*Official Retail G0 Q6600 Overclocking Thread*

[ZenEffect]

I've tried to get a generally accepted ceiling vcore value for 24/7 use (if there is such a thing) on the q6600. I thought I've seen 1.55v listed once or twice, but I'm not sure what most people think.

white paper says 1.55v max

http://download.intel.com/design/pro...s/31559205.pdf
section 2; table 3 Absolute Maximum and Minimum Ratings

[DDTUNG]

I've been running an X3220 ES B3 at 1.57 actual Vcore, 422x9, 24/7/365 with 100% load(WCG crunching) for over a year under watercooling and it is going strong.

DDTUNG

[conzymaher]

1.55v seems like a lot :o Would a decent air cooler like the True handle 1.55 vcore?

[Criswell]

1.55v seems like a lot :o Would a decent air cooler like the True handle 1.55 vcore?

Not that great... Depends on the ambient temps though...

I run a L745B G0 at 3.6 1.43Vcore while WindowsSMP folding...

[Sparda]

Not happy with my p35 mobo because of the pcie layout that to close with dimm slots. Need oppinion which should I pick from this two x38 mobo.

DFI LT x38
Asus Maximus x38

Using Q6600 of course batch 737B441 VID 1.2375. Aiming to crank up between 3.8 - 4 ghz like I did before with p5k-e with 2x2gb power chip ram.

[drnick79]

Giacomo and DDTUNG,

What FSB (CPU VTT) and NB voltages are you running to get your cpu's to 3.8GHZ? My q6600 is still failing prime95 at 422x9 within minutes (almost always core 0 fails) at 1.57 vcore (actual). I'm on a DFI LT P35, and my VTT is at 1.5v and NB 1.57v with the 333/800 strap. I am using 4x1 gb OCZ PC9200 ram...perhaps I need more NB volts? Or just more CPU volts? Or my CPU just wasn't destined for 3.8ghz

[Sparda]

Not happy with my p35 mobo because of the pcie layout that to close with dimm slots. Need oppinion which should I pick from this two x38 mobo.

DFI LT x38
Asus Maximus x38

Using Q6600 of course batch 737B441 VID 1.2375. Aiming to crank up between 3.8 - 4 ghz like I did before with p5k-e with 2x2gb power chip ram.

Where the love. Somebody.???

[Grnfinger]

Not happy with my p35 mobo because of the pcie layout that to close with dimm slots. Need oppinion which should I pick from this two x38 mobo.

DFI LT x38
Asus Maximus x38

Using Q6600 of course batch 737B441 VID 1.2375. Aiming to crank up between 3.8 - 4 ghz like I did before with p5k-e with 2x2gb power chip ram.

Maximus is a very good choice, have not tested a DFI yet but I get 3.8GHz on my Maximus with 1.46 volts ram 1133MHz
Have yet to try 4.0GHz just took my Wolfdale out today and ran a quick 2 hour prime on this quad I bought from a XS member

[eternaljammer]

1.55v seems like a lot :o Would a decent air cooler like the True handle 1.55 vcore?

No way, a true can handle that voltage in a normal ambient. It would have to be in the 50's to do it.

[drnick79]

Well, I got my q6600 semi-stable at 3.8ghz. It will run prime95 without errors for about 3 hrs and then it will crash and reboot around the 3 hr mark. It requires 1.58vcore (actual) to do this though. My cpu has a VID of 1.300. I have the chance to get a 1.275 VID q6600- wonder if it's worth giving the other chip a try...

Sparda, I have the DFI P35 board and I love it. It is definitely a tweaker's board, so if you don't want to deal with the myriad of bios options, then a DFI might not be the right board for you. That said, I'm merely a novice but have found many very helpful DFI templates and info on these forums.

[Hans Gruber]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't think the Q6600 can go much over 3.6Ghz on air 24x7. If you have water cooling, that's a different story.

After looking at the 45nm quad core overclocks I was suprised to see less than impressive results from the die shrink. It looks like we will have to wait for Nehalem or future revisions of the 45nm processor.

That being said, even the lower Q6600 VID's (1.20-1.225) don't seem to overclock as well or much better than higher VID Q6600 GO's.

For the average overclocking using air, 3.6Ghz 24x7 is a significant accomplishment.

