Q6600 on Striker Extreme?

[whitey88x]

Hey guys, I've been reading up on as much as I can about my motherboard and CPU and I have no idea what I am doing wrong.. I have purchased Everest, and downloaded the other free programs like CoreTemp, SuperPi and used 3DMark06 and 05 for benchmarking too.

My issue lies in overclocking.
As you can see, this is my first post here (my account only got validated today) and I have tried to read as much as possible about overclocking a Q6600 on a Striker Extreme but mine doesn't seem to work at all.

My main source of reading is this post http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=129021 and i've attempted to OC it as close to that post as possible but I can't even get a stable 300Mhz increase on air lol.

Here is what I am running, stock standard atm.
CPU: Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4ghz
Motherboard: ASUS Striker Extreme 1305 Bios
RAM: 2 x 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 TwinMos [2GB 800Mhz]
DVD: Pioneer DVD Burner
GFX Card: nVidia Geforce 8800GTX 768mb
HDD: 149GB 10,000rpm WD Raptor
Monitor: ASUS 22" 2ms LCD MW221u [Native 1680x1050]
Keyboard: Logitech G15 + Wolfclaw GamePad
Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 Digital
& Logitech Z-2300
Case: Lian-Li PC-777 Anniversary [Silver]
Mouse Pad: Everglide Titan
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 595
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/3567/78697926ic1.th.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=78697926ic1.jpg)

When I go into the BIOS, i read in the post mentioned above that disabling all the extra cpu features makes the system more stable for overclocking. Even when doing so my system seems to freeze after a few hours of run time.

I really wanna get more performance out of this CPU, and as I've read it does have some guts in it.

I need to know what i'm doing wrong, am I adding too much voltage to the core? do i have to add more voltage to the north bridge or south bridge? what about the memory?

I haven't read any posts with anyone saying they use TwinMos memory, maybe it's that? I know the n680i's don't allow some modules to work.. But if that's the case then why does it boot up ><!

Please go easy on me, i'm an OC'ing noob and I really wanna learn..

I'm more than happy to take pics and screenshots if needed?

I have also contemplated "lapping" the cpu to help with heat issues later on, but I want to OC it stable first.

[icon57]

hi, welcome to XS
it seems to me, the first thing i notice is your temps are 50c at idle? seems a lil high.
what cooling are you using?
seems like a kick ass rig you have, looks like you did your homework, just take your time on the oc, you will get there.
i am sure some people with the same mobo will jump in and give you some oc advice.

[Leeghoofd]

Can you complete this template plz and I sugggest you to downflash again to 1303 plz, I had numerous issues with 1305, new FSB holes, fan control going bezerk, voltage/temp readings dissapearing...$$

Also do you have added cooling to the damn heatpipe solution ?

Most users get 340-360 FSB with quads... sadly Striker (out of the box) and quads are limited like most earlier 680i board revisions... EVGA and BFG have new 680i revisions that support better overclocks...

Some users had good results with 17-1800FSB with quads and a lower multi

AI Tuning: Manual
Nvidia GPU Ex: Disabled
LinkBoost: Disabled

FSB - Memory Clock Mode: Unlinked
x FSB - Memory Raio: N/A
FSB (QDR), Mhz: 1066 (means 266FSB)
Actual FSB (QDR), Mhz: 1066.7
MEM (DDR), Mhz: 667 (means 333mhz speeds)
Actual MEM (DDR), Mhz: 666.7

Vcore Voltage:
Memory Voltage:
1.2v HT Voltage:
NB Core Voltage:
SB Core Voltage:
CPU VTT Voltage:
DDRII Controller Ref Voltage:
DDRII Channel A Ref Voltage:
DDRII Channel B Ref Voltage:

tCL (CAS Latency): 4
tRCD: 4
tRP: 4
tRAS: 12
Command Per Clock (CMD): 2 clock (2T)

Advance Memory Settings
tRRD: AUTO
tRC: AUTO
tWR: AUTO
tWTR: AUTO
tREF: AUTO
tRD: AUTO
tRFC: AUTO
Async Latency: AUTO

CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
MCP PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum: Disabled
LDT Spread Spectrum: Disabled

CPU Internal Thermal Control: Disabled
Limit CPUID MaxVal: Disabled
Enhanced C1 (C1E): Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled
Virtualization Technology: Disabled
Enhanced Intel Speedstep Tech: Disabled
LDT Frequency: 5x

PCIEX16_1 Frequency (Mhz): 100
PCIEX16_2 Frequency (Mhz): 100
PCIEX16_3 Frequency (Mhz): 100
SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, Mhz: 200

[Cronos]

On P5N32-E (the same board actually) the latest 1205 BIOS cannot overclock Q6600 at all. I had to flash 1203.

[whitey88x]

AI Tuning: Manual
Nvidia GPU Ex: Disabled (I don't really know what this does)
LinkBoost: Disabled

FSB - Memory Clock Mode: Unlinked
x FSB - Memory Raio: N/A
FSB (QDR), Mhz: 1200 (means 266FSB)
Actual FSB (QDR), Mhz: 1200
MEM (DDR), Mhz: 800 (means 333mhz speeds)
Actual MEM (DDR), Mhz: 800

Vcore Voltage: 1.35v [1.24v default] default readings taken from BIOS voltage monitor
Memory Voltage: 1.2v [1.88v default]
1.2v HT Voltage: 1.3v [1.26v default]
NB Core Voltage: 1.3v [1.24v default]
SB Core Voltage: 1.6v [1.53v default]
CPU VTT Voltage: 1.3v [1.26v default]
DDRII Controller Ref Voltage: AUTO
DDRII Channel A Ref Voltage: AUTO
DDRII Channel B Ref Voltage: AUTO

tCL (CAS Latency): AUTO
tRCD: AUTO
tRP: AUTO
tRAS: AUTO
Command Per Clock (CMD): AUTO

Advance Memory Settings
tRRD: AUTO
tRC: AUTO
tWR: AUTO
tWTR: AUTO
tREF: AUTO
tRD: AUTO
tRFC: AUTO
Async Latency: AUTO

CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
MCP PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum: Disabled
LDT Spread Spectrum: Disabled

CPU Internal Thermal Control: Disabled
Limit CPUID MaxVal: Disabled
Enhanced C1 (C1E): Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled
Virtualization Technology: Disabled
Enhanced Intel Speedstep Tech: Disabled
LDT Frequency: 5x

PCIEX16_1 Frequency (Mhz): 100
PCIEX16_2 Frequency (Mhz): 100
PCIEX16_3 Frequency (Mhz): 100
SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, Mhz: 200

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/8387/60453237dr0.th.jpg (http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=60453237dr0.jpg)

Those are the first initial overclocking features I have set up.
It boots and runs fine, but when I do something a little stressful like re-encoding a movie or play a game it freezes. It was fine all last night with those settings, left it on all night playing music and when i woke up and started to re-encode a tv episode, everything froze half way through encoding.

It doesn't hang or anything when I don't overclock, and it isn't a windows or any other hardware error.

You may hate me for this, but I am using stock cooling for the time being. I was thinking of buying a Zalman cooler soon but I know that Intels have a 90&#176;thresh hold so i wanna squeeze as much as i can STABLE on stock air before I buy a better air cooler.

I was able to get my PC to boot on 1333mhz FSB back on the 1303 BIOS, but when I ran benchmarks it didn't stay up for long. I don't know if i'm feeding it enough Volts or am I draining it from too many Volts? When I flashed to the 1305 BIOS I could no longer boot with 1333mhz FSB, it just hung in the boot up scan..

[veilsidebr]

Hey dude, whats up?

i got the same combo of you(striker + quad) and i cant get pass from 3.26 mhz that is.

I use everyday at 3,05 which is ROCK STABLE, can do everything and it acts just greatly.

My temps wont go over 65 Celsius, and iddle at 48, 50. I can be stable also at 3.2 but i decided to keep it at 3.0 since voltage rates are way lower and it wont push my cpu to the limit that much.

