best motherboard for overclocking q6600

[kevindd992002]

what is the current best motherboard for overclocking the Q6600?

Is it the infamous Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P or is there something else better?

 

[kevindd992002]

bump!!!!!!!!

 

[kevindd992002]

which board is better for overall oc performance, gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3p or ga-x48-dq6 ???

 

[Mul.]

Frankly, most P45/X38/X48 boards will have no trouble at all maxing out a 65nm Core 2 Quad. Assuming air cooling, ~3.8GHz is what I'd call optimistic as a 24/7 overclock on a Q6600 and anywhere between 3.2GHz and 3.6GHz a likely overclock. That's about 350-425FSB. Pretty much any of the popular P45 boards including the P5Q-E, Biostar TForce I45, Gigabyte EP45 UD3R/P wll manage that.

Have you got a particular budget or any other requirements? I would refrain from overspending on a LGA775 board. Nowadays most Intel chipset boards over the $100 mark have the same CPU support list, overclock well, are stable and only differ in things such as the number of PCI-E lanes, heatsink cooling, number of SATA ports etc.

 

[Rastalovich]

I'd got for a DDR2 P35 chipset specifically for a Q6600 by choice. Getting rare these days.

 

[kevindd992002]

No particular budget. What can you suggest?

 

[Mul.]

There isn't really a single motherboard that'll serve your requirement "best" because most will manage it. I would go for the Gigabyte EP45 UD3R if you don't need crossfire and the UD3P if you do.

Are you from the states or the UK?

 

[ali_james]

I'm very happy with my Abit IP35-Pro, can hit 3.8ghz with my quad only limitted by my ram's clockability.

Throw in the fact that DDR2 is so cheap now you can get some real good value out of it.

 

[kevindd992002]

Actually I'm from the Philippines.

What RAM can I get to be able to max out the Q6600's overclockability?

 

[tinytomlogan]

Most q6600's will do 400fsb, anything over that is a bonus.

All midrange onwards mother boards should max out a q6600, and you only need 800mhz ram for a 1:1 ratio to get you there.

For a quad the q6600 is a good clocker, but its no record breaker on the fsb front, so this 'max out' doesnt really apply.

With PROPER cooling most q6600's will do 3.4-3.6 ghz (380-400 x9) anything extra is a bonus and lots of heat.

From the questions you are asking I can tell you havnt overclocked really before so the best thing is to get some reasonable parts, read the guides and then come back and ask specific questions you may have when you have it running.

 

[kevindd992002]

You're right I'm an overclock newbie. Before starting to read the guide I should have the right components first. The only component that I should upgrade now is my RAM. I currently have GEIL 2x1GB 800MHz and Transcend 1x2GB 800MHz right now but they GEIL are those who have heatsinks only.

If I plan to go over 400FSB, I should be getting higher quality RAMS like OCZ right?

 

[tinytomlogan]

The geil will be fine mate, and your cpu will not do much over 400 where its a quad, the geil ram will be fine with the q6600 just keep the fsb and ram on a 1:1 ratio.

Untill you start playing with the motherboard you wont completely know what I mean.

But your Geil will be fine, DONT mix and match the ram 2 sticks only.

 

[kevindd992002]

That's what I mean, I can't mix and match, so I should not use the Transcend one?

1:1 FSB and RAM ratio means the RAM clock is not overclocked?

But you can increase that ratio and overclock also the RAM right? Which will increase the overclocking capability of the Q6600?

 

[Mul.]

Most q6600's will do 400fsb, anything over that is a bonus.

All midrange onwards mother boards should max out a q6600, and you only need 800mhz ram for a 1:1 ratio to get you there.

For a quad the q6600 is a good clocker, but its no record breaker on the fsb front, so this 'max out' doesnt really apply.

With PROPER cooling most q6600's will do 3.4-3.6 ghz (380-400 x9) anything extra is a bonus and lots of heat.

From the questions you are asking I can tell you havnt overclocked really before so the best thing is to get some reasonable parts, read the guides and then come back and ask specific questions you may have when you have it running.

The geil will be fine mate, and your cpu will not do much over 400 where its a quad, the geil ram will be fine with the q6600 just keep the fsb and ram on a 1:1 ratio.

Untill you start playing with the motherboard you wont completely know what I mean.

But your Geil will be fine, DONT mix and match the ram 2 sticks only.

I agree. 1+ rep.

Infact, if I may suggest so, I'd recommend reading the guides before buying the new parts so at least you'll understand why you're buying certain parts over another.

Yes you can set other FSB : DRAM ratio's such that your memory is running proportionately higher than the frequency of the base FSB but in reality, the difference in performance is minimal. As for higher memory frequencies resulting in higher cpu frequencies, I disagree. Infact, if your memory frequency is overclocked way over it's recommended frequency, chances are it'll hold your cpu back!

As for mixing brands, it may not be an issue but just as equally it might be. Especially if they're rated at different voltages and memory timings, the results (stability wise) could be unpredictable as some memory modules error out with voltages that are too high for them and obviously they can error out if they're being given insufficient voltage too. For the sake of saving some money, if you already have these two sets of RAM, I would go without buying new RAM. If later when overclocking you find that one of the sets or both are causing trouble, then go out and buy a 2x2GB set.

 

[kevindd992002]

Alright. If I set it to 1:1 this means that I should be using the 800MHz ram, if I try to upgrade in the future, it wouldn't hurt if I buy a higher clocked DDR2 like 1066 and 1333 correct?

 

[Mul.]

Certainly no harm in doing so, no. DDR2-1066 is pretty much as cheap as DDR2-800 these days anyway.

 

[kevindd992002]

Right. Is 1066 the highest clocked DDR2 available in the market today? Or are there higher clocked ones?

 

[Mul.]

You can find DDR2 sets that are rated up to DDR2-1150 and 1200. I would sincerely question why you'd want to pay the premium for these sets though!

 

[kevindd992002]

No difference in performance? What type of RAM do you recommend for overclocking then?

 

[Mul.]

As I say, the difference in performance as you increase the frequency of the RAM really isn't noticeable enough to justify the additional expense of buying high end kits. Certainly not in the context of your setup anyway.

I'm not sure how prices are in the Phillipines but here in the UK, 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1066 sets from OCZ, Kingston, Crucial, G.Skill are priced very well at the moment and these would be the kits I'd go for. However if the same 4GB kits in DDR2-800 flavour are considerably cheaper, I'd get the DDR2-800.