So I've decided to do this Q6600 overclock

[datter]

Rather than continue hiijacking that other thread, I thought I'd start my own. I went out and purchased an OCZ Vendetta 2 cooler today and plan to install it in the next few days (provided it fits) then get into the actual overclock shortly after that. Here are the specs of the rig I'm OC'ing...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz 8MB
OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 (1150MHz DDR2) Reaper HPC Edition (2x 1gb)
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Deluxe LGA775 Motherboard
BFG 8800GT OC 512MB PCIe Video Cards (x2 SLI)
OCZ GameXstream 850W SLI PSU
Western Digital Raptor 150Gb 10000Rpm WD1500ADFD (x2)
Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP3

This system actually runs FSX fairly nicely already after a lot of tweaking and whatnot, but I'm hoping for further smoothness and the possibility of turning up some visuals a bit more after the OC. Not really sure how much of a gain I can expect if I take this to (say 3.4ghz). Hopefully there will be a noticable difference in my daily flying.

Lots more reading to do before I get started mind you, I tend to over do it with absorbing information on this stuff to the point that I get a bit overloaded. Hopefully I can sort it all out and get something happening here, and will post my results provided I don't set my computer/house on fire in the process.

datter

[harleyman]

OK Sounds good...Let us know your results.....

[datter]

Went out and got some thermal paste today (Artic Silver 5) so might see about getting this big cooler installed tonight. God I hope it fits in there or all this will be for nothing.

[harleyman]

It shouls fit....The side case might not, but that can be modded, you can leave the said case off till then...As long as you have no fury animals that can crawl into the box...I lost a mobo when a cat went in for a look around..LOL

[datter]

I have a Pug, but I don't think she'd fit in there either... and the kids aren't that furry so I should be good.

[harleyman]

I have a Pug too...Named Pugsly...LOL It was his Birthday and he had a party.....LOL

[stansdds]

A few people have actually hit 3.6 GHz, some 3.4 GHz, but I think most people find 3.2 to 3.3 GHz to be about the most a Q6600 will go and maintain stability. 3.2 GHz is still a 33% increase and you'll see smoother performance and few extra frames per second.

[datter]

yeah I'm not sure how far this can go but we'll see. I've read of people hitting 3.8 with this processor so who knows. I think Txnetcop is running the thing at 4.0ghz (!!) for crying out loud. That's mighty impressive, but I'm not expecting to get there.

Still reading a ton about all this. I wish I could find a guy who has my mobo and a q6600 in it but I'm absorbing all I can. Likely going to get the cooler in place tonight, and start the OC stuff tomorrow after another day of reading.

What I need to sort out is, given my exact set up... once the cooler is in place and I'm staring at my BIOS, where to start. Getting a handle on it all I think.

PS- Nice Pug Harley!

[datter]

Question, as per that other q6600 overclock post (the one about doing it on stock cooling, which I'm not). Stansdds posted his BIOS settings as:

CPU clock ratio 9x
CPU frequency 3.60 GHz (400x9)
CPU host frequency 400
System memory multiplier 2.00
Memory frequency 800 MHz
Timings manual:
CAS latency 4
DRAM RAS-CAS 4
DRAM RAS Precharge 4
Precharge delay tRAS 13
DDR2/3 overvolt +0.3v
CPU volt 1.41250v

How wise or unwise would it be to stick those into my set up and see how it goes? I know, likely a horrible idea but there we are and at least I bring it up here instead of just doing it. I've found some how-to's on OC'ing the Q6600 and am apt to just pick the one that sounds the most straight forward and try following that along.

I wish I could just get Txnetcop (or one of the other gurus) over to my house for an evening, that would be good. :P

[harleyman]

The first thing to do is after the cooler is inplace run your rig tonight as normal...Keep checking your temps...if they are set good , then you are ready to OC tommorrow....

[harleyman]

Question, as per that other q6600 overclock post (the one about doing it on stock cooling, which I'm not). Stansdds posted his BIOS settings as:



How wise or unwise would it be to stick those into my set up and see how it goes? I know, likely a horrible idea but there we are and at least I bring it up here instead of just doing it. I've found some how-to's on OC'ing the Q6600 and am apt to just pick the one that sounds the most straight forward and try following that along.

