Help with my overclock

[coleman]

hi all,
i have recently overclocked my system shown below to the best of my knowledge, however i now need the help of you guys to help me ensure i have the best possible settings.

my systm is as follows
- q6600 quad
- evga 790i mobo
- corsair dominator 4gb (2x2gb) + cooler

- windows 7 64bit
- most strenuous task thrown at the pc is gaming, mainly black ops.

i have mainly focused on the cpu as i am not sure where to start on the ram. i am also unclear which is better linked or unlinked. with the current settings i have run prime95 for 12 hours with no errors or warnings, max tenp 77 (new antec 900 case should reduce that) using core temp, howeve after an hour gaming the highest temp mesured was 58c.

side notes
- i understand you can run the overclock unlinked and max both the cpu and ram indervidualy or together, im open to opinions on that subject.
- 3.2ghz for the processor i where i would like to stay.
- i am not sure what is the best benchmarking tool for my purpose, please inform me

here is where i am at.

i have done my research and this is where i have got to, please feel free to highlight anything as this is my first overclock.

thanks to all replies in advance

coleman

 

[jedi940]

What cooler is on your processor? 77C is too high. 58C is right about where is should be. Voltage also looks good. As for the RAM, what is the default speed? Timings seem good.

 

[coleman]

i have a zalman 9700 cooler, i agree that 77 is on the hot side however i will be upgrading my case to an antec 900 at the weekend so i should see a reduction in temps. i am also going to take the cooler of and apply artic silver 5 paste. i brought the mobo, cpu and cooler all together so i have never taken taken the cooler off (should have done thinking about it).

i gamed for a solid hour and the max temp reached was 58c

this is the ram that i have

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-%282x2gb%29-corsair-dominator-ddr3-pc3-12800-%281600%29-eol-see-ln-32567

 

[jedi940]

Well, in your specs, you listed the rated timings as 5-5-5-15 and I saw in your screen shot that you are running 7-7-7-20 and since it is 1066MHz and you are running it at 1043MHz you should have no problem dropping those timings to the rated specs.

I did some checking and it appears the 790i chipset is a DDR3 motherboard. Perhaps you have the 780i as this will support DDR2? Just wanted to double check. 7-7-7-20 makes sense for DDR3 memory and since you haven't adjusted them, that is why I am a bit puzzled.

 

[coleman]

sorry my mistake, i have changed it now. i am pritty sure this is my ram
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-%282x2gb%29-corsair-dominator-ddr3-pc3-12800-%281600%29-eol-see-ln-32567

will dobble check when i am home 2moz.

so the ram can actualy run at 1600mhz, so can the speed be upped? not to sure what voltages to change as if i increase ram speed.

sorry for the incorrect info

 

[jedi940]

well, if you bring it up to 1600MHz you will most likely not be able to run it at 7-7-7-20. It's a tossup whether tigh timings or faster speed is better. Tom's did an article on it a while back and I believe it didn't really matter. if you run it at 1600 and 9-9-9-24 you will need 1.65v according to the specs.

 

[coleman]

ok thanks for the info, do you know the best way to test the difference? (software)?

will do some benchies with the 2 different settings

 

[coleman]

ok thanks for the info, do you know the best way to test the difference? (software)?

will do some benchies with the 2 different settings

i am guessing it is the "memory" voltage that needs to be changed to 1.65v below cpu fsb

 

[jedi940]

Yea, the memory is the correct voltage. Here is the article I mentioned. I guess it is older than I thought! (2006) They used good ol' DDR memory and after skiming the article, they concluded that tight timings might be better at higher clock frequencies. However the differences were generally <5%. For benchmarks, you can use the standard Super Pi, SiSoftware Sandra, and 3dmark to see if there are any noticeable differences. If it is set by default to 7-7-7-20, you might be able to go even lower than that. Just adjust the timings one at a time. start with 6-7-7-20 and then run prime95 blend and see if it is stable.