Trouble OC'ing Q6600...

moist.au · 2nd September 2012, 2:14 PM

Hi guys,

Just wanting to get a bit more life out of my CPU before I switch to Ivy in a couple of months. For the whole time I've owned my Q6600 I have only ever managed a 400mhz OC... Anything above 2.8 and the system won't boot (screen just goes black.)

Basically I'm increasing FSB to 311 (Multiplier 9) for 2.8. If I increase FSB any higher than that, screen goes black.

I would have thought I'd be able to get at least 3.0 with my cooler (not sure exactly the model but it's a coolermaster and it cost me $60 so I think it's decent :P) - and temps aren't an issue, under full load on all cores it sits around 52-55 degrees at 2.8ghz.

Could my RAM be the issue here? I have tried a couple of settings. I set it to linked, and put it at 1:1, I have tried unlinked and left it stock, I have tried it linked and set the ratio to AUTO as well...

Any suggestions? Happy to provide more info if needed...

chi · 2nd September 2012, 2:38 PM

what motherboard you using, if its anything from nvidia (eg 680i, 780i, etc), you'll have no chance of trying to clock a quadcore

moist.au · 2nd September 2012, 5:51 PM

Yeah it's a 680i - Asus p5n32-e sli plus...

What's the reason for that?? No chance flashing bios will help with it? D:

snappy1 · 2nd September 2012, 7:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chi

what motherboard you using, if its anything from nvidia (eg 680i, 780i, etc), you'll have no chance of trying to clock a quadcore

I can run mu Q6600 at 4 ghz air on my 780i

Wozzernux · 2nd September 2012, 7:31 PM

680i boards don't like overclocking quad cores. I had a P5N32-E SLI board and couldn't get a Q9400 stable past it's stock 2.66GHz no matter how many volts I fed it (within safe limits) so ended up selling it and buying a P45 board instead. Best decision I ever made.

For Kentsfield quads get yourself a board with one of these chipsets:

780i
P35
P45
X38
X48

snappy1 · 2nd September 2012, 7:32 PM

P45 is best for quads by far

antEEK · 2nd September 2012, 7:34 PM

Have you tried a different multiplier? 400x8 (3.2GHz) should work with a slight voltage increase.
If you have DDR800 ram then the FSB ratio should be 1:1 aswell at 400Mhz.

moist.au · 3rd September 2012, 9:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antEEK

Have you tried a different multiplier? 400x8 (3.2GHz) should work with a slight voltage increase.
If you have DDR800 ram then the FSB ratio should be 1:1 aswell at 400Mhz.

I tried 400x8 last night when I read your post, bumped the vcore up two notches from 1.2875 to 1.3 and still no go

I think maybe my RAM is just horrible? Might go ahead and get some better DDR800 stuff maybe since it's so cheap, see if it makes a difference.

antEEK · 3rd September 2012, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moist.au

I tried 400x8 last night when I read your post, bumped the vcore up two notches from 1.2875 to 1.3 and still no go

I think maybe my RAM is just horrible? Might go ahead and get some better DDR800 stuff maybe since it's so cheap, see if it makes a difference.

try 1.35 and 1.4V just to see if it boots or not. From memory at those clocks I needed 1.32V for it to boot and 1.37V for it to run stable.

moist.au · 3rd September 2012, 11:00 AM

Alrighty I'll give that a go tonight and post back results. Always hesitant to play with the voltages, not sure what is a safe overclock...

If vcore is set to auto shouldn't that automatically adjust the voltage to what is needed?? At least that's how I thought auto worked?

EvilGenius · 3rd September 2012, 11:04 AM

Mate, you have your answer already, it's the motherboard. They won't overclock quads. Getting better ram won't help.

moist.au · 3rd September 2012, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

Mate, you have your answer already, it's the motherboard. They won't overclock quads. Getting better ram won't help.

I also have a couple saying they've had successful clocks above what I can get with the same board or similar, and with some googling I have found others have as well. I can appreciate the fact it might be the motherboard, but it's worth at least looking a bit further in to it I think?

If this doesn't work tonight by upping the vcore more then yeah I guess I'll give up and deal with it :P

EvilGenius · 3rd September 2012, 11:13 AM

Hey if you want to much around buying kit that you don't really need go for it, but when faced with 'p45 boards WILL overclock quads' and '680i boards sometimes fluke an overclock with quads' my first reaction wouldn't be 'hey I'll just buy new ram...'.

moist.au · 3rd September 2012, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

Hey if you want to much around buying kit that you don't really need go for it, but when faced with 'p45 boards WILL overclock quads' and '680i boards sometimes fluke an overclock with quads' my first reaction wouldn't be 'hey I'll just buy new ram...'.

Yes, I realized that after I posted it

It was one of those 'doh, der hur hur' moments, it's Monday, my brain is hurting after the weekend, it happens!

Obviously I would go ahead and buy a p45 if the outcome is my board can't do more than 2.8.

Snip3rVillan · 3rd September 2012, 1:08 PM

What stepping is the cpu? B3 or G0? Makes a big difference – the G0’s overclock a lot better. For comparison I had my Q6600 B3 running a permanent 3Ghz on aftermarket air cooling for about 5 years on a P35 board, it wouldnt go much higher. Towards the end it just gave up and would massively overheat at stock speeds.

