Q6600 G0 @ 3GHz, 72c load after a night of video encoding.

[themisfit610]

Hey folks,

I just got all my new parts. After a brutal night of hardware installation (was very scared for my motherboard when I mounted my Scythe Ninja), I did a quick install of XP with minimal applications to get my overclocking adventure started.

I'm into silence, so I figured I would be conservative and go for 3 GHz (333x9)

I'm not too familiar with the DS4's BIOS yet, so I decided to let it take care of everything for me. All I did in the BIOS was select 333 FSB and 2:1 ratio for the RAM. I let it manage voltages and memory timings (I think it stuck to 5-5-5-15 even though my ram can do 4-4-4-12 according to SPD at 667 IIRC)

It was nice and stable, prime95 load temps after 10 mins were in the low sixties, so I figured that was good enough for now.

I went ahead and installed some of my core applications, and decided to do my ultimate stress test - 1080p H.264 encoding from an HD-DVD source. This gobbles up well over a gig of RAM, and ran at a blazingly fast 7-8 fps on the first pass. For comparison, my old X2 3800+ @ stock could only manage ~1-2 fps. I was VERY pleased.

I let it run all night, and when I woke up this morning, my temps were in the low seventies. My room was definitely warm as I left the radiator on, so I opened the window and turned off the radiator. It should be pretty comfortable now (I'm at work ATM), but should I be worried about those temps? I know the spec for the quad to throttle is ~85c, but I don't want to push it at all.

I've got the Ninja with a Scythe S-Flex strapped on the back, pushing air towards the rear exhaust fan in my P180 (another S-flex). sort of a push-pull config. It's pretty quiet, and was keeping it to mid 20s idle at stock speed. Very nice. I've also got an Antec Tri-cool in the front for intake (on low). I had another Scythe fan on the top (the stock fan from the Ninja), but it was too loud, so I took him out.

I'm sure I can take control of the vcore, and probably lower it a bit. I think the motherboard settled on 1.24, but I'm not sure.

Suggestions welcome

This is my first Intel machine ever - it's pretty exciting to see those 4 cores light up.

~MiSfit

 

[stevty2889]

Quad cores run pretty toasty, so that temp isn't suprising at 3ghz on air cooling. My B3 Q6600 was hitting 85c on the Scythe Ninja at 3.1ghz. Quad core overclocking, and silent air cooling don't really mix well, hey just run to warm.

What are you using to measure your temps? If core temp, while 72c is a bit warm, it's not dangerous, if you are using another program, you are likely reading 15c lower than actual temps.

 

[Fistandantilis]

^^^stevty2889, you say that though 72c is warm it aint dangerous, are you confident in that declaration? I ask because I want to get my q6600 to 3ghz but under load it would get to around 70-73c and I thought that was too high a temp so I went back to my normal 2.8ghz.
can anybody out there tell me about how hot is too hot, like I said I want to go 3ghz but I am unsure about the temps.

Thanks

 

[themisfit610]

Yeah, I'm using CoreTemp. It seems very stable, and I'm not overly worried. I was hoping for 3.2 - 3.4, but that's not really possible without throwing silence out the window or water, so I'm pretty happy for now. Like I said, 7-8fps vs 1-2fps is a SIGNIFICANT improvement (3 days to about a day to encode a full movie down to DVD9)

~MiSfit

 

[myocardia]

I feel sorry for you guys that think computers should be silent. Here's the temps I get with my G0 Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz, with the same Scythe Ninja: 58, 56, 55, 58.

edit: That was in a 72F room.

 

[Quiksilver]

There is one thing that you did that could increase temperatures... Letting your BIOS control the settings. If you want to overclock manually set the vCore. Leaving the BIOS to do it has had bad results in some cases with the BIOS over volting the vcore considerably.

If I were you I would manually put in the RAM timings and the stock vCore for the q6600; which I think is 1.300 but I'm not 100% certain and see if that helps.

 

[Dacalo]

My Q6600 at 3GHz runs around 61~65C under load with Freezer Pro 7, hovers around 40~45C idle. Using CoreTemp and SpeedFan with +15C offset. I think 72C is a tad warm but I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Originally posted by: myocardia
I feel sorry for you guys that think computers should be silent. Here's the temps I get with my G0 Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz, with the same Scythe Ninja: 58, 56, 55, 58.

edit: That was in a 72F room.

Default voltage?

