E6600 Overclocking issues or maybe 2.9 ghz is my limit?

[Beece]

Hi.


System:
Abit AW9D-Max (975 chipset) (Bios v14 alpha, has ddr 800 fix)
Intel Conroe E6600
4x 1GB Kingston HyperX 900Mhz (5-5-5-15)
eVGA 8800GTS
Tuniq Tower 120
Antec 500Watt NeoHE
Antec P180 Case
2x 74GB Raptor (Raid 0)
2x 80GB Seagate Sata 7200rpm
2x Optical DV D-RWs

The best speed stable so far is:
Mhz 2926
bus 325
vCore 1.5V
vDimm 2.1v
Mch 1.5v
idle: 31C
load: 55C
FSBRAM 1:1
Disabled, EIST, CPUID and Virt Tech. C1E


I can get the system to post at 365 FSB but it will crash within 20 minutes of running 2 instances of Prime 95, Lowest FSB with a crash was at 333. I am wondering if my PSU is maybe too weak for that power hungry video card, or maybe kingston was just a bad choice of high end ram.

If 2.9 Ghz is my max limit on that CPU, would it be worth trying to increase the DRAM ratio since since 1:1 is running far below the specs of the RAM.


Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Blouge]

I think your PSU is adequate. Your CPU temp is a bit high and reducing voltage could help. I recommend reducing voltage anyway as I feel 1.5 is dangerously high (others here might not mind the risk).

Try try loosening your memory timings. FYI memset can help determine SPD settings.

I have E6600 @ 400x8 = 3.2 GHz, 1.3125V BIOS (1.24-1.27 real) stable at 23-45 TAT temp, with good air-cooling (Thermaltake Big Typhoon and Antec 900 case).

 

[tajoh111]

I would try overclocking with 2 sticks of ram. 4 sticks is shown to be less stable than 2.

 

[grant8844]

I have an E6600 running at 3.3GHZ with stock vCore of 1.275

I am using all the "beginning settings" from Wusy's o/c guide except for vCore which I left at stock

Mem voltage is at 2.1v

FSB:Ram is 1:1

My CPU temps using TAT at 100% / 100% are 52 / 51

Mobo temp is 43

You should not need vCore at 1.5, that is very high

Try raising your mem v

 

[Beece]

I have lowered vCore now to 1.4 and is stable at 330 FSB, I am gunna try lowering more vCore and increase the FSB to see what I can achieve.

I will also try running a second PSU along side it to Power the Video and drives, etc. To see if it increases stability.