evga 680i and q6600 G0

[MonsterDude]

Hello,
I recently built my first machine and I am having some difficulty overclocking my q6600 G0. My specs are:
evga 680i motherboard with the latest bios from the evga forums
q6600 G0 (cpu z identifies at 1.280 V however I thought I upped it to 1.350 for good measure)
Apevia Iceberg power 680W power supply
2 gb Corsair memory (800 mhz 4-4-4-12 timing at 2.15 volts (an extra .05 for good measure))
CoolerMaser GeminII with 2 case fans
evga 6600 LE video card (waiting for either the 8800 GT or a price reduction, I'm not too concerned about having the best graphics yet, I'm recovering my funds from the machine purchase )
all in an Antec 900 case

I am having problems breaking the 3.0 GHZ mark. I am currently running the multi-thread Prime 95 in the blended torture test at 2.9 GHZ. There seems to be no problems so far, but I'm going to let it run for the better part of 24 hours. While doing research, I came across a thread from these forums stating that the A2 revision of the evga boards have a problem overclocking quads (which I sadly have according to CPU z). While the creator of the thread could not overclock at all, as I stated, I can overclock at least to 2.9 GHZ. Core temps are good and are hovering around 50-55 C while on the torture test, but I doubt its the temperature. I would prefer not to RMA this board just for a few more hundred megahertz, however if I could squeeze some more out my manipulating the board/ram, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help.

EDIT: Left the room for a minute, return, see the bsod, &*&#! Unless someone has a magic answer I think I'll change the direction of this topic. Would it be worth it to rma the board, or wiser (and right now more preferable) to return to newegg, pay the restock fee, and order a Gigabyte ds3r. So that brings me to two questions:
1. How does the ds3r deal with overclocking quads?
2. I know arctic silver says that I should use their stuff to clean my CPU before applying more arctic silver again. Can I just use rubbing alcohol/some other household cleaner or should I shell out some more clams?
Once again, thank you.

 

[akhilles]

Depending on the restocking fee:

1) best course of action, return to newegg & get ds3r. P35 IS the best quad overclocker.

2) 2nd best is to rma to evga so they send you an A1. Bingo!

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As to cleaning TIM, use rubbing alcohol from walmart or drug's store. Some even use nail polisher. Wipe the base with coffee filters(best), or q-tips(not the best). Make sure there's nothing on the base.

Apply a thin line of AS5 horizontally on the chip. The notch is the bottom.

 

[MonsterDude]

RMA requested newegg, $30 restocking fee, but they gave me two weeks to use it, and supposedly the new bios (which was installed before the original post) is supposed to take care of the A2 problems, so I'll tinker around before deciding on the DS3r. Thank you.