Q6600 Overclock Limits

[adsmith82]

Have a Q6600 coming in the mail, and I would like to know what speeds I should expect / shoot for with my overclock. I will be using a Zalman CNPS9700 cooler. Also, I want to be cautious of temperatures. What is normal, what is getting hot, and what is too hot?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Well, if you get the new G0 stepping, the speeds top out at 9x400FSB = 3.6GHz. But that produces prodigious heat. Keep your load temps below 70C.

 

[Idontcare]

Your mileage will vary greatly depending on your motherboard (chipset).

9x367 = 3.3GHz is a pretty common overclock.

Temps will be in the high 50's to low 60's at full load with this speed and sub 1.4V Vcore.

 

[DSF]

What motherboard are you using?

 

[adsmith82]

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L

and speaking of G0... is there more of a chance to get the G0 if ordering OEM vs RETAIL or ordering from a certain reseller? It doesn't really matter as I already ordered an OEM from Newegg, but I would still like to know.

Also, if the case and power supply affect CPU temps, it is an Antec Sonata III / EarthWatts 500 with 120mm exhaust fan (stock, whatever that is) in the back and 120mm intake fan (silverstone 53 CFM) in the front.

 

[Idontcare]

I ordered 5 OEM Q6600's from Newegg back before Christmas and they all are G0's. I think you can be 100% confident you are getting a G0.

I also, coincidentally, plugged them all into DS3L's. They all hit 9x367 with sub 1.4V Vcore.

You can likely push 9x400 on the DS3L, but the passive cooling on the board is pretty minimal, so don't feel too ripped off if 9x367 is your top stable speed.

It's a pretty sweet package though, Q6600 + DS3L. You'll be set for quite a while.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Almost all retailers I know of have shipped all their B3s out already so you'll most likely get a G0, also the 400x9 is not the limit of the chip, its the most common limitation that people face though assuming they can get that high but a lot of people can also attain 3.8 with something like a 422 fsb. I've seen a few 4+ but those are cherry-picked or extremely lucky from what I can tell.

 

[adsmith82]

I'm trying to keep a couple of numbers in mind for the GPU and also the CPU as the hot end of safe prolonged temperatures. Would 70C for the Q6600 and 85C for the 8800GT be about right? Basically, I'm not going to be concerned as long as temperatures stay below these values under full load. Are the numbers about right? Maybe there are limits specified by nVidia or Intel somewhere?

 

[adsmith82]

installing a cnps9700, what is the retention guide?

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: adsmith82
I'm trying to keep a couple of numbers in mind for the GPU and also the CPU as the hot end of safe prolonged temperatures. Would 70C for the Q6600 and 85C for the 8800GT be about right? Basically, I'm not going to be concerned as long as temperatures stay below these values under full load. Are the numbers about right? Maybe there are limits specified by nVidia or Intel somewhere?

those sound about right, i think the specified number for the Q6600 is 72C, but i've seen mine at 75C before under stress testing but i immediately lowered my voltage/fsb after that.

85C is fine for the 8800gt, u can change fan speeds using rivatuner to drop it as low as 39-45C.

 

[firewolfsm]

You will be limited by heat either way, so invest in cooling before fancy motherboards or ram.

 

[legoman666]

I had a problem with my waterblock and my Q6600 was hitting 90C on water. Auto-shutdown ftw.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: adsmith82
I'm trying to keep a couple of numbers in mind for the GPU and also the CPU as the hot end of safe prolonged temperatures. Would 70C for the Q6600 and 85C for the 8800GT be about right? Basically, I'm not going to be concerned as long as temperatures stay below these values under full load. Are the numbers about right? Maybe there are limits specified by nVidia or Intel somewhere?

those sound about right, i think the specified number for the Q6600 is 72C, but i've seen mine at 75C before under stress testing but i immediately lowered my voltage/fsb after that.

85C is fine for the 8800gt, u can change fan speeds using rivatuner to drop it as low as 39-45C.

Or throw on a passive Accelero S1 for cheap

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
Well, if you get the new G0 stepping, the speeds top out at 9x400FSB = 3.6GHz. But that produces prodigious heat. Keep your load temps below 70C.

Good to know. I hit that wall today, good to know I don't need to go banging my head against it. Thanks!