i have a q6600 and everything obviously works fine at the stock 2.4ghz.  so i tried going straight to 3.0ghz and when i play games or run 3mark pro, i get a BSOD after 30mins.  well me being the noob i am jsut realized i might have to up my cpu voltage.  in my bios it is at 1.325v.  it is greyed out and the greyed out means safe settings. white would mean high-performance settings.  when i up the vcore it is white from about 1.34 to 1.39.  after that it is red (unsafe unstable settings)  
 
so my question is, could the fact that i am not upping the vcore ve the reason for the BSOD at 3.0? and if so what should i put the vcore to.

Yes, and for Q6600, safe vcore is up to 1.5.

 
system specs? memory? psu?
 
you dont just overclock in leaps like that - BIT BY BIT!
 
when you overclock it doesnt just raise the fsb and clock, you need to make sure you lock the pcie and pci bus etc, also memory speeds, timings and yes vcore but dont go crazy yet and kill stuff.

Yeah something is hinky.  I should've been able to get to 3ghz or close to it on stock voltage.  I'm running 3.45ghz at 1.4v.
 
Try unlinking your ram from the cpu so it runs at it's rated speed during the OC.

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14591 3DMark06 6210/6104/4507 Vista 64bit

ok i upped the vcore to 1.4v and at 3.0 it didnt crash on the 3dmark test where it crashed last time.  
 
alost another finding.... the first time i got everything running, i OCed to 3.0 without changing the vcore and got just above a 12000 in 3dmark.  now that i upped the vcore i got a 13300.  just luck or did upping the vcore improve performance?

Same thing happened to me when i tried to hit 3.6ghz, then ran 3dmark06 and my score was lower then my 3.45ghz score.
 
What probably happened was at that clock speed and voltage the processor was unstable.  Therefore yielding the 12000 score.  Once you added the voltage it became stable.  Which produced your 13300 score.
 
At least that's my theory.
 
Also check make sure to check your temps especially if your q6600 is the B3 stepping, as it tends to get hotter then the G0.
 
I still find it odd you need all the voltage to run at 3.0ghz.

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14591 3DMark06 6210/6104/4507 Vista 64bit

it wont let me unlink the cpu from the ram.  and it is probably my **** msi p31.  am getting a different board soon.

What's your RAM specs, and currently what are they running at with the OC?

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14591 3DMark06 6210/6104/4507 Vista 64bit

Actually modern Intel chipsets (X38, P35, P31, etc.) keep the ram at a minimum 1:1 ratio. If you're having stability problems, you should relax the timings (mainly the four primary timings) on the ram and raise the voltage a notch.

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E6300@3.2ghz 1.32v  |  Gigabyte P35-DS3R 1.0
4x1GB C5@900Mhz    |  8800GT

i dont see an option in the bios for the timings, the bios is v 1.1 and i knwo there is 1.2 out. i prob need to flash the bios but im afraid im gunna mess it up.

 
Maniac_mat,  
 
I've done exactly what you did. Straight from 2.4ghz to 3.0ghz without adjusting the vcore at all and I don't have any problems. Solid as rock. My specs are different to yours though and that's probably the difference. I'm using a ZALMAN 9700LED HSF and an Asus P5B motherboard.
 
Download a program called Prime95 and run 4 instances of the program to make all 4 cores run at 100%. Run it for aslong as you can (atleast 8hrs) and see if any errors come up. I believe this is the best way to test stability. The cpu will handle a higher vcore so if you get errors, bump up the vcore by the next possible increment and run the test again.
 
Don't forget that the higher voltage you give it, the more heat it will create. You should not have to raise the vcore that much to get stability. If after say 3 or 4 increments (don't go above the maximum rated voltage) you still can't get it stable, then I'd have to say your HSF just can't handle the heat, or the motherboard just isn't reliable enough.  
 
Good luck.

b hsf do you mean cpu cooler? i have an arctic cooling freezer 7 pro, and temps never get above 50c on anycore while playing games.  this is at 3.0.  i tried going a little higher to 3.4 but it wont even post, i had to reset cmos.  and this was at 1.4v

HSF is Heatsink/Fan. The arctic should do a great job cooling so that really leaves it down to the Motherboard. What stepping is the CPU? Is it G0 or something else? CPU-Z should tell you what stepping it is.  
 
G0's overclock really well. B3's find it much harder.

coretemp says it is a G0 steppping. i think it is just the mobo, it is really a POS and i plannin on getting a better one soon.

check your mobo manual (online or in the box) - there may be a certain combination of keys to press in order to unlock the memory area of the bios (timings, fsbram), I know there is on the p35-ds3l.

nope, no option for key combination.  the only thing that is in the bios is a fsb/mem ratio but it doesnt do anything usefull. its ok. i am stable at 3.0,  here in a month or 2 im gunna get a good mobo and then see what i can get to.