rapidman17
New member
Just one thing, is that the minimum voltage required to boot? Try and go as low as possible before u cant boot anymore as less voltage is always better....
3.4 - 3.6
- Thread starter Youngie1337
- Start date
Youngie1337
New member
name='rapidman17' said:
Doing that as I'm typing
.rapidman17
New member
lol kl.. 
Youngie1337
New member
Stable @ 1.42 any lower and it's RESTART
.
I Hunta x
New member
Grats on the clock youngie,
@ lynx
Just pick a reasonable step up say... 300/350 FSB (depends on cpu as to what you go up to) and try that, if all works bump by another 10 or so and test repeat again till it wont go any higher then add a step or 2 on the volts and start going up again till it wont go higher then try add less than 10 say 3 instead, just dont over do the volts and it should be fine,
Thats what i do anyway, theres probably better ways of doing it to find your max but it works for me
@ lynx
Just pick a reasonable step up say... 300/350 FSB (depends on cpu as to what you go up to) and try that, if all works bump by another 10 or so and test repeat again till it wont go any higher then add a step or 2 on the volts and start going up again till it wont go higher then try add less than 10 say 3 instead, just dont over do the volts and it should be fine,
Thats what i do anyway, theres probably better ways of doing it to find your max but it works for me
I've always found overclocking in small increments to be the best policy. Every CPU and Motherboard will behave different to another CPU/Motherboard of even the same model. Voltage increases are required at different stages and it's important to know when the CPU/Motherboard demands more voltage for example. It helps you understand how they behave and when you're nearing it's limit.
For example, I have a Phenom II X3 720 2.80GHz Black Edition with a stock voltage of 1.325V. In order to keep it stable for the short term tests that I threw at it while increasing clockspeeds, I needed to bump voltage to 1.350V at 3.4GHz, 1.375V at 3.5GHz and 1.45V at 3.6GHz. With the information that you're finding, you can formulate a trend. In this particular example, this CPU managed a 600MHz overclock before requiring a 0.0250V increase. Then the CPU could only go another 100MHz before requiring another 0.0250V. This is already an early indication that you're edging closer to a CPU's limits. This is finally shown by another 100MHz increase that requires a 0.0500V voltage increase. Someone that overclocked this example CPU in the way that I mentioned would know that their odds at pushing the CPU further are unlikely. By comparison, someone that used some guess work may have immediately put 1.5V through the CPU and set it to 3.6GHz would be unaware of how much further he might be able to take it.
For example, I have a Phenom II X3 720 2.80GHz Black Edition with a stock voltage of 1.325V. In order to keep it stable for the short term tests that I threw at it while increasing clockspeeds, I needed to bump voltage to 1.350V at 3.4GHz, 1.375V at 3.5GHz and 1.45V at 3.6GHz. With the information that you're finding, you can formulate a trend. In this particular example, this CPU managed a 600MHz overclock before requiring a 0.0250V increase. Then the CPU could only go another 100MHz before requiring another 0.0250V. This is already an early indication that you're edging closer to a CPU's limits. This is finally shown by another 100MHz increase that requires a 0.0500V voltage increase. Someone that overclocked this example CPU in the way that I mentioned would know that their odds at pushing the CPU further are unlikely. By comparison, someone that used some guess work may have immediately put 1.5V through the CPU and set it to 3.6GHz would be unaware of how much further he might be able to take it.
Youngie1337
New member
Thanks for the comments people, and yeah I got it stable and it never crashed once. I was worrying about a heat issue but the temp @ 3.6 when running GTA4 for 4 hours, and trust me thats a very CPU needy game. I came out with temps of 50-59c. Was happy to see that , I seen somewhere that with the Q6600 stock cooler you can hit 3.6Ghz without a problem, I don't believe this since I was idle higher than my load now, and that was stock cooler @ 2.4Ghz.
. I was worrying about a heat issue but the temp @ 3.6 when running GTA4 for 4 hours, and trust me thats a very CPU needy game. I came out with temps of 50-59c. Was happy to see that , I seen somewhere that with the Q6600 stock cooler you can hit 3.6Ghz without a problem, I don't believe this since I was idle higher than my load now, and that was stock cooler @ 2.4Ghz.First and foremost, before even touching the FSB you need to ensure that any variables that may get in the way of your overclock are held back so to speak. The main (and really the only one) is RAM. The frequency of memory is derived by the base front side bus speed of the CPU (266 in your case) and "multiplied". As it stands, your RAM is running at a 1:2 FSB: DRAM ratio, which means at 266MHz FSB, your RAM is operating at 533MHz. Remember, that you need to factor in "DDR" - Double Data Rate, which is where the effective frequency of 1066 (533 * 2) comes from. Now, the problem is that when you increase the FSB, the RAM will increase too and that'll hold you back. At a measly 300MHz FSB, your RAM will be operating at DDR2-1200, which it won't be able to do.
Anyway, the bottom line from what I've said is to set it to a lower multiplier/ratio such that it allows you to find your max CPU speed without the RAM getting in the way. Setting it such that your memory defaults to DDR2-667 at stock CPU speeds is your best bet.
Ensure that you've applied the correct RAM voltage and Timings for the memory as per the manufacturer spec.
NOW, comes the stage where you begin to overclock. Start at 270MHz on the CPU FSB, save settings and boot into windows. Use Prime95 v25.5 or later and run the Small FFT's test for 3-5 minutes to see if it's stable or not. This is a very light way of confirming sufficient stability to move on further. Continue in 10MHz increments until Prime95 fails or the system freezes/reboots/bsod's. From this point, try increasing the Vcore in 0.01250V/0.02500V increments to see if it solves the problem. You'll get to a point where the tests are failing even at voltages upwards of 1.45V and at this point you know that you won't squeeze much more out of the CPU. At this stage you start backing down the overclock till it passes and you then move on to longer 4-8 hour runs of Prime95 to confirm 24/7 stability.
As for max temperatures for the Q6600, I would consider 70-75c as a safe max.
If you're still a bit unsure, have a look at a couple of guides and you should get the idea. My explanation is fairly short and only covers the crucial bits.
Anyway, the bottom line from what I've said is to set it to a lower multiplier/ratio such that it allows you to find your max CPU speed without the RAM getting in the way. Setting it such that your memory defaults to DDR2-667 at stock CPU speeds is your best bet.
Ensure that you've applied the correct RAM voltage and Timings for the memory as per the manufacturer spec.
NOW, comes the stage where you begin to overclock. Start at 270MHz on the CPU FSB, save settings and boot into windows. Use Prime95 v25.5 or later and run the Small FFT's test for 3-5 minutes to see if it's stable or not. This is a very light way of confirming sufficient stability to move on further. Continue in 10MHz increments until Prime95 fails or the system freezes/reboots/bsod's. From this point, try increasing the Vcore in 0.01250V/0.02500V increments to see if it solves the problem. You'll get to a point where the tests are failing even at voltages upwards of 1.45V and at this point you know that you won't squeeze much more out of the CPU. At this stage you start backing down the overclock till it passes and you then move on to longer 4-8 hour runs of Prime95 to confirm 24/7 stability.
As for max temperatures for the Q6600, I would consider 70-75c as a safe max.
If you're still a bit unsure, have a look at a couple of guides and you should get the idea. My explanation is fairly short and only covers the crucial bits.
rapidman17
New member
basically you would be wanting to increase the voltage to the cpu in the smallest incerements till you can boot...
I reccommend you looking/following this guide for more detailed info on what you need to be doing:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-240001_11_0.html
I reccommend you looking/following this guide for more detailed info on what you need to be doing:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-240001_11_0.html
