Intel Q6600 2nd core bad?

Maybe, maybe not. Need more information: system specs, overclocking settings, testing methods.

You didn't really give us a lot to work with, but there are several possible reasons for your problem.

1. You just got a really, REALLY rotten processor. Intel sold you a processor rated to run at 2.4 GHz and it does... anything over that is just gravy.

2. Visualize the 4 cores of that processor underneath that heat spreader. If you only put thermal paste over 3 of the 4 cores, obviously one core would heat up MUCH more quickly. I know you didn't deliberately do this, but there is a chance that your thermal paste application wasn't done properly.

3. Maybe it's a voltage issue? I'm NOT suggesting you just randomly apply more voltage to your CPU... but in some cases, more speed requires more voltage. If you just go blindly bumping up your voltage and you really have a thermal issue, you're just asking for trouble.

are you saying that it fails with stress testing in Prime 95?

My specs:
8800GT
4GB of DDR2 800 ram
Q6600

Fails at Prime95 at 3.0GHz overclock. I have to raise the voltage up to 1.4v if I want it to be stable but then it's too hot. I'm pretty sure I covered all of the CPU with a thin layer of Zalman STG1 thermal grease.0

#1 that thermal grease is crap. I assume that came with your cooler. Get some arctic silver 5, you won't regret it! Anytime I have a core "fail" in prime its because I have undervolted, but 1.4 is high for only 3Ghz! I am at 1.38v at 3.4GHz on my q6600. what is your vdimm?

I have my q6600 at 3.0 running 1.26 volts. and seems to run great. but should it be higher? and how did you get your multiplier to 8x? mine just shows six, and it jumps to nine for a split second every now and than. i set my ratio to 9 so that it runs 9x. but its still shows 6

you can change your multiplier in BIOS...the reason CPUz is showing it at 6 some times is because you have c1e and EIST in BIOS enabled, so your cpu lessens its speed when it is not under heavy load. you will notice this if you run prime you will see your multiplier go back up to 9.

Also..you could definitely get your cpu up to 3.4 pretty easily with a little voltage jump.just play around with it and find the lowest possible voltage that it will run stable at.

thank you   your right it does boost back up to 9x

how long do i have to run prime95 for before i notice something is wrong. because i did it for about 4 hours and it all checked out. so i closed it. am i using this program right?

also, if my voltage is too low, does that effect how well the processor will run?

4 hours is plenty in my eyes..some people will tell you 12 hours but I don't wanna strain my poor cpu THAT long ya know? no the lower the voltage, the lower your temps will be. if the voltage is to low for the overclock, your system will not be stable and you'll get errors in prime.

thank you for your help. ya it ran 4 hours and showed no errors, so i guess im just lucky i can run it that low?
which test do you run when you use prime?

yea 3GHz is a pretty mild overclock for that cpu. what kind of cooling do you have?

I have an Antec 900 Case. with added antec fan to sidepanel. i also have a thermaltake Silent 775D as CPU Cooler

(as seen in profile image  )

oh well what the hell you doing at only 3GHz then?lol. try what I have 8x425 and you'll get 3.4 easily. Just gonna have to play with your voltages a little bit. Start with 1.35 or so, test it, and work your voltages down to the lowest they will run stable, and make sure your cpu doesn't hit over 60C or so during load. how are your temps now?

on all full speed fans, CPU: 32 idle, 53 under load (cores #0, and 1 reaches 60+ by that point)

(i just turned on prime95 to get load temp)

only 2 of your cores are hitting 60+ under load? the other 2 stay in the 50s?

mhm cores 0 and 1 are usually 5 - 10 degrees higher than 2 and 3.

for example:

Core#0: 62
Core#1: 60
Core#2: 56
Core#3: 52

(based on right nows temps while running prime95)

usually you don't see that big of difference between cores. also those temps are pretty high considering the low voltage and the cooler you have. which means either: you don't have good heatsink to cpu contact, or you didn't correctly apply thermal paste. By the way, what kind of thermal paste did you use?

also, is there a gap in temperatures like that when idle?

im using the paste that came with the thermaltake cpu cooler i have installed. Silmore "High Thermal Conductivity Compound". yes there is generally a 4 - 7 degree change in idle.

