My Q6600 overclocks unusually well.. Something wrong just lucky?

[seftonm]

First of all, I'm very new to overclocking which makes me wonder a bit more if I'm doing something wrong. My Q6600 is a G0 and is currently running at 398x9 = 3.58GHz. The voltage is 1.2V and temperature at full load is about 62C. From what I've read on these forums, my temperatures are getting up there but still in the acceptable range.

I'm mostly concerned about the voltage. I see a lot of people running 1.3-1.4V at those speeds. Could keeping my CPU voltage at 1.2V be damaging in any way? From what I understand higher voltage is only really needed if stability becomes an issue. Is that correct?

My system:
ASUS P5QL-E
Q6600
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 heatsink and fan
4GB OCZ PC6400 -- can't remember exactly which series

Thanks for any comments or suggestions,

Mike

 

[Cogman]

A low voltage is a dream come true. The lower the voltage, the less damage you do in the long run. Good job.

 

[an51r]

Have you tested stability? I use the intel burn test and OCCT, that is only my stress test some people use prime 95 or everest but I feel if you can pass OCCT or the burn test you are golden. I would suggest DLing either if you have not and trying maybe an hour or so of one or both.

I would def say if you have a stable 3.6ish at 1.2v that is out of the norm for that chip but far from impossible. 62c at load if not bad at all, maybe try and get the bolt through kit for the cooler if it is available, I think the 1283 uses a push pin. All in all nice OC for a novice.

 

[Painman]

Obviously, there was some kind of mixup at the shipping department... they sent you my Q6600, and they sent me yours.

j/k that's an incredibly nice chip you've got there. You should check to see if it will run on less voltage.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Wow, my Q6600 would burn itself to death at 3.6. Lucky you.

 

[polarbear6]

hey have u stress tested
and another probability is that you might be having a sh*tty graphic card
or you might be having ram spd too low
or in any case may be you re north bridge isnt being stresed enough
(this is a good thing)
this is like dream come true if i was you
may be you are lucky

 

[polarbear6]

may be he is running ram as in asyncrnous mode like
1:0.01(fsb : ram)
or he might not be having a graphic card
or god sent him his chip

 

[Drsignguy]

Almost sounds to good to be true. At 1.2v, is this in Bios or OS? Would love to hear what your VID is for that chip. That is a great OC at that voltage for this chip. :thumbsup:

 

[taltamir]

running the CPU at ANY voltage "degrades" it somewhat... the higher the voltage, the higher the degradation. As long as it is a safe voltage the CPU will be obsolete long before this actually matters. You got lucky with a very good CPU, it happens
Running at too low a voltage will cause instability and crashing and blue screens, but will REDUCE degradation compared to running it at "stable" voltage / "stock" voltage; not worsen degradation....

The lifetime of CPUs is very high anyways...
Never worry about DAMAGING your CPU by having too little voltage, it will make you have crashes though.
for a Q6600 you should be safe with voltages under 1.5 volts.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Drsignguy
Almost sounds to good to be true. At 1.2v, is this in Bios or OS? Would love to hear what your VID is for that chip. That is a great OC at that voltage for this chip. :thumbsup:

Yeah what is the VID? Use coretemp to find out your VID.

1.2V at ~3.6GHz is 45nm penryn territory...definitely not 65nm conroe territory. Something seems amiss...I'd be more suspect that your mobo is over-volting the CPU and under-reporting what the actual Vcc really is. (i.e. the bios may claim it is delivering a mere 1.2V but the hardware could be pushing 1.3V...this is called Voffset and is a calibration error all mobo's have albeit to very small degrees and not tenths of volts)

 

[roid450]

Shit, my Q6600 needed near 1.5V to even boot to 3.6ghz and that was after upping my NB and SB and other voltages. Failed Prime test almost instantly tho. I just left it at 3 ghz for now Didn't see any diffference in gamign from the PC

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: roid450
Shit, my Q6600 needed near 1.5V to even boot to 3.6ghz and that was after upping my NB and SB and other voltages. Failed Prime test almost instantly tho. I just left it at 3 ghz for now Didn't see any diffference in gamign from the PC

I agree, something is definitely suspicious here. At any rate the OP appears to have done a drive-by thread as we haven't heard from him since...so I'm going to assume there is a mistake somewhere in the documentation of the details because a 65nm quad at 3.6GHz is not getting away with 1.2V even at LN2 temps.

 

[FHDelux]

My question is, what WILL the chip do at 1.4v 4.0Ghz? The thing that will really hurt the chip is voltages and temps outside the chips specification which is less than 71C and 1.5V. The farther you are from those limits the happier the chip will be, but as long as you aren't violating those limits you are fine.

 

[dwell]

I doubt the OP tested for stability. With several of my configurations I can run at full load with Intel Burn Test and pass then turn around and fail Prime95 in minutes.

Unless he clocked 24 hours+ in Prime95 with that config it's pretty much meaningless.

 

[Bl0cks]

My Q6600 has posted to 3.2ghz at 1.2v. Stable... lol no.

 

[craftech]

At this point in time, I am not sure that extreme overclocking of 65nm 1066MHZ CPUs (that are being rapidly phased out) on motherboards that cannot take the newer chips is so wise as a failure could mean a new motherboard, cpu, and probably memory.

Maybe you should buy a spare while you still can.

John

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: craftech
At this point in time, I am not sure that extreme overclocking of 65nm 1066MHZ CPUs (that are being rapidly phased out) on motherboards that cannot take the newer chips is so wise as a failure could mean a new motherboard, cpu, and probably memory.

Maybe you should buy a spare while you still can.

John

Nonsense....he's fine.