can I overclock a q6600 with these ambients

[bluxa]

I'm new to overclocking, but recently built a system and was going to try and overclock it to about 3.0GHz. Unfortunately with my current ambient temps I'm not sure whether its a good idea.

The system - main elements

Q6600
P5K-E/Wi-Fi
Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme with S-flex fan (1600 rpm currently set to 1100 rpm)
Transcend DDR2-800 RAM (1GB x 2)
Asus EN8600GT Silent (passive cooled)
Antec P150 case


I`m based in Tokyo and the computer is a room with no aircon and lots of window. I have a thermometer in the room and current ambient temps are getting up to about 35 degrees C.

At 35 deg C ambient temp I'm getting the following CPU and Mobo temps

Idle
CPU 48 degrees C (Core temp & RM clock)
Mobo 43 degrees C (speedfan)

load (running othos)

CPU 60-62 deg C
Mobo 45-46 deg C


When the ambient temp drops to about 25 degrees C the CPU idles at about 41 degrees C. I increased the fan speed at load on the CPU but it only reduces the temp by 1 degree!

These high summer temps make me feel that I would be silly to try and overclock, but I figured I would I ask people more knowledgable than myself before completely abandoning the idea.

What do you think?

 

[myocardia]

No, you can't overclock a cpu with an ambient temp of 95°F/35°C. If you didn't have that awesome TR Ultra 120 Extreme, you wouldn't really even be able to use that computer, most likely. Of course, your temps are low enough still that you could try overclocking slightly, to say 2.6-2.7 Ghz, but only if you're feeling lucky. BTW, welcome to anandtech.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

95°F!

How can you stand that kind of heat yourself? I'd probably pass out.

 

[Amaroque]

You could probably OC it conservatively (200-300MHz), as long as you don?t raise any voltages. I've OC'd in that kind of heat before.

I had a PII 350MHz running @ 525MHz (50% OC) one summer, and the room was about 40c (~105f) for over a month straight. I was also running Prime95 as a DC project 24/7. But again, there were no voltage bumps.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
95°F!

How can you stand that kind of heat yourself? I'd probably pass out.

Once you're exposed to 30C+ temperatures for a while, you get used to it...

Trust me, I myself hate temperatures above 80 degrees, but I was fairly okay in China (where the highs were hitting around 34-35C).

 

[bluxa]

Yeah you do get used to it, come sept it will cool down and actually be quite nice.

Room temp got up to 37 degrees C today so I've pretty much given up the idea anyway. The room has plenty of light and little airflow even with the windows open so unfortunately so the computer itself is actually adding to the heat because it doesnt go anywhere.

I'm now just working to keep the temps as low as possible. I cleaned up the case cables which were a bit of a mess but it made no difference to the temps. There is an antec spotfan in the case blowing on the area just above the memory. I've also now put 120mm fan at the side of case just below and to the right of the hsf to blow on the southbridge. Unfortunately the this seems to have made the MoBo temps higher so It may be has affected the course of the airflow in the case.

I'm not sure what the average temps are for a non overclocked Q6600. Most temps I've been able to find are the same as mine overclocked (this is comparing when the ambient temp here goes down to mid 20's when the cpu idles at somewhere between 41-44 degrees C (coretemp & RM Clock)). I'm wondering if I did a bad job of applying the thermal paste. I used MX-2 which I read good reviews about but I've read recently that applying thermal paste to quad core s is a little different. I'm wondering if I should try remounting. There were no application instructions with the packet and the instructions on the website were pretty useless, so its likely that I may have not done it well.

Anyone know what kind of temps I should be looking at? Or is idling at 44 degrees with a mid 20s ambient temp about right?

 

[Diogenes2]

Originally posted by: bluxa...........

What do you think?

If it works, it works ...

 

[asuka10456]

i would try to go to 3ghz @ 1.25v, most people get around the same temps as u.