I applied a thin layer of the paste to the processor and spread it evenly. maybe i didnt do as good of a job as i thought. yes that is really high for such a setting.  

well unfortunately the paste that usually comes with coolers is crap, but you still shouldn't be hitting those temperatures. especially with that case and the airflow going through there. I don't even hit that high with my antec 300 with the higher voltages. my suggestion would be to get some arctic silver 5 and follow the directions exactly how they describe on their website for a quad core(a thin line horizonally so it hits all the cores evenly) using the "glob" method works better then spreading it evenly in my opinion because is fills in the discrepancies on the cpu and heatsink. did the heatsink seem to have a really smooth bottom or was it a bit rigid?

fairly smooth. definitely wasn't mirror shiny smooth though

1.4 volts for 3ghz   thats sick, i have my Q6600 @ 3.33 and cpu-z reports 1.288 volts, i cant remember what i had set in bios.

btw i use some shitty thermal paste, its not even a brand lol its just some white glue ***   and my max core temp was 66C under full load with zalman cnps9500at cooler  

cpu-z shows 1.24 volts on load and 1.288 idle :S very strange.

well it should be "mirror shiny" and that is most likely whats causing your high temps. take it off. strip all the thermal you got on there. use the process they call "lapping" for your HEATSINK ONLY to smooth it out a bit(google it). and get yourself some acrctic silver 5 to slap on there.

I've at 1.34 and my cpu at 3.4 and my temps never go above 60C. get some better thermal paste my man, I have that exact same cooler!

lol yeah i should but im happy that temps dont go over 70 barrier. my motherboard is limiting my overclocking anyway, its an old msi with i975x chipset.

true true...alot of people are comfortable going over 60C, I'm not one of them.

yes im definately not comfortable with going over 60C. I want my computer to last. i hate that it runs as hot as it does considering all the aspects of my PC. i think im going to try redoing it with some arctic silver 5. is it really that much better than regular paste?

yea. something is definitely not right. Certain heatsinks come rigid and you have to sand them down to make them flat which the call "lapping", I've never actually done it so I can't give ya any advice on that. But yea AS5 will definitely drop your temps at LEAST 5-7C in my experience!

Okay so I've purchased and applyed zalman STG1 "super thermal grease" and my temps have increased to 76C on load, how long should I wait before I see some real reults, it said it takes 8 days to run optimal, but after applying should it be running this hot? Reminding you that I'm at 3.0 Gz at 1.26V and the difference in core temps remain.

a friend of mine has a q6600 in his PC too and i checked the tamps on that and the difference in core temps were almost identical to mine. ??

hmmm...thats definitely way to high for the setup you have man. i would worry more about your load temps more than the difference in core temps for the moment. you really don't want to be going over 70C. I would tell you to not overclock but the q6600 stock voltage is 1.25 so you have some type of problem with your heatsink to cpu contact. How did you apply the thermal paste? Are you SURE the push pins are tight and secure and the fan is working on the heatsink.

also...before you applied the new TIM did you THOROUGHLY remove the old?(use a coffee filter or anything that wont leave fibers behind and some rubbing alcohol)

I always see voltage increased or decreased to remedy a heat issue for overclocking. OHM's law says Voltage and Amperage are inverseley propertional, as a teeter totter! Voltage up = Amperage down! Low Voltage to any load increases Amperage, thus heat! Raise the Voltage and the Amperage will drop
A 5kw heat strip or a 100 watt bulb, its all the same theory until we go to Nano mechanics where anything goes!

so your saying i may need to increase my voltage?? and okay i will try using adamh9 cleaning method. hopefully this is going to solve the problem, i dont want to have to keep taking that thing off, its a pain to use those push pins. and i really dont want to spend any more money on this computer. how much of a difference does lapping make? ive seen the bottom of the heat sink, its not a mirror finish.

