Q6600 on 680i does NOT overclock at all!

[kgb11]

Hi, for the record I'm new to this forum but I am not new to the world of overclocking.

I recently upgraded from an E6600 (which by the way was stable at 3.6Ghz using the same components) to a new Q6600 with a G0 stepping. I have tried for hours to overclock even slightly and the thing doesn't even boot into Windows! I have updated the bios on my board to the newest one (dated 11/07/2007) and nothing has changed. I have played with all of basic settings in bios (voltage, memory timings, FSB and multiplier, etc.) and so far I couldn't even boot into windows at 2.7GHz or 300 x 9. Here are my specs:

Q6600 G0 w/ Zalman CNPS 9500 cooler
EVGA 680i SLI (lastest current bios version)
2 x 1GB OCZ Platinum PC2-7200 900MHz SLI ram 4-4-3-15
2 x 500GB WD AAKS HDDs in Raid 0 (backed up)
nVidia 7900GT w/ custom 120mm cooling
Creative X-FI extrememusic soundcard
OCZ 700w gameXstream PSU
Sony DVD-RW

operating on Windows Vista Ultimate

A Q6600 with my setup not overclocking at all is unheard of (at least to me anyway), so any help would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[genec57]

Do you have the A1 version of the motherboard. EVGA had issues with oc of quad chips and developed the A1 version specifically for quads. They will RMA your present board if it is the old version.

 

[kgb11]

The version of the board according to CPU-Z is A2. What now, do I file an RMA or is there a specific procedure because the board isn't actually defective. And is A2 the one that doesn't support the OC on quads?

EDIT: After registering the board with EVGA, it says the version is AR.

 

[genec57]

If you opt for their advanced RMA you can have it cross shipped. In the comments section of the RMA just say that you want OC ability with a quad core CPU.

 

[kgb11]

Alright thanks for your help, I'm going through with the RMA process.

One more question though, will my RAID array still be recognized with the newer revision board, or will I have to back everything up and do a complete reinstall?

 

[genec57]

It should be ok but always do a complete backup before doing anything this major.

 

[Guest]

Well i had the same problem with my Q6600 not OC from 2.66Mhz on a XFX 680i LT SLI with 4gb of COZ Ram.I went into the Nvidia web site and downloaded
the latest nforce software for my board,and i am able to OC to 2.808Mhz close to 2.9 with no problem and realy stable.But i tell you this even with out OC the Q6600 it is realy fast just at factory speed.

 

[dolmaface]

I have a q6600 overclocked to 3.2 ghz on a 680i lt xfx. The hottest it gets is 50 C on games. i also have a zalman 9500 fan. If u want to also overclock that far here is my info. core voltage= 1.35 ram=2 fsb= something like 1420. It great overclock