*Official Retail G0 Q6600 Overclocking Thread*

[drnick79]

Don't give up on the chip just yet.... Mine was the same, in the same board, untill I give like 1.8+ volts to the CPU PLL, try that, then see how it does. also have 1.4v VTT and 1.5v on the 1.2v HT. Also I have 1.64v set in bios for NB... try those and see how it does. Only using +30mv on the GTL ref's

Haven't tried the chip on another board, but the 780i has a max NB volt setting of 1.55 I think, and I've used that. The VTT (FSB on 780i) is at 1.4v, and I have increased the HT volts too. I'm a little leery of pushing the vcore to 1.8+v without phase or LN2 cooling; I am watercooling the cpu but it seems as though I should cut my losses so to speak and return it.

I'm curious though, what kind of overclock and what temps did you get from 1.8+ cpu volts?

[drnick79]

Oh wait a minute, 1.8v PLL, not vcore? (Sorry, I misread your post- my bad). I don't even know if the 780i has a CPU PLL setting in the bios.

I thought that at least pertaining to 45nm chips, upping the CPU PLL caused rapid cpu degradation. Are 65nm chips more robust in this respect?

[Giacomo]

Haven't tried the chip on another board, but the 780i has a max NB volt setting of 1.55 I think, and I've used that. The VTT (FSB on 780i) is at 1.4v, and I have increased the HT volts too. I'm a little leery of pushing the vcore to 1.8+v without phase or LN2 cooling; I am watercooling the cpu but it seems as though I should cut my losses so to speak and return it.

I'm curious though, what kind of overclock and what temps did you get from 1.8+ cpu volts?

He isn't talking about Vcore, he refers to PLL voltage. However, common sense suggests to avoid PLL voltages higher than 1.7V for 24:7 use on 65nm CPUs. Just as an indication (and don't know about Penryns).

1.8V Vcore on a 65nm CPU will result in a heat production similar to what you can find in a nuclear power plant core, so adequate cooling plus fire estinguishers and good kevlar clothes are required to be adopted by the user.

Giacomo

[conzymaher]

Agh Decisions!

I will be using a Thermalright IFX-14 with a 120*38mm fan, I notice a lot of people with the Q6600 are using water, Will I be able to get 3.6ghz from a Q6600 on air if I get a good stepping?

[Giacomo]

Agh Decisions!

I will be using a Thermalright IFX-14 with a 120*38mm fan, I notice a lot of people with the Q6600 are using water, Will I be able to get 3.6ghz from a Q6600 on air if I get a good stepping?

Sure.

I've been unlucky. If you're very lucky, you can even reach 3.8+ GHz stable 24:7 on air. Well, you have to be very, very lucky...

3.6 GHz on air is a reasonable target for the majority of chips.

Giacomo

[Gen]

Agh Decisions!

I will be using a Thermalright IFX-14 with a 120*38mm fan, I notice a lot of people with the Q6600 are using water, Will I be able to get 3.6ghz from a Q6600 on air if I get a good stepping?

try for a L7xx and you should be able to get 3.6 on air. if you haven't purchased the IFX i would recommend a TRUE instead but an IFX should be enough.

[drnick79]

Agh Decisions!

I will be using a Thermalright IFX-14 with a 120*38mm fan, I notice a lot of people with the Q6600 are using water, Will I be able to get 3.6ghz from a Q6600 on air if I get a good stepping?

If you get a good batch apparently- Jor3lBR posted a link to a discussion about some known favorable batches a page ago on this thread.

[jeeka]

Sure.

I've been unlucky. If you're very lucky, you can even reach 3.8+ GHz stable 24:7 on air. Well, you have to be very, very lucky...

3.6 GHz on air is a reasonable target for the majority of chips.

Giacomo

I must be lucky then (see sig)

[conzymaher]

Thanks, Im just not sure what batch I will get, I will just have to take a gamble and hope that I get a good one

btw the IFX-14 is better than the TRUE and it fits a 38mm fan which is cool

[Gen]

in reality there is little difference between the heatsinks i guess, but i prefer the tests done by Vapor here at XS. not enough to earn a debate anyway

[conzymaher]

Yeah seen as the TRUE has almost identical performance and its smaller and cheaper I might end up going for it...

Im looking at the MSI P7N SLI Platinum and it has a strange chipset cooler that may interfere with the IFX-14...

