slightly, and upping the NB voltage slightly to see if that helps with stability. Also make sure that you have EIST and C1E disabled in your bios.
-Greg

Hey - Thanks for the response.

I've already used CPU-Z and the voltage I've set is actually pretty much what it's recording - VDroop seems very minimal (I've seen it drop to 1.740 during low activity, but it's generally hovering at 1.480).

Unfortunately, as soon as I drop that VCore I am unable to complete any kind of decent run on Prime95 - increasing the NB voltage doesn't seem to help.

I think I've just got a really stubborn chip and board.

I could try updating the BIOS, but honestly I'm not sure it is worth the hassle at this point.