Q6600 Temperature Question

[ThePredator]

Hello Everyone,

I have a new computer I built, specs are as follows:

Q6600 B3
BFG n650i Ultra
2 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2800
320 GB SATA 3.0gb/s
8800 GTX

I am having trouble dealing with the temperature of this processor. First of all, let me ask, which tool is more accurate, SpeedFan or CoreTemp? I read about the Tijunction issue where most temp readers report 15C less for quads, is this still the case? The reason is, what my BIOS/nvidia control panel/speed fan reports is significantly different than what CoreTemp is reporting.

At this point, I will be listing the temperatures and continue my post using the numbers I got from CoreTemp, so please keep that in mind.

The CPU was running around 40-50C idle and 55-60C under load with stock heatsink and fan. Then I bought the Zalman 9700 thinking it would help bring down the temperature around 25-30 degrees, oh boy was I wrong.

After $60 + $5 tax + $6 shipping for the fan, all I got was 35-40C idle and 48-52C under load. Is this normal?

Now, to the second question I had, for overclocking, I tried 3.0 Ghz so far with 1333 Mhz FSB. The temperatures are 50C idle and around 65-68C under load. Is this normal and more importantly within limits? Would I damage the CPU if I kept using it this way? I have never done overclocking before so I would appreciate it if you can answer the following questions:

1. The way I did it was to go into BIOS, change the FSB (I did not touch the voltage), unlink the FSB and RAM speed (or RAM would go all the way to 900 Mhz). Is this correct way?

2. When I overclock the FSB, I saw that voltage went to 1.45 from 1.25, is this normal?

3. When I overclock the FSB, I am also seeing PCI-E bus uses 1.40 instead of 1.20 which even resulted me losing ALL my usb devices at some point and I had to flash the bios. I'd start windows and the message "USB Device not recognized" would show for maybe 15 times. Is there anyway to make it so that it doesnt affect PCI-E bus?

4. This isn't about CPU, but when I try and overclock the GTX to 659/1006, it worked, but everytime I restart my computer, the settings won't stay. The only way I can do it is through control panel not bios and it's not effective in next O/S start up. Is there anyway to fix this and save?
==========================================================
Now on an unrelated subject, which I will be posting in to memory forum, I am having memory issues as well. The memory I have is 4-4-4-12 at 2.2v. My bios can only accept 2.1 max and it reads my RAM as 5-5-5-18. Should I switch to 4-4-4-12 manually? Should I return the RAM and get one that runs in lower voltages? I am really illiterate on this topic, I would really appreciate it if you shine some light on the topic.

Also, when I ran memtest, I found some errors. The thing is, it ran for 12 hours fine and then back to back 11 errors after. I did it again, for 15 hours, there were no errors, but then same thing. Is this normal? The problem is, almost all my games CRASH at some point. Battlefield 2, Supreme Commander, FIFA 07, all crash. The game just freezes and sometimes there is repeating sound, or sometimes it just restarts. Do you think this is about the RAM or something else?

I apologize for the length of my post, but I really need you guys' help. Thank you very much for your time, I am glad I joined this forum.

Regards,

ThePredator

 

[sofarfrome]

I have a question: why on earth would you buy all of that highend hardware and go with a BFG 650i? Your best option would have been one of the P35 chipset boards. It would also be nice to know what PSU you are using.

As far as the temps go, only the new G0 stepping CPUs need the 15C offset applied to what ever program you are using to monitor temps, however I am not sure even that is accurate. The temps you are seeing are correct. There are 4 cores here and they put out some heat. They scream for WC at the least. And technically the CPU shouldn't go above 65C under full load.

Going into bios to change the FSB is the correct way to OC. However, you need to take control of your voltages. Do not leave them at auto. Manually set the vcore to 1.4 and begin to increase your FSB. Manually set all voltages to the lowest level and increase only when needed.

