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

[Fraz]

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.

HEXUS.net - Guide :: Intel Core 2 Duo basic overclocking guide for beginners : Page - 1/9

Look up the thread this article came from in the hardware forum for more info - written by Clunk. It's a great starting point. You've got a quad, but the principles are exactly the same as they're just 2 core2duos stuck together

Good luck. My advice - go slow and steady. I can think of at least one guy on this forum who got carried away overclocking his Q6600 too quickly and ended up bricking the whole lot.

[HSK]

Thankyou Fraz! that's just what i need. i'll read and procced with caution.

[kazicameron]

hi my first message. ive had my system a couple of months now and followed your amazing guide clunk:

its now q6600 @3.4 1.38 Vcore
p5k pro
4gb 6400 corsair
8800gt @700 core, 950 memory

and im very happy with performance while its working. Im using speedfan as i can have it always in view on the sidebar (coretemp is a pain on my vista 64) its set 15 degrees higher on each core to match coretemps more accurate reading. My temps are 39,39,35,34 with fans now on full antec 180 care and on a core intensive program they shoot up to a maximum of 64.

Ive had problems with a graphics driver message shuting my games down mid through so i bought my gpu overclock down and that seems to be ok now. But, occasionally ingame im getting a BSOD im guessing the core temp isnt high enought to shutdown the processor and the gpu isnt going above 70. Any ideas?

Im running my memory 1:1 @750 with no overcock and on the standard timings as if i adjust these even slighty the machine wont post. I havent changed the northbridge setting as i wasnt sure about this. This is a very long message but im not the best at explaing things this late at night.

Would appreciate any ideas.

[Fraz]

What RAM and MCH voltages are you running?

[kazicameron]

ive tried my ram at 2v (thats what it says on sticker) i still got bsod so its on auto now MCH is at Auto

[Fraz]

First things first, I'd try and totally discount the GPU. Try running a CPU stress test on all cores (Prime torture test is good for this) for several hours, and see if you get BSOD. If you can't replicated the in-game BSODs with just a CPU stress test, then that'll tell you something.

[kazicameron]

ill try that now and leave it on tonight. i just loaded up flight sim x just to test and got the BSOD after 2 minutes 'Page fault in non paged area' does that mean anything to you?

[Fraz]

Well, immediate suspicion is towards a hard-disk or memory subsystem problem...

Basically, it sounds like you need to do a barrage of testing to me. Memtest, CPU stress test, disk error checks and get check the disk's SMART status would be a good start. If the problem keeps occurring only in games, then something funny must be happening with the GPU/GPU driver? Who knows.

[Mick84]

Does you graphics card spin up the fan on load? Mine didnt when I first got it. You can find a solution to the problem here http://forums.hexus.net/graphics-car...n-control.html

[kazicameron]

ok im still on cpu test now 3 hours later. one core is hitting max 70c on a 259x9 (3200 mhz) overclock as my 3400mhz was failing straight away. I have noticed my Vcore while running has dropped from 1.38 to as low as 1.35. im guessing this is the vdroop and could be the cause of the blue screens?

I dont want to up the vcore as i think 70c is my maximum but i cant find a setting for the vdroop in the bios (p5k pro). any ideas.

[nickp8]

What program is the most accurate for temp monitoring?

Asus PC Probe II says CPU is 37C
Speedfan says the cores are: 33,33,28,31C
Core Temp says the cores are: 48,48,43,46C

I am using a Freezer 7 Pro with AS5. CPU is at stock speed.

[kazicameron]

i use speedfan as theres a nice gadget you can get for the sidebar that uses it. you need to add 15c to each core to give an accurate temp (it then shows the same temp as coretemp). you can do this in speedfan so it displays 15c above its standard. click on configure, advanced, the first select menu select intel core and you can see how to add 15 on.

[Fraz]

Asus PC Probe II says CPU is 37C
Speedfan says the cores are: 33,33,28,31C
Core Temp says the cores are: 48,48,43,46C

Asus Probe is correct, but it's measuring the case temp of the CPU, not the core temps. This is roughly 10 degrees less than the average core temp.

Speedfan is 15 degs C out.

Core Temp looks right to me - I take it these readings are under load?

[nickp8]

No idle. I have seen people post much lower temperatures using the same cooler. I did reseat the HSF, new AS5 etc on Monday but it hasnt made alot of difference.

Loads temps running Orthos on all 4 cores are:
CoreTemp
58,58,54,57C

[Fraz]

Weird, those are a bit higher than my CPU under load, and it's overclocked to 3GHz...

[kazicameron]

okay im frustrated my vcore on startup has to be 1.41 so that i dont get blue screen running orthos as under full load my vcore is dropping a lot. its under full load now and has dropped to 1.38 vcore. i have q6600 @9*356 (3204mhz) and cant seem to get below 1.38 vcore is this a bad chip. its supposed to be a G0 i dont like the temps 73,73,70,69. its 40,40,35,34 when not under load, skythe ninja