Need help overclocking Q6600/Rampage Formula

[PCnut]

I will have a Rampage formula with 2x2gb of G skill 1066 Ram and a Q6600 that I will be cooling with a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 . I want to over clock this to around 3.2 to 3.6 ghz can someone tell me what I need my settings to be at. I know all boards and cpu’s are different but this would give me somewhere to start with.

 

[Andrius]

Read this : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/240001-11-howto-overclock-quads-duals-guide

Post the VID for your chip.
At FSB 400MHz, FSB:RAM Ratio should be 3:4 for 1066MHz RAM.

In general :
for a stable 3.2GHz you need somewhere from 1.30V to 1.40V Vcore
for a stable 3.6GHz you need somewhere from 1.40V to 1.50V Vcore
since every chip is different YMMV.

 

[shadowthor]

But if you get a really good VID like 1.20, you don't need 1.40 to 1.50 vcore for 3.6ghz, you could get by with 1.35 or less if i remember correctly.

 

[Evilonigiri]

1.3125 for a 1.200VID Q6600 😉

 

[Andrius]

Yes, but a poor VID chip like my 1.30V takes a lot more.
I know it wasn't stable at 3.6GHz and at 1.40V.
I haven't had the chance to test further as this is the PC I do work with.

Lupiron said it should need over 1.45V in CPU-Z under load.

 

[pcgamer12]

YMMV? Getting a low VID is a godsend.

 

[shadowthor]

I think intel has gotten wind that we like lower VIDs, it seems a good lot of cpus lately have higher VID.

 

[Andrius]

YMMV == Your mileage may vary.
A low VID is indeed nice, but getting it is a bit of a lottery.

I posted "general" guidelines for most chips. The minimal stable voltage procedure is described in the guide.

The jump from 3.3GHz to 3.6GHz would be quite large for me (3.3GHz = 9x367MHz works Prime95 stable at 1.29750V).

 

[PCnut]

My VID is 1.325 so i know this is not good. I can not get this chip to go over 2.7 at 300 MHZ no matter what i do. I am going to have to study some more and keep trying. I know that Q6600 is not as easy to over clock as the E8400 i had before. I was able to 4 ghz with this one and not do any thing to it and this was on air with temps staying around 55. but the Q6600 dose do my media encoding faster so this is what i wanted but hoped to be able to over clock it leve with the Q9450. well maybe in time i will be able to do this.

 

[Lupiron]

You can get it there. 1.45 should be pretty close.

--Lupi

 

[PCnut]

Lupiron what motherboard are you using?? and what memory?? I really want to get to this or maybe a little below. I was able to over clock the e8400 very easy so i know it is not my board or memory...
do you have your cpu ratio set yourself or did you leave it at auto?? and the FSB strap to north bridge did you leave this at auto or set it your self??

 

[Lupiron]

Thats on a Maximus formula, my tester board with very little drop and droop so I get true voltage.

That had some mean memory that doesnt like to work, ocx 4-4-3-15 stuff.

I set everything manually, because all sorts of just have been know to happen if you dont. For instance, if my CPU ratio wasnt manually set to even the default 9, it always reverted my memory and FSB to auto.

The FSB to NB divider just makes it re calculate the final speed for your memory, and can help when it miscalculates the auto setting. Also, lower strap to NB results in better performance Via TRDs data sends.

An easy test to see if you need to adjust the strap is use the f8 to get boot menu, then select anything. If the screen instantly fades away, you are good. if it slugishly fades, you should change the strap to 333, or 400 depending on what one stops it from acting slugish when you select a boot option.

I just wanted to show you that it's not the chip! I have tested VIDs extensively! All got to 3.6 stable.

--Lupi

 

[PCnut]

Lupiron

I have been playing with this chip the past few days and the best i have been able to do is 3ghz at 333 fsb. this is with 1.48 volts. Temps at idle are a little below 40 and durning stress test stay between 57 and 60. But i have another Q6600 in a Asus PK5C for my daughter. this is a small cheap case with cheap memory and not good cooling. This chip i can get to run at 3ghz with out changing voltage and the VID on this chiop is below 1.2 i can not remember now and do not have access to this computer as she is playing neverwinter nights. i did not play with this chip too much on her computer as it dose not have good cooling and just stock cooler. it is also in a warm room so it idles at over 40 but during stress test did not go above 63 so i think with good coooling like i have in my pc i can over clock this chip like i want to do. So i think i go a chip that will not overclock very easy or very far. I know it is not this board my rampage formula as i had a e8400 and could go to 3.6ghz and not touch voltage and chip did not get hot. 50 during prime test for 24 hours and no problems. Any ideas other than this let me know and thank you for the help i will let you know what happens.

 

[PCnut]

Changed out the Q6600 and i am now running at 3.2 ghz with no voltage increase and temps at 45 or below during stress testing. going to try and take it to 3.4 to 3.6 and see what happens now.

 

[Lupiron]

Hmm, I dunno, something else is up. All chips I have had reached 3.6 with little or no fuss at all. No Joke!

BTW, Auto voltage settings normally OVER volt your gear. So "auto" isnt just factory. It slides as you OC. You just dont know it!

Run Core Temp, List VID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--Lupi

 

[PCnut]

my VID is 1.325 on this chip i could not hget to over clock.

 

[Lupiron]

That board is very similar to mine. How odd that you can't get it to OC with that chip. If you want, you can take Bios shots of your current settings when you get the chance, with that processor, and I can take a peek to see if anything is going on in there.

You did disable static read control and transaction booster? Those can sometimes cause no boots, and post freezes.

Load Line Calibration needs to be enabled...

Lots of things!

--Lupi

 

[shadowthor]

I would make sure the bios is the latest with the rampage. For the rampage, I wouldn't have LLC enabled, as it is known to create issues like freezing, there is a bios bug. More info: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=189507

 

[PCnut]

Lupiron I would send you screen shoots but i have put this chip in my daughters computer. On a P5KC board that i am not going to overclock. and put her Q6600 in the rampage formula board and can overclock it quite easy. to 3.6. Running it at 3.2 right now at 1.3 volts and everything good on it. voltage is from hardware monitor and under prime test it dose not get above 53. At 3.6 it did not get above 59 so i am happy now. but thank you for all your help.

 

[Lupiron]

What's the VID of the new chip?

--Lupi

 

[new2toms]

Lupiron,
Do you always lap your cpu and heat sink?

 

[PCnut]

the VID is 1.325 also. and it is overclocking with no problems. dont know what was wrong with other chip. but heat was not the issure just could not get it to be stable at anything above 3.0 unless i had 1.48 volts or more on it.

 

[Lupiron]

You are right there. That is odd. I'd love to get my paws on a stubborn one! So far, every single one I had, and thats like 15 total, have OC'd very predictable like from VID alone. When I see the VID, I set the VCore that VID needs, and it works just fine. Not a single tough chip.

Tough mother boards, like 780is and junk. Weird interference from the low level. Unlike with intel, where it's always pull up interference.

--Lupi

 

[shadowthor]

It is odd how it doesn't overclock above 3.0 . I wonder if it was a B3?

 

[iluvgillgill]

now all new Q6600 is VID 1.325. so that why i dont recommend telling my friend buying a Q6600 now. maybe wait for the next batch??