It is too bad your board will only go to 2.1vdimm for the memory (check for a bios update, maybe they have opened this up some). You will need to unlink them from the CPU in order to keep them stable. Set the vdimm to 2.1 and the timings to 4-4-4-12 and run the lowest FSB setting for the ram whereitis still stable. You can run it faster but you will have to loosen the timings. 5-5-5-15 is good.

To save your GPU OC settings there is an option in the nvidia control panel that will allow you to boot up with your settings each time windows starts. Look around, you will find it, I believe it is on your GPU settings page.

 

[ThePredator]

I have a question: why on earth would you buy all of that highend hardware and go with a BFG 650i? Your best option would have been one of the P35 chipset boards. It would also be nice to know what PSU you are using.

As far as the temps go, only the new G0 stepping CPUs need the 15C offset applied to what ever program you are using to monitor temps, however I am not sure even that is accurate. The temps you are seeing are correct. There are 4 cores here and they put out some heat. They scream for WC at the least. And technically the CPU shouldn't go above 65C under full load.

Going into bios to change the FSB is the correct way to OC. However, you need to take control of your voltages. Do not leave them at auto. Manually set the vcore to 1.4 and begin to increase your FSB. Manually set all voltages to the lowest level and increase only when needed.

It is too bad your board will only go to 2.1vdimm for the memory (check for a bios update, maybe they have opened this up some). You will need to unlink them from the CPU in order to keep them stable. Set the vdimm to 2.1 and the timings to 4-4-4-12 and run the lowest FSB setting for the ram whereitis still stable. You can run it faster but you will have to loosen the timings. 5-5-5-15 is good.

To save your GPU OC settings there is an option in the nvidia control panel that will allow you to boot up with your settings each time windows starts. Look around, you will find it, I believe it is on your GPU settings page.

Hello Sofarfrome,

I initially bought a very nice MSI P6N Platinum board. But it wouldn't POST. I didn't want to wait (and I had to find out what the problem was), so I went to CompUSA and this was the best board they had. I put everything on, and it worked. I don't know why you say it's bad though, I am not using SLI so I don't need the fancy n680i with cool looking pipes and stuff This motherboard has all the features that others do except the RAM voltage which I had no idea about until now.

Anyways, I have PC Power PSU 750 W (825 W Peak) so it's one of the best. I have a B3 stepping so you are saying I don't need to add 15C? Because coretemp shows a lot warmer than others, others being BIOS/Nvidia CP/SpeedFan.

Right now, Nvidia Control Panel shows 19C and CoreTemp shows 40C. That's a MAJOR difference.

 

[Karadhas]

He's wrong, all quadcores need that 15c offset, that was proved when some people tried speedfan without it and got temps below ambient which, without active cooling, is physically impossible.. it doesn't matter if they are G0 or B3. The only difference between the two is that G0 steppings will run a lot cooler and overclock a lot better. Coretemp or speedfan with the 15C offset will be accurate.

Also, does core2 run a lot cooler than the rest for you? I've been doing some checking around and it seems there are a lot of especially bad B3 stepping quaddies circulating right now. Ones that will idle around 50C no matter what you do and tend to have one core that runs up to 10C cooler than the rest (and sometimes errors on prime95/orthos).

A good few of the rest of your problems are from leaving your stuff at auto. Always set everything manually when you overclock.

 

[ares350]

speedfan tells me my temps are 50degrees load at 1.45v. you all are saying theya re actualy more like 65? how would I ever verify that?

 

[Karadhas]

Coretemp gives accurate readings by default, speedfan needs a +15 offset to give accurate temps for quaddies. So yeah, you're actually loading to 65C. As far as verifying that goes, it is 85F in my apartment right now and without the 15C offset speedfan can give me a temperature as low as 24-25C, which is 75 degrees in fahrenheit and well below the ambient temperature.

Since it's physically impossible to get below ambient with normal cooling that proves speedfan is inaccurate.

 

[ares350]

hmmm coretemp doesnt run for me, gives me an error every time I open it. if I click ok, it starts opening a bunch more of the same error window. it fills the screen till I alt-cntr del it.

