Problem with over-clocking a Q6600

[brucekn]

Mobo is a GA-X38T-GQ6, almost 2 years old running 2 X 1GB DDR3 (Mushkin PC-12800) and a Q6600. I am new to over-clocking so had a mild OC of 333 X 9 (3 GHz) on the Q6600 at 1.3V vCore, RAM at 1333 and had tightened the timings to 7-7-7-6 with 1.95V. I have been running this now for several weeks and was contemplating pushing it further when I had a lock-up the other night running FSX (flight-sim). Re-booted and noted that my BIOS had reset so that CPU Host Control was at "Auto" (266 MHz), as was the memory, all settings at Auto. I tried restoring settings to the previous config with the mild OC but on re-boot it all went back to Auto again after trying to re-boot for about 20 seconds.

I have even tried setting CPU Host Control to Manual and leaving at 266 MHz, i.e. no OC at all, but the setting goes back to Auto every time. It was doing this when I started trying to tighten timings on the RAM before I had added voltage when I first OC's several weeks ago, and I realize that this is some form of protection on the system when I push things too far, but at 333 MHz?

Cooling is air, a Thermalright after-market cooler.

Thanks for any answers. Bruce.

 

[Ben90]

Looks like something is having problems at stock settings; if things stay on Auto is everything prime95 stable? If it isnt u might need to grab some software overclocking to isolate the problem... if it is stable maybe ur forgetting something in the bios...voltage maybe idk?

I have my money on RAM freaking out, but i have a habit of being wrong at pretty much everything recently :/

 

[LOUISSSSS]

worse comes to worse... reset ur bios, boot into windows at default settings and stability test real quick. if all is good, go into bios and u should be fine.

 

[brucekn]

Thanks for the replies.

I have solved the issue (I believe) by increasing vCore on the Q6600. Previously I had 1.30 volts in BIOS, which actually worked OK at 3 GHz until it stopped doing so, when I noted in CPU-Z that vCore as measured in that app was 1.24 volts. I increased vCore to 1.35 volts in BIOS ( is now 1.296 volts in CPU-Z), and I am now back at 3 GHz with my Q6600. I assume that the voltage difference between voltage in BIOS and as measured by CPU-Z is resistance in the main board tracks and/or CPU pins/socket.

My concern is still that it used to work at 3GHz at 1.3 volts, which is stopped doing after a crash.

Thanks, Bruce.

 

[Shmee]

well, the voltage difference is called vdroop or vdrop, and there should be a sticky on it here somewhere. Q6600's are good up to and sometimes beyond 1.5 V, so dont be afraid to up it higher for stability at higher clocks as long as temps are good. I have my Q6600 in a 780i FTW and it is at 3.6 with 1.425 Vcore. I may be able to get it stable at lower voltages.

Since you probably have a really good cooler (is it the TRUE?) you should be able to get to 3.6 or higher if it is a good G0 chip. What is its VID? Mine has a relatively low one of 1.25.

 

[brucekn]

Thanks- VID is 1.2375 , and the cooler is a Thermalright Ultra 120. I am new at this although I have built many PCs before but just never had the confidence to push them into OC

Thanks, Bruce.

 

[Tristor]

I didn't go for DDR3 when I did my Q6600 build, but I can tell you a Q6600 (chip wise) should be capable of 3GHz on stock voltage with a stock cooler, no volts needed. I'd say you're RAM may be the issue, but I don't know for sure.

 

[brucekn]

Thanks- I did try MemTest in Windows (ran 2 concurrent instances) and it hadn't found anything after 8 hours. Is there a better way to test RAM?

Thanks for the help, Bruce.

 

[Shmee]

wow, with that setup you should be able to do 3.8. You have a good low VID! You may have to adjust north bridge and CPU VTT settings for your board though. I do not know a lot about the x38 chipset, but you may have either hit an FSB hole, or MB need to adjust NB or ram voltages. Windows memory test isnt always the best BTW, afaik. Try a memtest bootdisk or USB drive.

