How does one OverClock a Stock Q6700 on an OTP406?

[Xile]

Hello, everyone.

If you are reading this then you must know that I already KNOW about Dell's BIOS "lockout". I am tempted to use some software to OC the FSB, but isn't there another, none buy-a-new-motherboard-first way? My XFX 9800 GT got fried so I bought an ASUS EN8400GS Silent for the time being. I'm planning on getting either an HD 6850 or HD 6870, but I am almost certain that my 2.66 ghz CPU will bottleneck the cards on many modern games. Also, which company would you recommend I buy from? I'm willing to buy from XFX, but I don't really trust their warranty after reading about the problems some people seem to face with the 6000 series fan and such.

Thank you for your willingness to help.

Specs:
Mainboard: Dell OTP406
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 2.66ghz (stock)
GPU: Asus EN8400GS Silent 512mb
PSU: Antec TPN650XR 650w (I think)
Memory: PC2-5300 4GB DDR2 333mhz (Qimonda and Kingston respectively)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

SetFSB or ClockGen is the only way that I know of, unfortunately. And those are dependent on the software even being able to work with that board...

The GPU manufacturer question is completely up to you, honestly. You'll get a lot of different answers on that. I myself, like Asus, but that's more brand loyalty than anything else.

 

[Xile]

SetFSB or ClockGen is the only way that I know of, unfortunately. And those are dependent on the software even being able to work with that board...

The GPU manufacturer question is completely up to you, honestly. You'll get a lot of different answers on that. I myself, like Asus, but that's more brand loyalty than anything else.

I should have seen this coming. Looks like the XPS 420 is already too old.
Oh well, it didn't hurt trading my 60gig PS3 for the 420, while it was still worth more than $1k.
My 8400GS tells me that you are right about Asus, but I'm also thinking of HIS and MSI for some reason.
Any idea how badly the stock Q6700 will bottleneck the 6870, though?
I assume that it depends more on games like Skyrim or StarCraft II which are pretty much CPU based.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Any idea how badly the stock Q6700 will bottleneck the 6870, though?
I assume that it depends more on games like Skyrim or StarCraft II which are pretty much CPU based.

It shouldn't be that bad, honestly. A Q6700 is still a decent CPU. It is getting old, but it should still be decent enough with a 6870.

 

[Xile]

It shouldn't be that bad, honestly. A Q6700 is still a decent CPU. It is getting old, but it should still be decent enough with a 6870.

Excellent. Yeah, what is 5 - 10 FPS to me when I can still play ANY modern game at 30~ fps min. Besides, I usually play games at 22-25 FPS and Shooters tend to drop below 20 during 1v1 battles. I found the PLL ID, but it seems that I will have trouble finding a program which supports it.
I haven't been keeping in touch with technology that much since 2008 or so. All these LED monitors and 28nm chips are just too much for me.

 

[Xile]

Yes! Using SetFSB I managed to Overclock the Q6700 to 3.0ghz! Temps are 42c max on load. The problem is that the DRAM is on a 4:5 ratio so my freq is 373mhz now from 333mhz. My rated FSB was 1066mhz but is now around 1197mhz, is this good? I'm using a 10x multiplier at 298-300mhz Bus Speed. The multiplier is set to 6x when on idle and jumps to 10x when gaming and stuff. The best part is that folders seem to open very fast even with all the stuff I have on my HDD. With SetFSB the explorer freezes everytime I try to raise DRAM, even just a little. So far everything is in working order. I guess this means that it's a success. Yay! Thank you for the help!

 

[assasin32]

It's good as long as everything is stable and voltage and temps are under control. If so you can call it a suceess.

 

[Xile]

It's good as long as everything is stable and voltage and temps are under control. If so you can call it a suceess.

Temps went up to 47c when using PassMark. I don't get why Performance Tests seem to not notice the OverClock and still call it at 2.66ghz. Now I wonder how well the OS will work with a fresh re-installation and another thorough Hardware cleaning. 3.0ghz at 1.275 V seems to be pushing it a bit, but I don't know how to change the Voltage at this point. Locked BIOS or not, so far so good.

 

[Xile]

The PassMark PerformanceTest 7.0 proved that the extra 340mhz was successful. If I knew how to post the Benchmarks, I would.

 

[Xile]

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