Newbie overclocking q6600

[zhuoyan]

I simply just increase the FSB from 266 -> 333 , and it runs alright for a while. But just yesterday when I boot up my computer, it says overclocking failed. Any advice?

 

[teamlosigp]

add a bit of voltage, only go up one or 2 steps at a time and then use prime95 to test for stabilty, also make sure u are not overclocking ur ram

 

[zhuoyan]

Thanks alot teamlosigp. What is a reasonable voltage? How long should I run prime95 to ensure maximum stability? Should I run other programs together with prime95 to do the benchmarking?

Thanks in advanced

 

[Narr]

Run it for a hour or two when you think you got a stable speed.
Most people with decent coolers get around the 3.8-4GHz mark, so just raise the FSB and voltage little by little.

 

[daskrabbe]

3.8-4ghz is not normal with the q6600. 333 is a decent overclock.

 

[50bmg]

read the stickies. They will have some voltage info.

temp monitors. Hwmonitor, reatemp, coretemp, CPUz. Watch the temps for a while when you start prime95. If it starts cooking, stop it.

be carefull not to over OC the other settings. For example: turn off autosettings for pcie frequency. Manually set it to 100. When you up your fsb, it will auto adjust your other auto settings. This can cause issues. I set everything manually.

try to set your DDR2 ratio at 1:1 or 1:2. for example: 400fsb:800mhzDDR2.

 

[50bmg]

the q6600 has a multiplier of 9.

9x400=3600 or 3.6G. That would be in a perfect world. that may run hot, depending on your overall build. you may need a voltage change for that.

see multiplier in this link as "Bus/Core Ratio: 9.0"
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9UM

edti: oh yeah voltage is in there to. "VID Voltage Range: 0.85V – 1.5V"

 

[nukemaster]

It is also important to note that some boards of the Asus variety will give that OC failed message if you turn on the computer then decide to not use it and hold the power to shut it off before the bios has finished loading. If you happened to do this, ignore that message.

Prime should be run for at least 6 hours(most people who are pushing to the limit do 24). I have seen errors after longer periods of time so at least 6 is a good bet.

As said, make sure your ram is not overclocking. Many boards set the ram speed to its max speed at stock speeds. Pumping the fsb pushes the ram beyond its specs(If you have an option for ram timing select 1:1 for not, you can tweak it later) and can cause instability.

Voltage will depend greatly on the cooling solution you have. Small steps with testing lets you check the temps. Never go with more voltage then you need for the overclock.

A more accurate average for Q6600's is 3.3 - 3.7. That looks like a lot of variance but every CPU is a little different and some will OC better then others. Also remember power use grows allot after a certain point. For me the jump from 3.0 to 3.6 draws nearly 2x the power(almost 100 watts more at load, damn that sounds dangerous for my boards single 4 pin cpu power cable.) for my cpu and was not all that stable anyway.

 

[teamlosigp]

i would say voltage to the proccessor max 1.45, and u need at least a good air cooler fo that, also for testing for stability run 4 apps of prime 95 on the small fft(i think) test(they are 8 in length) that puts the most load on the proccessor