Overclocking Q6600

[Spike]

Ok, just bought a sexy Memory, Corsair Dominator DDR2 2GB x 2 1066 MHz 5-5-5-15 on dual channel.

I feel like OCing the processor, but I don't know how to start. i know the basis but I'm a little bit n00by on some parts.

I know the cpu speed formula is CPU = FSB x Multiplier. I want to reach 3.2 GHz without changing memory frequency.

Also I have 1:2 FSB:DRAM.

Which FSB and multiplier do you recommend me? (First time OCing)

[Oakley]

Ooh, this is interesting because I have almost identical parts, in fact I think they ARE identical. Also, I would very much like to know the basics of overclocking this shit, 'cause I'm tempted to do it now my PC is feeling a tiny bit dated. I need just a little top up of power. Gief infoz pl0x.

[Spike]

Just wanted to say I did it and it's running at 3.0 GHz (333 x 9).

TF2 fps increased by 55, zones where I got 40 FPS I'm getting 95 now. Also RAD was 2 minutes and 30 seconds has been reduced to 1 minute and 30 seconds. Pretty impressive.

Oakley, which mobo do you have?

[vcool]

I got same parts too, mobo is Gigabyte P35-DS4. I got my proc running at 3.280 Ghz stock cooling.

Loud, yes, but it works. I am sure I could go way more if I had a better cooler.

[Spike]

I have Silent Knight II Cooler and Gigabyte X48-DS4 mobo. It's idling at 55 ºC without thermal paste (yeah I forgot to buy one lol).65 ºC on full load. I think If I buy some thermal paste I could go 3.2 or 3.6.

That processor is amazing.

[Oakley]

I have an ASUS P5N-D. Haven't been brave enough to actually go forward with any overclocking, but I'm looking forward to playing Empire: Total War in the next week. When I played the demo my fps was suffering a little and it relies quite heavily on CPU, so I was seriously considering overclocking in preparation for the full game.

[Ale]

First off, get some thermal paste. Second, just increase the fsb until it gets unstable in prime95, then increase vcore and maybe fsb pll voltage (chipset voltage can be increased too)

Rinse repeat. Its not rocket science to overclock in the small scale

[coder0xff]

If you have asynchronous timing on your mobo, you can increase CPU without changing RAM. Not very common though. Once you find your limit by increasing FSB, find your overall CPU clock (FSB * multiplier) and divide it by (multiplier + 1). This way you can increase your multiplier, keeping the CPU freq the same, but decreasing memory. See if stability improves, and if you can work FSB freq higher again. If you can, then your RAM was limiting your clock. If not then it's prolly your processor. If it's your processor, then do the same thing, but for increasing (edit: sry, decreasing) the multiplier. Gradually raise FSB again until you find the max stable for both memory and CPU.

You can do voltage increases, but be very carefull about it. Overdoing the clock is usually harmless, and good OCing mobos will even fallback to defaults upon POST failure so you don't have to clear the CMOS. Overdoing the voltage, however, is a bit more permanent. Figure out exactly which Q6600 you have - if you got it recently then it's the newer "stepping" model and it's a little more resilient. Once you know that, check what intel says about max temp and max voltage. Find out for you RAM too if you can. Look around online and see what other people have dared to over-voltage theirs, too. Also consider though, that not all CMOS dyes are made equally. Just cause someone else can reach X volts (or freq) doesn't mean you can.

Look into memory timings too if you really want to push your performance. Most timing improvements are modest, but it's worth a try. I recommend keeping your T value down (T1 if possible) and getting the other other ones (like CAS) down as low as you can while keeping it on T1 (though your mem may only support T2, or *gasp* worse)

I got my Q6600 up to 3.5Ghz stable with DDR3, 390 * 9.

[Ale]

If you have asynchronous timing on your mobo, you can increase CPU without changing RAM. Not very common though.

Thats a nvidia chipset only feature (havnt seen intel with it yet, closest thing is 100 differetn dividers)

[xoqolatl]

Thats a nvidia chipset only feature (havnt seen intel with it yet, closest thing is 100 differetn dividers)

In fact Nvidia chipsets have 100 different dividers (a:b, where a and b are from 0 to 31 and a/b is between 1 and 2), while Intel chipsets only have 1:2, 2:3, 3:5, 4:5, 5:6 and 5:8.

[Ale]

Thats a nvidia chipset only feature (havnt seen intel with it yet, closest thing is 100 differetn dividers)

In fact Nvidia chipsets have 100 different dividers (a:b, where a and b are from 0 to 31 and a/b is between 1 and 2), while Intel chipsets only have 1:2, 2:3, 3:5, 4:5, 5:6 and 5:8.

I was partly right.

Have fun with the overclock :]

[BillyDa59]

Never overclocked before but now considering. I have very similar parts to some of you guys and after hearing the monumental benefits, it sounds like something I should try. Anyone know a resource to help a total noob like myself out?

[vcool]

There's so much out there, it's hard to pinpoint any good tutorials. I know a few good russian ones; I learned overcloking by them. I don't know of any good tuts in english though.

Try googling it.