Overclocking Failures Q6600

Dylan_35

Reputable
Jan 21, 2016
116
6
4,695
I have a Q6600 cooled by a Hyper 212 EVO on the Asus P5W DH Deluxe. All of which should help this chip overclock quite a bit. Right? Well, when I tried a small 3 GHz overclock, it would not boot into windows. It would post, but windows would not load. I then switched to auto-overclocking to a 30% overclock (3.11 GHz). That loaded into windows, and I ran apps and that sort of thing at an idle of ~34, and when I did a stress test it got up to ~56. But then It just blue screened, and it was something like "IRQL LESS OR NOT EQUAL". Why is this happening, and what can I do to fix it.
 
Solution
I'm trying to recall the overclocking methods used on these, but is there a chance that you're trying overclock you memory or the FSB way beyond the limits, even though the CPU isn't close to the limits yet?

Try shifting the memory ratio's and FSB ratios around so you're actually UNDERclocking those - not ideal in the long term, but at least that'll allow you to work out where the limits are on the CPU.

Dylan_35

Reputable
Jan 21, 2016
116
6
4,695


For the auto, I don't know what it was set at, but I believe when I did it manually to 3.00 at 1.275. I also currently have it stable at 2.88 GHz with a voltage of 1.235
 


95% of the time the stock voltage is enough to get too 3ghz maybe try to give it a very small bump and see what happens.
 

Dylan_35

Reputable
Jan 21, 2016
116
6
4,695


I tried 3.5 ~1.4, and It would not boot into windows.
 
Well don't go higher on the voltage. That would likely give temps much too high under load with an air cooler. Maybe start from the bottom and work your way up +.1GHz at a time, and only increasing voltage after you find the frequency limit of stock/default voltage.
 

Dylan_35

Reputable
Jan 21, 2016
116
6
4,695


As I said, temperatures are not really a problem. I will try doing that.
 

bahnstormer

Honorable
Jan 5, 2015
47
0
10,560
where are you checking temps?

Different air coolinq (Zalman 9700) and motherboard (Asus P5Q Pro), but I was having similar issues on my old C2Q6600.... and I found that the Northbridge and some surrounding components were overheating.... some extra "active cooling" (initially just a huge desk fan pumping into the case) confirmed that it was more stable with that.... then a heat gun to pinpoint where the heat issue was: Northbridge and the (~8?) small flat chips between the Northbridge and the CPU...

I ended up getting a one of those little clip-on coolers from Asus (clips onto the extra Northbridge heat-piped heatsink next to the CPU) and what really made the difference were little copper finned heatsinks on top of each of the little chips...

I'm stripping the case down next week (eventually upgrading!), so I'll grab some photo's if you're still having issues....
 

Dylan_35

Reputable
Jan 21, 2016
116
6
4,695


I am checking temps through a program called RealTemp. I tried putting a fan on top of the northbridge, but that did absolutely nothing.
 

Dylan_35

Reputable
Jan 21, 2016
116
6
4,695


At 2.9 GHz, the system will not boot into windows, same with 3.0, even after increasing the voltage. Once I go beyond that, the system will not post. What could be causing these issues?
 

bahnstormer

Honorable
Jan 5, 2015
47
0
10,560
I'm trying to recall the overclocking methods used on these, but is there a chance that you're trying overclock you memory or the FSB way beyond the limits, even though the CPU isn't close to the limits yet?

Try shifting the memory ratio's and FSB ratios around so you're actually UNDERclocking those - not ideal in the long term, but at least that'll allow you to work out where the limits are on the CPU.
 
Solution