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

MaKeOuT · Jan 2, 2008

i tried vcore of 1.4V and still cant make past post. i did some reading on other forums about this board sucking for oc'ing quad cores. it handles duals just fine but alot of people say that this mobo clocks quads around 2.6-3.0GHz and I am at 2.9GHz so i suppose unless i get a new mobo that i will just have to live with it. considering all i do is game, 2.9GHz should be fine. When I do my next build, I will do more research before buying so I don't run into this problem again.

graysky · Jan 3, 2008

I was away for the holidays so I didn't reply... sounds like others helped you - I'm not needed at all anymore

MaKeOuT · Jan 3, 2008

After all this I went and traded the C2Q for a C2D E6850 today. It should do more for me as I am a gamer.

djnsmith7 · Jan 4, 2008

Wow, what a great resource, especially for someone brand new to OC'ng like myself...Thx OP for taking the time...

graysky · Jan 4, 2008

@makeout - I dunno about that dude... new games such a cysis and cod4 will make use of a quad core chip; are 4 cores @ 3.0 GHz faster than 2 cores @ 3.6 GHz? I dunno.

@djnsmith7 - Thanks dude, glad you found it useful

MaKeOuT · Jan 4, 2008

well if i made a mistake, oh well. i just know that i couldnt get my C2Q beyond 2.9GHz due to my mobo...asus p5n-e sli which sucks for OC on quads. I will see how this new chip runs at 3.6GHz when i get my chipset coolers from newegg on monday. im sure it will be close either way and should hold me over for 18-24 months until i do the next build.

graysky · Jan 5, 2008

Probably true... I dunno what'll be on the horizon that'll be *that* much better honestly. 65 nm --> 45 nm is the latest and greatest, but unless you're doing a massive amount of video encoding, I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference between a Q6600 @ 3.0 GHz and a QX9650 @ 3.0 GHz honestly. In fact, you can see the differences in the data via my x264 benchmark. The Yorkfield vs. Kentfield using x264.exe was only about 6 % quicker.

sunni · Jan 8, 2008

Thanks Graysky,
Am really enjoying finally getting around to OCing. Was really excited when this comp OCed to 33% (265 MHz at 1.2250V ( lowest V available) & 59 deg. C for 8+hours at 100% load) Will not OC at 266 MHz regardless of Vcore increase. Curious? The onboard ethernet would not work with above setting so carefully reread and set "PCE Express Frequency" in BIOS to 100 MHz. Now the onboard ethernet works though the max OC is now 10% 220 MHz. Am i missing something obvious? or ?
Thanks,
Sunni

mobo: ASUS p5l-1394
cpu: Intel Dual Core E2180 rev mo 73 deg C 200MHz x9
Memory set to 1:1 5,5,5,15 2x512 533 Mhz
PS: 400 W Dynex atx 12V 2.2

btac1313 · Jan 8, 2008

awesome guide, graysky!

thank you for doing this guide, your guide was so well written that I read it and figured out what I was doing wrong

thanks a bunch

graysky · Jan 9, 2008

@sunni - Congrads on your overclock. I don't think locking the PCIe bus rate @ 100 MHz should affect your max o/c. That is curious. Did you give it additional vcore once locking the PCIe bus?

@btac - Glad you found it useful

WoodButcher · Jan 9, 2008

Originally posted by: sunni
Thanks Graysky,
Am really enjoying finally getting around to OCing. Was really excited when this comp OCed to 33% (265 MHz at 1.2250V ( lowest V available) & 59 deg. C for 8+hours at 100% load) Will not OC at 266 MHz regardless of Vcore increase. Curious? The onboard ethernet would not work with above setting so carefully reread and set "PCE Express Frequency" in BIOS to 100 MHz. Now the onboard ethernet works though the max OC is now 10% 220 MHz. Am i missing something obvious? or ?
Thanks,
Sunni

mobo: ASUS p5l-1394
cpu: Intel Dual Core E2180 rev mo 73 deg C 200MHz x9
Memory set to 1:1 5,5,5,15 2x512 533 Mhz
PS: 400 W Dynex atx 12V 2.2

I had a P5P800 w/ P4551 3.4 that would not boot at anything higher than 3.8 w/o bringing the pci lock along with it. With the pci @ 120 I got 4.0 all day long, 24/7 for the past 2 years. I've expected sudden death for 1yr, 11 months and 29 days but that box is still in service as the communal pc in the family room.
I also had a PL5D2-VM w/ my E6600 and it clocked better w/ increased pci but the MATX boards of yesterday are not great OCers in any circumstance.

