Q6600 unstable past 3.2GHz

what is your ram running when you OC to 3.8GHz

Idle temps are different than load temps, btw.

Are you running RAM in linked or unlinked? What is your voltage, multiplier and FSB set to?

I set the ram to 900. If i go ny higher i get a long beeping noise and everything resets itself.

Sorry im a noob when it comes to overclocking. Should i lower the multiplier and go for a higher fsb?

This is why. You are going to need to run 1066 or higher to get much further. I was running DDR3 1600 when I got 3.4+. Your RAM isn't allowing the speeds (and likely the voltages, if they are set to AUTO) when you bump your FSB. Run your memory unlinked to see if this buys you some more clock speed.

You aren't going to get much higher than 3.1ghz where you stand now.

I currently have it set to 3.4GHz in bios however windows reads it as 3.60GHz??

I can get ram upto 900 but no further. Should i raise the volt on my NB & SB?

The NForce 7 series motherboards are horrible, absolutely horrible. The highest I could get a Q6600 stable on 3 different EVGA 780i SLI (including an FTW) was 3.33. I burned out all 3 of them in the end due to crappy northbridges. You'll have much better luck on an Intel P45

I had far more luck on my 790i w/DDR3 RAM than I did with the 780i and DDR2 RAM.



You are likely going to have to raise NB a bit; have you raised your RAM voltage at all or loosened timings? Are you running linked or unlinked mode? (Do you have that option?) I don't know why it would show one thing in BIOS and another in Windows unless you have SpeedStep on (which wouldn't make sense, it would be much different specs) or you have an issue with your BIOS version and should flash, or your temp/CPU monitoring is reading it incorrectly.

Sorry. Windows was reading it correctly, i must have not reduced it back to 3.4. Its currently at 3.42GHz with a volt of 1.43. Is the NB on these mobo's the SPP or MCP?

780i is not that great of a motherboard but with that amount of voltage you should be able get more oc headroom, up the voltage to the NB a lil bit.

Also what is the exact model number/name of the ram ?

I have some cheaper wintech ram that would not go past 805 when rated at 800

Let's do some math here. The Q6600 has a max CPU multiplier of 9. Using that multiplier and the target 3.8GHz frequency you'll need to get the FSB up to 422MHz to hit 3.8GHz. This shouldn't be an issue for good DDR2-800Mhz ram.

The issue I have is you've already said you don't no much about OCing and you've really failed to tell us much about your system. If you have a B3 stepping Q6600 the odds of you hitting 3.8 are pretty slim. G0 can do it but as mentioned you'll probably have issues with that 780i board. Just going into the bios and upping voltages can fry your system. And without knowing what the ram is rated at other then 800MHz its hard to say what timings and voltages to use. You might want to slow down and do some reading.

Assuming you have good ram, 1.4Vcore, 422MHz FSB, CPU 9x, 5-5-5-18 @ 2.0v. Does it boot? If not drop the CPU down to 6x and see if the board can even handle 422.

5-5-5-18 @ 2.0v ? we need to first know what ram he is using don't you think ?

Much of the issue is based on the fact that he's really a novice at overclocking and doesn't provide much exacting information about his hardware.

There are piles and piles of Core2 quad OC guides on the web that would be quite helpful to Google. This being said, you cannot simply copy one person's configs and have it work for you in most instances. My suggestion is to do more Google searchs on Core2 Quad OC guides (we have some in these forums) and learn your hardware.

I got a xfx 780i my self and it is not a crappy board at all, core 2 quad isn't always an easy cpu to nuke to high clocks especially when accounting that at stock it is already 95w while some samples are worse at 105w. Not all boards can support this cpu at 4ghz as it's power consumption at those clocks is likely over 200w with voltage adjustments. Second there are youtube video guides how to get the most out of this board. I have avoided this cpu for a reason as far to many people have burned out their boards.

For the reasons above (780i's lack of overclocking stability, practical OC limits to a Q6600) it is quite unlikely that you will be able to reach a stable 3.8GHz overclock, especially with vCore set to only 1.4v.

As a first step, I recommend to follow 4745454b's advice.
Set your FSB:Memory multiplier to the lowest possible setting (1:1 or slowest speed), drop your RAM timings to 5-5-5-18 or lower, make sure your RAM voltage is set to at least 1.9v (you may need more depending on your specific RAM), lower your CPU multiplier to 6x and increase the FSB to 400MHz (a 3.6GHz overclock is a more realistic max overclock for a G0 Q6600) followed by a few rounds of stability testing.
Make sure to keep an eye on your temps during testing; they should never exceed 71°!

Assuming that your system passes the stability tests, indicating that your motherboard is capable of running at 400MHz FSB, you should then begin testing your CPU for stability at higher speeds.
While testing make sure and keep your RAM timings lowered to ensure stability.

Start by raising your vCore to Intel's Specified Maximum of 1.5v and bumping the multiplier to 9x.
With any luck your system will boot and you can begin stress testing.
If your system is stable and not overheating, congrats, you can now test lowering your vCore until testing fails (then raise it 2 notches in the BIOS).

If your system is not immediately stable at 3.6GHz, sorry for your luck; either your motherboard or CPU is incapable of handling such an advanced overclock.
At this point you have two options, lower the FSB or lower the multiplier.
Lowering the multiplier to 8x will defiantly help with stability but, with a 400MHz FSB, you will be limited to a 3.2GHz overclock.
Lowering the FSB will be more time consuming (as you try to locate the exact point where you lose stability) but will likely lead to a higher overclock.

If you have further questions or issues, first read the Core 2 Overclocking Guide (twice) then post your exacting issues.

Best luck!

Well its stable at 3.42GHz so il stick with that. Its giving me a 10fps boost in some games. I will not burn my mobo out at 3.4 will i? with a v core of 1.43?

As long as your temps stay under 71° and voltage is under 1.5v, your CPU should give you no issues.
Same principle with your motherboard, as long as you have not boosted the voltage to much you should have no issues.

Enjoy the extra speed!

The cpu will be fine but with the boards there is always a risk no matter what people have to say. Just make sure that everything is at decent temps and it should last a few more years.

Does this also apply to Q9xxx processors? Specifically the Q9650?

No, those were on a different process and could OC farther. 3.8 to 4.0GHz OCs are very possible with Q9xxx CPUs.

Yes, the Q9xxx series where produced at 45nm (compared to the Q6xxx series at 65nm) and where much better overclockers.
Unfortunately, the majority of Q9xxx processors ran on a 333MHz FSB with lower multipliers, making chipset stability a major factor in overclocking.

Luckily, your Q9650 is a higher end C2Q and still has a 9x multiplier.
As such, it should have no issues running at 3.6GHz and can likely go higher depending on your motherboards limits.
Just be sure to limit your vCore to 1.3625v, the upper limit for 45NM C2Qs.
The same 71° temp limit applies; make sure to keep it cooler under maximum load.

I ran a QX9650 at a little over 1.4 volts on water. Unfortunately the chip was a very early production run so it could only hit 4Ghz stable but that was still pretty good. It didn't run too hot

My temps are at 35-37c idle and has never gone above 59c during intel burn test. So temps are fine. Well considering the default clock 2.4 and now i have it at 3.4 i cannot complain. I guess for a Q6600 thats a good overclock?

Best answer selected by wonder44.