4Ghz for water cooling is a good overclock for a Q6600 in the mid 1.5v range 24x7. A lot of people here quote their bios vcore instead of the actual Vcore that CPU-Z is registering. This makes it difficult for readers to truly understand the overclocking limits of their CPU's as well as others posting.

[Leeghoofd]

After looking at the 45nm quad core overclocks I was suprised to see less than impressive results from the die shrink. It looks like we will have to wait for Nehalem or future revisions of the 45nm processor.

Are you kidding me ? The worst of my quad 45nm did 3.6ghz at 1.25volts (that's loaded CPU-Z) the best at 1.13, prime stable..., Going up to 4ghz worst again at 1.39volts , best at 1.25 volts... and you dare to claim there's no big gain...

For dual core even better : 3.6Ghz at 1.15volts, 4-4.5ghz between 1.2-1.5volts, who could have dreamt that a year ago when many where struggling to get 3.6ghz stable with the E6600... no way you could have run that CPU at 3.6Ghz with a stock cooler... my E8400 runs for 2 weeks now at 3.6Ghz 1.2volts with the boxed cooler, temps stay below 60°C on load...

Compare bigger cache, less volts needed and less heatoutput ... I don't know what you expected out of the 45nm but for me it's pretty amasing stuff... some cpu's are great some just plain suck or let's call them bad clockers... but overal we got a nice improvement with 45nm...

Intel just messed up with the multies and kept them low... and why would they have to launch some new superstuff if the competition can barely keep up....

[Apollonas]

Your are talking about the QX6950.
Buy a Q9300 or Q9450 and tell us how much vcore you need to reach 3.6, if you ever manage to do it. And dont forget also how much money you spend for your QX6950.

[DDTUNG]

For the average overclocking using air, 3.6Ghz 24x7 is a significant accomplishment.

I have 33 Q6600 G0s running WCG at 100% load 24/7/365 on air at 3.6G so that must make me the world champion.

DDTUNG

[Leeghoofd]

Your are talking about the QX6950.
Buy a Q9300 or Q9450 and tell us how much vcore you need to reach 3.6, if you ever manage to do it. And dont forget also how much money you spend for your QX6950.

Q9450 rig also build last week, it did 3.6Ghz at 1.35 volts... (and I promsie you if I have another 9450 build in the shop I'll post some screenies for ya) I work after hours as an assembler, don't be focused solely on my signature... Q9300 I never build, but the low multi would require a too beefy FSB to get to 3.6ghz...and I would never recommend it to my clients due to the inferior cache... Secondly if the 45nm shrink wasn't as good as he commented how come that these Qx go up to 4.5Ghz with just water, I couldn't do that on the QX6700 (was a B3 anyway)... it's not all about max speed is it...

I'm just replying to Hans Grubers comment that the 45nm doesn't bring much, it does however, but not all are aware that they clock differently then the 65nm brothers... But in my humble opninion 45nm has got good potential... like said before you need good hardware (mobo/ram/PSU/cooling) to get there...it's not solely about the CPU...

Some peeps just expect too much because it is a new die shrink... await Q9650 and many many will reach 4ghz... some however will not ( or at least not in the safe Vcore region...)

[Apollonas]

I understand what your are saying, but since you are talking about vcore think of this: to hit 3.6 = 1.35v but this for a 45nm cpu and not for 65nm.If you think of that is like reaching near the limits of the vcore for a 45nm.As for the record, I've seen lots of Q6600 reaching 3.6, thing that does not apply for the Q9450.

[Leeghoofd]

I understand what your are saying, but since you are talking about vcore think of this: to hit 3.6 = 1.35v but this for a 45nm cpu and not for 65nm.If you think of that is like reaching near the limits of the vcore for a 45nm.As for the record, I've seen lots of Q6600 reaching 3.6, thing that does not apply for the Q9450.

Till now if you got a good mobo that does 450FSB I haven't seen many users not reaching 3.6Ghz on air with Q9450 or Xeon alike, which can be very contradicted for some Q6600 out there... as they require too much Vcore to be stable. And really 1.35V with good cooling is not much of an issue not even for 45nm, 1.45 I would agree...
Degradation exists , but 0.05 extra voltage requirement for same stability is to me more of a burn in or flaw in the electrical circitry as some users reported here, mine went from 1.31 to almost 1.4 for stability... that's something else...

