Q6600 overclocking help

[jimjam]

Hi there this is my first post so I figure I'll make it a good one.

I'm in the process of overclocking my q6600 aiming for 3.6 on air.

Specs;

Q6600, 3600 MHz (9 x 400) G0 Stepping B thermalright ultra 120 heatsink
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3
2x G Skill F2-8000CL5-2GBPQ
@ 400 MHz 5-5-5-15 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 24-51-3-6-3-3 (RC-RFC-RRD-WR-WTR-RTP)
@ 266 MHz 4-4-4-10 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 16-34-2-4-2-2 (RC-RFC-RRD-WR-WTR-RTP)
AMD Radeon HD 6870
Max Power 500w PSU
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bit

First thing i did was make sure my bios version was the latest and remove my 2x 2gb Adata ram sticks (originally had 8gb) because it was effecting me booting into Windows at 3.6. Now with the 2 G Skill this doesn't seem to be a problem.

Guides I've read;

http://www.overclock.net/t/289573/my-experience-overclocking-the-q6600-a-basic-guide-walkthrough

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2007/07/25/overclocking_intel_core_2_quad_q6600/1

and many others.

Basically I can boot into windows at 3.6 at 1:1 with idle temps off 41C or there abouts (readings from Core Temp).

CPUs VID is 1.3v and CPU-Z tells me I'm at 1.392v at idle.

Every time i run Prime95 I get failure on on core 1 straight away.

I've done my reading about vcores, ratios etc but I'm still very much a newbie when it comes to overclocking and some advice regarding getting some stability at 3.6 would be very much appreciated.

I'm going to reboot and then post my bios settings. I shall return!

 

[jimjam]

Bios;

 

[redduc900]

Try bumping MCH Core voltage from the current 1.16V to 1.20 - 1.25V. You might also try bumping the Vcore from 1.475V, seeing as you having a fairly high VID chip, to upwards of ~1.55V or so in increments of 1 step. Also try changing the strap from 400 to 333, w/ the System Memory Mult. set to 2.00B = DDR2-800 at a FSB of 400MHz. And beforw boting into the OS, boot to Memtest86+ installed to a thumb drive, and check the RAM for stability; all sub-timings under Advanced Timing Control should be set to Auto. And if you have a LLC (Load-Line Calibration) option, make sure it's set to Enabled.

 

[jimjam]

Thanks very much for the advice, I cant see LLC anywhere in my bios.

Is the a gigabyte equviliant?

 

[redduc900]

If the BIOS doesn't have a LLC option, and if you're experiencing massive Vdroop, you can perform a Vmod to the board if you're so inclined...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...It-vdroop-vdrop-mod-for-Gigabyte-GA-EP45-DS3R