q6600 OC weird voltages

[federerexpress]

Hi everyone,
I've been reading numerous threads about overclocking a q6600 and its voltages. I have an xfx 680i lt and overclocked the q6600 to 3.2 (9x355). Everything is stable but my Vcore voltages seem really low comapred to what I've been reading. My Vcore is 1.22V (actual). I applied the pencil mod since I was getting .5V drops before. Anyways I think that 1.22V is pretty low, and my idle temps are 43,42,37,37. However, when I run prime95 with small fft i get temperatures as high as 68 degress, still at 1.22V. I've seen people with Vcores at 1.35V who were getting lower temperatures. Here are my other voltages:
FSB: 1.4V
RAM: 2.1V (running linked at 710 and 4,4,4,12,1T)
SB: 1.4V
Vcore: 1.225V
I was wondering if anyone could explain how i get such high temps at such low Vcore voltages.
By the way, I use a zalman9700 for cooling, and my room temperature is about 27 degrees.
Thank you for any help

 

[htoonthura]

Hi everyone,
I've been reading numerous threads about overclocking a q6600 and its voltages. I have an xfx 680i lt and overclocked the q6600 to 3.2 (9x355). Everything is stable but my Vcore voltages seem really low comapred to what I've been reading. My Vcore is 1.22V (actual). I applied the pencil mod since I was getting .5V drops before. Anyways I think that 1.22V is pretty low, and my idle temps are 43,42,37,37. However, when I run prime95 with small fft i get temperatures as high as 68 degress, still at 1.22V. I've seen people with Vcores at 1.35V who were getting lower temperatures. Here are my other voltages:
FSB: 1.4V
RAM: 2.1V (running linked at 710 and 4,4,4,12,1T)
SB: 1.4V
Vcore: 1.225V
I was wondering if anyone could explain how i get such high temps at such low Vcore voltages.
By the way, I use a zalman9700 for cooling, and my room temperature is about 27 degrees.
Thank you for any help

Obviously you need work on your HS. Take it off and reapply AS5 properly.

 

[jerreece]

First of all, you're lucky you have a stable OC on that 680i LT. I have the same exact board (XFX 680i LT SLI) and it sucks huge for OC'ing the Q6600. Doesn't matter what I do, I can't get anything above stock to remain stable.

I had 3.3Ghz stable for like 2 days once, but I had to set my Vcore at like 1.45V to do that. Never tried the pencil mod myself. No idea how to do it, and I'd be to afraid I'd somehow fry the board. Not sure how #2 pencil (which is just graphite yes?) works on the circuitry.

 

[jerreece]

Obviously you need work on your HS. Take it off and reapply AS5 properly.

Granted I don't have the same cooler as the OP, but when I've tested my setup @ 3.2Ghz or 3.3Ghz I get almost the exact same temps. So I don't think he simply hasn't applied his HS and thermal compound/paste correctly. Although, I get the same temps at a higher Vcore so...

 

[mtyermom]

sounds like you need to reseat your HSF. don't forget to completely clean the cpu and hsf contact surfaces. what thermal interface material are you using?

 

[federerexpress]

Hi and thanks for the replies
I will try to reseat my HSF, and will be using the thermal paste that came with the zalman 9700. My idle temps are great, in the 30s, thats why i thought my HSF was ok, and like you said, my Vcore is at 1.225 which is really low so I expected to get low loading temps as well. Jerreece, I also read that a lot of people are having problems overclocking with the 680i lt, although i've seen people running the q6600 at 3.6 and higher. Try using the exact same settings as me and see if it works. It just seems weird that the same motherboard can behave so differently.
http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc045931212121212121il9.png
This is the picture I used to do the pencil mod, and it worked great. i did it when the computer was on (i was careful) and saw the voltage increase as I was doing it.
Anyways tell me if anything works out, and thank you for the replies everyone, I will try your suggestions.

 

[htoonthura]

Granted I don't have the same cooler as the OP, but when I've tested my setup @ 3.2Ghz or 3.3Ghz I get almost the exact same temps. So I don't think he simply hasn't applied his HS and thermal compound/paste correctly. Although, I get the same temps at a higher Vcore so...

Well... if he has the same temperature like yours when his cpu is at less voltage, either his hs installation or case airflow is wrong. it is no-brainer.

 

[lambofgode3x]

well, i have a q6600 oc'd to 3.6 at 1.5V core, and my idle temps are in the mid 30's, under full load, high 40's or so. then again, i use water cooling.

oh, and that zalman cooler isn't all it's cracked up to be. well not to me anyway. look around for a xigmatek rifle cooler. they're like 30 bucks and they're pretty good.

 

[jerreece]

Hi and thanks for the replies
I will try to reseat my HSF, and will be using the thermal paste that came with the zalman 9700. My idle temps are great, in the 30s, thats why i thought my HSF was ok, and like you said, my Vcore is at 1.225 which is really low so I expected to get low loading temps as well. Jerreece, I also read that a lot of people are having problems overclocking with the 680i lt, although i've seen people running the q6600 at 3.6 and higher. Try using the exact same settings as me and see if it works. It just seems weird that the same motherboard can behave so differently.
http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc045931212121212121il9.png
This is the picture I used to do the pencil mod, and it worked great. i did it when the computer was on (i was careful) and saw the voltage increase as I was doing it.
Anyways tell me if anything works out, and thank you for the replies everyone, I will try your suggestions.

Cool thanks for the picture. I'm wondering, was this picture specifically taken of a 680i LT board? And since I've never done a pencil mod... do you simply just 'draw' on that spot with the pencil? There by leaving lead/graphite on it? And that's it?

I guess I'd wonder what risks are posed in doing something like that. lol though I suppose if my board fries, it'll be a good excuse to replace my 680i. Maybe I'll look into it tonight.

Oh, BTW. What is the VID on your Q6600? And is it a G0 revision (I'm assuming it is?). I think I've got one of the higher VID's of 1.325?

 

[federerexpress]

OK I took off the zalman, reapplied thermal paste, and now when i run small fft for 30min, i get 69,68,63,63 when fan is idle and 63,62,56,56 when fan is full speed. I do see a slight improvement (Core 0 did go up to 72 before when running 8k fft with fan on idle), but nothing spectacular. I dont think I can do anything else, i installed the HSF the best I could. At least my idle temps are really low (37,37,33,33) and the overclock is very stable, prime 95 blend test for 16hours before I stopped it. Thanks for the replies and I will try any other suggestions but I dont think there's anything else i can do except lap my HSF or get water cooling (not interested in either of these)

 

[federerexpress]

Jerreece,
Yea that picture is the xfx 680i lt, the resistor is easy to find its next to the 4 pin fan plug. As for the pencil mod, yea you just get a #2 and draw on it. I did it with my computer on to see the voltage change because I didnt want to draw, then restart then draw again etc....and I dont think it will fry your board, all it does is make your idle and load voltage the same, which helps for lower idle temps. For example, I knew that I needed 1.22V to run full load, but because of the voltage drop, my idle voltage was at 1.27, which caused way higher idle temps. Now its 1.22V for idle and load. And it also helps to match the voltage you set in the bios.
My q6600 is the G0 revision, and my VID 1.2375. yea 1.325 seems really high, maybe that's the reason you can't overclock well, although I'm not an expert so I'm not sure.