Q6600 37 idle, 45 load??

[maverick7]

ok air flow isnt the problem i have 12 fans in my case which is a thermaltake armor.. these are good fans costing me just over $100 in total for the extra fans.. i also bought a tuniq tower with as5 for cooling the cpu, but without even being overclocked it runs at 37 idle and 45 load.. that just seems too high. The ambient temp is about 22-24c.

I wanted to get to 3Ghz but i dont want heat to be a problem

here are my specs:

thermaltake armor (with extra fans)
evga 680i
evga 8800 ultra
Q6600 (tuniq tower & as5)
2gig corsair ram
700 watt ocz psu

I was also wondering if someone could answer i quick question i had about ocing the q6600.. in the bios when about to change the speed of the cpu, it says linked, unlinked, or auto.. i assume unlinked and then since my memory is shown as being 800 mhz i just type in 800MHz and then since i want to get to 3GHz i just type in 1333?? and then im all done, aside from some other power saving things i need to turn off??
and sry last question, how should i go about testing to see if its stable?? should i just run prime 95 for 4 hours or so?? or what program that is freeware would you suggest?? and could u provide a link
sorry im a newb trying to learn so i have a lot of questions when it comes to ocing..

*also how do u clean thermal paste off??

 

[DoMTaR]

idle seems a little high, but not that bad for a quad (you have B3 stepping? )

Orthos is a great program for testing stability. http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm
You are correct in assuming linked unlinked etc is for your memory.
Most people leave it linked. (unless you dont wanna OC your mem )
turn off your power savings...and floppy test and all that other fun stuff that will make your system boot quicker

Try using isopropyl alcohol to clean off thermal paste

 

[yomamafor1]

ok air flow isnt the problem i have 12 fans in my case which is a thermaltake armor.. these are good fans costing me just over $100 in total for the extra fans.. i also bought a tuniq tower with as5 for cooling the cpu, but without even being overclocked it runs at 37 idle and 45 load.. that just seems too high. The ambient temp is about 22-24c.

I wanted to get to 3Ghz but i dont want heat to be a problem

here are my specs:

thermaltake armor (with extra fans)
evga 680i
evga 8800 ultra
Q6600 (tuniq tower & as5)
2gig corsair ram
700 watt ocz psu

I was also wondering if someone could answer i quick question i had about ocing the q6600.. in the bios when about to change the speed of the cpu, it says linked, unlinked, or auto.. i assume unlinked and then since my memory is shown as being 800 mhz i just type in 800MHz and then since i want to get to 3GHz i just type in 1333?? and then im all done, aside from some other power saving things i need to turn off??
and sry last question, how should i go about testing to see if its stable?? should i just run prime 95 for 4 hours or so?? or what program that is freeware would you suggest?? and could u provide a link
sorry im a newb trying to learn so i have a lot of questions when it comes to ocing..

*also how do u clean thermal paste off??

1. Your temperature looks fine. Is your turniq tower actively cooled or not? On the side note, be sure to check your air flow setting. Having lots of fans with the wrong airflow direction is a lot worse than 2 fans with the right airflow direction. There is a good article about airflow on CPU magazine.

2. If you want to overclock your CPU, you don't want to increase your RAM speed just yet. 800 is fine. What you need to do is to increase the FSB to 333 from 266. However, you might want to increase your vcore to 1.4V, before you change the FSB setting. After booting at 3Ghz, slowly decrease the voltage by 0.05V increment. With every increment drop, stress test your machine to ensure stability.

3. In order to test for stability, there are two testing programs you can use: Prime95, and Orthos. Personally I like Prime95 better, and have more knowledge and experience in this area. Someone with more experience with Orthos may also shed light onto the subject. Anyhow, to do the stress test, run x threads of Prime 95, for your x core processor. In this case, you need to run 4 instances of Prime 95 for Q6600, for at least 12~24 hrs. Then slowly decrease your vcore, if you've already reached your desired clockspeed.

One piece of advice: If you have a B3 stepping, you might want to start with FSB 300 first, and slowly increase.

 

[Onus]

The link / unlink might also refer to the PCI buss. I think it does on my Gigabyte. You want that to be unlinked and set at 100.

 

[MU_Engineer]

ok air flow isnt the problem i have 12 fans in my case which is a thermaltake armor.. these are good fans costing me just over $100 in total for the extra fans.. i also bought a tuniq tower with as5 for cooling the cpu, but without even being overclocked it runs at 37 idle and 45 load.. that just seems too high. The ambient temp is about 22-24c.

I wanted to get to 3Ghz but i dont want heat to be a problem

Those are fine temps for a desktop CPU and even better when you consider that the Kentsfield throws off 130 watts at full load. I run an E6700 with Intel's PIB cooler and it runs at 43-45 idle and 56-58 full-load and it's A-OK. Keep the full-load temps below 60 C and you'll be fine. You have a ways to go to get there; 3.0 GHz shouldn't be too hard unless you got a very OC-unfriendly chip.

*also how do u clean thermal paste off??

Use a good, anhydrous polar solvent. I saw somebody recommend isopropyl alcohol- that will work only if you get the stuff that's 90% or better concentration. The usual 70% rubbing alcohol has far too much water in it to be very effective. I personally use and strongly recommend Goof-Off as it has no water in it and a few drops of Goof-Off will dissolve thermal paste very easily. You can get it at about any place that sells paint and it will be in a yellow metal container in the paint section. Alternatively, you can use some benzene derivative like tolulene or xylene, or even something like methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or denatured ethanol should work. You can find all of those in the paint section of a decent hardware or home-improvement store. Just remember that all of them are extremely flammable and volatile and the fumes WILL screw you up something badly if you work inside. Take the heatsink outside on the patio or stoop to clean it off or at least open the door or window and get some air moving.