I shall write up my voltages when i get home, and tell them ya. My Quad is a B3 one as you can see in my rig, and memories are running quite smoothly at 900 mhz.

I'd say i was expecting much more from this combo, something of 3.4 ghz easy on air, but im fairly satisfied with its performances at 3.0.

[Leeghoofd]

You can try these settings mate, not 100% sure they will run with ya quad ( as I opted for an E6850 ) but hopefully someone with a quad will correct my settings...

FSB - Memory Clock Mode: Unlinked
x FSB - Memory Raio: N/A
FSB (QDR), Mhz: 1333 (means 333FSB)
Actual FSB (QDR), Mhz: 1333
MEM (DDR), Mhz: 800 (means 400mhz speeds)
Actual MEM (DDR), Mhz: 800

Vcore Voltage: 1.375
Memory Voltage: 1.85
1.2v HT Voltage: 1.35
NB Core Voltage: 1.5 make sure you got a fan blowing over the NB !!!
SB Core Voltage: 1.55
CPU VTT Voltage: 1.4
DDRII Controller Ref Voltage: AUTO
DDRII Channel A Ref Voltage: AUTO
DDRII Channel B Ref Voltage: AUTO

tCL (CAS Latency): 5
tRCD: 5
tRP: 5
tRAS: 15
Command Per Clock (CMD): 2T

CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
MCP PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum: Disabled
LDT Spread Spectrum: Disabled

CPU Internal Thermal Control: Disabled
Limit CPUID MaxVal: Disabled
Enhanced C1 (C1E): Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled
Virtualization Technology: Disabled
Enhanced Intel Speedstep Tech: Disabled
LDT Frequency: 5x

PCIEX16_1 Frequency (Mhz): 100
PCIEX16_2 Frequency (Mhz): 100
PCIEX16_3 Frequency (Mhz): 100
SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, Mhz: 200

[whitey88x]

Alrighty Leeghoofed, i'll bump the BIOS back to 1303 and give those settings a shot. I think I have already had those settings running and it didn't seem stable but i'll try again =) Does my NB have to have a fan over it running at that voltage? I sorta can't pack any more fans into my case lol..

as for veilsidebr, could you give me all the settings and tweaks you have used for your system? do you have added air cooling, what voltages/frequency increases have you made, what bios are you using?

[whitey88x]

I've run into another error, I can't find the old 1303 BIOS on the ASUS website. They only have 1303 or 1305.. Wouldn't know a website I could get it off by any chance?

[WannaGoFast]

ftp://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Stricker&#37;20Extreme/SE1303.zip

[whitey88x]

Done, flashed back to the 1303 BIOS and put in Leeghoofd settings.

Now running 1333fsb stable @ 52&#176; with 1.375v
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/1092/55449212pa1.th.jpg (http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=55449212pa1.jpg)

reckon i could push my ram mhz higher? and is it possible to push my fsb any higher stably? how high should i push them at a time to test them?

as for extra cooling, i've taken off the side of my case and chucked a small fan into the side of it just for trials lol.

[Leeghoofd]

Glad you got it working mate, well I think you got some spare voltage on the Q6600 with 1.3750 ( is around 1.34-35 under load I presume), I think for 3ghz you wwill need about 1.30-32 max, so you can bump up with small increments but I think you will hit a wall at about 350 or so, this is due to board limitation sadly... keep us posted how it turns out... might require some more NB/CPU VTT voltage, 400FSB will be no go for sure , while 425 works for some with a 7 or 8 multi...also some have dropped the LDT to 3X or 4X, dropped ram speeds to get the quad working (apparently it needs looser timings on the Striker then with dual cores) , but over 3.2Ghz would be to much for your current stock cooler mate...

Grab a thermalright Ultra 120 or even Extreme version, those are magnificent products....

Till now I would go down a bit on Vcore and test it thoroughly try eg 1.35 set and run some tests... 52&#176;C on idle is already a lot too handle for the stock cooler... not even to mention under load, might be if you have good one that you can run it at eg 1.3125/250 set in bios...

