How fast should i clock my Q6600 G0?

[TheAnimus]

I've currently been playing with the little fellow at 3.5GHz, the watercooling just isn't cutting the mustard (the CPU waterblock is a little poor me thinks). The temps are peaking at 80°C, now, i can live with 70°C but that extra 10°C has got me worried.

So how fast do you run yours, what cooling you using?

[s_kinton]

Thats some very high temps for watercooling. Whats your wc setup? Wat voltage are you putting through the cpu to hit those temps?

[godsdog]

On air, and without breaking a sweat, you should be able to get 3.6 - 3.8 overclocks using the Thermalright's 120 Extreme and or Ultima 90. Fan dependant, an S-Flex 1600 or the Xigmatek XSF-F1251 that staffsMike's fallen in love with.

[Fraz]

You'll certainly be waving goodbye to it when it comes to summertime if you don't change something.

What is the temperature reading you're giving? A core temperature, or the case temp? If it's the latter, I'm moderately surprised that it's still working.

[dangel]

I left my @ 3ghz simply because nothing i do needed the extra cpu - mainly gaming where overclocking the gtx has much more of an effect.

[kalniel]

How fast should i clock my Q6600 G0?

As fast as you need

[staffsMike]

the Xigmatek XSF-F1251 that staffsMike's fallen in love with.

[TheAnimus]

Thats some very high temps for watercooling. Whats your wc setup? Wat voltage are you putting through the cpu to hit those temps?

I'm not overvolting it yet, it seams very odd, part of me thinks that the waterblock i've got for the CPU is utter sh**t. I think its never been designed for the 775, and the universal mounting clip isn't letting it get a tight enough grip on the chip.

As fast as you need

When doing some number crunching developement work, at the moment my only bottle neck is CPU.

The temp is the "cpu" temp reading, the cores are all ~ 58-62°C.

The GFX chipset, and everything else on the water loop are about 45°C.

This is the result of really maxing out the Cores workload, idle temp is 45 like everything else.

Should i use a new block, the only reason i'm using this one is i had it lying about.

[s_kinton]

Give us more details about the block and the water setup? What rad(s) have you got in there?

It sounds to me like you have definitely got issues with the block. If the gfx is staying relatively cool and everything else in the loop, but you CPU is off the chart then its not mounted properly or its just plain sh*t

[Webby]

Personally I would get a new block, something like the Swiftech Apogee GT extreme or the GTX if you have the extra cash, designed for S775 and quad core cooling.

Or any other block you fancy really thats designed for the job

[TheAnimus]

CPU cooler is a NexXxoS XP Rev.2

rad is a NexXxoS Pro III

pump is a AGB-Eheim 600.

Because everything else is cooling fine (including the 8800), i'm fairly sure its the block.

i think i've actually got the wrong mounting kit for it. Whilst Alphacool gave me a braket that fits the 775, i was loath to truely tighten it, i might try making it a bit tighter and seeing if i get more joy out it.

Actually, looking at:
I HATE THE WAY IT HANDLES URLS NOW
can you see there is a noutch in the middle, where the bolt goes for tightening, above and below there are two holes for LEDs if you want to illuminate the block.

mine doesn't have that middle notch.... i'll drop Alphacool a line i think.

[atmadden]

On air, and without breaking a sweat, you should be able to get 3.6 - 3.8 overclocks using the Thermalright's 120 Extreme and or Ultima 90. Fan dependant, an S-Flex 1600 or the Xigmatek XSF-F1251 that staffsMike's fallen in love with.

This is very optimistic. Although some do reach the speeds the vast majority do not. 3.6ghz is just about realistic with high end cooling, anything on top is a bonus. I have mine at 3.6ghz at 1.55v on watercooling. Also mine refuses to boot at anything over 400fsb whereas my e8400 will go to 500fsb and beyond.

[Webby]

Well if people are talking about what they should expect a Q6600 to do then the only answer anybody should give is 2.4GHz as that is the only speed that Intel have guaranteed it will achieve. Now on the whole it has been shown that the chip will overclock well but that doesn't mean that yours will and it will also depend on your motherboard and the same as not all CPUs are created equal not all MBs (same model even same batch) are not created equal.

[Clunk]

I'm not overvolting it yet, it seams very odd, part of me thinks that the waterblock i've got for the CPU is utter sh**t. I think its never been designed for the 775, and the universal mounting clip isn't letting it get a tight enough grip on the chip.

When doing some number crunching developement work, at the moment my only bottle neck is CPU.

The temp is the "cpu" temp reading, the cores are all ~ 58-62°C.

The GFX chipset, and everything else on the water loop are about 45°C.

This is the result of really maxing out the Cores workload, idle temp is 45 like everything else.

Should i use a new block, the only reason i'm using this one is i had it lying about.

It would appear that you have the Vcore (CPU Voltage) on AUTO. This is a common misconception. AUTO does exactly what it says, it auto adjusts the Vcore upwards (sometimes by more than is needed) as you up the FSB, and it DOESN'T keep the voltage at stock.

You can find your stock voltage by opening up something like Coretemp and look at the part that says VID - That's your stock voltage, and most chips differ slightly.

Go into your BIOS and set the Vcore value to whatever Cortemp reprted as your VID - If your board has a voltage damper, set it to on.

Keep all other settings the same, and then save and exit. Does it reboot? If not, just go back to the BIOS and add a notch of Vcore and repeat until you can boot to your O/S and run something like Prime95 (latest version) for a few hours.

If the above isn't the case, then, the only other thing it can be is that your water cooling is failing in some way. I would check that;

The block is fitted flat.
You use a backplate for the block if possible.
Thermal goop is applied properly.
Your rad isn't full of dust.
Your pump is working ok and not blocked.
Your loop isn't over loaded.
Your CPU IHS isn't concave.

[godsdog]

This is very optimistic. Although some do reach the speeds the vast majority do not. 3.6ghz is just about realistic with high end cooling, anything on top is a bonus. I have mine at 3.6ghz at 1.55v on watercooling. Also mine refuses to boot at anything over 400fsb whereas my e8400 will go to 500fsb and beyond.

3.6 is about the norm from my own experience and the builds using Q6600 G0's I've done and passed on. Others who have used different air cooling who like to push things to the edge regularly report hitting up to 3.8. staffsMike's recent build using the Xigmatek is a recent example. Personally, I pretty much fall into dangel's camp, if I need it I'll do it.

[atmadden]

3.6 is about the norm from my own experience and the builds using Q6600 G0's I've done and passed on. Others who have used different air cooling who like to push things to the edge regularly report hitting up to 3.8. staffsMike's recent build using the Xigmatek is a recent example. Personally, I pretty much fall into dangel's camp, if I need it I'll do it.

Well it isn't the norm in my experience. I have had 3 q6600 and none of them have reached 3.8ghz. All reached 3.6ghz but only on water they simply weren't stable on air. There seems to be a few around that do 4ghz on air but these are rare and seem to come from a few golden batches. I push my chips as far as they will go and always have.