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Question Anyone have experience or advice on overclocking a Q6600?

TubeTote

TubeTote

Senior member
Hello all, and thank you for reading. I am in the process of a computer overhaul, but currently stuck waiting for a back ordered GPU to do the build. If anyone is interested here is the thread:

Question - Looking to overhaul my ancient computer

Hello, looks like nobody has been posting in this thread in a while. I have a really old computer, originally built back when we were still using XP (yes most of those specs at the bottom are accurate, but I have overclocked the CPU to 2.8). I now have the machine running 7 but need a serious...
forums.anandtech.com

In the meantime, I am thinking that I will try to max out my current machine and keep it for a back up. I have a Q6600 at my disposal and would like to replace the current e5200, then overclock. I'm not looking to be too aggressive and would like to avoid messing with voltages if possible. Motherboard is an Asus P5Q-EM micro ATX. Hoping for an overclock to maybe around 2.75 - 3 GHz (and I know that the Q6600 can go much higher). I have done some research on what settings to use in the BIOS but I only seem to be finding hugely big overclocks with a lot of tweaks. Would rather keep it simple since I don't place much demand on this machine.

Also considering putting an additional 4 GB of RAM in the machine, but have never used four sticks on a motherboard...could this create any problems? I would just do 2 4 GB sticks but in DDR2 they are very hard to come by for a reasonable price. I know to use the same sized sticks, same manufacturer, same timings. Any recommendations as far as speed since I am changing processors?

I greatly appreciate any advice!
 
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If you don't want to stretch anything, don't. Just turn up the clock on stock voltages until you induce some instability, and then back down a bit. I had a P5Q something, maybe a deluxe. It overclocked well but I think I had a Q9450 at the end. 4 sticks of ram can be harder to overclock than 2.
 
I would strongly suggest not spending any more money or time on that platform. Even postage makes it not worth it, assuming free items.

If you already have all the parts and just want to tinker then go all out and follow one of the guides, the worst than can happen is you destroy your obsolete computer you are replacing.
 
maddogmcgee said:
I would strongly suggest not spending any more money or time on that platform. Even postage makes it not worth it, assuming free items.

If you already have all the parts and just want to tinker then go all out and follow one of the guides, the worst than can happen is you destroy your obsolete computer you are replacing.
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LOLOL...now that is one of the best answers I have yet heard in the forums. I am definitely overthinking this (I am often told that). I do just want to tinker and learn some things, and this is just that opportunity...if I f#$k it up, it is no real loss! Thanks for the attitude check.
 
TubeTote said:
LOLOL...now that is one of the best answers I have yet heard in the forums. I am definitely overthinking this (I am often told that). I do just want to tinker and learn some things, and this is just that opportunity...if I f#$k it up, it is no real loss! Thanks for the attitude check.
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There really isn't anything you could do wrong, put the multiplier to 30 and don't change anything else, if you have enough cooling it will go up to 3Ghz when pushed and if you don't have enough cooling it will just go as high as it can.
If your mobo has speedstep it will run at lower clocks when not pushed anyway, so you don't have to worry about high temps either.
 
Don’t forget that the Core 2 platform has it’s share of security vulnerabilities that will never be patched. It is a great chip, but it’s time is over.
 
The Q6600 is a decent chip. But if you are going to do this, make sure you have adequate cooling, and you will need to adjust voltages, best not to leave at auto. You will need to test different values at different settings for stability.
 
3GHz, bumping the FSB to 333, was considered common, in many occasions with stock voltage, that's if it's a g0 and not a b3,
I think going to that point should be safe on most boards, and run with an average cooler, going over that can get tricky,

so try that, fsb to 333, check the ram settings, and maybe you are good to go.

but you probably can get a 45nm quad core for not much, and these are significantly less power hungry at high clocks,
 
SPBHM said:
but you probably can get a 45nm quad core for not much, and these are significantly less power hungry at high clocks,
Click to expand...

I would like to echo @eek2121 's sentiment that these old chips do have some serious security problems that should not be overlooked. No, there are no patches/microcode updates to fix the problem, either. If @TubeTote is going to have this machine on the Internet, he should be aware that sooner or later he may get Spectred or Meltdowned.
 
DrMrLordX said:
I would like to echo @eek2121 's sentiment that these old chips do have some serious security problems that should not be overlooked. No, there are no patches/microcode updates to fix the problem, either. If @TubeTote is going to have this machine on the Internet, he should be aware that sooner or later he may get Spectred or Meltdowned.
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That's not even the most serious exploit possible on these platforms (Core2, Intel chipset). You can mess with the APIC and memory registers, to gain Ring0 access from untrusted code. (IIRC)
 
Hey all, I haven't heard about the security issues before this thread, had no idea. Firewalls, VPN and the like won't help? Yikes. Thank you for the heads up!

What about my current dual core e5200?

Wish that GPU would show up so I can build!
 
