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

[WoodButcher]

Is there a point here?

Originally posted by: derek122
http://www.*****/BLF1820E-90.html]BLF1820E-90[/url]
http://www.*****/MRF581.html]MRF581[/url]
http://www.*****/PTF10007.html]PTF10007[/url]
http://www.*****/BLX15.html]BLX15[/url]
http://www.*****/MRF208.html]MRF208[/url]
http://www.*****/MRF184.html]MRF184[/url]
http://www.*****/SHL7015.html]SHL7015[/url]
http://www.*****/MRF5003.html]MRF5003[/url]
http://www.*****/2SC2694.html]2SC2694[/url]
http://www.*****/BLF1820E-90.html]BLF1820E-90[/url]
http://www.*****/2SC2290.html]2SC2290[/url]

 

[graysky]

@hypeMarked - A good question... I don't think you'll find an answer. To truly answer it, one would have to design an experiment with several machines that are o/c'ed and several control machines with the same hardware. Each set would have to be used the same in the same environment, power source, etc. etc. etc. There are just too many variables to control here to give a meaningful answer.

I think more than likely, the typical person interesting in overclocking has some amount of technical knowledge, reads-up on current hardware, maybe even uses the hardware to do work (video encoding, photo editing, gaming etc.) such that he/she will know that after a few years, there's probably something bigger, better, and faster. What I'm saying is you'll probably be ready for an upgrade long before you burn out the hardware if you're o/c'ing it the right way (i.e. not exceeding design specs for voltage, heat, etc.)

Just my 2 cents.

 

[bhaltair]

Nevermind, misunderstood the guide. Thanks for the great guide!

 

[Andvari]

Regarding shortening lifespans... it is related to how much of an OC you do, right? A higher OC would require higher voltages and generate higher temps, and shorten lifespan more than say... a modest OC, with only slight temp and voltage increases. Right?

I like to hold onto a computer for about 5 years, and this is my first OC. I only OC'ed the Q6600 to 3GHz, which seems to be the modest OC a lot of people go for. So the voltages and temps didn't increase by a large amount. It loads at 62C on the hottest core in Prime95, but I doubt I will ever put that much stress on the CPU in more normal computing. So they should typically remain under 50C I would think.



Also, how much of an increase in performance is 3 over 2.4? Obviously it's 25% numerically, but how does that translate into applications? Photoshop? Games? Other common software?

 

[graysky]

Andvari - It is about a 1:1 increase for video encoding (x264.exe). I dunno for other apps, games.

 

[Apocalypse23]

thanks for the brief but informative guide! So far I have my system, mostly on AUTO settings but I managed to so far get 3800mhz with 422 FSB stable, I only disabled a few settings like c1E and Intel StepSpeed, I'm using 9 as a multiplier, only changed the FSB however. Pushed higher to 433 and the sytem was unstable, tried changing the voltage manually with no luck and only the system setting itself to stock. I may have to configure with Ram settings manually, but do you think my rig is alright with everything at auto if I am getting stable at 422 x 9 ? My voltage in windows reads as 1.22V and 1.216V in CPU Z. My idle temp is 17C and load was around 40 max.

Thanks

 

[Thraxen]

First off... thanks for the guide. It was very helpful in overclocking my system. I'd just like to note that Speedfan 4.34beta appears to read the core temps on quads correctly.

 

[Driv3n]

Are these temps TOO HIGH?
Is it common for a CPU to nearly double in temp when stressed to 100%?
What is considered a safe operating temp for the Q6700?

Here are the settings:
FSB 330x10 = 3.3GHZ
RAM is still at 5-5-5-12 @2.25v equaling 990MHz
CPU vCore = 1.4000v in BIOS, but displays 1.352v in CPU-Z and 1.35v in CPUID Hardware Monitor.

Temps:

Idle =

System: 31
CPU: 28

Core0: 38
Core1: 37
Core2: 34
Core3: 34


(this is the part that makes me a little nervous)

Stressed =


System: 38
CPU: 61

Core0: 72
Core1: 72
Core2: 66
Core3: 63


Thanks.

 

[graysky]

@driv3n - According to processorfinder 71 °C is max. Yes, they roughly double. You should seriously consider reading through the temperature management section of my guide again. Consider lapping the hs and chip if you wanan run the o/c and vcore that high.

