Hey guys this is a followup on my last post a couple of days ago. What I was able to change was the timings on the ram from 5-5-5-15 to 4-4-4-12 2.2. Apparenlty they were set to default settings to the lower setting and voltage. ALso since this has changed I was able to get the CPU to 2.7 from 2.6. Let me know what you guys think. I tired 2.8 but 3dmark06 locks up.
http://service.futuremark.com/orb/ [...] D=13492559

D975XBX rev. 304
Q6600 G0 stepping @ 2.7 temps idle 37-40c load 44-49c
Zalman CNP9500 cpu cooler
2 gigs DDR2 800 crucial ballistix 4-4-4-12 2.2v
HD3870's in crossfire CCC 8.1
2 raptors 74g raid 0
ANTEC NEO HE 550w
Audigy 2zs

From what ive seen you should get the 6600 to about 3 or 3.2GHZ, its "pretty easy" according to what ive seen. That will probably require you to revert ram timings to defaults.

I just got my Q6600 today and 3.3 was nothing. 3.3Ghz @ 1.36v and it never goes above 41c. Gonna see how well it runs @ 3.6 tomorrow. My highest 3dmark 06 score is around 13700. Need to sqeeze a little more out of my GPU.

Hey ghostmann, 14,6K in 3Dmark doesn't sound all that great man. You should be getting much more. A friend of mine with a Core2Duo 6700 OCed @3,9Ghz and a 8800 Gts (g92) with mild oc gets about 14,5k. You have quad which adds to the CPU score and CF with 2 3870. You should be getting more

I do admit that sounds a tad low. I almost hit 14k with -:sig:- specs. Maybe you'ev got a 24" screen like me and it's dropped your score by a couple thou?

To get more than 2.7+ with that RAM your going to have to get it running at around the 667 mark with default timings.

Are all your CCC 3D options at 'Use Application Settings' with MipMaping at 'High Performance'?

I'm not your friend but I've gotten 14.7k on a stock G92 (well.. slight factory OC to 670 Core) with a 3.6 GHz Q6600..

Again, you have a Crossfire setup, you should beat my single card score.

ATi made the drivers scale well with 3D Mark06.. get to OCing a bit. 862 Core is doable without a BIOS flash (stupid PLL divider).

Edit: And before Evilonigiri says it... I'm not bragging. Go get one for yourself dude! Mine was like $339 and came with Crysis.

You sure those cards are getting enough juice?

The funny thing is I never feel my second card is working in crossfire. It is enable in CCC but that is the only place were it says its working. When I do 3dmark06 it doesnt say crossfire hd3870. it just says hd3870, but when I open the case I can feel the fan going on the second card. In the back of the case hot air is only coming from the top video card not the bottom one. Someone here at Tom's told me that reason for the top card only blowing hot air is beacuse the heat from the bottom card rises and is sucking in hot air. I have a lian li mid tower case and the 2 cards are right on top of each other. Inregards to my power supply it is only 1 year old. I did do the power supply calculator and I'm way under the specs. I did use the Antec NEO power supply for my old cards X1950XTX in crossfire before this and it worked fine. Is there another way I can check to see if both cards are working in crossfire beside CCC?????

A 550w PSu is probably not enough for CF on those. Yes they use less than a HD2900 series but still more than the X1950 did. Although it shows as a "certified" PSU you have to take in account your HD's, DVD drive and so forth.

I prefer to at least put 50-100watts more than required but I would suggest checking that first and seeing if maybe there isn't enough power for both cards.

It sounds good for a single card setup... It does sound like crossfire isnt working atm in your setup. CPU speed or not you should be over 20K 3dMarks.