P5N32-E SLI with Q6600 and PC2-8500 RAM

[quetzalkoatl]

Hi everyone,
I've never overclocked before, but just for fun, tried overclocking my processor by 10% (1066 to 1172). I was surprised by the results! FPS increase in some games.

Now I'm interested in pushing it further...

Here are my specs
ASUS P5N32-E SLI with v1205 BIOS (don't want to flash if there is newer, haven't checked)
Intel Q6600 G0
4x1GB of PC2-8500 OCZ Reaper edition RAM (I looked up the timings on their website, it's 5-5-5-15@2.1V

I tried putting it at 1225 and 1280, but I got BSOD at 1280 and while 1225 booted up and seemed 'stable,' after reboot BSOD.

Now, I am completely new to this, and I have no idea what I'm really doing. What I increased was the FSB freq, I think. My mobo/bios let's me put in the quad frequency directly (so 4x266, I put in 1066, or 1172 for the OC) and the dual frequency for the mem as well (2x533 for 1066)

I seem to have an issue besides stability:

I looked in CPU-Z, and it reports under the "SPD" tab that my memory is PC2-5300 (333) under max bandwidth. I know this isn't the case, the label on the RAM says otherwise. And, if I click the "memory" tab, it says my DRAM freq is 333, and timings 5-5-5-15 and command rate 1T. So this seems wrong. If I manually put in 1066 for my memory frequency in my BIOS, what will happen is that my system won't boot initially, but if I hit the reset button, it boots fine. (But it still reports these other values for my RAM). Also, on the "SPD" tab, I have no idea what the JEDC1,2,3, and EPP#1 are.


I guess the other thing I don't really know about is voltages for the cpu, nb, sb, vtt, etc etc., and I would have no idea what to change them to.

Can anyone offer any advice?

and PS: what is the difference between increasing the FSB or increasing the multipler? I.e., instead of increasing FSB by 10%, can I increase the multipler by 10%? (9->10 approx)

Thanks!

 

[MatressGiant]

Start here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259899-29-core-overclocking-guide

 

[quetzalkoatl]

Hi, sorry, I didn't see those guides until after I posted. I guess that's because I went to Forum->Overclocking to make a post instead of Forum->Overclocking->Gen discussion

So I've been fiddling around a bit and have seem to run into two issues that I think prevent my OC:

My RAM is rated at 1066 MHz (PC2-8400 with 5-5-5-15@2.1V timings), but if I put these settings into my BIOS, I cannot boot. If I hit the reset button, it then boots fine without adjusting settings, so I had assumed that it was working as intended after the second boot. (Booting with these settings would always take "two boots") However, CPU-Z would then report my RAM @ 333 MHz with 1T, which I've recently noticed.

I can put my RAM at 900 MHz (2x450Mhz) at 5-5-5-15-2T@2.1V, and CPU-Z will then report it correctly. I don't know why I am unable to achieve the rated frequency of 1066 MHz, especially because my CPU is 1066 MHz stock (4x266).

Second, I cannot seem to push my FSB over 300 MHz now. I've tried upping the Vcore to even 1.4 V, which I think, from what I've read, should be sufficient to even to 375 MHz. I've also tried lowering the multiplier to 8x and putting the FSB at 320 MHz, to no avail as well.

When I do put it at a higher FSB, 320 MHz, the machine will seemingly post: the ASUS splash screen comes up, it displays "Press DEL to enter setup" etc at the bottom, but then it hangs. Pressing delete and waiting have no effect. I have also noticed that at higher FSB, 333 MHz, the machine, upon rebooting, will turn off completely (all fans), which is not normal for a typical reboot, but then starts up to the splash screen as normal (fans on), and hangs.

I am wondering now if my power supply is the issue? I have a 400W PSU that has been treating me just fine. I've got the specs I've listed originally, and a GTX 650 Ti Gfx card (brand new). I wouldn't think that upping the FSB a little bit would kill the machine (note: I can boot just fine by putting the Vcore to 1.4 or 1.424 V, from approximately 1.2 V, which is more of an increase in power because it goes as V^2).
The only reason I thought it might be my PSU is that when I set the Vcore to 1.4, the reported value in CPUID is closer to 1.3V. I don't know if that's normal or not.


Any ideas?

 

[olin9]

With the Q6600 (G0) you should be able to set the FSB to 333 without a voltage change. and get 3.0 MHz. Every chip different, but 3.0 is not that big of a push for the G0 chip.

 

[quetzalkoatl]

What do you think the issue is then?

What about the RAM?

If it should be that easy to get 333MHz, I would love to!

 

[olin9]

I have a Q6600 (G0) @ 3.2 GHz without any change in voltage. I was @ 3.0 for a year and thought i would bump it up.

I have the ram on auto. I have 4 GB 6400 I think it is 4-4-4-12. The only thing i changed was the FSB 333 for 3.0 GHz and 355 for 3.2 GHz.

You PSU looks a little weak. 400W PSU? You may not have the power needed.

I have a 900w PSU. with todays PC, CPU, GPU, I would not use anything lower than a 500-550W.

 

[elpedro23]

What do you think the issue is then?

What about the RAM?

If it should be that easy to get 333MHz, I would love to!

The updated guide posted earlier is here. There's a bit more over-whelming information.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515316

Your ram should be fine. You need to get a new power supply before you trying any more (really pushing it with a 400W, especially when your pc is underload). Should be aiming for 650W-750W Bronze minimum, should be easy for under a hundred bucks. After that, you should have better luck and a better idea how much headroom you got for overclocking.

I've had a Q6600 for almost 5 years now, overclocked to 3.0GHz pretty much at the beginning at 1.35V core (eight multiplers instead of nine). In the last 6 months, I've pushed that to 3.55GHz with 395MHz x 9 @ 1.42v .

So you mos def should be able to get more overclocking out of this tank, upgrade the power supply (maybe get a SSD boot drive, I found mechanical drives were bottlenecking my system) and read the updated guide.

Key points to look for: Overclocking in steps to "burn it in" and overclocking your cpu first before overclocking your ram, get your cpu stable and then play with ram