[okorn]

Is that one of the newer ligher blue boxes Okorn ? nice clocker you got there

Nop. Its blue like the other ones

[grimREEFER]

I just received my q6600- I was afraid I was going to get one from the L8xx batch, and I did , but the price (online only-not honored in store) of $180 was too tempting.

The VID is 1.325 and the batch is L804. Granted I've only tried it on my 780i mobo (which I consider to be a flaky overclocker), but I'm not sure it will even hit 3.6 ghz. I've got it OCCT stable for a half hour so far at 3.15ghz (450x7), but that required 1.6125v vcore (bios)/1.56v (everest). I need to set the vcore to around 1.675v (bios)/1.62ish (everest) to reliably get into windows at 3.6ghz (either 400x9 or 450x8), but at this speed OCCT crashes within a minute.

I've tried the memory (2x2gb gskill 1066) both linked and unlinked (and usually underclocked), and used a range of GTL REF values, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. On this board, I don't think it is capable of 3.6ghz unless I'm willing to go over 1.7v vcore in the bios !

I'm considering returning it and seeing if I can find any locally from an L7xx batch.

i have the same batch as you, bought it for the same price from fry's too lol.

i can get it prime stable for days at 3.2ghz with a 1.45 vcore, but i get random restarts when i loop 3dmark06 still or play games, and that goes away when im at 3ghz@ 1.35v ( i like to stick to even numbers lol). anyone know what can possibly be causing that?

[kup]

I just received my q6600- I was afraid I was going to get one from the L8xx batch, and I did , but the price (online only-not honored in store) of $180 was too tempting.

The VID is 1.325 and the batch is L804. Granted I've only tried it on my 780i mobo (which I consider to be a flaky overclocker), but I'm not sure it will even hit 3.6 ghz. I've got it OCCT stable for a half hour so far at 3.15ghz (450x7), but that required 1.6125v vcore (bios)/1.56v (everest). I need to set the vcore to around 1.675v (bios)/1.62ish (everest) to reliably get into windows at 3.6ghz (either 400x9 or 450x8), but at this speed OCCT crashes within a minute.

I've tried the memory (2x2gb gskill 1066) both linked and unlinked (and usually underclocked), and used a range of GTL REF values, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. On this board, I don't think it is capable of 3.6ghz unless I'm willing to go over 1.7v vcore in the bios !

I'm considering returning it and seeing if I can find any locally from an L7xx batch.

Yup, the latest batch are bad clockers. Mine also L80x with VID 1.325V. I can do 3.2Ghz at 1.3V stable. Anything higher than that requires much more voltage. 3.4Ghz requires at least 1.375V. Tried 1.45V at 3.6Ghz and Windows will crash after priming a few minutes.

i have the same batch as you, bought it for the same price from fry's too lol.

i can get it prime stable for days at 3.2ghz with a 1.45 vcore, but i get random restarts when i loop 3dmark06 still or play games, and that goes away when im at 3ghz@ 1.35v ( i like to stick to even numbers lol). anyone know what can possibly be causing that?

Same here:

L801A876

VID 1.325v

Pack Date: 22/02/08

2L75072
7A1750

I can do 3GHz with 1.28v, 3.2GHz with 1.33v and 3.4GHz with 1.464v but even 3.41GHz or 3.42GHz are completely 100% no go. I've tried better cooling, more voltage, loose ram timings, different FSB/Ram straps, it all makes no difference. Even 3.4GHz reboots randomly but can still Prime for 12hours solid. Odd chips, real odd and real crappy...

I didn't get the same good price you guys did though, mine would have equalled about $280...

[The0men]

Oh wait a minute, 1.8v PLL, not vcore? (Sorry, I misread your post- my bad). I don't even know if the 780i has a CPU PLL setting in the bios.

I thought that at least pertaining to 45nm chips, upping the CPU PLL caused rapid cpu degradation. Are 65nm chips more robust in this respect?

Yes it has PLL in bios, and it also has a WAY WAY higher than 1.55v in NB, Like I previously stated, as I am running a quad on a 780i, you need lots of PLL and lots of NB, and even a high 1.2vHT, otherwise it's most likely to be the board and not the CPU thats holding you back.

If you do as I stated above it will work.. if your not game to try that.. then It wont.... Mine is prime stable with no crashing and no temperature issues. I've never been lucky in hardware before, so I doubt it's got anything to do with luck, just patients and giving it a go.

