Everything needed to Overclock Q6600

[shahrooz_lp]

hi i wanted to overclock my CPU but i scare of the lifetime and those thing
but i am really intrested in.
so i am going for safe and stable overclock
as you know Q6600 (G0) is 2.4 i want to make it just 2.6 because i dont want to destroy or damage it because if it happen i cant buy PC right now (LOL)
could u please tell me everything i need.
i have some question .as i remember could we OC without changing voltage ?because changing the voltage decrease CPU life time
imagine u r talking to a starter.
my system is :
PSU is 780w
motherboard GIGA ep45-ds4p
Ram 4*1 GB ddr2
VGA is XFX 9800GTX black edition (OCed)

 

[shahrooz_lp]

i have bought a CPU Cooler.my temp in idle is 40-41
and when its loaded (e.g crysis) it is 50-51 max

 

[Jim_L9]

Change your FSB to 289MHz.

 

[blackpanther26]

The only thing that will kill a CPU is too much voltage and the heat so if you have good temps at 2.6GHz I would try 3GHz at 333FSB. I think the Q6600 dose not need extra voltage to get the 333FSB.

 

[teamlosigp]

EVERY GOD DAM CHIP IS DIFFERENT TAKE THE FSB UP IN SMALL INCREMENTS UNTIL IT BECOMES UNSTABLE, ADD A LITTLE VOLTAGE AND REPEAT, IT MAY BE TIME CONSUMING BUT YOU WILL FIND THE BEST POSSIBLE OC AS WHEN YOU RUN INTO A PROBLEM OCING YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DIAGNOSE THE SITUATION PROPERLY, DONT LISTEN TO THESE GUYS, I KNOW AND MY Q6600 IS @3.7GHZ ON AIR!

 

[zxe_the_sage]

i agree with teamlosigp, every chip is diffrent and you cant just go around changing the fsb to just any number with out doing it slowly and in small safe steps.

just go little by little, till it get unstable, then back off if you dont want to change the coreV then dont its up to you, just do it safe, and i find go till its stable and then back 5% and it will run like a dream

 

[Cache]

Fortunately, the Q6600 overclocks like a dream (at least the G0 stepping does). That said, everyone is right--every chip is different, even if using exactly identical parts. I'm running mine at 3.0 at the moment and have it undervolted as well. Your chip is in no abnormal danger as long as you go slow, monitor how many volts are running though the chip, and what temps are being generated. That said, 40-41c is a little on the warm side in idle, especially for such a minor OC bump. What kind of cooler are you using? Did you correctly apply thermal paste before mouting it? Are you certain it is correctly mounted?

If you overclock responsibly you won't see any loss to the normal operating life of the chip. Granted, it's a heck of a lot of fun to be aggressive if you've got the extra components lying around but I've had systems run reliably for 6 years while overclocked and when they died it was not because of the chip. What is the current voltage you're running on the chip? And what are you using to monitor your temps?

 

[shahrooz_lp]

this is my CPU info http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?042d074bd8.jpg

 

[shahrooz_lp]

and this one in idle.same CPU just after 1 min

 

[blackpanther26]

well you should be able to hit 3GHz then.

 

[shahrooz_lp]

and this is my CPU cooler i am using please take a look here too

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/BlueOrb2

 

[blackpanther26]

Before we try the 3GHz mark. What is your Idle and load temps?

 

[shahrooz_lp]

40 idle and 50-55 max

 

[shahrooz_lp]

40 idle and 50-55 max

 

[blackpanther26]

are you running that on the stock heatsink and fan? If so go for this one here. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835702007 It's the one I have and keeps my Q9650 cool at 4GHz with load temps of 58c max.

 

[ehanger]

For such a minor overclock you can get away with just bumping up the FSB, don't bother with going through the trial and error process just to get to 2.6, lol. On my old Q6600 G0 all I had to do was change the FSB from 266 to 333 and I was at 3GHz. Im willing to bet that you will be able to OC to 3.0GHz on over 95% of Q6600's just by changing the FSB. Even though all chips are different, it usually doesn't matter until you get in the 3.2 GHz+ range.

 

[ir_efrem]

Some people have reported using a lower multiplier gives lower temps as well. In fact I am reporting that now! heh

I had mine overclocked to 3.2 and then decided to cut it back to 3.0 because I don't need to raise the voltages to reach 3.0. My idle temps at 3.0 were around 37(ish) +/- 2 degrees. This was at 9x333

I changed to 8x376 (couple extra mhz never hurt I spose) this is 3008mhz and temps dropped a very solid 3 degrees.

Max temps using either have dropped as well. Using 9x multi max temps were hovering just below 60 degrees with core# 1 and 4 sometimes hitting 60 degrees: core# 2 and 3 at about 57 degrees.

Using 8x max temps on core# 1 and 4 have dropped to 56 degrees: core# 2 and 3 have dropped to 55 degrees.

Lower multiplier also brings my ram closer to a 1:1, dunno if it is a huge benefit but some seem to think it helps.