For the ram you don't have overclockers ram, so I would not push them any further, TwinMoss webbie is not clear if you have 4 or 5 cas variant , if you have the 4 variant you can alter ram settings to 4-4-4-12 2T... I don't think these rams have much headroom for latency tweaking nor extra Mhz...

Keep us posted, still trying to sell my E6600 so I can get a quad for the P5K but if I have one will test it too in the Striker...

[whitey88x]

I'll try lower the vCore, but if I lower the juice, does that mean it'll perform less? Also, how does the NB/VTT voltages affect the CPU? How should I know if I was to increase or decrease it too much?

My RAM is a piece of poo. Tried to lower the timings to 4-4-4-14 and came up with a page fault error in windows. Also tried to raise the frequency to 900mhz with 5-5-5-15 timings and also shat itself.

I'll take your word on the thermalrite cooler, shall purchase it next week. for now i have a very large fan pointed directly over the motherboard lol. keeping things relatively cool.

One more question, how does the LTD x5 affect anything? no idea what it does..

[Leeghoofd]

I told you to set 1.375 to make sure the cpu would boot ( also this translates into 1.35 or so real under load) and would be stable as it has more than enough juice to work, now just try to lower ONLY the Vcore so try 1.3625 eg, test that , then go 1.35 , continue to go lower on Vcore voltage till you get errors or instability in tests as eg Orthos, OCCT, 3d benchmarks...then up again. It could be your CPU runs fab with just 1.3125 or even 1.3 voltage set in bios, but it's for you to find out ...

Rest of the (chipset)voltages are good enough to provide stability...

You will need to find the lowest value for the cpu to make sure it doesn't get excessive voltage for the speed it runs at which only translates into extra heat and reduces longetivity in general...

Too bad on ya ram but that's the price to pay for cheapo ram... but core2 performance isn't influenced greatly by low latencies liek AM2 is...

You won't be dissapointed by the thermalright cooler mate , works great... pricey though but it's worth ya investment...

[whitey88x]

I lowered the vCore to 1.35v and am currently running 3.15ghz on air @ 47&#176; idle.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3173/27932687ud3.th.jpg (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=27932687ud3.jpg)

I ran Orthos for 51 minutes to give it a minor test and seemed to run fine, ran a few instances of SuperPi and went fine. Ran OCCT prior to that for 30 mins and came out fine. I'll continue to lower the vCore till I get any errors as you said Leeghoofd, so i'll keep it posted.

Might consider purchasing some Corsair or OCZ ram down the track. Seems like there's a nice bunch of Kingston modules released lately too, might see if I can get my hands on that.. I'm a noob at hardware really, so I figured this TwinMos stuff would be suffice to overclock with for a bit. Obviously I was wrong =(

[linflas]

I had nothing but trouble on the x9 multi, p95, and occt said I was good to go, but WCG failed over and again. 1305 bios blows goats for me, using the 1303 just to be able to post pretty much anything. This is what I was running at first on a q6600 G0 week 29A.


http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/6450/occt1ap5.jpg

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/3966/occt2cr5.jpg

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/738/primedv5.jpg

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/5706/3dmarkqx7.jpg

Ended up on this, running WCG no problem now, all semms good, give it a few days to burn in though. x8 multi seems to be my sweet spot. Temps are on a water loop with WCG running with all 4 cores loaded @ 100%. My loop consists of a 18 month old Apogee, mcw30, and 2 mcw60's, ddc-2 pump with petra's top, and thermochill pa120.3. Cooling Cpu, NB, and 2 8800gtx's. Ambient is 76-80F. On Vista 64 Ultimate.

[Leeghoofd]

Linflas besides the cooling any mods on your board mate ?
Are most peeps crippled due to inefficient cooling of the NB area ? my EK kit is on the way from aquatuning will install it as soon as the new cube get's done...

[linflas]

Linflas besides the cooling any mods on your board mate ?
Are most peeps crippled due to inefficient cooling of the NB area ? my EK kit is on the way from aquatuning will install it as soon as the new cube get's done...

have not penciled (spelling) the vdroop or vcore, as I do not have extreme cooling like phase, so not really necessary.