2nd September 2012, 2:14 PM	#1
moist.au Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 294	Trouble OC'ing Q6600... Hi guys, Just wanting to get a bit more life out of my CPU before I switch to Ivy in a couple of months. For the whole time I've owned my Q6600 I have only ever managed a 400mhz OC... Anything above 2.8 and the system won't boot (screen just goes black.) Basically I'm increasing FSB to 311 (Multiplier 9) for 2.8. If I increase FSB any higher than that, screen goes black. I would have thought I'd be able to get at least 3.0 with my cooler (not sure exactly the model but it's a coolermaster and it cost me $60 so I think it's decent :P) - and temps aren't an issue, under full load on all cores it sits around 52-55 degrees at 2.8ghz. Could my RAM be the issue here? I have tried a couple of settings. I set it to linked, and put it at 1:1, I have tried unlinked and left it stock, I have tried it linked and set the ratio to AUTO as well... Any suggestions? Happy to provide more info if needed...

2nd September 2012, 2:38 PM	#2
chi Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Sydney Posts: 749	what motherboard you using, if its anything from nvidia (eg 680i, 780i, etc), you'll have no chance of trying to clock a quadcore __________________ Main: [G1.Sniper M3][3570K OC 4.4GHz 1.28v][Asus GTX560 Ti DCII 950/1900/2400 1.025v][8GB 1866MHz 9-10-9-28][HX650W][OCZ Vertex II 60GB][Epic Black Diamond] Backup: [GA-P67A-UD3-B3][2500K OC 4.2 GHz 1.07v][EVGA GTX460 900/1800/2200 1.087][8GB 1600Mhz 9-9-9-24 1.5v][HX650W][F3 1TB][Antec 300] Audio: X-Fi Titanium HD -> NAD 3020 + Denon PMA-250 II -> Wharfedale 9.1 + ATH-AD900/AD1000

2nd September 2012, 7:31 PM	#5
Wozzernux Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: WA, 6008 Posts: 557	680i boards don't like overclocking quad cores. I had a P5N32-E SLI board and couldn't get a Q9400 stable past it's stock 2.66GHz no matter how many volts I fed it (within safe limits) so ended up selling it and buying a P45 board instead. Best decision I ever made. For Kentsfield quads get yourself a board with one of these chipsets: 780i P35 P45 X38 X48 __________________ i5-2500K @ 4GHz • Asus P8Z77-M • 16GB Corsair 1600MHz • Asus GTX480 • OCZ Agility 3 120GB • Silverstone TJ08-E • Ducky Shine 9008 - Cherry MX Brown Battlefield 3 • [Logitech 'G' Owners Club Member #50] • Trades List

2nd September 2012, 7:32 PM	#6
snappy1 Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Benching Posts: 3,817	P45 is best for quads by far __________________ Go Extreme with the OCAU HWBOT Team G Skill Competition

2nd September 2012, 7:34 PM	#7
antEEK Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Melbourne Posts: 486	Have you tried a different multiplier? 400x8 (3.2GHz) should work with a slight voltage increase. If you have DDR800 ram then the FSB ratio should be 1:1 aswell at 400Mhz. __________________ Rampage IV Extreme \| 3930K @ 4.8GHz/Hydro H100 \| SLI Zotac GTX 680 \| 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz \| 256GB Vertex 4 \| Corsair AX850 \| Sennheiser HD 598 \| Win 7 Ultimate Alienware M14x R2 \| 3610QM \| GT650M 2GB \| 8GB 1600MHz \| 256GB Vertex 4 \| Win 7 Ultimate

2nd September 2012, 5:51 PM	#3
moist.au Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 294	Yeah it's a 680i - Asus p5n32-e sli plus... What's the reason for that?? No chance flashing bios will help with it? D:

3rd September 2012, 11:00 AM	#10
moist.au Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 294	Alrighty I'll give that a go tonight and post back results. Always hesitant to play with the voltages, not sure what is a safe overclock... If vcore is set to auto shouldn't that automatically adjust the voltage to what is needed?? At least that's how I thought auto worked?

3rd September 2012, 11:04 AM	#11
EvilGenius Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: _Rocky Status:_Folding! Posts: 6,356	Mate, you have your answer already, it's the motherboard. They won't overclock quads. Getting better ram won't help. __________________ i5-750@4.0 \| GA-P55A-UD3P \| 32GB GsKill Ares PC-12800 \| NVS420 \| Corsair HX-850 \| CMStacker810 Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more Cry fold for Team24, OCAU and all the world! Wanted - 2 x Dell S2409W's, 14-15" i3/i5/i7 laptop ballpark $300

3rd September 2012, 11:13 AM	#13
EvilGenius Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: _Rocky Status:_Folding! Posts: 6,356	Hey if you want to much around buying kit that you don't really need go for it, but when faced with 'p45 boards WILL overclock quads' and '680i boards sometimes fluke an overclock with quads' my first reaction wouldn't be 'hey I'll just buy new ram...'. __________________ i5-750@4.0 \| GA-P55A-UD3P \| 32GB GsKill Ares PC-12800 \| NVS420 \| Corsair HX-850 \| CMStacker810 Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more Cry fold for Team24, OCAU and all the world! Wanted - 2 x Dell S2409W's, 14-15" i3/i5/i7 laptop ballpark $300

3rd September 2012, 1:08 PM	#15
Snip3rVillan Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 1	What stepping is the cpu? B3 or G0? Makes a big difference – the G0’s overclock a lot better. For comparison I had my Q6600 B3 running a permanent 3Ghz on aftermarket air cooling for about 5 years on a P35 board, it wouldnt go much higher. Towards the end it just gave up and would massively overheat at stock speeds.