Overclocking Q6600

[goldcrow]

Hey all, I'm new to anandtech so please bear with my noobishness in overclocking. I've been reading the Howto guide in overclocking C2Q and C2D but i can't seem to understand most of what's being talked about.

I'm working with this right now:
Q6600 G0 (with AC freezer 7 pro)
Asus P5Q P45
Team Elite 2x2gb ddr2-800
Palit 4850 Sonic
FSP Epsilon 500W 80+ rating

Now, at first I left ram with 5-5-5-15 and at Auto voltage.
I then adjusted my FSB to 333 while having ram at default of 800. First with Vcore at Auto and it posted. then i tried adjusting it to 1.25v, it didn't post. I reached 1.3250v until it posted succesfully without any random boots. The thing is, I've read that this Vcore is pretty high, I saw that some were only using around 1.2625v to post succesfully. So, I don't really know what I'm doing wrong or its just my bad luck that my proc isnt really that good of an overclocker.

One more thing, I also read that TJ. Max of my Q6600 G0 is at 90ºC. So I adjusted that in Coretemp and now im getting 100% load temps of 51-51-48-49. Are these temps the real ones my cores are having?

Hoping you all could help out.

 

[disports]

Well for one, you can set your voltage for your ram so that if there's a problem, you know your ram isn't the problem. Use core temp/real temp to find your VID or stock voltage and use that as a starting point. Oh and overclocking quads are harder than overclocking duos. And every chip is different, so don't necessarily expect yours do as well as others or as worse as others.

 

[goldcrow]

Found out my vid was 1.325v, luck of the draw. I'm still gonna try to achieve a t least 3.2 ghz. Now im stress testing my Q6600 - 3.0ghz with 1.32500v. Temps are reaching 63ºC with 100% load on all cores. BTW ambient temps are a bit high, and only using a cheap Freezer 7 Pro.
Are these temps quite high? Im only using the stock TIM btw. Do I need to get worried about these temps? I think I should apply some AS5 and shave some degs off.

 

[Ichigo]

They're not bad.

 

[goldcrow]

Would AS5 be better though? Sucks that I cant get 3ghz below 1.3000v.

 

[Ichigo]

If it's applied properly, it'd only help.

As it is, you don't have anything to worry about yet.

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: goldcrow
Would AS5 be better though? Sucks that I cant get 3ghz below 1.3000v.

That would be nice but in reality, you wont. I have a Q6600 (in sig) with the same vid and I now have it stable @ 3.0 with a vcore of 1.4375v in bios. Temps range from high 40's to 50c at full load. I tried everything to help bring the voltages down but to no avail. This chip wont budge. With that higher VID, you will have a challenge to get it up to 3.2. Some have and that is great, but as for the rest of us, we probably have to settle with 3.0 and I would be happy with that.

 

[hclarkjr]

wow i feel very lucky to have a Q6600 with 1.2625 vcore reading this post. i have it overclocked to 3GHZ at that voltage and it is rock steady with idle temps of roughly 98 degrees fahrenheit with room temp of 71 degrees fahrenheit. my load temps are around 121 degrees with prime95

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
wow i feel very lucky to have a Q6600 with 1.2625 vcore reading this post. i have it overclocked to 3GHZ at that voltage and it is rock steady with idle temps of roughly 98 degrees fahrenheit with room temp of 71 degrees fahrenheit. my load temps are around 121 degrees with prime95

Yes, I feel the same as I too have another Q6600 with a Vid of 1.262v. That one was a piece of cake to OC to 3.4 compaired. It went to 3.1 without touching anything with the exception of removing the "auto". Did most with the manual settings. Still, once it got to the 3.4 mark, the voltage requirement went up as well. So, with that being said, @ 3.4 with temps at high 40's, I can't complain one bit.

 

[SanDiegoPC]

Mine was a very easy OC also, running the RAM at the factory clock. I have the CPU at 400 x 8 (see my sig) and it's been running like this, using the Factory Heat Sink on the CPU since Jan of this year.