 

[ares350]

btw the error is "the driver has failed to load" some information will not be available."

if I use .94 it gives the error once, then opens, but doesnt report temps.

 

[Gunlance]

Thats cause you are running vista 64 bit edition.

 

[ares350]

how right you are.

no solution to that then I guess.

I offset the temps in speedfan, not as pretty as it was. though it does make more sense on why it wouldnt boot with more voltage even though temps did look fine...

 

[ThePredator]

I don't know anyone else, but I have a B3 and after reseating the heatsink fan (zalman) and applying arctic silver 5, I am getting 39C idle, 48C under load for 2.8 Ghz. I haven't tried 3.0 yet.

These are confirmed by Intel TAT and Core Temp.

Trick is to run the CPU at 1.275 V and not keeping it in auto. It helped dropping 10C or so.

 

[bing]

Try under voltage OC, you can gain few degrees more.

 

[ThePredator]

Try under voltage OC, you can gain few degrees more.

How far you think that'd go? Another question, every now and then, in some games, my game will lock up, a few sound repetitions and then a restart. Would this happen due to RAM or GPU or CPU?

 

[ares350]

but who wants 3ghz! Im running at 3.6 as I type, but it isnt stable. actually its ridiculously unstable. I dont know if itll run long enough to hit post on this message!

 

[Karadhas]

Thepredator: that sounds like you're running too low on the voltage. I'd call that CPU or an actual game error.

I don't know anyone else, but I have a B3 and after reseating the heatsink fan (zalman) and applying arctic silver 5, I am getting 39C idle, 48C under load for 2.8 Ghz. I haven't tried 3.0 yet.

These are confirmed by Intel TAT and Core Temp.

Trick is to run the CPU at 1.275 V and not keeping it in auto. It helped dropping 10C or so.

I wish. I'm at 2ghz and minimum voltage, it's 70F in my apartment, and with all my fans at max I'm getting 47-45-42-47. I've reseated easily 10 or more times.

 

[ThePredator]

Thepredator: that sounds like you're running too low on the voltage. I'd call that CPU or an actual game error.



I wish. I'm at 2ghz and minimum voltage, it's 70F in my apartment, and with all my fans at max I'm getting 47-45-42-47. I've reseated easily 10 or more times.

I am not exaggerating, but I have reseated CPU/MOBO (all the damn screws) at least 35-40 times in the past week. I was having lock ups when the voltage was set to 1.39V (auto) as well. The weird thing is, when I built this PC and i didn't touch anything for like 2-3 days, everything was fine. when i started messing around, this happened. So I am guessing it's something I did not faulty hardware.

I tried CMOS resetting and playing, still same thing. It's certain games though. Like Fifa 07 ONLY WHEN PLAYING ONLINE (offline, i can play for hours) or Supreme Commander (I haven't tried offline). But Battlefield 2 and CS:S runs great.

 

[jason4207]

Try reading the readme.txt file that comes w/ those games. You may find some help for those particular games.

Have you tried re-installing the game? Did you defrag after you installed the game?

 

[Brolloks]

I know the Intel recommends a max core temp for the G0 at 71 C, my Q6600 at 3 G's (stock V) runs pretty hot between 63 and 68 C while folding,

What would the experts say the max temp for this CPU is given that I pretty fold all day and night with it unless I'm gaming.

BTW I have a watercool setup

Must say I'm kinda dissapointed with my G0 running so hot, I was hoping to push this thing to at least 3.6 G, but it will probably melt before I get to that

 

[bing]

Brolloks, try UVOC on your G0 HERE, from the table you will know if your temp reading is off or not.

If its off too high (hopefully) then you'll get a "morale" boost to OC more !

My 2 cents.

 

[Brolloks]

Brolloks, try UVOC on your G0 HERE, from the table you will know if your temp reading is off or not.

If its off too high (hopefully) then you'll get a "morale" boost to OC more !

My 2 cents.

Thanks Bing, will do, need a morale boost right now, if my Quad is not going to deliver I might have to get a E6850, hell my E6750 runs higher and cooler that my quad !!!