 

[themisfit610]

I might have botched my heatsink installation - it's very possible that there's air bubbles in my paste. I used AS5, but it's really old - at least 3 years. I'll pick up a fresh tube at Frys on the way home from work today for sure and redo that bit. I think I might have put too much on too, we'll see when I pull the HSF off!

Also, what's a good way to tell if my CPU is concave? I've heard the razor blade method is good. I know the Q6600s in particular have been somewhat infamous for this.

The base of my ninja was pretty good, not amazing or anything but no visible milling marks.

I will only lap if it's absolutely necessary. Sanding a $260 processor terrifies me!!

I'm totally happy with 3 GHz, but I need to get those load temps down 5-10 c I think. It might be a combination of vCore adjustments, improved thermal interface, and extra air. We'll see. Admitedly video encoding is as intense as it gets (lots of RAM, full tilt 100% cpu utilization, hard on the FSB too, and lots of SIMD), and I won't see temps that high unless I'm encoding - but still.

I welcome suggestions.

Oh one last question, I would like to be able to control my fans (2 plugged into motherboard fan headers). They aren't loud or anything, but they could be quieter when the system is (mostly) idle overnight, which it frequently will be.

~MiSfit

 

[aka1nas]

72C should be fine for load temps at that clockspeed. I can't get mine much lower on a Tuniq @3.2Ghz

 

[aigomorla]

errrr you guys serious in saying 70C+ is okey for loaded temps?


70C should be your upper limit on any Quad. If your hitting higher, you should tune that chip down b4 it hurts itself. 85C on a B3 is also NOT OKEY.

 

[Fistandantilis]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
errrr you guys serious in saying 70C+ is okey for loaded temps?


70C should be your upper limit on any Quad. If your hitting higher, you should tune that chip down b4 it hurts itself. 85C on a B3 is also NOT OKEY.

OK so 70c is about as high as I want to see my temps? what if I am running at 70c all day every day, that would be a bad thing huh?

 

[Sentry2]

I don't think it should even get that high with your cooler. Maybe buy some Arctic Cooling MX-2 instead of AS5(not much of a difference but still something). Manually set the vcore to 1.35V and see if that helps. 3.0GHz @ low volts on a G0 quad is easy. Must be the auto settings like someone else stated or a bad mount on the cpu.

 

[GeneralOreo]

I think I have the same motherboard as yours, mine is P35-DS4 Rev 2.0 btw. Get the latest BIOS too, if you don't have it.

At 3.25GHz my Q6600 is mostly around 55. Cooling is a 1600 s-flex + Thermalright ultra extreme + shin-etsu X23 TIM. Definitely up the vcore yourself and don't let it the motherboard do it. Mine is set to 1.28125. It's only one step above 1.275, which my motherboard says is the 'normal' vcore, though from cpuz/stress testing it looks like the stock vcore is lower than that, not by much though.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: Fistandantilis

Originally posted by: aigomorla
errrr you guys serious in saying 70C+ is okey for loaded temps?


70C should be your upper limit on any Quad. If your hitting higher, you should tune that chip down b4 it hurts itself. 85C on a B3 is also NOT OKEY.

OK so 70c is about as high as I want to see my temps? what if I am running at 70c all day every day, that would be a bad thing huh?

I would consider that to be bad, yes.

I have my G0 running at 3512, and at load it touches 70C. That is with a Thermalright Ultra120 Extreme, and a 1.42 vcore though.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
errrr you guys serious in saying 70C+ is okey for loaded temps?


70C should be your upper limit on any Quad. If your hitting higher, you should tune that chip down b4 it hurts itself. 85C on a B3 is also NOT OKEY.

lol, no kidding 85C isn't ok, thats why I went to water cooling(with a little help from you). While 72c isn't the best, and may shorten the lifespan, it's not instant destruction either.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Dacalo

Originally posted by: myocardia
I feel sorry for you guys that think computers should be silent. Here's the temps I get with my G0 Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz, with the same Scythe Ninja: 58, 56, 55, 58.

edit: That was in a 72F room.

Default voltage?

Actually, I bumped it up two notches to 1.30v, before I even tried 3.2 Ghz. My board has a considerable amount of both vdrop & vdroop, though, as you can see from the screenshot.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

[Ha! AdairUSMC DID swap out his B3 for a G0, then!]

Someone could say this was started on the wrong forum, but the "Cases/Cooling" and "Over-Clocking" blend together, just as discussion about latencies at "System Memory" overlaps this forum here.

