Q6600 + P5N-D + G.Skill DDR2 800: How do I overclock this beyond 2.7?

[whiplash000]

So as the title shows, I can't seem to overclock my CPU past 2.7. If I push it a little bit past 2.7, it'll bluescreen while booting windows ("hardware malfunction, the system has halted").

For no reason whatsoever, I decided to push the FSB all the way to 1600, which equates to a clock of 3.6GHZ (how's that calculate?). It actually ran for about 3 minutes until it bluescreened, with a stop code of 0x00000101. I then bumped the voltage up to 1.5V, which seemed to make it stable! What gives!? Is it stable at that FSB because it was double the ram's speed?

Anyway, so as I'm typing this, my desktop's running at 3.6ghz @1.5V, however it seems the temps are a bit high. They're hovering around 70C at idle. This COULD have something to do with the fact I just applied fresh arctic silver 5 to the CPU and arctic freezer pro 7. From what I can tell, I can't really do any other FSB speeds without it immediately being unstable, so the point of this long rambling speech is, what do you guys suggest?

EDIT: a detail I forgot to add: my processor's revision code is G0, which I heard is the best kind.

 

[MRFS]

Your motherboard User Manual says you have
these Front Side Bus options:

1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz


Using CPU-Z nomenclature, try:

Bus Speed = 333 MHz x 4 = Rated FSB = 1333 MHz

DRAM Frequency = 400 MHz x 2 = DDR2-800

FSB : DRAM ratio = 4:5

In your User Manual, it says "FSB - Memory Ratio"
with an option of [5:4] --> should be the same thing
(even though it's obviously backwards).


I think you're better off leaving the DRAM settings to AUTO
and focus on the FSB for now. Once you get the FSB stabilized,
you can come back and tweak the DRAM settings later.


With SpeedStep enabled and a Bus Speed=333 MHz,
the Q6600 should alternate between
multiplier = 6 x 333 = 2.0 GHz Core Speed
and
multiplier = 9 x 333 = 3.0 GHz Core Speed
(again, using CPU-Z nomenclature).


Our Q6600 is also Rev. G0, and it runs AOK all day long
with an "Overclock Profile = FSB1333/DDR2-834" (in the BIOS);
but, we are using an Intel i975 chipset on the P5W64 WS Professional.

So, our DRAM Frequency is actually 416.9 MHz as reported by CPU-Z.


p.s. You should not need to change any voltages
if you opt for the pre-set overclocking settings
described in your User Manual.


MRFS

 

[whiplash000]

I thought that I should generally avoid the "automatic overclock" feature on my mobo.

Anyway... I'm trying to decrypt your post in terms of how I should apply it. I just set my CPU's FSB to 1333 and my ram to 800, and it bluescreened a minute in. I then tried 834 for the ram and it seems to run OK. Temp's hovering just below 60C. Any idea how I can push this further?

EDIT: Heh, scratch that. It just bluescreened again.

 

[jsc]

Bus Speed = 333 MHz x 4 = Rated FSB = 1333 MHz

DRAM Frequency = 400 MHz x 2 = DDR2-800

FSB : DRAM ratio = 4:5

In your User Manual, it says "FSB - Memory Ratio"
with an option of [5:4] --> should be the same thing
(even though it's obviously backwards).

No, it is not backwards. "4:5" means that the memory is running 25% faster than the bus. "5:4" means the bus is running 25% faster than the memory.

The Q6600 should be able to run at 3.0 GHz with little or no core voltage increase using the stock heatsink. 3.3 GHz should be possible with just an average aftermarket cooler such as the ACF7P. Anything above that, YMMV.

The nVidia BIOS works differently from everybody else's. Overclockinfg is tied to the FSB clock, not the FSB frequency.

I have an eVGA 680i board - same basic BIOS. Here's what I recommend:
Take the memory settings off Auto. Set vRAM to factory recommended values. Try setting the memory to"Linked". At stock speeds, your FSB frequency will indicate 266 MHz. Your FSB clock will be 1066 MHz. And you memory will be running at 533 MHz.

Take CPU voltage off Auto and increase it .05 volts. Increase FSB clock to 1333 MHz. FSB freq will indicate 333 MHz and memory should be running at 667 MHz.

For some reason, you sometimes need to change the memory to "Unlinked" for stability. In that case, change the memory frequency to two times the FSB frequency (or half the FSB clock). You will need to do this each time you increase the FSB clock.