I wish I could just get Txnetcop (or one of the other gurus) over to my house for an evening, that would be good. :P

You really can't do that unless you have the same speed ram as his...


Really just start with pushing up the FSB.....As it changes I'm pretty sure you will see the speed (in Mh) its going to be....

[harleyman]

txnetcao says..... how much voltage the q6600 will take for a really good OC here is the answer: 1.45 but start with 1.4 make sure the CPU fan is on high and they will be able to maintain 55C when playing FSX




With that chip I would thing you just raise the FSB till it shows ...say 3.4...Then raise the vcore to 1.4 to try first..it can push if unstable to 1.45

[datter]

Yeah that sounds reasonable. I'll get the cooler in place tonight then just fly around a bit as usual, keeping an eye on the temps to make sure the cooler is happy. Tomorrow night will be OC night.

[kilo delta]

Don't consider trying to go to 3.6ghz or even 3.4ghz just yet. Take baby steps....get it stable at 3ghz first...then try for 3.2ghz etc. While the ASUS P5N32-E SLI Deluxe is a good overclocker, i've heard that it can be difficult to overclock a quad on it.

Edit: I'd suggest updating your BIOS and chipset drivers to the latest version in case you haven't already done so.

[stansdds]

Don't just stick my settings into your computer or you may let the smoke out of the CPU. Once you let that mystery smoke out, it stops functioning.

Definitely install your cooler and let your computer run something like Orthos over night. That will keep the CPU warm and set the thermal paste. Record your idle and peak temperatures before over clocking for use as a base line. Over clock in small steps. I'm reasonably sure that 2.8 GHz will be plenty safe and that's probably a good starting place. Make sure you have good stability (instability is usually an indication of insufficient CPU voltage) and safe temps before moving higher.

[David_L6]

What revision is your Q6600? I've had a B3 and a G0. The best I could do with the B3 was 3.2GHz. I could run 3.4GHz with the G0. That's running World Community Grid 24/7 at 100% CPU load. Both would go higher for shorter periods but not stable 24/7 at 100% load. There are guys at Xtremesystems crunching with Q6600s - 24/7 @ 100% - at 3.6GHz on air but I suspect those crunchers are a lot louder than what most of us would tolerate.

Check out these threads.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...hlight=P5N32-E

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...t=ASUS+P5N32-E

[datter]

Mine is a G0, which I made sure of when I got it just for this purpose. First step is getting that cooler in, which from everything I've read about this particular model can be a frustrating experience. I'm already about 75% frustrated just from the day, so this is likely a bad idea but I'll give it a shot anyway.

[Dangerous Beans]

I have nearly the same MB, mine the Plus though, before I got my E8400 I was running an E6600 in it at 3.4 with stock cooling and voltage and it was stable.
I sold the E6600 to a friend and he cant run it over 3.2 even with more volts, cant remember what MB he has but its a different model Asus.

I would be warey about updating the bios on the P5N, read up at the Asus forums first as theres been a few problems with newer bioses on them.

Mine was a mare when I updated mine so it would support my E8400, it wouldnt post at all at first, no post beeps, no bios screen, nothing.
I thought it was dead at first.
I ended up having to remove all other parts then take the battery out of it and leave it for a while before it finally came back to life.

[datter]

I have no plans on updating the BIOS unless I find an reason to do it, which I don't expect to. In related news I'm happy to say my big ass cooler is now in place, and cooling! Idle core temps are averaging 32 deg at the moment, so I'll muck around here some and keep an eye on it.

[stansdds]

I agree on the BIOS update thing. Everyone says "update to the latest", well if the latest has known issues and an older version is known to be stable, I say stick with the old version. That's what I've done as Gigabyte seemed to have a lot of difficulty in getting a solid BIOS for my particular motherboard. This may well be my last Gigabyte board, they used to be the best, but now...

Getting that cooler to seat is difficult. I know it took me several attempts to get all four push locks to snap in, but once they did the cooler did not move.

[datter]

Getting that cooler to seat is difficult. I know it took me several attempts to get all four push locks to snap in, but once they did the cooler did not move.

No kidding, that was the only troublesome part of the install. I mean, it all went without any problems mind you but getting those stupid pushpins to seat took a lot more pushing than I expected. I thought I went in prepared too as I'd read comments from various people saying how hard they were to get in there, but even knowing that in advance I was surprised how much force it took. At first I was worried about cracking my motherboard in half, but I got 'er in there.

