Overclocking

[poorsod]

Turns out my Q6600 is one of the new G0 models, which (I gather) means it's excellent for overclocking as well as power-consumption and cooling needs. I've heard people can get it as high as 3.4GHz/core without even fitting a new fan.

I've got a fairly good grasp of how overclocking works; basically I'll be increasing the value in the BIOS labeled "FSB speed" incrementally and booting to Windows to test my new speeds.

I don't know how much anyone else here knows about overclocking, but what other values will I need to change along the way? I gather I need to keep my RAM and PCI speeds constant to avoid confusing the computer, and change voltages to maintain stability (but changing too much will make it worse).

I'd like to get it up just 0.1GHz a core to start with, just so I can say I've got a 10GHZ CPU ;).
I'm told there's little to worry about so long as I'm careful but I get the feeling overclocking is fraught with danger.

[nagal]

I know a bit about overclocking.

So dude you got a Q6600 G0. Go straight in and set the FSB to 333. Do not even look back or think twice. I always keep the FSB to Memory at a 1:1 ratio when overclocking. It really does not make a whole lot of sense to run the memory faster than the CPU. I doubt going to FSB of 333 you will need to increase the CPU voltage but I would set it to 1.3 which is still with in stock range for a Q6600 (1.25 to 1.35 is Intel's acceptable limits for the Q6600).

If your BIOS allows it you can probably do FSB 400 and set the clock multipler DOWN to 8 with a VCore of 1.34. I was doing this but I would get shut downs after about 2 hours. Have not had a chance to figure out why (was not a VCore issue), probably need better Northbridge cooling, maybe even reseating the Northbridge HS would do it.

Now 3.4 on the stock HSF, not going to happen unless you got super lucky and snagged an awesome chip. I can go 3.4 on mine but I have a watercooled setup. Of course you being in a place where ambient temps are a lot lower than what I have you might be able to pull it off.

You should download CoreTemp to watch your temps and Prime95 to do the stress testing. If you can not Prime95 for 24 hours straight, you are not stable.

[jrides]

Good for you! There is a lot of info on the web about OC'ing this particular chip. Some really good how to guides here and there. A google goes a long way with the Q6600.

[Bops2000]

I think, its like advancing the timing on a 350 chevy motor, your gonna add some heat, as well push some components for little results. It will fire right up, sound cool, but at high torque you threaten components down the chain of output such as the camshaft at premature firing. Sorry for the simile, my dime, and no, I am not republican.

[swellis01]

Nagal's got it right. I did a whole thread on overclocking my E6600 (not a quad core but otherwise the same) here: http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16269
I run mine in 8X, 401Mhz, 1.35Vcore, 2.1Vmem at 1:1. No extra cooling, no North bridge changes, still runs smooth. CPU stable at 3.2Ghz.
S

[poorsod]

cheers for the advice nagal & others
The current voltage is 1.21V, I'll step it up to 1.25 (and the FSB to 333) for the time being and see how it goes. I'll report back over the next couple of days.

[poorsod]

Quick update; moved the FSB from 1066 to 1333 (when divided by 4 it's going from 266 to 333) and the system failed POST.
It's all back to defaults now.

[nagal]

A couple things to try. Set VCore to 1.35 (its okay really) and work down the voltage to find the lowest possible voltage it will boot to. Then move it up a notch or two and start stabality testing.

I know my mobo (Asus P5B Deluxe/Wifi) would not post with any OC if ANY of my memory settings were set to auto. I have to manual set all memory and made sure the mem was on a 1:1 ratio for the FSB (so set Memory to DDR2-667 speed for a FSB of 333).

[Bren Gun]

If your system is reasonably superior, I see little reason to overclock. Even if your system can handle overclocking easily, I would not recommend it (just yet): I would wait until you sense your system is getting bogged down which might take some time, and THEN (clean it up AND) overclock it.