Overclocking q6600 is not overclocking very well at all

Hello so first let me tell you what I have
Q6600 G0
Asus Maximus Formula
Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (All of a sudden apparently this ram is for nvidia chipsets only, but when I was buying it, it didn't say anywhere that it was a nvidia thing)
Xigmatek S1283 Cooler with AS5

I am working on overclocking this
Currently I have it at 3.3 Ghz with 9X366 FSB.
IT is not stable right now and will boot but when prime95 testing only works for about 30 minutes
I have my ram at 5-5-5-15 and 2.3V and my CPU at 1.4V
I have looked around and people are able to get 3.2Ghz with only 1.3V on this motherboard, also my temps on 0 load are 38 degrees or so and on load about 64. Those seem really high, and also the voltages seem far higher than they should be. What am I doing wrong?

 

looks about right to me to be honest.
different chips will overclock differently. there is no such thing as two exact chips.
What is the max voltage for your ram? 2.3 is pretty high and i'm thinking you should have some direct airflow on the ram to keep it cool. that *could* be one problem.
i dont know much about the max formula board so I cant suggest much to set in the bios.
Just for comparison, my q6600 b3 runs at 3.0ghz 1.3v and around 60c at load. of course its the older hotter stepping but for the G0 you look to be right about where it should be.
try lowering the voltage a bit (if you haven't already) but if that doesn't work then turn it back to 3.2ghz. its still 800mhz over the stock setting and a pretty good overclock.

you should also list the other settings in your bios. leaving something like the pci speed set to auto is a good way to burn out cards when overclocking. if you have anything set wrong, someone should be able to spot it.

 

using 1.3825v for my 3.4Ghz overclock. seems about right. every CPU is different. run CoreTemp and tell us your CPU VID.
don''t worry about temperature, q6600 G0 can take 70c. i ran my q6600 at 65c all last night to encode.

try the following things:
-up MCH voltage
-up VTT or PLL voltage
-tweak GTL ratio
-show us your CPU VID
-make sure RAM is set to have ratio of 1:1 between FSB (for now)

btw, there's no such thing as RAM is for nVIdia. DDR2 is DDR2, all compatible.

 

Oks so here is everything I have set in my BIOS
FSB Strap: auto
PCIE Freq.: 100
DRAM Freq: 733
Command Rate: 2T
DRAM to 5-5-5-15
CPU VCore: 1.3825
PLL Votage: Auto
NB Voltage: 1.55
DRAM Voltage: 2.30 (That is what it is spec'ed at on New Egg)
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.4
SB voltage: Auto
On Core Temp my VID is 1.3250v and in CPUZ my Core voltage is 1.360 when it is idle and 1.304 when it is prime 95ing on all cores. What is that MCH Voltage, is that the NB voltage?

Thanks a ton guys!

 

PLL at 1.6V

MCH = NB voltage

 

Auto already sets the pll to 1.6 but I set it anyway, no difference. What should the gtl ratio be?

 

yea, aim for around 67% of FSB termination (CPU VTT) for 65nm CPUs - a few percent either side will affect it largely but it's essentially a dark art. However, I'd highly suggest that that's all your CPU can do as 3.3GHz is a large overclock already.

 

People on internet forums generally only post their successes. The majority who get "average" results with no bragging rights don't post.

 

aww that sucks dude... mine does 3.8 on 1.57 i think... might be 1.67 but yeah i need to get around to pushing it more... had a mate who didn't get much more than 3 or 3.3 (can't remember tbh) wierd though as mine was same stepping but i guess as they same its luck of the draw:\ ebay it n get another?? or one off here that does clock maybe?

 

VID plays quite a bit with temperatures and overclocking voltage.

i have used 2 q6600, one at 1.325v and my current one at 1.2125v.
-the 1.325v one requires a shocking 1.6v to get 3.6Ghz stable, but surprisingly, temperature was very low, only 70c under full load. so if your VID is that high, and at that voltage you get 60c, your cooling isn't good enough.
-my current 1.2125v requires 1.45v to get 3.6Ghz stable, but it's very HOT, at 3.6Ghz it gets a little over 70c.

so CPU overclocking are really a bit of luck. i thought a lower VID chip may gain me a higher overclock, but not really the case.
but VID is really the key to how much voltage is required. so if your VID is so high, try 1.45v or 1.5v savely.

finally, don't forget to enable something like CPU voltage damper on your Asus board. i did that on my friend's P5Kc and it overclocks with very little vdroop. (difference between load and idle voltages)

 

planning on buying a new one soon?

 

1.57 or 1.67V I hope to god you're phase or TEC cooling that or you won't have a CPU for much longer

I don't even know why you guys need in excess of 3.2+ GHz tbh.

 

no kidding, mine is only at 3.0 and it outperforms most people who I play with in forged alliance. not exactly the best benchmark but its good enough for me.

 

well i had like 37-43 in temps of my asus 900 with fans on full and a 120mm sycthe and a 120 extreme hsf...

 

fixed it for you

haven't done any real overclocking in my new lower VID chip.

this was using my older 1.325v VID chip, and i got 3.9Ghz psudo-stable at 1.69v actual, so it's probably 1.8v in BIOS.



it just goes to show how much extra heat TRUE can stand, normal 3 or 4 heatpipe heatsinks would probably melt by now.

fastest Intel is a Penryn at 3.2Ghz. so i overclock my q6600 to 3.4Ghz 24/7 to make sure i don't fall behind in terms of processing power. at least that's my excuse for it anyway.

 

YA I mean it is really hot in my room, like around 82 degrees fahrenheit or so. That probably makes a difference, I have my core currently set in BIOS to 1.4, but in CoreTemp it stil says the VID is 1.3250 and I adjusted the position of my case under my desk and it looks like I am more at 36 degrees on idle. I think I need to lap my heatsink because the temps at idle on the four cores are 42, 37, 34,38. So that must mean that my heatsink is not very flush.

 

idle temperature means NOTHING.

mine idle at 45c and i still run it perfectly fine. it's the load temperature that matters, after 8 hours of stable Prime95 load, tell use your maximum temperature. as long as it's under 70c it's fine.

 

VID is the stock core voltage of that CPU, to tell the motherboard what to use if on Auto settings. It won't ever change...

Speedfan and CPU-Z both report the actual core voltage after Vdroop.

 

lol sorry mate it actually turns out it was 1.48v i found an old post about it sorry.haha. i was getting comfused with my old xp-m 3200 socket a amd...
so yeah i got 3.6ghz on 1.48 all prime stable and 3.8 @ 1.54

 

I run at 3.4ghz with 1.4v on a Abit Ip35 Pro, after 3hours Crysis highest temps reported is 60c. very happy since I am on stock intel air.