I got the first two (opposite corners) seated ok, and the third after more pushing leaving the troublesome fourth which was located in a very hard to reach corner. I ended up using a hunting knife of all things, which I set into the top of the pin and got some more leverage with that. I just gave it gradual force to make sure it wasn't going to slip or cut the pin, until it finally clicked into place.

I recommend everyone add a hunting knife to your collection of computer tools.

[Daube]

Question, as per that other q6600 overclock post (the one about doing it on stock cooling, which I'm not). Stansdds posted his BIOS settings as:



How wise or unwise would it be to stick those into my set up and see how it goes? I know, likely a horrible idea but there we are and at least I bring it up here instead of just doing it. I've found some how-to's on OC'ing the Q6600 and am apt to just pick the one that sounds the most straight forward and try following that along.

I wish I could just get Txnetcop (or one of the other gurus) over to my house for an evening, that would be good. :P

I've had a look into my BIOS and I must admit I cannot really find the equivalent names in my Asus bios. For example I have not found what corresponds to CPU Host frequency in my BIOS, and when it comes to the voltages there are two of them which are related to the CPU...

[harleyman]

The trick is that after you turn all 4 legs in , you need to back them out just about a 1/16 or so and the legs pop right doen and then lock

[Dangerous Beans]

I've had a look into my BIOS and I must admit I cannot really find the equivalent names in my Asus bios. For example I have not found what corresponds to CPU Host frequency in my BIOS, and when it comes to the voltages there are two of them which are related to the CPU...

Your Deluxe bios should be laid out the same as my Plus bios, there may be small differences but probaly not many.
Dont forget I'm running an E8400 not a Q6600

Datter,s bios refers to the FSB as 400 but the true FSB is 400x4 so its really 1600. The Asus FSB just refers to the true FSB.
I prefer the way Asus dous it as you can tune it more finely, with the x4 method if you increse the FSB by 1 your actually incresing it by 4.

Anyway back to your bios.
First go to "Extreme Tweaking" and set "AI Tuning" to "[Manual]".

Then go to "FSB & Memory Config"
Set "FSB - Memory Clock Mode" to " [Unlinked]" if you dont do this any increase of the FSB will also overclock the memory.
leave "FSB - Memory Ratio" set to "[Auto]"
"FSB - (QDR), MHz" is where you set your desiered FSB, [1600] should give you 3.6GB but its better to work your way up in steps testing for stability and heat as you go.
Leave "MEM (DDR), MHz" set to "[800] if you have 800 MHz memory.

For the voltage the one your looking for is in "Over Voltage"
"VCore Voltage", I leave mine set to "[Auto]"
In fact the only one I set manualy in mine is "Memory Voltage" which for my memory is "[2.100v]", set yours to whatever your memory manufacturer recomends.

If you go to "Power", "Hardware Monitor", Voltage Monitor" you will be able to see what the auto setting for your VCore is doing, mine sits at 1.44v and has been fine like that for the last year.

[datter]

Leave "MEM (DDR), MHz" set to "[800] if you have 800 MHz memory.

This is the bit I'm trying to sort out at the moment. I'm running OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 (1150MHz DDR2) Reaper HPC Edition (2x 1gb) so I'm thinking I'll need to change that to something higher than 800mhz?

In heavy reading mode all day today and will attempt to get this underway this evening. Very helpful info up there, thanks.

EDIT:

I got this advice elsewhere, does it make sense? Seems to.

Depending on the VID of your chip, you should be able to hit 3.4GHz or above. Shoot for 3.4GHz (425MHz x 8) w/ a 4:5 DRAM Frequency (266/667 NB strap), which will put your RAM at 1062MHz. Work your way up from there, with a final goal of 3.6GHz or above as your final clock. 450MHz x 8 = 3.6GHz, w/ a 4:5 ratio would put your RAM at 1125MHz. Keep the Vcore at 1.5v or below, and no less than 20C to TJunction Max.

Edit: For a clock of 3.6GHz you could also try 400MHz x 9 w/ a 2:3 divider, which would put your RAM at 1200MHz... should be an easy task w/ only 2GB installed.