Q6600 giving it some real voltage

[Mr Ripper]

This will be a log for my O/Cing:

Quick bit of background info.

I bought the Q6600 in about August 2008. I've been running it at 3.4ghz+ since then. First was on an Abit IP35 - Worked fine but I fried the board when plugging my dead water pump into another fan socket (yup turns out it was the water pump and not the motherboard lol). So that was summer 2009 and replaced it with a Asus P5Q Deluxe. I really quickly set it up to run at 3.6ghz and a profile for 3.4ghz. I've only really ran the 3.4ghz as I was eager to have a running computer at the time. So that's nearing 3.5 years with no problems (for the cpu at least).

Basically the computer has performed great and I still don't feel the need to upgrade although I'm missing the bug of buying and playing with new hardware. I may get an Ivybridge processor in the summer.

It's been a long time since browsed this forum properly and from what I see my voltage is pretty conservative. I thought I'd give my processor a bit of effort and see what I can really eak out of it before it's replaced.

I ran prime for about 15mins to get an idea of my temps (I haven't serviced the water since summer 09 nor vacuumed it).



I've since given it a vacuum but can't be bothered with replacing the water right now.

For now I'll run with the case open as I don't have any intake fans in my case (well none turned on). All I have is 2 fans on the radiator running at about 700rpm! Can't remember how to increase the speed of them, something to do with QFan control?

Whilst writing this prime has been running for about 20 mins at seen a max temp of 65°c on 2 cores, 56°c cpu on speedfan.

Anyway I don't mind running it at hot right now so I think I've got some headroom for some fun.

My current Bios settings (quite a lazy O/C):

CPU Ratio setting Auto
C1E Support Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech Enabled
CPU TM Function Enabled
Execute Disabled Bit Enabled
Intel SpeedStep Enabled

CPU Ratio auto
FSB 376
FSB Strap to North Bridge Auto
Dram Frequency 1002
Dram clk skew C A1 auto
Dram clk skew C A2 auto
Dram clk skew C B1 Auto
Dram clk skew C B2 Auto
Dram timing control auto
5-5-5-15-3-54-6-3
Dram static read control Auto
Dram read training Auto
Mem. OC Charger Auto
Ai Clock Twister Auto
Ai Transaction booster Auto

CPU voltage 1.3875
CPU GTL volt ref 0/2 auto
CPU GTL volt ref 1/3 auto
CPU PLL volt 1.54
FSB Termination voltage 1.24
dram voltage auto
NB Voltage 1.22
NB GTL Reference auto
SB Voltage 1.1

Load-line calibration auto
CPU Spread Spectrum auto
PCIE Spread Spectrum auto
CPU Clock Skew auto
NB Clock Skew auto
CPU Margin Enhancement Optimized


Of course any tips would be appreciated.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[FX4]

Nice, you have a fast die. Mine for all the tea in Chine won't go above 2.83GHz.

 

[freeagent]

They can take some juice, dont be shy

Ive had 2x Q6600s, one did 3.6 with 1.48v, that was one of the first G0's.

The second one I bought here, and it did 3.4 at stock voltage, and 3.6 came at 1.2875v. That was one of the hottest cpu's I have ever owned. It ran way hotter then the one that took voltage. So dont be shy, I got nervous at around 1.6v. Your chip may or may not need that much, but looking at the vcore for your givein clockspeed, I would say yours is similar to my first one.

 

[FX4]

Oh that is not the issue with mine, it's just an edge die so it's slower than most. I worked in the semiconductor industry for quite a few years. Die that come off the edge of the wafer are slower because of optics distorting when manufacturing a wafer. The die towards the edge of the wafer are a little larger and a little slower. I just got a slow one. No big deal, it runs well for me. I also have GO stepping.

 

[freeagent]

My current cpu must be from the edge too.. Its a real dog for ocing

But I am content with it for now. Only because I havent actually seen any of the new gen hardware in person.. But that new intel cpu at stock speed absolutey thrashes this cpu at 4ghz

Things I need before a new computer:

Car
Baby stuff
Family stuff
House
Sanity

Edit:

Got most of it, workin on the others, sanity is no where to be found.

 

[FX4]

I hear you. It's pretty much why I decided to do a mild upgrade to my current system. I ordered a q9650. If I get 3.6GHz out of it I'm good to go. I really don't understand what guys are doing to max these systems out. BC2 set at max resolution and all settings on high only taxes my system to about ~35%. I'm running dual monitors too, the system is five years old.

 

[freeagent]

s775 still has some nuts!

I have a 9550 @ 4ghz and with a ssd and a decent gpu, its still a great system!

Very few people actually Need a new system, its more of a want then anything

Ive seen a few guys here buy new systems, run them, then part em out to recoup some losses. Its what I should have done with this one when I could have still got some cash for it

 

[elari20]

Mine did 3.4 with 1.34V. And 3.6 with 1.45V. My current chip is at 4014 Mhz @ 1.59V. Max temp I've seen is 105C. Those Q6600-s are monsters!