no no no don;t increase your voltage, your temps are high enough.... The bottom of the heatsink should be relatively smooth. Certain heatsinks you do have to sand down lightly. Google your heatsink and read what others have done with your particular one as I don;t have any experience with that one. But before you put the new compound on you should have clean both the heatsink and the cpu very well in order to get ALL of the old compound off or there will be uneven areas of contact between the cpu and heatsink which will cause heat problems which you are having. Also research the methods of application for your specific zalman STG1 "super thermal grease" and see what has worked best for others for quad core cpus. If it is anything like arctic silver 5 the directions are to apply a thin line horizontally in order for it to have contact with each core.

i used a brush to put on the thermal paste, like white out. (zalman stg1 came like that) but what are you looking at to determine your temperature. ive been looking at each core individually, are you just looking at the cpu temp .... cuz im using HWMonitor and no matter what i do, my temps are just rediculous. and i really dont understand it, i have all this coooling, and it seems like the more money i spend. does **** all.  

yea HW monitor works just fine. What are you idling at? Once again I ask you, before you put the new thermal paste on did you thoroughly clean both the heatsink and the cpu?

yes i did exactly as you have asked me   i am idling at (atm)

System: 28C
CPU: 31C
AUX: 9C


Core#0: 39C
Core#1: 38C
Core#2: 34C
Core#3: 31C

GPU: 44C  

and this is at stock everything (2.4Ghz)

even my GPU runs real hot. its an XFX GTS 250 1GB

arent they supposed to be real cool?

(after OC my GPU at a stable 803Mhz and 90% fan speed never goes over 65) im fairly happy bout that

those temps are completely normal for GPU's. They are built to be able to stand much hotter temps than CPUs, so no worries there my friend. Well idling at 31C is not to bad at all, but I still think you should have better temps at stock voltage Like I said, I have an older cpu cooler with an antec 300 and 1.34 voltage and idle around 25C. Are you in a really hot room? One thing to remember if you do decide to overclock, you will most likely rarely ever be using your CPU at full load, unless you do more than the typical user. You said you have one side fan on your case correct? Do you have any on the front? If not, try putting the side fan in one of the front fan spots(or buy a fan or two for the front). In my experience the front fans do more for cooling than a side panel fan as it promotes better airflow. Some people may disagree with this but I get better temps that way. I have 2 front fans and one side fan blowing IN, and a top and rear fan blowing OUT. I added the side fan last and it only dropped my temps by 1-2C while when I added the fron fans I dropped 5-7C. See what works for you. The front fans will also keep your HD's cooler =).

If you don't mind a little noise: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... these fans work great and have free shipping. I own 3

ya man like i said i have an antec 900 2 fans blowing in in the front and a big one blowing out at the top as well as one in the back blowing out. than i added a 5th fan on the saide to blow in for extra cooling, i dont get it, ya its like 25 C in here   that could be a big prob eh?

yes sir....room temps obviously effect your cpu temp. the cooler the air your blowing into the case, the cooler your case is gonna be =). If I were you I'd stick with your 3.4 overclock. You'll be fine as long as you aren't maxing out your CPU on a constant basis. Turn the heat down in your room wouldn't hurt at all, I'm normally around 15C room temp. Cold blooded?

lol ide say. ya ill try and stick under the window, the cold air just gets sucked right to the floor so it should poor right in there, atleast ill be able to run it at nicey OC during the winter haha. thanks for all of your help man. youve answered all my questions  

its just too bad this wasnt even my topic  

no problem man. Now go help someone else with all you've learned. That's how it works =)

lol iight so tell me. when you say your cpu is under 60C. do you mean that on HWMonitor, if my CPU temp is 58C but the majority of my core temps are above 60C, such as Core#0 which reaches 71C, its that okay??

#1 I use a program called speedfan to monitor my temps. All my cores hover within a few degrees of eachother.If you are hitting 71C under FULL load with only one core I would say that is fine for you. Like I said you will rarely max out your cpu. Are you getting these temps with the 3.4 overclock? What voltage are you at in BIOS? Not what it says in cpuz or other, in BIOS.

speedfan will also tell you the rpm of your CPU fan at idle and at load which I am curious about.

ok so ive downloaded speedfan, and its giving me the same cpu temp, but much cooler core temps. a drop of about 10C

i dont know which to trust XD