Quad Core Thread: Overclocking, Cooling, Motherboards, Troubleshooting & General Info

[EarlGrey]

I know I shouldn't double post, but I wanted to add some more data to the mix

I am in the process of overclocking my q6600 at the moment, and as I mentioned above my temps are good so far...

I am using a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R - which has been rock solid, and my only grumble is that I can't find a way of adjusting the memory latencies... If anyone knows how please let me know! I've got 2GB of OCZ Cas 4 Ram, but it sets to auto Cas 5 all the time, so I'm running it at 900Mhz to make me feel a little better (why not).
The Power supply is a OCZ StealthStream 600W, which is having it easy at the moment just having to power a 7800GTX. (new graphics card after xmas if I have any money by then... )

And the processor. A q6600 G0 stepping with a VID of 1.275, has so far been a dream. It's cooled by a Scythe Infinity which gets quite a help from the extremely close proximity of the 12cm rear case fan (I thought it wasn't going to fit at first). I have been burning it in over the last few days (Always a good idea if you plan some serious overclocking - read Arctic Silver's instructions, the thermal paste does require a few cycles of use and overnight cooling to be at its best!!!) I am currently stress testing it at 3.4GHz, with a voltage of 1.37V, which reads as 1.28 under load in CPU-Z. And the best bit is after approx an hour of Prime95 stressing all four cores there have been no errors and the temps in CoreTemp0.95 read 60 58 58 60

Phew. Comments? Opinions? Can anyone help with the RAM issue???

[merple]

I know I shouldn't double post, but I wanted to add some more data to the mix

I am in the process of overclocking my q6600 at the moment, and as I mentioned above my temps are good so far...

I am using a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R - which has been rock solid, and my only grumble is that I can't find a way of adjusting the memory latencies...
*snip*
Phew. Comments? Opinions? Can anyone help with the RAM issue???

Have you done the Crtl+F1 to get into the advanced settings menu?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...5c-ds3r_5.html

[EarlGrey]

Have you done the Crtl+F1 to get into the advanced settings menu?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...5c-ds3r_5.html

Ha ha! Genius. Thanks, yes that did the trick.

Cas 4 does actually make a large difference, and I found Cas 4 at 3.2Ghz was faster than Cas 5 at 3.4Ghz. Eventually managed to get everything cool and stable at 3.3GHz with Cas 4 so think I'll be sticking with that.

[merple]

Nice one

I wouldn't have thought it would have made too much of a difference.
Is the system more snappy and responsive during general use, or is it only in the benchmark numbers where the difference shows?

Have you had time to get your max load temp at the new speed you are running at yet?

[badass]

Right. First I'll admit to having not read the overclocking guide yet - I've just downloaded the programs from the links.
System is a B3 Q6600 on an ASUS P5K-E WIfi with Corsair DDR2-800 RAM CAS5 (2x1GB, black slots)
I'm currently using an intel stock cooler.
Stressing the CPU with the short test in orthos - 2 copies running with processor affinity set, coretemp 0.95 reports:
Core 0: 74 degrees C
Core 1: 73 degrees C
Core 0: 69 degrees C
Core 0: 69 degrees C
VID: 1.325
I will be getting a decent air cooler and a backplate soon and will follow Clunks tighten/loosen the screws untill all cores are within a couple of degrees of each other technique.
Once I have done that, I'll try for 3 Ghz. Until then, I'm not going to overclock it

Guess the stock cooler is complete rubbish then. I've just got a load more bits including some AS5 and have removed the stock cooler, cleaned the old thermal pad/grease off (noticed it looked pretty evenly spread so its not an installation of the HSF problem. and put it back on. I stopped Orthos when the temps hit 74 degrees C (after a few minutes) and noticed the heatsink was pretty hot so its on properly.

However after putting the heatsink on, I noticed just how much it bends the motherboard!
A backplate is a definate must as Clunk says.
With the bits that arrrived, I pre ordered a thermalright Ultima 90 so hopefully the end of high CPU temps is on the horizon.