PS: your memory timings are awfully loose.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Just been reading up on some settings such as GTL Reference as it's been so long since I've changed any of these settings.

Also found out that my fans are slow due to Qfan and because my radiator fans are plugged into chassis headers on the motherboard they don't automatically change with cpu temps. I'll probably just disable qfan and see what speed I can put them up to before they sound terrible. I'm sure if they're currently at 700rpm they can be raised a bit without any additional noise.

...PS: your memory timings are awfully loose.

I must admit memory timings are something I've not put much thought into in the past. Do you have any recommendations?


What's a good program to quickly test cpu performance in between stability runs and changes? It's good to check there are no detrimental effects to the performance.

 

[elari20]

I must admit memory timings are something I've not put much thought into in the past. Do you have any recommendations?

What ram you have, and what divider?

 

[Mr Ripper]

What ram you have, and what divider?

2x2gb OCZ 8500 Reaper HPC 5-5-5-18

I'm not at home at the moment but as my Dram Frequency is currently 1002 and the fsb 376. I presume 376*0.6666 = 250.6 *2 *2 = 1002? So 2:3 divider?

I'll probably aim for 3.7 or 3.8ghz to begin with so that divider should be ok.

 

[elari20]

Then your timings are decent.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1797021

 

[Mr Ripper]

Finally got round to having a play. Being as lazy as I am I just jumped up a bunch of voltages. This is what I changed:

FSB 376 -> 411

CPU voltage 1.3875 -> 1.5
CPU GTL volt ref 0/2 auto -> 0.63 (default)
CPU GTL volt ref 1/3 auto -> 0.67 (default)
FSB Termination voltage 1.24 -> 1.4
dram voltage auto -> 1.9
NB Voltage 1.22 -> 1.4
NB GTL Reference auto -> 0.67 (0.63 default)

Load-line calibration auto -> Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum auto -> Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum auto -> Disabled

I was running prime95 and was ok for 20mins but then blue screened which I thought was strange (I'll try and catch the error message if it happens again) for it to do that after that amount of time with no prime errors. I believe my NB temps got pretty high. I don't know what kind of temps the NB is stable at but I've now turned my side fan on and directed it at the NB and I also lowered the NB voltage to 1.34. My case generally has next to no airflow

Also managed to get my radiator fans from 700rpm to 1200rpm by disabling Q-Fan controller which seems to have helped a lot with keeping the temps down.

I'll see how things go.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Prime was fine for 1h 20mins with the NB temps sorted @ 3.7ghz

Tried 3.8ghz with the same settings and errored after 1min, put NB voltage back to 1.4 but got the same 1min error so i'll try more cpu voltage.

Edit: tried ~1.52v and blue screened after ~18 mins. No prime errors before. Maybe the NB doesn't like the voltage. I'll try again with lower NB voltage.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

You can check the stability quicker with Intel Burn Test.

(with Linpack) I would try 10 runs.

 

[Mr Ripper]

You can check the stability quicker with Intel Burn Test.

(with Linpack) I would try 10 runs.

I'll get 3.8 stable on prime then switch. Just so I know where I stand. Ta for the tip.

 

[Mr Ripper]

I seem to have trouble with my vcore voltage raising too much when loaded. I get a BSOD 0124 error which I think is inbetween tests when it drops back down.

For example my voltage is 1.528 in CPU-Z but goes up to 1.552 when loaded

What settings in the bios effect voltage regulation when under load?

 

[abarth_1200]

You need to enable Load line calibration should be at the bottom of the OC menu

EDIT BTW 0.024 isnt exactly a lot of volts to be worrying about, mine goes up and down depending on load, but enable that option anyway

 

[Mr Ripper]

You need to enable Load line calibration should be at the bottom of the OC menu

EDIT BTW 0.024 isnt exactly a lot of volts to be worrying about, mine goes up and down depending on load, but enable that option anyway

Yeah I enabled that as per post #13

Without it the voltage is a fair bit lower than selected and drops a huge amount under load.

I've managed to stop the BSODs / resets. Just getting errors in IntelBurnTest but nearer the end of the 10 tests. So I guess that's an improvement.

Think I need to play with the GTL settings more.

 

[Mr Ripper]

I managed to get 3.8ghz stable last night. Turns out it was something to do with the auto memory settings

I set:
FSB Strap to North Bridge 333
Dram Frequency Auto
Also set GTL settings back to auto and lowered some voltages.

IntelBurnTest was fine but I noticed each test was about a second slower. Checked CPU-Z and the memory was running at ~844mhz. I manually set the Dram Frequency to 1012mhz and did IntelBurnTest again and it's still fine and back at the faster speeds.

Prime is also fine at the moment 1 hour+

I think what I need to do now is systematically lower all the voltages to see what minimums I can get whilst retaining stability.