Q9540 is more limited by it's multi than the die... await Q9650 then we will see... what 45nm can do with 9 multi...

[ZenEffect]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I don't think the Q6600 can go much over 3.6Ghz on air 24x7. If you have water cooling, that's a different story.

After looking at the 45nm quad core overclocks I was suprised to see less than impressive results from the die shrink. It looks like we will have to wait for Nehalem or future revisions of the 45nm processor.

That being said, even the lower Q6600 VID's (1.20-1.225) don't seem to overclock as well or much better than higher VID Q6600 GO's.

For the average overclocking using air, 3.6Ghz 24x7 is a significant accomplishment.

4Ghz for water cooling is a good overclock for a Q6600 in the mid 1.5v range 24x7. A lot of people here quote their bios vcore instead of the actual Vcore that CPU-Z is registering. This makes it difficult for readers to truly understand the overclocking limits of their CPU's as well as others posting.

the lower vid cpu's tend to do overclock better than the higher ones. its not ALWAYS the case, but generally it is. grnfinger does 3.8 @ 1.4v (actual not bios..) i can do 3.9 @ 1.46 real and 4.05 at 1.52. good luck getting those volts and speeds with a high vid cpu. i can bench as high as 4.3 on water. i do believe that higher vid cpu's run cooler at higher volts though.

[OVERK|LL]

So what about with the stock cooler? (I know I know, LOL!) I'm at basically 3.0Ghz right now with mine, and it still runs ~32 idling, low 40's under load. Just curious as to how high others have safely taken their's. I don't boot into Windows all that often so stress testing is not something I can do on a regular basis.........

[ToyTen]

I booted the computer at 500x8 with this Q6600:
Soo much Vcore needed :/

[ZenEffect]

I booted the computer at 500x8 with this Q6600:
Soo much Vcore needed :/

nice quad mine wont even post above 480fsb. but then again i can boot windows at 480x9

what is the vid and batch?

[ToyTen]

Thx, it just demands lots of Vcore... :/
VID 1.25 and Batch L728A861 running stable at 488x8

[Grnfinger]

the lower vid cpu's tend to do overclock better than the higher ones. its not ALWAYS the case, but generally it is. grnfinger does 3.8 @ 1.4v (actual not bios..) i can do 3.9 @ 1.46 real and 4.05 at 1.52. good luck getting those volts and speeds with a high vid cpu. i can bench as high as 4.3 on water. i do believe that higher vid cpu's run cooler at higher volts though.

Agreed, my last quad had a vid of 1.355 and the max was 3.6GHz@1.55volts my new quad ( thanks Zen ) has a VID of 1.225 and can hit 4.0GHZ easy
3.825GHz requires only 1.45 volts. and 3.6GHz requires 1.38 Volts, hard to argue that.

[Hans Gruber]

After reading professional reviews on the new 45nm quads I was expecting to see 4+Ghz on good air cooling. I usually find a lot of reviews on PCSTATS.COM One review stated how does 3.84Ghz sound! My reaction was crap! I said earlier that the Q6600 max stable on air is 3.6Ghz. When AMD announced their die shrink from 90nm to 65nm everyone was expecting to see much higher overclocks from the 65nm which never happened. I have abandoned AMD since the beginning of 2007. It has taken AMD over a year to master the 65nm core.

Intel hasn't stumbled since the presscott (hot) P4 processors.

Playing Crysis with my Q6600 @3.6Ghz and an overclocked 8800gt isn't bad, but I do feel like my computer is somewhat of a beast that being conquered by Crysis.

My hope has been that Intel would have much improved overclocking 45nm processors before Nehalem comes out. I'm glad to hear some of you 45nm users out there are gettting very good overclocks.

I'm hoping we don't have new revisions of the Q6600 that will perform or outperform the 45nm processor.

[Leeghoofd]

Well if that 3.86Ghz is on an Q9450 well I find it very good due to it's handicap of the 8 multi... that would be 482FSB...sounds pretty good to me... 500FSB on quads and co is only for a few CPU's under water, under higher end cooling that's another thing... like is said before await the 9x Q9650 and it will give y'all 4ghz too...

and for ya Crysis high detail experience, there's only one way to make that playable that's either an 9800X2 or a newer ATI or Nvidiot card, CPU power there isn't that much needed as GPU power is... such a badly coded game...