[drnick79]

Yes it has PLL in bios, and it also has a WAY WAY higher than 1.55v in NB, Like I previously stated, as I am running a quad on a 780i, you need lots of PLL and lots of NB, and even a high 1.2vHT, otherwise it's most likely to be the board and not the CPU thats holding you back.

If you do as I stated above it will work.. if your not game to try that.. then It wont.... Mine is prime stable with no crashing and no temperature issues. I've never been lucky in hardware before, so I doubt it's got anything to do with luck, just patients and giving it a go.

Hey TheOmen,

I just now noticed in your sig that you are using the Striker- I've got the EVGA 780i. On the EVGA, the highest NB (SPP) voltage is 1.55v. And there is no bios setting for CPU PLL voltage. Definitely not the greatest quad overclocking board, I know, but will soon be moving things around and putting the quad in a P35 board.

At any rate, I returned my L804 batch q6600 and went to the local fry's to see what they had in stock. The only non L804 q6600 they had was one with the older light blue gray box from batch number L743A, so I bought it. The VID is 1.300. In my 780i this one will run 3.6ghz (2hrs OCCT mix stable) with a vcore of 1.49 (bios)/1.43 (real). Haven't pushed it more yet, but max temps under full OCCT load were 55degC.

What is the actual ceiling voltage (vcore) that most people feel comfortable with on these q6600's for 24/7 operation?

[Hawkeye4077]

Here is my toss into the hat

Currently running @ 9 x 389 = 3500mhz on 1.35vcore droop down to 1.31 under full load Orthos/Prime Stable
Will push it further... am trying to decide if a better waterblock would get those load temps below even cooler.

[The0men]

Hey TheOmen,

I just now noticed in your sig that you are using the Striker- I've got the EVGA 780i. On the EVGA, the highest NB (SPP) voltage is 1.55v. And there is no bios setting for CPU PLL voltage. Definitely not the greatest quad overclocking board, I know, but will soon be moving things around and putting the quad in a P35 board.

At any rate, I returned my L804 batch q6600 and went to the local fry's to see what they had in stock. The only non L804 q6600 they had was one with the older light blue gray box from batch number L743A, so I bought it. The VID is 1.300. In my 780i this one will run 3.6ghz (2hrs OCCT mix stable) with a vcore of 1.49 (bios)/1.43 (real). Haven't pushed it more yet, but max temps under full OCCT load were 55degC.

What is the actual ceiling voltage (vcore) that most people feel comfortable with on these q6600's for 24/7 operation?

O thats not to crash hot... Ive got well over 1.7 for NB, never even looked beyond that though lol.

If my quad primes and doesnt hit 70c, then Ill use it 24/7, because even playing games like crysis it wont even hit 60, so no point to worrry.

[extremis]

I just over-clocked to 3.5 on the default intel cpu fan.

My VID is 1.1625. I was running at 1.35V to get to 3.5.
(That is what the ASUS Rampage Formula CPU Upgrade [crazy setting] set it to. I will tweak later)

At idle I was running at 40 degrees celsius.

I am so glad I returned that L7 and took the gamble.

[blazin-asian]

I just over-clocked to 3.5 on the default intel cpu fan.

My VID is 1.1625. I was running at 1.35V to get to 3.5.
(That is what the ASUS Rampage Formula CPU Upgrade [crazy setting] set it to. I will tweak later)

At idle I was running at 40 degrees celsius.

I am so glad I returned that L7 and took the gamble.

are you using CoreTemp for your VID? that is ridiculously low!

my VID is 1.275 and i need 1.42 for 3.5 and 1.45 for 3.6

[Jor3lBR]

are you using CoreTemp for your VID? that is ridiculously low!

my VID is 1.275 and i need 1.42 for 3.5 and 1.45 for 3.6

Minimal VID for INTEL Q6600 GO is 1.20v.

Those number below 1.20v are due to processor being in "sleep" (not in full load).

Probably he has the thermal management control, PPM(EIST) and CIE function all enabled.

[extremis]

Yup. I did.



I shouldn't have gotten excited.

It is 1.300v

[extremis]

Took it back to Microcenter.

Fry's has the following batch's:

L745A999
L737B743
L737A688

and possibly others.

Which should I get tomorrow morning?

[Hawkeye4077]

3.6ghz now temps below are at idle.. I think I need to adjust my WB because 2 of the cores seem to be a tad bit hotter than the other two.

[extremis]

Hawkeye, what batch?

BTW, My cores do that.