Just got my new Q6600 rig up and running, few questions

[AzuthZero]

So thanks to some of your help with my parts decision thread a few weeks ago, I finally have my rig up and running. Here are the specs.

Q6600 G0 L8 batch
Xigmatek S-1283
Mushkin DDR2-800
EVGA 750i SLI FTW
Corsair 750TX
Antec 900
Samsung 750GB Spinpoint
Geforce 6800 Ultra Video card (waiting for the new cards to be released to upgrade this)

I just got it up and running yesterday and have been fooling around with OCing the CPU, so far have it at 3.15Ghz @ 1.30v (BIOS) 1.256v (CPU-Z). It's running mid 30s C at idle, 47-50 between the 4 cores at load.

So I'm mainly wondering at this point how far can I expect to go at reasonable voltages? I'm not looking for anything definite here, as I realize that's not possible, just looking for a guess based on experience, as I'm not exactly sure how to test what my CPUs limit is. I've read the OCing guide multiple times now, but it seems mostly oriented around minimizing voltages AFTER you find your frequency. I might just be missing something, if I am feel free to point out newbness.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help. I've had a blast so far building this, and am extremely happy with the results even if 3.15Ghz is as high as I can go. It's a massive leap over my Athlon 64 3000+.

 

[Foxery]

Search a little deeper for Q6600 threads, as this is a very common product around here. You have plenty of headroom on the voltage, the temperature, and the frequency.

 

[graysky]

Each chip/MB is different. 3.15 GHz out of a 2.40 GHz chip is pretty good in my book. The guide you're referring to (mine I think) does teach, more or less, to select an o/c level, then minimize the voltages. There's no reason why you can't dial in the rough range of your vcores and then maximize the o/c. I would be happy with what you have honestly; 750 MHz over the stock frequency is an o/c of over 31 %.

You can start pushing it up little by little... I'm taking a guess that you're running 9x350? Try 9x360 and see if it's stable with some slight voltage increases, if so, push it a bit more if you want.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm still running a B3 Q6600, and I have to set VCORE to around 1.41825V -- (hell -- 1.42V) -- to get to 3.15 Ghz. I could get it to 3.2 at that VCORE with some other tweaks, but I'm more comfortable with it this way.

Even my own VCORE on this B3 is just a tad over what I'd prefer.

And since you have the G0, I'm pretty sure you could push this up to around 1.37V with no risk if you can get some extra Mhz-worth in speed.

Not sure about the variation between "set" and "monitored" voltages on your mobo, but the Intel "maximum voltage" spec on your retail box is 1.35V. You're going to see it at that voltage with the 1.37V setting anyway for some small amount of vDroop, unless the 750i chipset and mobo don't show any vDroop. Even so, a percentage point over the spec -- a hundredth of a volt -- shouldn't present a problem -- in the short run -- or in the long-run.