MaKeOuT · Jan 9, 2008

I have an ASUS P5N-E SLI and a C2D E6850 and 2x1Gb Crucial Ballistix PC6400. Can anyone help me? My questions follow.

Looking for suggestions as I am hanging when windows loads.
Here is where I am:
1.55Vcore
415.5MHz fsb, multiplier of 9
833MHz ddr2, this gives fsb

ram ratio of 1:1
2.18Vram
NB is 1.56V
memory timings are 4-4-4-12, command rate is 2T and the rest are set to auto.
I have disabled everything that I am not using in the BIOS.

I set the core, memory, and NB voltages high purposely to try to get this thing to boot but no success.

Another issue:
I set my system to:
Vcore 1.35V+100mV=1.45V with a Vdroop of .055V
fsb 400MHz multi of 9 = 3.6GHz
ram is 800MHz and fsb

ram is 1:1
Vram is 1.92V
ram timings 4-4-4-12, 2T
1.39V on NB

I ran OCCT on the 30min test and stable. any suggestions on tweaking this?

Thanks!

WoodButcher · Jan 9, 2008

loosen the ram, 5,5,5,15

MaKeOuT · Jan 9, 2008

so if i loosen it, i will always have to leave it at 5-5-5-15 right?

WoodButcher · Jan 9, 2008

not necessarily, you can always change it back if you lower your clock. It may help your stability at lower speeds also. Run prime w/ small ffts to stress test the cpu w/o loading the ram. Pick a lesser ram divider to eliminate your ram from the OC altogether to find your max cpu speed, you need to find where the faults are in your system.

MaKeOuT · Jan 10, 2008

ok, ill loosen the timings. now my fsb:ram is 1:1 and i cant take it any lower and my ram stock is 800MHz so i will be OC'ing the ram, does this require me to bump up my ram voltage from 1.9V. the rating is 2.2V for these crucial ballistix sticks.

WoodButcher · Jan 10, 2008

Originally posted by: MaKeOuT
ok, ill loosen the timings. now my fsb:ram is 1:1 and i cant take it any lower and my ram stock is 800MHz so i will be OC'ing the ram, does this require me to bump up my ram voltage from 1.9V. the rating is 2.2V for these crucial ballistix sticks.

If your memory voltage isn't /wasn't set to manufacturers specs that could be your prob right there! you may not need to loosen the timing, set everything re garding the ram to manufacturers specs.

WoodButcher · Jan 10, 2008

@ Graysky, I realize I said this many, many pages ago but I feel compelled to reiterate, this is the best OC guide I've seen and kudos to you on the edits and keeping it current.
I've refered folks to this on many occasions and use it myself as a reference.
thank you.

sunni · Jan 10, 2008

Hi Graysky,

Yes, increased Vcore from 1.2250v to 1.3500v and still would not boot at greater than 10% OC (220MHz with PCIe locked at 100MHZ). Will Google this mobo and try with different memory. Any other suggestions on where to look or what else to try will be greatly appreciated
Thanks Again,
Sunni

@sunni - Congrads on your overclock. I don't think locking the PCIe bus rate @ 100 MHz should affect your max o/c. That is curious. Did you give it additional vcore once locking the PCIe bus?