 

[TheRyuu]

Do you think that my overclock is being limited by my PSU?

My computer is the one in my sig, and it has a 600W Seasonic S-12 in it.
Was just wondering if the 16A on the two 12v rails could possibly be the cause of the trouble i'm having getting over 3ghz no matter WHAT I do (i've tried cranking up voltage, and I find it hard to believe i can't get over 300mhz fsb, even if I lower the multi.

It also has 3 HD's, 2 CD-Rom drives and ~7 fans in it.

 

[graysky]

600 W? I doubt it. I have more a more power demanding system than you do and my peak usage as measured by a kill-a-watt isn't even close to 600 W. I dunno what to make of your 16A limit. Does the cable that powers the CPU adhere to that limit as well? BTW, if you're @ 1.42 V you're approaching the limit for that chip actually and 3.0 GHz is a 50 % o/c which is pretty darn good. The most I can squeeze out of my q6600 B3 is 3.2 GHz which is only a 33 % o/c in comparison.

 

[aussiestilgar]

I'm running an E8400 @ 4.05 (9x450) on a Gigabyte P35-DS3R. Some questions for you:
The BIOS has an option for the FSB voltage - is that the same as the ICH in your guide?
How do you know when to up the NB, SB and FSB voltages?
Is it usually when you hit a wall and increasing your Vcore doesn't help make an OC stable?
How much voltage do you raise on these component, generally?
Thanks.

 

[graysky]

@astilgar - About the FSB voltage crossing to ICH... I dunno. Different MB manufactures will call the same feature different things unfortunately. To your second question: it involves picking a level to set each one to and adjusting them up one-at-a-time until you reach a stable setting unfortunately. I started with mine all set to their lowest values and luckily, I can run 9x333 as such with a 1:1 mem/cpu divider. When I had "faster" RAM, I used the 2:3 divider and found that I had to bump up both the ICH and NB voltages too high for the slight gains the quicker divider gave me. I returned the RAM and am still running @ 1:1 using the lowest voltage settings.

To your 2nd-to-last question: yes. If you find that additional vcore doesn't help, you can verify that your memory is running within the speed, timing, and voltage specs (i.e. you're not overclocking it), and THEN begin to up the other voltages on the board. Using my system with the faster memory as an example: the vcore wasn't causing my instability, the lack of voltage in my ICH and NB was the problem. Again, you learn these things by trial-and-error making a single change each time you boot. It can be quite tedious at times!

To your final question: I usually just increase the secondary voltages by one unit (whatever the BIOS allows) and see if I get stability. To start off you might wanna run them up to their max or near max levels... if you're not stable with them jacked up, you're probably pushing your hardware too hard.

 

[M1A]

nice review and good info here.

 

[flexy]

excellent guide!!! I got a Quad Q6600 and i am kind of p****d since i "only" can bring it up to 3540-ish on Air (Ulta X 120) since the common notion is "they all make 3600"

 

[graysky]

@flexy - my B3 can only hit about 3.2 without serious heat issues. It can do 9x400 but @ 1.5something V and it's not stable. Be happy with 3.0 GHz... depending on what you're doing with it, that's a sh*tload of processing power.

 

[NoobyDoo]

a) I haven't gone thru all 14 pages of this thread.

b) I have posted this in another thread.

Please include this info in this guide :

Just moving to Vista 64-bit and 4x1 GB memory with a dual core processor.

What's the recommended stability testing procedure ?

What's confusing me is :

1) Do I use the 32-bit version or 64-bit version of Prime95 ?
2) Memtest+ like any other 32-bit app can only test approx 3.2 GB memory.

Thanks.

 

[MichaelD]

Rig:
Q6600 (G0/SLACR)
Freezer7/AS5
2x1GB Corsair PC6400 (5-5-5-18)
Abit IP35-Pro v1.1
Corsair 620HX
8800GT

I just built this rig a few days ago (MB is new) and haven't spent a great deal of time fiddling with it. I can only get it to 3.0GHZ (9x333) and that's with the voltage on Auto. I can run 9x333 with memory at 1:1 for 333MHz memory or with memory at 1:120 for 399MHz, which is where I'm at now. (1:1 ratio is optimal, I know).

