My rig:

Asus Maximus Formula X38 Mobo
Q6600 currently trying to OC at 3.4Ghz
TRUE with Scythe Fan SFF21F



I set everything at it's lowest possible setting, except the NB voltage (1.41V)

I'm adjusting the cpu vcore as you can see, and a funny pattern is coming out of it. The fourth core (Core #3) keeps failing on me. Any clues as to why this is happening and what I can do to make it stable at 3.4ghz? BTW, the VID is 1.3250 (sad I know) so is it just possible that I'll just need a really high vcore (>1.5?) I can get 3.3ghz (9*366) stable with about 1.416V vcore in windows. Suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

what is the rest of your bios set at? multiplier, FSB stuff? did disable all the extra stuff ei...spread spectrum ect.....

First, try an 8X multiplier, the higher fsb and lower core frequently adds a bit more clocking headroom to the CPU.

Secondly the CPU has probably reached its limit. The slew rate of the weakest core can't be decreased by upping the voltage, since that just increases the saturation region.
http://powerelectronics.com/power_ [...] fficiency/

My own G0 Q6600 maxes out at 3.29 Ghz with two cores failing Prime95 above that. The voltage before vdroop is 1.4125. after vdroop on the Maximus Formula that's 1.36-something. Increasing beyond that gets a lot more heat but almost no increase in speed.

Assuming all the CPU "features" have been disabled, including any memory speed boosters, try 3.33 Ghz. If that's stable, be happy.

Yep, spectrums disabled, c1e and all that is disabled. loadline calibration enabled to reduce vdroop effect.

@prow, the graph shows 9*378 at the top (or 3.4Ghz).

I will try lowering the multiplier. I read in another article that bad ram could also be another factor? at 425FSB, you think the value I'm at right now (1.41 bios, a little higher in windows) would be a good starting value? Oops, I forgot to include the FSB termination voltage. That's also at the lowest setting possible. Should I up that too for stability?

We don't know what your ram is, but certainly the memory can limit the OC. Run it at 1:1 at rated voltage. Up the fsb one notch as I did, but I don't think it made a difference.

Ram is ocz HPC Reaper 2X2GB. Running Vista 64 ultimate. Specs are 4-4-4-15 at 2.1 Volts. It is currently at 1:1. I manually set these timings myself. An auto, the timings are 5-5-5-15 I believe. I tried lowering the multiplier down to 8. It still doesn't seem to be running stable.

I upped the NB for the higher FSB, and also upped the VTT to about 1.45V. CPU vcore went up to about the same level. I get the strange message of hardware failure and that I need to reinstall windows. I forget what low voltage is making that happen. I think have a low NB voltage will give that message? I upped that until I could get log into windows. About 1.45 NB voltage in bios.

It keeps crashing within the first ten minutes of prime95. fourth core seems to fail sometimes too. I thought the 8x multiplier allowed more headroom for cpu? I guess it didn't work.

Right now I'm trying to get 9X370 (3.33 GHz) and it seems to be doing better. I'm still crashing, but I probably just need to add some more volts. 4th core alone doesn't seem to be affected with this small boost.

or you have a what called "bum core" i guess you can guess what it means from the name.

tough luck!

=P hehe I think I've come to realize that. Regardless, I'm happy with this OC, considering it's my first one.

i OCed a Q6600 to 3.4Ghz once and stuck there.not even max NB/FSB voltage and 1.6vcore can solve the problem.

luckiy that pc isnt mine!lol

probably an RMA

RMA wouldnt accept it as the CPU works at stock which is what it was intended to run on.

i have p5q pro board and a Q6600, i got it stable at 3.6GHz, but did not like the vcore which was 1.55. at 3.4GHz same as yours with a 9*378. i had to set my NB 1.40 to get it stable, vcore 1.44. all other voltages set at auto. try to change your ram settings to 5-5-5-18, that ram setting was the key for mine. i also had issue with the ram set 5-5-5-15. give the 5-5-5-18 a try and see what happens.

Thx, I'll give it a shot.

O hey do you have the 45nm or 65nm Q6600? i have the 65nm. are you running core temp or anything else? what are your temps hitting?

65nm G0. Let's see, at max load at the highest voltage I was testing, they were 66,66,62,62. I was able to find a pretty stable vcore of 1.424 in windows for a 3.33GHz OC. I'm still testing for stability, but so far I haven't had to up any other voltages (VCC, NB, PLL, etc) which is okay for me. I made the mistake of leaving those settings on auto. luckily I didn't keep it that way too long. Lesson learned for my first overclocking attempt, but I'll probably still keep this rig even when Nehalem arrives.

the Q6600 is ONLY produce in 65nm.prow

@OP those temp seems fine. but i would recommend you to do 8x multiplier so you can get a higher system bandwidth like i did when i realise i got a bum core and cant get a high enough OC at the FSB.

@iluvgillgill:

Okay, I'll try that. Turns out I need 1.432V CPU Vcore in windows to get it pretty much stable. I've been running prime for about 30 minutes and it looks good so far... I'll plan to run OCCT after prime95.

I'm currently at 9*370. If I switch to 8*416, what other settings will I need to adjust? Is it just the