unconventional cooler, e66 @ 3.8?

fluid1ty

Junior Member
Nov 19, 2007
4
0
0
Hey everyone I just overclocked my e6600 to 3.8ghz at 1.5v a couple weeks ago.
Was really shocked because I tried before and only managed to get 3.2ghz before it crashed, but that was on a stock cooler. This time, I tried something rather.. unconventional. I live in Virginia, USA and it was still hot outside when I did this. I'm telling you that because I have a window air conditioner that I used to cool my computer! I set up a few old boxes in front of the ac, took off my side panel and turned the ac max, the compressor cut on :)

2.4ghz @ 1.2v idle temps were around 11c and it was about 80f outside maybe 70f inside. I was really surprised by these results! I wondered if the reduced heat would help my overclocking ability. Needless to say it did!

I tried to run a couple benchmarks at 3.8 but the system was very unstable, had to back it down to 3.6. I ran oblivion and supreme commander from save files and let the game sit idle. At 2.4ghz the framerate was 27fps on Oblivion and 20fps on SC. at 3.6ghz the framerate was... the same!! I was really shocked to see no improvement at all. I can't decide exactly why the framerate didn't increase at all. I have a decent rig,

asus p5b 965 mobo
2x1gb g.skill ddr800 ram
520w ocz powerstream psu
msi x1800XT 512mb 700/1600 gpu
sb xfi xtrememusic soundcard

Perhaps I should have actually ran around in a set pattern with fraps benchmarking, or tried a different game or two. Unfortunately, it is now cool outside and my AC's compressor will not cut on, I am now stuck at 3.2 ghz on my good ol' e6600 intel core 2 duo. BTW the temps at 3.6ghz load were 33c with the AC :D


I hope someone finds this interesting and will leave some comments!
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
DANGER! :)

Condensation is a b*tch!

Just get a decent tower air cooler, and you should see 3.3+ easily, without the worry of frying your system due to a drop of water appearing on your mobo or in your psu.
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
Welcome to anandtech. The reason your framerates didn't increase is that your CPU is already way faster than your video card, even @ only 3.2 Ghz. Overclocking the CPU higher isn't going to make your video card any faster. And like Arkaign said, just grab a $50 Tuniq Tower heatsink, and you should be able to run @ 3.4 Ghz all summer long, and 3.6 Ghz all winter long, but with lower temps than you had this year.
 

fluid1ty

Junior Member
Nov 19, 2007
4
0
0
Im just curious if there is any way to get a game to show increased framerate from cpu speed. Would turning the graphics down or trying a different game, maybe a cpu intensive game?

I can play all of my games just fine, I'm just curious now.
 

Quiksilver

Diamond Member
Jul 3, 2005
4,726
0
71
Originally posted by: fluid1ty
Im just curious if there is any way to get a game to show increased framerate from cpu speed. Would turning the graphics down or trying a different game, maybe a cpu intensive game?

I can play all of my games just fine, I'm just curious now.

Run at lowest possible settings and resolution.