Overclocking Q6600

celticdarren

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Nov 5, 2011
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Hey all!

Looking to overclock my CPU before I invest in an i5 after christmas!
Just bought myself battlefiled 3 and looking just for a little more of an edge till I get my new computer :)

Current specs are:

Asus P5QL-E Motherboard
Q6600 2.4Ghz CPU
4GB (2GBx2) Kingston PC2-4300 (not sure about MHz but google says 533 and CPU-Z says in Max Bandwidth 266MHz?)
NVidia GeForce 8800GT

I had an attempt at OC'ing but I just got Overclock failed error. What I did was change the multiplier to 8 and the FSB too 375. The PCIe too 100 and also the memory voltage too 1.8 and the cpu voltage to 1.3.

Anyone help? Will mean alot :)
 
That ram is going to be really crappy for overclocking.
It matches your processor currently, but at 375 FSB your ram will likely running at 750 unless you change the ratio. Kingston ram isn't known for great OC's and overclocks of 30 % or more are not likely with that ram.

Read this so you understand what you are doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_divider

Once this info sets in keep asking for any other issues you are haing.
 

celticdarren

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Thanks for your reply :)

I was considering buying new RAM, as like you said, mines sucks! Any suggestions as too what I should get for the motherboard I currently have? I quite like the idea of getting up to 8GB but wouldnt know where to begin with all these different types going about!

I had another go was able to get the computer start while OC'd too 3.0GHz, but after trying to run BF3 I got BSOD before the level loaded. SO guessing im either overheating or my memory is causing it.

Any suggestions?
 

True. CPU-Z uses memory frequency - same as CPU FSB frequency. 533 MHz is the memory clock. Each bus cycle generates 2 memory clock cycles.

Set your FSB:RAM ratio to 2:1. That will put your memory frequency at half the FSB freq. Then at and FSB freq of 367 MHz, your memory clock freq will also br 367 MHz (well within the capabilities of your RAM, and your CPU core will be running at 3.33 GHz - a substantial overclock.

And because of the large L2 cache in the CPU, the slower RAM speed will not affect performance that much.
 

celticdarren

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How do I change the ratio? I had a look in the bois but im not the best when it comes to this stuff! Apologies.

Thanks for your reply.
 

celticdarren

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Im using a zalman. It needs a good clean as my average temp is about 48-50! Its terrible. My motherboard wpmt take DDR3 i think, which is disappointing.

I also need a new Graphics card as the 8800GT is rather dated!
 

There are no adjustments for directly changing the ratio. You will need to manually set everything.

Using the BIOS in my eVGA 680i motherboard for example:
Let's say you are at a core speed of 3.6 GHz (400 MHz X 9). With the eVGA BIOS, you change the FSB clock freq, not the bus freq. So, if you need to adjust memory independently, you select "Unlinked".

So, at 3.6 GHz, if you are running at 1:1 CPU:RAM ratio, for a 400 MHz FSB freq, your FSB clock is 1600 MHz. FSB is "quad pumped". It transfers 4 chunks of data each bus cycle. Therefore each bus cycle needs to generate 4 bus clocks.

At the same time, each bus cycle generates 2 memory clocks (DDR2 memory, remember?). So, although your memory is running at DDR2-800 speeds (memory clock frequency), CPU-Z indicates a memory frequency of 400 MHz.

Now, you have DDR2-533 memory which will not run that fast. So, what to do? :eek:

If you have an eVGA BIOS, you set the memory clock to 400 MHz (CPU-Z indicates a 200 MHz mem freq for a CPU:RAM ratio of 2:1). Each time you change the FSB clock, you need to readjust the memclock. They are unlinked, remember?

The Gigabyte Core2 BIOS will not let you do this. I am unfamiliar with the Asus BIOS, so I do not know if you can do this.