Watercooled Q6600 Overclocking Question

[SRoode]

I just picked up a Q6600 (G0) the other day, and installed it in a new Danger Den Watercooled Case that I got at Fry's. The watercooling seems to be working very well (1/2 tubing in the system makes a big difference from 3/8").

At stock, the CPU was idling at about 24C (a degree above ambient), and would hit about 38C with all four cores running SP2004.

I noticed that I had a VID of 1.3125V, so I was kind of disappointed and not really expecting much of an OC, but I was wrong.

I was able to get the CPU up to 3GHz with no voltage adjustments (9x333), and was SP2004 stable (on all 4 cores) for my test duration of 2hrs. Temps hit about 43C on all cores.

I bumped the CPU to 3.2 GHz (8x400), but the machine would not boot. I upped Vcore to 1.39 and was able to run 4 instances of SP2004 for 2 hours with no problems. Temps now were at 48C.

So, I have 2 questions:

1) Is a Vcore of 1.39 too high? I haven't tried anything between 1.3125 and 1.38 yet, so a lower VCore may work. But I'm thinking of trying to go a bit higher (see question 2).

2) Is a core temp of 48C good for 3.2GHz? I'd like to try for 3.6GHz (9x400).

Any input you guys and gals have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[SRoode]

PS - PWM1 Temp hits about 58C. Is PWM1 the voltage regulator?

 

[clucku]

As a general rule, the more volts you push through a cpu, the less of a lifespan it will have (e.g. even if you had liquid nitrogen cooling, pushing 1.8V through your cpu wouldn't be advisable.). 1.39v should be fine with a q6600 and you can probably reach 3.6 at that voltage. Once you've gotten to your desired speed, lower the voltage as much as possible while maintaining stability.

Yes, the PWM is the voltage regulator. it stands for "Pulse Width Modulation" (<3 google), and 58C is totally fine for that. Mine runs at 65ish. I'm not sure, but i think it's that arch-looking thing with the wire wrapped around it on your mobo.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: clucku
Yes, the PWM is the voltage regulator. it stands for "Pulse Width Modulation" (<3 google), and 58C is totally fine for that. Mine runs at 65ish. I'm not sure, but i think it's that arch-looking thing with the wire wrapped around it on your mobo.

You're right, it's that arched heatsink, in the upper right-hand corner. It's fine up to the lower 70's.