I left C1E and EIST enabled. With a room temp of 23C, it idles at 38C across all 4 cores (CoreTemp). I tried 8x400 and 9x400 with the CPU voltages in increments all the way up to 1.450 with the same results. BIOS boots but Windows splash screen crashes.

I upped the memory voltage from the default 1.80 to 1.90 and that didn't help.

Being that I can get to 3.0GHz with all voltages on AUTO, there's got to be more in this chip. I've got a known good OCing MB and powersupply and I'm running the memory in-spec.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[rockfella79]

Yes performance jump is immense at 3.7 Quad Q6600!

 

[MichaelD]

Anyone feel like lending a helping hand? 3.0GHz isn't slow by any means, but it makes no sense that 3.0GHz is rock stable and just a bit more, 3.2GHz fails miserably no matter how much voltage I throw at it.

 

[superstition]

If anyone has any tips for me, I could use some help. I'm having a bizarre problem getting over 360 FSB (2.88 GHz) on my system.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2153465&enterthread=y

 

[InCrYsIs]

I have a P5WDH Deluxe with Kingston Hyper-X DDR-800.
I got the chip up to the 3.0 GHZ. The system is only stable with the ram at 667. Is there something I'm missing or is there a limit to what the RAM will do in this configuration? Or is my ram just not the best for doing this?

Thanks

 

[blackbook]

Hey there everyone. This is my first post as I joined specificall for this guide. Thanks a lot. Its wonderful and I've read it at least 3/4 times! However, im in a posistion where I simply cant let anything go wrong with my PC and am a little scared of pressing the magic 'F10' incase I blow something!

Anyway, I was really impressed with this guide and I scribbled down a TON of information and tips as to what to set my bios as. Before I started, I was aware that my bios was different, however I thought i'd make sense of it due to the notes I'd taken down. Unfortunatly, this wasn't the case.

I'm using a 'Asus Extreme Striker' motherboard and its bio's looks like this -

Main Page
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=30


Extreme Tweaker
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=26

FSB & Memory Config
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=28
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=32

Overclocking
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=35

Voltage
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=34

Memory Timings
http://img.neoseeker.com/v_ima...rticleid=2017&image=33



Now, I'd say I've got about 90% of things right and ready to change - but theres a few things worded differently, and the FSB&Memory page confused the hell outta me! If i post my specs, would someone be kind enough as to suggest what settings should be what? I understand it would be a little time consuming, but it really will be appreciated!

Specs
Motherboard - Asus Exteme Striker
CPU - Intel Quad 6600 (same as guide was written on i believe!)
Memory - OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel (can go up to 2.3volts)
Gfx - Nvidia 8800gtx
OS - Windows vista 32bit / Windows XP 64bit ---- ( i reformat and change every 2/3weeks. I never dual boot)

Thanks a lot guys and I really hope you can help me out.

-Dave

 

[graysky]

Originally posted by: NoobyDoo
Just moving to Vista 64-bit and 4x1 GB memory with a dual core processor.

What's the recommended stability testing procedure ?

What's confusing me is :

1) Do I use the 32-bit version or 64-bit version of Prime95 ?
2) Memtest+ like any other 32-bit app can only test approx 3.2 GB memory.

Thanks.

Stress testing under Vista is the same as stress testing under XP (described in the guide).

1) As long as p95 is hitting all of your cores it and you remember to enable error checking, shouldn't matter 32/64-bit. Might as well give the 64-bit one a try if you're running a 64-bit O/S. Link to prime95 v25.6.

P.S. Sorry it took a while to reply, I've been pretty busy these days.

 

[graysky]

Originally posted by: MichaelDBeing that I can get to 3.0GHz with all voltages on AUTO, there's got to be more in this chip. I've got a known good OCing MB and powersupply and I'm running the memory in-spec.

What am I doing wrong?

You should have more out of that setup unless you got a really crappy g0. Have a look at this thread comparing PC5300 to PC8888. For me to get the PC8888 mode to be stable, I had to raise the NB voltage two ticks, the ICH voltage up to the max. If vcore and RAM vcore didn't do it for you, you may have to boost your board voltages as well.

Also, drop down to 1:1 and use default timings or better yet, 5-5-5-15 until you can verify stability.

P.S. Sorry it took a while to reply, I've been pretty busy these days.