We went through quite a spate of exchanges and "sharing of data" on the "Cooling" forum over the summer. I assume those threads are still there.

I had my B3 stepping set at 3.2 and 1.41+ Vcore at 78F room ambient, and the peak core values under 2xORTHOS wouldn't crack 65C.

You should be able to do the same. Yup.

Your VCore seems right for that OC (since it's a G0). My B3 at that speed (333) only needed 1.32V. Either your room-ambient is pushing way beyond 80F, or you should look at your heatsink installation.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

[ . . . . or your case-ventilation . . . ]

 

[eelw]

When I read your topic title, a night of video encoding, I was thinking what the hell are you doing wrong. My Q6600 OCed to 3.6GHz can encode movies to h.264 in like 10-15 minutes. But then I read your post, 1080p, OHHHHHH. Anyhow, my temps max out in the high 60s with a ThermalTake V1.

 

[jonmcc33]

Video encoding can really stress a CPU. If you overclocked it you can expect it to run hotter.

 

[themisfit610]

Well, I decided to really clean things up.

I tore up the whole system and started over with a fresh tube of AS5 and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I cleaned the interface very thoroughly, and buffed the cpu and the hsf plate with a microfiber cloth.

I then took my case apart, cleaned every nook and cranny with a whole can of air and more alcohol. I then re-designed my fan configuration and cable management. Four hours later I had a freshly built system.

I manually forced 1.2v, and the system is totally stable at 3 GHz , 4/4/4/12. Load temps are still in the high sixties when my room is really warm, but I'm okay with it. Besides, that's Prime95, and it's not like typical usage will be anywhere near that.

~MiSfit

 

[nyker96]

I'm pretty sure something is not right here, 70+ isn't too good for even quad but maybe M0 is more tolerant. Check your HSF installation though, also are you turning down all the fans to low? that might be a factor here as well since air cool always depend on flow if you got no flow it won't cool.

 

[Mango1970]

You can easily tell if your CPU or heatsink are not flat. Very simply just look at the temps under load after a while. If all 4 cores are pretty close to each other in temps, then you are fine. IF there is a huge difference (like 8-10c) between say the inner 2 or the outer two then you have a slight problem.

I have the Scythe Rev B., the Tunic and the Ultra 120. I tried them all and I would get up to 10c difference between the two inner cores and the two outer. I mean that my two inner cores were running 10c cooler than the two outer. In other words the two inner cores have better contact with the cooler. Thus sanded the CPU down and now the two outer are much cooler.

I like the Ninja Rev. B but I had the push pins on that. There was a writeup that someone posted which gave instructions on replacing those with a bolt through mounting kit you can get for like 7$. I did it as well and not only was it much more secure but it was a bit cooler. You will have to remove your board however, but usually that's not a huge issue.

Push pull with 2 fans I noted made the biggest difference for me on the Ultra 120 -- the Scythe at least on my end did little if any difference with the 2 fan setup. On the Ultra 120 I did not note a huge diff at idle but at full load over time it certainly made quite a drop in temps.

 

[Griswold]

Originally posted by: myocardia
I feel sorry for you guys that think computers should be silent. Here's the temps I get with my G0 Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz, with the same Scythe Ninja: 58, 56, 55, 58.

edit: That was in a 72F room.

Depending on how loud your box is, I feel sorry for you. My temperatures are only slightly higher but my system is silent by my standards (and I'm very touchy when it comes to noise).

That is with a Q6600 running at 8x400 with room temperatures between 22 and 23°C (thats 72 and 73.5°F I think).

I see myself on the winning side in this game of compromises because I realized there is no benefit in having a noisy as hell system only to keep temperatures as much as possible below safe (and with safe I mean temperatures Intel considers safe) levels.

For me, the perfect computer would be the one that makes no noise at all while at the same time offering alot of performance (thats why a mac mini is not my main rig). Balance is where its at.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I wouldn't worry too much. My only concern would be if you were loading it at 72C constantly. But then again, you know those Core2s or Quads at schools and workplaces get terrible ventilation, use stock cooler, are very dusty - who knows how high those get. And those are supposed to last years.

My system at 3.33GHz with 1.25V under load is about 62-65C after priming for a while, in a room that's 73F. I also idle around 40C thanks to a non-functional EIST on Gigabyte boards, when I really should be around 35C. Thanks Gigabyte for having Core2 boards out for over a year and never fixing this issue.