 

[Cutthroat]

I deal with similar ambient temps here. On cooler days, and at night I overclock to 3.4GHZ, and on the really hot days I underclock to 2.0GHZ. And I'm running Folding @ Home almost 24/7.

 

[bluxa]

Thanks for the advice guys, its much appreciated. I will take asuka10456's advice and try 3ghz @ 1.25. I would be happy enough to get it to run at this speed with raising temps.

 

[imported_rod]

I live in Australia, and (since I don't have airconditioning) I can only OC in winter. Last summer we had days where it got up to 50C (~120F).

If you can keep the load temps below 60C, you should be okay. If you still want to OC, then since the ambient air temp is the problem, you'll probably be best off increasing the air flow through your case. Also, I'd keep it at stock volts - the extra heat caused by upping the Vcore would almost certainly be too much. But, TBH, if you want to overclock seriously, you'll need water.

 

[Capitalizt]

go to Home Depot and buy an AC unit for one of the windows. Then overclock your brains out.

 

[bluxa]

Hi guys, thanks for all the advice. Despite the ambient temp (its midnight here and currently 34 degrees C) I have managed to overclock to 3GHz, which was my target. Been running Othos for about an hour so far and CPU temps seemed to have stablised at at 63-65 degres (RM Temp highest core temp is 63c but Core Temp highest core is 65 - not sure which to believe). The system seems stable so far. I had to put the Vcore temp up to 1.325v (unstable below this) although in Probe II it is coming up at 1.28v. Hopefully it will stay stable even in these temps. Do you thing the CPU temp is too hot or is 65c acceptable?

 

[orion23]

Stop running orhtos.

Chances are you will never run your CPU @ 100% on all 4 cores, so your temperatures will not be that high with normal PC activities.

STOP USING ORHTOS, you are just stressing your board, and CPU for no reason. If it is stable for 5 or 10 minutes, it is good enough!

 

[bluxa]

Thanks Orion. I did think that, but literally all the stuff I read about overclocking said run othos etc for 6-8 hours, but perhaps it just meant for a very high OC. I'm very much a noobie at this so forgive my ignorance. have stopped. It ran for about 2 hrs without prob and CPU temp imediately dropped and settled at 46c.

 

[orion23]

What I meant, is that it will do you no good to stress your board and CPU @ those temperatures, and for a long time.

Some people go crazy with Orhtos and will run it for DAYS. NO Kidding there.

2 hours is more than enough IMO. When a system is unstable, it will most likely crash within minutes of running orthos.

And if it fails after 9 or 10 hours of running orthos, does it mean the system is not stable?

No, I don't think any system is meant to be stressed like that for so many hours!

 

[jkresh]

Prime 95 is a better test now as it can handle all 4 cores with 1 instance. 8-24 hours is good for prime or orthos but it depends on what you are looking for in terms of stability. If you are running calculations where the resutls need to be correct then you probably shouldn't overclock, if you are just browsing the web, playing games and watching/encoding videos then even 1 hour might be enough. I don't consider an overclock stable unless it can run for 24 hours but I do real work on my system so ...

As to your original question, the cpu can handle about 95C before shutting down (ie thats where damage starts to be an issue), 70C or so would be fine for prime or orthos load as thats not what you usually will be at, so you probably could go a bit higher with your fsb and voltages (keep it under 1.4 though as Quads do get hot).

 

[bluxa]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the clarification. I wont go any higher than 3GHz for now, I'm happy enough to run at that and TBH I dont think I would be comfortable pushing the CPU to 70c. Motherboard temps still feel a little high though, anything I can do in this respect? I had a 120mm fan at the side of the case blowing towards the southbridge and an antec spot fan blowing just above the memory. I stopped the 120mm fan though as it seemed to be disrupting the airflow and the motherboard temp actually got higher! Other fans in the case - 100mm front fan blowing on hard drive, s-flex on HSF, and another s-flex at the back of the case expelling the hot air.