Also, have you read the OC stickies? Remember to disable any OC inhibitors like speedstep, auto spread spectrum settings and the like. You want to select things to be as manual as possible. Worst you can do is undervolt and have stability issues, so just up necessary voltage a bit then. Well, I suppose you could ridiculously overvolt something, but I don't think you will do that; stay in the safe zone..(IE vcore < 1.45, NB and CPU VTT < max acceptable...look up for your particular board)

Oh, and for a Q6600, or any 1066 FSB or less CPU with a decent multi, you shouldnt need to raise the VTT voltage much, you will be more concerned with Vcore, and sometimes northbridge. (Certainly more northbridge in your case as you have a kentsfield quad and fast memory DDR3. => which makes me ask, what divider/volts/timings/frequency are you running that RAM at? What have you tried so far with it?

I wouldn't rule out the RAM for instability, so for starters when OCing, try using a lower FSB:RAM ratio so that you are sure you are running your memory with plenty of flexibility so to help rule it out.
Also, just because your RAM might be fine, or at least should be, doesnt mean everything is fine; the MCH on the NB can also be troublesome at times with stability, one reason why you may need to adjust(read increase) voltage there for stability with fast speeds on or large amounts(or especially both) of RAM.

So give us memory settings, and preferably a BIOS template as well! Again, I know little about the x38-x48 boards, I use an EVGA 780i FTW board with my Q6600.

 

[Shmee]

sorry for DBL post, just thought I would try to sum things up a bit more concisely...Tristor mentioned ram limited, this may be it, but also you may be board limited in some cases. I know my old 680i LT had a lot of trouble with my Q6600. x38 should be better at OCing them, but that isn't a guarantee.

So, in short, check memory, check NB, check power saving "OC inhibitors" and post BIOS settings!

Ty, hope I was of some help, and once I see BIOS settings, I will try to help more!

Cheers

 

[brucekn]

Thanks Shmee,

I have not touched the NB volts, and it is on Auto, so that could be a place to start.

Memory is Mushkin 4GB (2x2GB) XP3-12800 7-7-6-18 1.9V. I have this configured in BIOS at running at "+1.0 volts" (I'm told that BIOS recognizes this DDR3 as standard at 1.8 volts, so that would make it 1.90 volts that I am feeding it right now). Also, memory is running "synchronously", so for an FSB of 333 MHz, CPU-Z reports "DRAM Frequency" as 666 MHz (also on CPU-Z, on the SPD tab, "XMP-1600" is listed as at 800 MHz, 7-7-6-18 for 1.85 volts. I have my memory at 2T-7-7-7-24, manually set).

When you say to "post the BIOS settings", is there an app that can grab them so that I could post a screen shot, is that what you mean? I have disabled CPU-ID, C1E ( power saving device), CIA2, Performance Enhance, CPU EIST- all I have enabled in performance monitoring is CPU Thermal Monitor, which supposedly reduces core frequency and voltage when the CPU is over-heated, I'm a little reluctant to turn that one off

Just to restate that vCore is 1.35 volts, FSB 333 MHz X 9 = 3 GHz CPU speed. Thia thread started as I had exactly this config, other than vCore was 1.30 volts, CPU still at 3 GHz, and it worked fine until I had a BSOD with FSX running, and when I re-booted everything had been set back to Auto (took about 20 seconds after re-start to POST), and I could never after that get the CPU speed out of Auto, even if I set the manual settings the same as Auto set them, go figure . What made the difference was a stab in the dark, increasing vCore to 1.35 volts (although I have been told that the Q6600 should not even need vCore tweaked to get it to run at 3 GHz). Also, when I did re-boot, the sound in Windows XP was muted (that took a while to figure out).

Thanks for the help, I hope that this is not too redundant (what I wrote above).

Bruce.