The NB like any other nforce board seems to be a cooling nightmare. I have mine on water. Dunno about other folks, but I will tell you, you bump the voltage at all on the NB, hell even on stock, better have a fan on it at least.

[whitey88x]

So what you two are saying is that the 680i's NB is the main problem that causes the instability in overclocking? I'm running the FSB @ 1440mhz [360x9] in the BIOS with these voltages.

vCore - 1.375v
Memory - 1.9v
1.2v HT - 1.4v
NB - 1.5v
SB - 1.55v
CPU VTT - 1.45v

Last night I was running the vCore @ 1.35v, 1.2v HT @ 1.35v, CPU VTT @ 1.4v and left Orthos run all night. It must have crashed around 4am in the morning because I checked the error logs and the system had an error at 4am and then nothing else.

This might sound like a very noob question, but can I run OCCT and Orthos at the same time? Or can I do ANYTHING while these programs are running? I use this PC a lot because it's my gaming pc, but when I've been doin tests on it lately i've just gone to use my server.

[linflas]

OCCT takes 30 minutes so not a big deal, but I would not trust it after my experiences with it.

P95, you can do whatever you want witht he pc while it is running, do not expect to be able to game though, p95 hogs too much cpu. Just leave it alone for 12-24 hours.

1.5 on NB is really high for what you are doing. With your ram, you probably cannot overclock it too much. So I would drop NB volts to 1.4 or even auto and you should be more than fine. The sbb, however, I have found does not run stable for me with SLi unless it is at 1.65, and that needs some better cooling also, i use a thermaltake extreme spirit 2 chipset cooler for the SB.

good luck.

[whitey88x]

current settings [350mhz x 9] = 3.15ghz STABLE @ 43&#176;

vCore - 1.325v
Memory - Auto
1.2v HTT - 1.4v
NB - 1.4v
SB - 1.55v
CPU VTT - 1.4v


I tried to raise the FSB to 1440mhz and couldn't handle a workload, became unstable and then froze the pc. Tried adding more V's to the vCore, 1.2HTT and VTT and still nothing.

I then tried lowering the multiplier to 8 and put the fsb to 400 and my pc didn't even bloody boot! 8x400 = 3.2ghz right? should have run on the same V's that I already had right? Or am I missing something?

[Leeghoofd]

400FSB puts too much stress on the NB, try eg 425 (1700 ) mate that can work...

[whitey88x]

i tried 1700 as well mate. no luck. but then again i did try 1700 with the voltages as said in previous post. should i up the v's and try 1700 again?

i dont understand why 400 puts too much stress when 425 is a higher bus speed?

[Leeghoofd]

Try to push ya ram to 800 with 425 FSB it will put 797 or something, there's sort of a strap change (funny enough not with allCPU's as we foudn out the 1333FSB give different results) , latencies go looser, ram performance is also slightly less for... a very weird chipset...

Did you try with 8 multi I hope and a bit more Vcore set in bios a la 1.35/1.36as the CPU wil reach 3.4ghz

[BigGaroupa]

I have Asus Striker with 1303 BIOS, I downflashed from 1305 I had a hard time overclocking with it.

To shed a little hope to people, when I FIRST flashed to 1305 I booted into Windows @ 1500 MHz FSB O____o after that never again.

My setup:
CPU: Q6600 G0
RAM: 4x 1GB OCZ Platinum Rev2 (Cooled with Corsair Dominator fan)
Video card: EVGA ACS3 8800 GTX

Before my Q6600 I managed to get 1750 MHz FSB with my E6300.

I changed cases from Gigabyte Aurora 3D to my Thermaltake Armor LCS, before I had a 120mm mounted around the CPU area blowing on the heatpipes, now I don't. I only use those crappy Asus heatpipe fans (two).

FSB 1333 MHz x 9 = 3.0 GHz
RAM unlinked @ 888 MHz running 5-5-5-15

Voltages:
CPU: 1.4v
Memory: 2.175v
FSB: 1.45v (NB?)
HT(SPP-MCP): 1.35v
Nforce: 1.55v (SB?)
CPU VTT: 1.35v

[ianho_]

what's the best BIOS for OCing the Q6600 with Striker now? 1303?

