680i, Q6600 refuses to OC

[pgosselin]

Hey all!

I'm fairly new to OCing in general and have had a pretty extensive background with computes/hardware in general. I'm understanding the whole process behind OCing very well, but seem to be stumped and want to know if its just user error or hardware limitation.


My specs that are relevant are as follows:

Q6600 G0 stepping
EVGA 680i mobo (AR version - I know this one tends to blow from what I read)
good aftermarket cooler - forget the name but idles around 35c on stock which is not bad for AZ. lol
A-data - 4GB (2GB x 2) DDR2 800 @ 6-6-6-18 stock
stock north bridge fan


My main issue is that I cannot OC over 2.66Ghz no matter how hard I try. It posts just fine, but the OS refuses to boot on everything I try.

My goal is just a simple 3.0ghz which should not be THAT hard for my setup from what I understand.

Ive tried adjusting the voltages manually to almost every recommended setting I can find online and used auto. I set my memory to unlinked and put it at 800mhz while setting the FSB to 1333 and using stock timings on the RAM. no luck there at all

I've tried using a 7x and 8x multiplier but it still will not boot over 2.5/2.6ghz. from what I can tell, heat is not a factor really. Even at 2.67ghz (267mhz OCed) im getting around 38C idle which is nothing to worry about just yet really. I'm using the latest BIOS from EVGA which I hear might be a possible cause, but other then that I'm stumped.

Can anyone suggest some settings or ideas that I could use to get this this up and over the crap I'm getting now? I'd like to think im just being stupid over being extremely unlucky and getting botched parts. I'm tempted to throw my X6800 back in and say eff this thing soon. haha

Also, has anyone had any real world experience with the Ultra ChillTEC cooler? I was kinda curious about their performance from someone with some expertise in the OCing circle

 

[hypocrisyforever]

I would start off by updating the BIOS on your mobo. Then try it.

 

[pgosselin]

By 'upgrading' do you really mean downgrading? lol I'm at the latest now and like I said, I'm told it has a few issues with OCing

 

[jsc]

I was in the same situation. I was able to get an E6600 to run at 3.6 GHz, P95 stable for 24 hours on an AR model.

I tried a G0 Q6600 and never got past the stock speed even after upgrading to the latest BIOS. Replaced it with a Gigabyte EP-GA-EP35-DS3P and got the system up to 3.6 GHz fairly easily.

My 680i motherboard also did not work well with an E5200.

Apparently, some 680i boards work well and some don't. Mine didn't. 🙁

 

[pgosselin]

Yeah, I'm thinking EVGA gets to bare the brunt of my finger pointing in this case. lol I sent em an email asking what I could do about it and I got a nice letter back that basically said in a lot of words "sorry, we don't care."

I just put my x6800 back in my comp and its running at 4.2 stable. *shrugs*

and for anyone who cares, the Ultra ChillTEC works wonders. running at 4.2 im idling around 36C and ambient room temp is 28C

Thanks JSC for the help. I kinda figured it was the case, but its nice to be reassured when you're still new at the whole thing. lol