Re: Overclocking Q6600

"Phil Weldon" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> 'Random' wrote, in part:
>> I've had this processor for a while now, its the one with G0 stepping so
>> overclockable. It used to run it fine at v1.40 core voltage at 3.2ghz by
>> having a 400 fsb and 8 multiplyer, it passed Prime 95 for 2 hours but I
>> noticed the PSU got very hot, so I decided to just run it at stock. It
>> was just a cheap 550w PSU.
> _____
>
> Your reported temperatures for the CPU are quite good; very low, in fact,
> for air cooling with a Q6600 @ 1.4 volts and 3.2 GHz. The 1.4 volts seems
> a bit high, especially for a mere 3.2 GHz.
>
> "Quite hot" is not a very useful term - it really isn't a precise enough
> basis on which to make decisions. Certainly not enough to warrant
> changing components. Check through prior posts in this newsgroup for
> threads on overclocking a Q6600, especially those by 'Ed Medlin'.
>
> You haven't mentioned WHAT thermal paste you used. But never mind, there
> is VERY little difference in the performance of one compared to another,
> even butter does pretty well for the short run. There probably was no
> reason to replace your NorthBridge heatsink. A good check to now:
> Overclock the FSB to 400 MHz, but set the multiplier for the CPU to lower
> than normal; this should give a differential diagnosis as to whether the
> problem is with the new NorthBridge heatsink (or its installation.) Or
> you could reinstall the original NorthBridge heatsink. It could be that
> the new heatsink is not particularly flat and smooth. Or you could have
> incorrectly applied thermal paste, or incorrectly installed the heatsink.
>
> You haven't posted your motherboard either, a very important bit of
> information for diagnosis. Nor your ambient room temperature, also
> important. Nor your highest successful overclock speed test in your new
> configuration. Nor what core voltages you have tried. Nor, in fact, why
> you violated the first rule; if it ain't broken, don't fix it. So, among
> other things, you might just try restoring everything to your original
> successful overclocking setup.
>
> Phil Weldon
>
Peanut butter (creamy) also works quite well but get a bit "crusty" after a
few weeks....:-) Like Phil said, your temps are very good for that vcore.
3.4+ should be possible using that high a vcore, depending on other factors
like your NB chipset ect. With an Asus Striker Extreme (NV 680i chipset) I
get 3.2Ghz with only 1.2vcore and no temperature issues at all with liquid
cooling. Properly installing your thermal paste is very important. Over at
the Arctic Silver website they give a good example on applying it correctly
for the C2 Quads. I don't think their compound is much, if any better than
plain Radio Shack compound, but the instructions are good and do work.
I am getting ready to start a project a bit early because of a SATA
controller issue on this system in which I have lost 2 channels out of 6 and
one took out a HDD with it. This has been an ongoing issue with the Asus
680i boards for me. I just ordered an i7 920 processor and an Asus P6T
Deluxe MB and will see how far the Nehalem will go with just air cooling. I
am going bottom of the line with the processor for right now at under $300
at Newegg. I am seeking overall performance on this build and ordered 6 gigs
of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC1600 for 3 channel operation and will use Vista
Ultimate 64bit as my OS. I will recycle my two 8800 GTX cards in SLI and
will probably move a single 8800 GTS I still have over to this system when I
put in a spare P5N32-SLI MB if it shows signs of any more issues. I am
shooting for mid-3Ghz for the 920 if possible. I guess someone has to be the
"goat" with these processors....:-). I would have rather waited a few
months, but with the issues I am having, I don't trust this system much
longer. It has been an excellent performer, but has been disappointing as
far as my standards go with reliability.

Ed Medlin