[Leeghoofd]

Till now yes , though the board has loads of FSB holes with quad CPU's so beware

[ianho_]

Till now yes , though the board has loads of FSB holes with quad CPU's so beware
OK. I will be sure to try 1303 1st b4 trying other BIOS if I dont get good results with it. Thanks.

[kup]

Till now yes , though the board has loads of FSB holes with quad CPU's so beware

Doesn't it just! I've lost most of my FSB range. Anything over 1500MHz is a no go now, and I used to run 1900MHz 24/7 on my E6600!

[Leeghoofd]

For quads most users have had good succes with 425 - 450FSB mate with 8 multi but these CPU's are really hard to overclock on Asus 680i (forget 400FSb doesn't seem to work), also lower ram overclock and timings that can help too.

My friends new cheap Gigabyte P35DS3 did 400FSB out of the box on my Q6600 (though PWM are gets quite hot so extra fan there), letting her burn in there with 4 folding action goin on...

Till now no update on my board as I'm still awaiting my extreme flow radiator from aquatuning...

[kup]

Ah, thank you for the tip. I shall give the 8x with 425 a go.

Any other tips for decent clocks?

[ianho_]

Yeah 1305 bios blows for sure. I went straight from 1205 which my mobo came with to 1305 jsut to make sure I wouldn't have trouble using the quad. 1305 wouldn't even OC the slightest bit. It'll just get to the ROG logo n hang there.

I then flashed back down to 1303 as u guys suggested n I'm at a very nice daily use OC of 333FSB, 1.35Vcore. Will wait for my Thermalright IFX14 to arrive b4 I go mad with the OC.

There's another issue which is really bugging me. I cant get PC Probe2 to work in Vista32. I presume PC Probe2 is meant for XP then? coz it jsut keeps giving me a BSOD when I try to use it. Any1 knows of a Vista32 version of PC Probe2?

[Sshaddoww]

Any1 know if its the same bios on the Striker nonextreme as on the striker extreme?
I have a e6400 and striker nonextreme, do u think i will have problems with the lates bios too?
And then one question more: Is the extreme board better overclocker than striker unextreme??

[NKD]

how about this, i have had 8x450FSB 8+ hours stable with prime95 on all cores before i stooped it. now trying max cpu overclock. the new strikers have improved alot to say the least. at 3.6 vdrop wasnt that bad, but set to 1.595v in bios and 1.55v in windows this is what i get under load, its still good but not as much. it dropped a little more than usual but nothing i am complaining about. the temps are in the high 50's.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5486/torture8lh5.jpg

[Leeghoofd]

Any1 know if its the same bios on the Striker nonextreme as on the striker extreme?
I have a e6400 and striker nonextreme, do u think i will have problems with the lates bios too?
And then one question more: Is the extreme board better overclocker than striker unextreme??

If you don't have any issues, don't flash the bios then, we all want more performance with our quads so we try the latest biosses ( to see if the FSB holes are gone), but with your E6400 even 0402 bios would be fab mate, 450FSB should be easy to do with that CPU and adequate cooling...

Both boards will perform on the same level mate, it just lacks some (useless) features...

[theoneh]

need the 1303 bios plz


hey guys had my system up for a month now and i am running 300fsb 2.8ghz on stock volt and stock cooler, the water cooling kit suppose to be coming by week after not sure, before i had it running 1.125v in the bios and in windows it was reading 1.10v until i was running bio shock and the game was crashing, now im back to stock volt.


ill like the 1303 bios so i can go to 3.0ghz for now and then push it later when i get the water cooling.

my ram is Corsair Dominator 2Gb running at 1066 2.2v 5-5-5-15

My System

Q6600 G0 2.8g | Asus Striker Extreme (1301 bios) | Corsair Dominator 2GB (DDR-1066)
(1) 8800GTS 320 superoverclock evga
250 WDC main hard drive | 160 Maxtor storage
| Thermaltake PurePower 600W :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: