Overclocking my Intel QX6800 Extreme, thoughts?

[Fletch206]

I'm not a computer whiz and will have to do some extensive reading on how to overclock my processor but I've been intrigued because my friend told me that this "Extreme" chip can easily be overclocked. I did some brief looking around and saw that most review sites were able to get it to around 3.6GHZ as opposed to the 2.93GHZ stock. Can anyone point me in the right direction or leave some helpful advice/tips/warnings? Thanks in advance.

This computer was custom built 2 years ago and performs really well but there are some weaknesses (only 500W power supply, the memory is 400 frequency, the mobo isn't great)

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 Processor
Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
4Gigs Kingston DDR2 400 Freq memory
9800GTX+ Foxconn Video Card
750G Samsung HD
500W power supply

 

[strangestranger]

Pop into the cpu section and read the stickies. They will give you some good info.

 

[roofus]

I have my doubts that your board facilitates much in the way of overclocking. The CPU is capable of course (how capable who knows) but most Intel branded boards are designed for OEM's and stable solutions. That pretty much equates to not many BIOS options to play with.

 

[Fletch206]

I'm considering bumping the multiplier speed to 3.19 or 3.45, the processor voltage is currently at 1.4v... any experts think it should be higher?

 

[jonpaul37]

if it helps, my Q6600 is essentially the same thing as the QX6800 (aside from the higher stock speed and unlocked multiplier on the QX6800) and i have my Q6600 @ 3.6 with 400-FSB, 9x multi and 1.39 voltage, stable 100% for 2 months now.

 

[Fletch206]

Ok so I set the multiplier speed to 3.45GHZ just so I could run a stability test and now my computer freezes before I can even get in to BIOS... I think I'm going to puke

 

[Fletch206]

That's crazy JonPaul... do you have an advanced cooling method on your machine?

 

[jonpaul37]

Not really, i have the sunbeam silent storm case with the cool attachment for an extra case fan in the middle of the case that helps. My heatsink/fan for the CPU itself is the xigmatek HDT s1283. Temps never go above 50*c on the setup i posted above...