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TubeTote said:
Hello all, and thank you for reading. I am in the process of a computer overhaul, but currently stuck waiting for a back ordered GPU to do the build. If anyone is interested here is the thread:

Question - Looking to overhaul my ancient computer

Hello, looks like nobody has been posting in this thread in a while. I have a really old computer, originally built back when we were still using XP (yes most of those specs at the bottom are accurate, but I have overclocked the CPU to 2.8). I now have the machine running 7 but need a serious...
forums.anandtech.com

In the meantime, I am thinking that I will try to max out my current machine and keep it for a back up. I have a Q6600 at my disposal and would like to replace the current e5200, then overclock. I'm not looking to be too aggressive and would like to avoid messing with voltages if possible. Motherboard is an Asus P5Q-EM micro ATX. Hoping for an overclock to maybe around 2.75 - 3 GHz (and I know that the Q6600 can go much higher). I have done some research on what settings to use in the BIOS but I only seem to be finding hugely big overclocks with a lot of tweaks. Would rather keep it simple since I don't place much demand on this machine.

Also considering putting an additional 4 GB of RAM in the machine, but have never used four sticks on a motherboard...could this create any problems? I would just do 2 4 GB sticks but in DDR2 they are very hard to come by for a reasonable price. I know to use the same sized sticks, same manufacturer, same timings. Any recommendations as far as speed since I am changing processors?

I greatly appreciate any advice!
Click to expand...
here is a simple solution for OC'ing the Q6600:

 
i had a E6600, and pushed it to 3.2Ghz. The Q- chips were better fabricated, so your should have no problem reaching at least the same speed, however: 2007-era motherboards were not great, and if yours has been running since then, by now it's probably leaking voltage from all over the place.
S775 motherboards, and DDR2 ram sticks, are prohibitively expensive these days.

Frankly i recommend a cheap ryzen, because you can get a A520 board for $40, ram for $80 and a CPU for under $200 and they will humiliate any Conroe-era chip regardless of the overclock you do.
 
TubeTote said:
Hey all, I haven't heard about the security issues before this thread, had no idea. Firewalls, VPN and the like won't help? Yikes. Thank you for the heads up!

What about my current dual core e5200?

Wish that GPU would show up so I can build!
Click to expand...

None of that will help. I always recommend users get an modern Athlon or cheap Ryzen rather than continuing to attempt to use these old platforms.
 
Iron Woode said:
here is a simple solution for OC'ing the Q6600:
Click to expand...

Now that is interesting...hard to believe it works without messing anything up! I just might do it that way.

DigDog said:
Frankly i recommend a cheap ryzen, because you can get a A520 board for $40, ram for $80 and a CPU for under $200 and they will humiliate any Conroe-era chip regardless of the overclock you do.
Click to expand...

eek2121 said:
None of that will help. I always recommend users get an modern Athlon or cheap Ryzen rather than continuing to attempt to use these old platforms.
Click to expand...

Actually, my new build will have a Ryzen 5 3600 (pretty much all new parts other than the case and HDDs). This is really more about putzing around with my current machine while waiting endlessly for my GPUs to arrive (ordered 2 of them) so that I can build the new machine.

I wasn't aware of the security issues with these old processors, so I really appreciate the notice, thanks!
 
security issue??

spectre and meltdown?

As i understand it, those are security issues ONLY for high value targets. if anything, i would advise you to try to avoid the patches, as they will cause a steep drop in performance without any practical benefit, your home PC just isn't going to be the target of a spectre attack.
 
TubeTote said:
Now that is interesting...hard to believe it works without messing anything up! I just might do it that way.





Actually, my new build will have a Ryzen 5 3600 (pretty much all new parts other than the case and HDDs). This is really more about putzing around with my current machine while waiting endlessly for my GPUs to arrive (ordered 2 of them) so that I can build the new machine.

I wasn't aware of the security issues with these old processors, so I really appreciate the notice, thanks!
Click to expand...
nothing wrong with putzing around.

I built a win98SE machine with my old socket A parts.

You can still get socket 775 systems for cheap. They are mostly office systems. I have an old Vostro that was given to me for free and it has a Q6600. The board supports 8GB of DDR2 and PCIe video cards.

This kind of tinkering is fun.
 
If it's your only working machine, I wouldn't do anything. Wait until you have your new box up and running before you play around with this old build. You can overclock it and it will still be 2021 slow. I wouldn't put any money into it, regardless.
 
TubeTote said:
Actually, my new build will have a Ryzen 5 3600 (pretty much all new parts other than the case and HDDs). This is really more about putzing around with my current machine while waiting endlessly for my GPUs to arrive (ordered 2 of them) so that I can build the new machine.
Click to expand...

If you have -any- kind of PCIe GPU around, I'd suggest using it. There is probably a long wait ahead yet for those GPUs.

A cheap interim ebay card is also an option.
 
It's really disappointing seeing all these nay-sayers. The Q6600 was and is a great chip to OC.

As mentioned earlier, you'll need to bump the FSB up to OC. Default FSB clock is 266MHz (1066MT/s) and the easiest OC is to just bump that to 333MHz (1333MT/s) while leaving the multiplier alone. That will get you 3GHz which most G0 stepping Q6600s can do at stock voltage with some even capable of below stock volts at that frequency. If you have a B3 stepping you may have to overvolt slightly or you can choose to lower the multiplier. The G45 chipset on your board supports 1333MT/s FSB speeds officially so that isn't considered an overclock for the northbridge.
 

HOWTO: Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - A Guide v1.7

Edited on 08-Jun-2008: Guide is now version 1.7 ? added a 2nd example minimizing the vcores on my system. Before you continue, I wrote this guide with the newbie in mind, so please don't reply criticizing it for being too simplistic -- it's this way by design. Also know that the steps for...
forums.anandtech.com




In the future, please tell a bit about the links that are posted.
Itis required as per the CPU forums rules.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director
 
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