[derchris]

Hi,

now I'm also owner of a Q6600

Temps: *tested with Core Temp 0.95.4*

Core #0: 35
Core #1: 37
Core #2: 30
Core #3: 33

These are idle temps, haven't tested under load yet.

Cooling at the moment is a Artic Freezer 7, which will be replaced by a watercoling kit (Swiftech H2O 120 Compact), but the Radiator was leaking, so have to wait for a replacement.

But are these ok so far?

[2Cold Scorpio]

I'm thinking of trying ot overclock a Q6600 to about 3.0 GHz...would an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro be enough for this? I don't know if this counts as a "massive overclock" as stated above when it was noted not to use this fan for that. I'll be using a RaidMax Smilodon case with all the fan slots filled and a GeForce 8800GT (I hear these run pretty hot; don't know if it would affect keeping processor temps down...). Will I be ok, or do I need a better cooler?

[mrk]

Hi,

now I'm also owner of a Q6600

Temps: *tested with Core Temp 0.95.4*

Core #0: 35
Core #1: 37
Core #2: 30
Core #3: 33

These are idle temps, haven't tested under load yet.

Cooling at the moment is a Artic Freezer 7, which will be replaced by a watercoling kit (Swiftech H2O 120 Compact), but the Radiator was leaking, so have to wait for a replacement.

But are these ok so far?

Damn G0 temps are so low, amkes my idle 50 degrees look like a BBQ !

[Fraz]

Hi,

now I'm also owner of a Q6600

Temps: *tested with Core Temp 0.95.4*

Core #0: 35
Core #1: 37
Core #2: 30
Core #3: 33

These are idle temps, haven't tested under load yet.

Cooling at the moment is a Artic Freezer 7, which will be replaced by a watercoling kit (Swiftech H2O 120 Compact), but the Radiator was leaking, so have to wait for a replacement.

But are these ok so far?

Definitely.

[Fraz]

I'm thinking of trying ot overclock a Q6600 to about 3.0 GHz...would an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro be enough for this? I don't know if this counts as a "massive overclock" as stated above when it was noted not to use this fan for that. I'll be using a RaidMax Smilodon case with all the fan slots filled and a GeForce 8800GT (I hear these run pretty hot; don't know if it would affect keeping processor temps down...). Will I be ok, or do I need a better cooler?

I think you'll be fine - unless you plan on running it under full load 24/7, in which case I'd maybe think about investing in a better one.

A G0 stepping Q6600@3GHz puts out ~120Watts (~130Watts for a B3), which is well within limits of what a Freezer 7 pro can dissipate (their website says 200Watts max, which I think is a bit unrealistic...). Obviously, it depends somewhat on how ventilated your case is - by the sounds of it, you've got a pretty fancy one, so you're bound to be fine.

8800GTs run pretty hot, but they don't put out as many actual watts of heat as most other high-end cards. However, the heat all ends up in the chassis, rather than vented out the back with a double-slot card. Regardless, I doubt it's an issue with any half-decent chassis, as they are obviously designed with this kind of thing in mind

[2Cold Scorpio]

I think you'll be fine - unless you plan on running it under full load 24/7, in which case I'd maybe think about investing in a better one.

A G0 stepping Q6600@3GHz puts out ~120Watts (~130Watts for a B3), which is well within limits of what a Freezer 7 pro can dissipate (their website says 200Watts max, which I think is a bit unrealistic...). Obviously, it depends somewhat on how ventilated your case is - by the sounds of it, you've got a pretty fancy one, so you're bound to be fine.

8800GTs run pretty hot, but they don't put out as many actual watts of heat as most other high-end cards. However, the heat all ends up in the chassis, rather than vented out the back with a double-slot card. Regardless, I doubt it's an issue with any half-decent chassis, as they are obviously designed with this kind of thing in mind

Thanks! From what I've read, the case is supposed to have pretty good airflow (the case is rated pretty well on NewEgg).

