I see alot of people on here that are asking for help with their E6xxx processor and a 680i combo. Well overclocking with these 2 components will be a piece of cake once you read this. I know when I was new to OC'ing there was no clear answers, but many scattered across various forums. So here is a quick and easy guide that wont have you screwin things up with your ram or cpu.

P.s. This guide doesnt discriminate between SLI ready mem or not.

Now before we begin, dont make massive jumps to try and get instant performance, this whole process should only take 10-15 mins for good results but dont rush it!! Otherwise your comp will turn into a big, expensive paperweight.

First step is to understand your CPU's multiplier and FSB which is the key component to OC'ing here is a simple chart -

e6300 1.86GHz 266MHz x7
e6400 2.13GHz 266MHz x8
e6600 2.4GHz 266MHz x9
e6700 2.66GHz 266MHz x10
e6800 2.93GHz 266MHz x11

So for example.. a E6600 has a 9X multiplier which take a FSB of 266(x)9 to equal its speed of 2.4ghz. Very simple math!

So here we go!! (For this review I will walk you through the steps while using a E6600.... the same process applies for other C2D chips but your final speeds will vary)

First enter your Bios screen during the boot process by hitting the "Del" button

From the main BIOS screen, head to "Advanced Chipset Features" and then into "CPU configuration". Change the following settings:

CPU Thermal control - disabled
C1E Enhanced holt state - disabled
Intel Speedstep - disabled

Save all settings and then reboot your PC. Enter the BIOS again.

Access the "Advanced Chipset Features" area, and this time enter the "System Clocks" area. Change the following settings:

CPU Spread Spectrum - disabled
HT Spread Spectrum - disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum SPP - disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum MCP - disabled
Sata Spread Spectrum - disabled

Save all settings and then reboot your PC. Enter the BIOS again.

Now its time to throw enough power into your rig to ensure that when you push it to the limit it has enough gas to run!

Enter the "Advanced Chipset Features" and then head to "System Voltages". The voltages here are safe voltages for your comp... if u have a 680i and a C2Duo... i promise. You can always turn them down later if needed but we wanna get you results!

CPU Core: 1.45V
CPU FSB: 1.5V
nForce SPP: 1.50V
Memory: If your not OC'ing your mem then dont worry about this, but if you are research your mem and see what a good OC voltage is for it.

At this point... reboot your comp again and take a look at its temps to verify that nothing is hotter than 60C (it shouldnt be but just to be safe)

Now when the board ships... your bios "links" your fsb to your mem. So before we do our final step, we wanna let your fsb and your mem be independent from each other so that your mem isnt holding back your CPU's potential. So access "Advanced Chipset Features" section of the BIOS - head there again, and this time go into the "FSB & Memory Config" section.

Wether you have SLI ready mem or not.... set SLI ready mem to "Disable" then change "FSB - Memory clock mode" to Unlinked. This allows you to manually set the memory speed to whatever you want. On our machine, which is using DDR2-800 memory, we set "MEM (DDR) MHz" to 800 to reflect this memory speed. If you're using slower DDR2- 667, change this setting to 667 instead. That is of course if you dont want to OC your mem... BUT whether you want to OC your mem or not... go into the Memory Timing setting at the bottom of the screen and set your command rate which should be stock at "Auto2T" to just 2T trust me!

Finally here we go!! The final steps!

Access "Advanced Chipset Features" and back into the "FSB & Memory Config" area. You'll see an area labeled FSB (QDR), MHz, and this represents your frontside bus. Remember that the frontside bus in this system is "quad pumped" That explains why the reading here is actually four times what our frontside bus is. The default value is 1066MHz, which is 4 x 266MHz. Start increasing this in 40MHz increments, so change it to 1104MHz (4 x 276MHz) or so. At the top of this screen your will see a "grayed" out reading that reads CPU Freq MHz, use this as a reference to what your CPU will be running at after a restart. So if you have a E6600 and this says 5000.... you know you have gone WAY to far... so take it slow, dont just punch in a rediculous number! After each increase, save your changes, and then allow the PC to boot all the way into Windows. If it can make it into Windows, reboot and increase the frontside bus speed from the BIOS by another 40MHz. Eventually you'll reach a point where the machine won't boot into Windows any more. When this occurs I recommend going down a few notches on the FSB and rebooting, once you get it to a good point where Windows starts, I would recommend running 3D Mark a few times to verify the stability of your rig. If it crashes you know you need to go back and turn it down.

Using this config i have pushed a E6600 on air cooling to 3.45 Ghz on Air Cooling alone!! Dont shoot this high off the bat. Each processor is different and not all will overclock the same. So be careful and take it slow. Once you get the hang and idea of this you can move on to oc'ing your mem and all that good stuff! Have fun!!

Compiled from own experience and a article that I edited with IGN writer Bennett Ring

Learn all that off http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/747/747606p2.html to huh

next time try not to copy so much outta some elses guide, or atleast link the original guide. This is exactly the same as the ign guide except worded alittle differently.

I helped write that article in the first place after test samples of the EVGA boards were released. So no dues needed. Just trying to help people as usual. Thanks though.

That article was written by Bennett Ring 100%, if you read other IGN articles they give credit to all who help with gathering info and such.

This coming from a Dec29th new guy... im glad that your so informed. Regardless im not going to carry on this stupidity because im not here to argue with a little guy like anyway. I came here to help. So just keep moving if you have an issue.