Overclocking a Q6600, help a newbie out please!

[dnomzz]

Hey people,

I recently bought a Q6600 and read it's a perfect piece of chip to overclock. The thing is I don't want to fry it right after getting it and since I'm a newbie at this I would like some expert's advice on what settings I should run it at.

This will be my rig running it:

MSI G31M3 V2 (MS-7529)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Intel® Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8M Cache, 2.40 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
DIMM1: Kingston 2G-UDIMM 2 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 Mhz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 Mhz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 Mhz)
DIMM3: A-Data 2 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 Mhz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 Mhz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 Mhz)

Could someone tell me what amount of GHz would be safe? I don't really have to push it to 3.2 GHz or anything, not for now anyway. But a boost is always welcome and if it would be able to go on for example 2.7 or 2.8 that would be sweet already.

And please be detailed... as im new to this.

 

[Cigarsmoker]

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645416

 

[dnomzz]

I'm missing a lot of the options mentioned there.

 

[BeHappy]

Hey there,

It's always a good start to read the sticky first. It would also greatly help us out in knowing which type of cooling you're using. "Safe" is a relative term when it comes to overclocking, but I personally wont have my core2quad running above 65 degrees Celsius at full load... But more on that later.

If you are on stock cooling, than that will significantly lower your chances of a "safe" and stable overclock. These quads start to run hot when you start turning up the voltage. I would say that 3.0ghz on a Q6600 is very very achievable and almost guaranteed if you have a g0 stepping chip.

So, let's start with what type of cooling you're working with, and in the meantime look over that STICKY that Cigarsmoker was kind enough to point ya at and familiarize yourself with the terminology and settings you will be messing with in order to pull off a stable clock. And welcome to the world of overclocking

 

[pwnmachine]

On that board there is no point in going over 1.365v vcore. You can achieve an overclock of about 2.9-3ghz with a voltage around 1.34v this will obviously take some testing with various settings. Try a fsb of 320 with a multiplier of 9x with vcore of 1.34v. Not to familiar of the stability on the g31 chipset but that would be a safe place to start.

Also try to keep your ram:cpu ratio as close to 1 as possible.

 

[dnomzz]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

I didn't expect overclocking to be THAT advanced as it is in the sticky. I thought someone would just give me a short and simple answer like pwnmachine did and that's it.

I've read the sticky and came to some conclusions myself. The sticky was meant for a Q6600 so it's mostly copy/paste stuff.

1.2625 volts was the best for 9 x 333 fsb.
My memory voltages have a max. of 1.8 volts
Enable memory remap feature
Disable spread spectrum
PCI Express Freq at 100 MHz
PCI Clock Sync at 33.33
..and some more enable/disable stuff, I've written them down.

But I would go with pwnmachine's 1.34 volts at 320 fsb x 9. Seems more safe to take a little bit off the fsb considering my slower RAM doesn't seem to be capable of going 333 fsb because of the low PC2 number.

I'm not sure what cooler I have right now, but it probably isn't a good one for overclocking. I'll be getting a Cooler Master Hyper TX 2 with my Q6600 but somehow I doubt that one is good for overclocking too. Am I right?

I could always go for a ZALMAN CNPS9500 since it only costs 10 euros. I think that one will do the job, or won't it?

 

[pwnmachine]

The hyper 212 is a great cooler, but the 6600 does run pretty hot. I think you still should be able to hit 3ghz with it.

 

[dnomzz]

How about the TX 2? Some sites say it's a good fan for overclocking..

 

[pwnmachine]

^ I'm no expert in cooling, but most any mid-range cpu cooler will do the trick. Especially for small overclocks.

 

[dnomzz]

All right I guess I will give it a go with the TX 2 and see how it will work out.

By the way, from 2.4 to 2.9 is a small overclock?

 

[pwnmachine]

All right I guess I will give it a go with the TX 2 and see how it will work out.

By the way, from 2.4 to 2.9 is a small overclock?

Yeah people push the 6600's to 3.6 with high volts on high end mobos and cooling. Although 2.4-2.9 is still a 20% clock increase, I just meant in terms of voltage increases.

 

[elari20]

I'd say 3.4 Ghz is perfectly safe for a Q6600. If you have a lousy chip then 3.2 Ghz.

Overall, these chips are rock solid and clock like crazy. Just monitor your temps and stay below 70C. Also, anything below 1.4V is like a walk in the park.

 

[BeHappy]

I'd say 3.4 Ghz is perfectly safe for a Q6600. If you have a lousy chip then 3.2 Ghz.