The only thing I can imagine doing that would make it run full load is playing some games (Crysis or Oblivian, maybe). When I'm not gaming, I'm usually just surfing the 'Net or copying CDs to my hard drive. Even in Vista, I doubt this would constitute as anything near full load (I don't do video encoding or heavy compiling, etc.). The main reason I'm getting a quad is just to future-proof the system, and was only going to overclock it to be about as fast as the 3 GHz Core 2 Duo I had been looking at before (so I can get a little better performance out of some older games that aren't optimized for dual or quad cores, mainly). My apartment stays pretty cool as well, so that oughta help...

[Fraz]

The only thing I can imagine doing that would make it run full load is playing some games (Crysis or Oblivian, maybe).

To give you an idea, I've got a ThermalTake big typhoon VX120, which is a much bigger cooler, and I've got a G0 Q6600@3GHz. All four cores are fully loaded 24/7 with grid jobs, and the CPU "case temp" reported by uGuru basically never goes much above 40 degress. This is with the 12cm fan running at half speed, which is only 1000 RPM. The individual cores (as reported by CoreTemp) are normally somewhere in the range of 50-55 with this setup. I can't imagine you're going to struggle with your freezer 7 pro. I just bought a monster cooler because I wanted it to be nice and quiet even under full load.

[2Cold Scorpio]

To give you an idea, I've got a ThermalTake big typhoon VX120, which is a much bigger cooler, and I've got a G0 Q6600@3GHz. All four cores are fully loaded 24/7 with grid jobs, and the CPU "case temp" reported by uGuru basically never goes much above 40 degress. This is with the 12cm fan running at half speed, which is only 1000 RPM. The individual cores (as reported by CoreTemp) are normally somewhere in the range of 50-55 with this setup. I can't imagine you're going to struggle with your freezer 7 pro. I just bought a monster cooler because I wanted it to be nice and quiet even under full load.

Thanks for your help. Takes a load off my mind knowing my fan oughta be sufficient. lol Noise isn't a terrible issue for me (I'm used to the constant hum older machines make, plus my TV is almost always on and turned up). I'm on a budget with the new rig; thats why I picked up the Arctic 7. Like you, I'll probably change it with something bigger and quieter eventually, though. But in the meantime, its conforting to know the Arctic should be sufficient.

[crazy]

a question: Is it faster to be running 1066mhz @ cas 5 or 800mhz @ cas 4?
thanks in advance

[badass]

Guess the stock cooler is complete rubbish then. I've just got a load more bits including some AS5 and have removed the stock cooler, cleaned the old thermal pad/grease off (noticed it looked pretty evenly spread so its not an installation of the HSF problem. and put it back on. I stopped Orthos when the temps hit 74 degrees C (after a few minutes) and noticed the heatsink was pretty hot so its on properly.

However after putting the heatsink on, I noticed just how much it bends the motherboard!
A backplate is a definate must as Clunk says.
With the bits that arrrived, I pre ordered a thermalright Ultima 90 so hopefully the end of high CPU temps is on the horizon.

Right, Thermalright Ultima 90 installed with a Zalman 120mm fan attached
Core temps are
69
69
63
63
With Orthos running small FFT's - stress CPU

Not much of an imprevement over stock




Except its now running at 3 GHz
The case fans are both at the max setting, so its pretty loud, however the Fan has the resistor installed so its only running at 1000 ish RPM

I'll leave it stressing for 24 hours with the case fans on max and the CPU fan with the resistor installed and see how it goes.
Since this is a worst case scenario for the CPU, if it works fine I will switch them back down and enjoy a quiet 3GHz quad

[HSK]

hmm im thinking of over clocking a lil bit, my q6600 & mem modules - not sure where to start?

is there any sites or info i can read up on regarding all the clock multipliers/frequencies/timings etc for these kindda things? i looked in my bios and was a lil weary - didnt wanna mess with anything without being sure.