Thanks Graysky,
Am really enjoying finally getting around to OCing. Was really excited when this comp OCed to 33% (265 MHz at 1.2250V ( lowest V available) & 59 deg. C for 8+hours at 100% load) Will not OC at 266 MHz regardless of Vcore increase. Curious? The onboard ethernet would not work with above setting so carefully reread and set "PCE Express Frequency" in BIOS to 100 MHz. Now the onboard ethernet works though the max OC is now 10% 220 MHz. Am i missing something obvious? or ?
Thanks,
Sunni

mobo: ASUS p5l-1394
cpu: Intel Dual Core E2180 rev mo 73 deg C 200MHz x9
Memory set to 1:1 5,5,5,15 2x512 533 Mhz
PS: 400 W Dynex atx 12V 2.2

graysky · Jan 10, 2008

@woodb - thanks for the kind words. Always glad to contribute when I can!
@sunni - It's likely not the CPU then... how about boosting additional volts (ICH and NB come to mind). I had to boost the ICH and the NB when I used faster memory or else it wouldn't POST. What is your memory brand/type and what are the manufacturer's recommended timings and voltage?

hypeMarked · Jan 14, 2008

I don't know why I thought this is a locked thread. I made a thread to ask this, but this is where it belongs. So here's the cut&paste version:

I have read a lot about over clocking and one thing that isn't very clear for me:

- The CPU voltage that people report for their stable OC.

Question 1 - I see cpu voltage in at least 3 different places: the mobo bios, cpu-z, and coretemp. Which one do people report?

Question 2 - I remembered that the Intel spec for quad core cpu (Q6600) voltage upper limit is 1.5v. So whatever the answer to Question 1 is, it should not be above 1.5 right?

Question 3 - When running Prime95 (v25.6). I ran the torture test Small FFT and it's stable for 8+ hours. But when I run the In-Place/Blend test, after several hours (it depends and happened 2x), Prime95, CPU-Z, and CoreTemp just shut down. I was happened to be away, but looking at event log and everything else, there is no sign that there's a reboot, blue screen, or anything. Just that the applications are shut down. Does this mean it is not stable yet and I need to put some more juice into the CPU?

Question 4 - Load temp when OC Q6600 G0. I read around and the intel document as well and they said that 70* C is safe for Q6x00 G0 chip. When loaded, the cpu temps go to 69*-70* C. I know it's ok, but from what I read, a lot of people worry that it being too high, so I just wanted to verify with all of you that it's not being too hot.

System Spec:

Q6600 @ 390fsb X 9 = 3.5ghz with ThermalRight Ultra 120 Xtreme (cpu + heatsink lapped)
Abit IP35 - Pro
4x 1gb DDR2 8500 Crucial Ballistic Tracer

Current OC settings:

mobo cpu voltage - 1.4025v
mobo fsb - 390

graysky · Jan 15, 2008

@hypemarked -

Answer 1 - I report the BIOS voltage but others may report the CPU-Z voltage. Coretemp doesn't show voltage, it does show VID which is different. Although I don't have a formal definition for VID, I believe it is the info that Intel hardcodes into your CPU describing the min stable vcore according to some test. That said, my VID is 1.2875V for my Q6600. I can run prime95 stable @ 1.000V (9x266) and 1.2625V (9x333) -- both of which are well under the VID.

Answer 2 - Right

Answer 3 - If you have roundoff error checking enabled in p95, and it doesn't give you a rounding error, you're stable in my book. I can't explain why coretemp crashed.

Answer 4 - 70 °C is the upper limit. Looks like you lapped your stuff so if you wanna run 390x9 @ 1.4025V those will be your load temps. Drop back on the vcore if it bugs you (and obviously adjust the O/C until it's stable).

hypeMarked · Jan 15, 2008

Thanks graysky, one last question. I know OC shorten the lifespan of the CPU, but by how much? I remembered from an article a long time ago that a CPU has a regular lifespan of about 10-15 years and OC reduces that to about half. Does that still holds true or it's a different game plan by today's OC standards?

derek122 · Jan 16, 2008

derek122 · Jan 16, 2008

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

Junior Member

Senior member

Junior Member

Platinum Member

Senior member

Junior Member

Senior member

Junior Member

Junior Member

Senior member

Platinum Member

Junior Member

Platinum Member

Junior Member

Platinum Member

Junior Member

Platinum Member

Platinum Member

Junior Member

Senior member

Senior member

Senior member

Senior member

Banned

Banned