Overall, these chips are rock solid and clock like crazy. Just monitor your temps and stay below 70C. Also, anything below 1.4V is like a walk in the park.

Exactly. My q6700 is no Extra Spicy chip, and it easily reached 3.6 with some time put in. I haven't run into a q6600/q6700 that couldn't at least get up to 3.0ghz with the proper settings.

Don't forget to post back to let us know your results

 

[pwnmachine]

^ Indeed, the only thing really holding him back is his motherboard. From what I have seen the G31 chipset does not really show any benefits of going about spec voltages, since its not an overclocker. However as mentioned he can still hit a great overclock under spec voltages.

 

[dnomzz]

Right, thanks for the help so far.

I've noted the following things down:

320 fsb x 9 multiplier
1.34 volt CPU V-core
1.8 volt Memory Voltage (max my RAM can have, should I use max?)
320 CPU Frequency
640 DRAM Frequency (this is what keeps the CPU:RAM at 1:1 right?)
PCI Express Freq. = 100 MHz
PCI Clock Sync = 33.33 MHz

Did I miss out on anything?

The guide is so detailed... and there are many power savings options to enable/disable or disabled and reenable if it runs fine... are any really important?

I'm really new to this so I don't want to blow up my CPU with my newbishness.

 

[BeHappy]

Right, thanks for the help so far.

I've noted the following things down:

320 fsb x 9 multiplier
1.34 volt CPU V-core
1.8 volt Memory Voltage (max my RAM can have, should I use max?)
320 CPU Frequency
640 DRAM Frequency (this is what keeps the CPU:RAM at 1:1 right?)
PCI Express Freq. = 100 MHz
PCI Clock Sync = 33.33 MHz

Did I miss out on anything?

The guide is so detailed... and there are many power savings options to enable/disable or disabled and reenable if it runs fine... are any really important?

I'm really new to this so I don't want to blow up my CPU with my newbishness.

Lol, I completely understand what you're saying. A lot of us find ourselves where you are now; excited and a little freaked out about breaking something expensive. Just take your time and double check everything before you save and exit your BIOS.

I'm not going to say that you cant go wrong, but as long as you don't overvolt your chip/RAM (a LOT more voltage than the 1.34v you're planning for) you should be OK. Most of the Bios settings can either be changed back or do a bios reset (pull cmos battery) if you make a mistake.

And remember that you have 2 really good things going for you:
1) This forum and our members basically answer questions 24/7.
2)Your overclocking a tried a true chip, with TONS of info on it already.

Good luck and happy clocking

 

[dnomzz]

Yeah I know and I appreciate it you guys are really helpful.

But is the info I wrote down on my note all that I need, or do I still miss something vital? And the 2 notes in brackets are correct?

 

[pwnmachine]

You don't really need to fool with ram voltages if you are not overclocking the ram, however I do see you are running two different sticks are they both rated the same?

For the ram sticks you are using that ram oc(640mhz) seems a bit to high. It will definitely hold back your oc. The ratio does not necessarily have to be 1:1 but as close as possible(I have found stability using ratio of 3:2 and 5:4 on a few 775 builds).

 

[dnomzz]

You don't really need to fool with ram voltages if you are not overclocking the ram, however I do see you are running two different sticks are they both rated the same?

For the ram sticks you are using that ram oc(640mhz) seems a bit to high. It will definitely hold back your oc. The ratio does not necessarily have to be 1:1 but as close as possible(I have found stability using ratio of 3:2 and 5:4 on a few 775 builds).

Alright, when you said keep it as close to 1 as possible I thought 1:1 would be the best.

One of the RAM is slower... if im correct the A-DATA runs at PC2-6400 and the Kingston at PC2-5300 though im not sure if im looking at the right ones. Having a hard time Googling for the Kingston 2G-UDIMM 2 GB DDR2-667 and took the PC2-5300 from the Kingston 2GB 667 MHz SO DIMM DDR2.

 

[dnomzz]

Ok I got the Q6600 today and was ready to OC it, but this is what I got so far.

I can't seem to find anywhere where to set the vCore. Also pwnmachine you said 640 MHz is a bit too high... but when I use the modifier in my motherboard at 1.25 it goes up to 800?

Would my vCore automatically adjust? I'm kinda confused now..

Here the pic of the changes I made:

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4921/20111123151815.jpg

And here info from vCore and other stuff... but I can't set them anywhere. I would try to just give it a go and see if it automatically adjusts but I don't want to fry my processor with too much volts.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/9743/20111123151828.jpg