Overclocking Q6700, How-to/Worth it?

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After skimming through a few posts on overclocking a Q6700 I had a few questions of my own as to whether or not it would be benefical to attempt, or whether it's even possible at all with my current set up.

Windows Vista
Intel Core2Quad Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
4GB DDR3
GTX 260
 
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After skimming through a few posts on overclocking a Q6700 I had a few questions of my own as to whether or not it would be benefical to attempt, or whether it's even possible at all with my current set up.

Windows Vista
Intel Core2Quad Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
4GB DDR3
GTX 260

New to overclocking as a whole, never really attempted it before. At the moment I know my graphics card is a tad out-dated, but without going out and upgrading any components I was wondering whether or not it would be beneficial to try overclocking to boost performance in general tasks and gaming?
 
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you will get some preformance out of it... but with my old p4, even when i overclocked it as high as it could go, it wasnt the best... but yours is a quad.. and im sure you could get it over 3GHz, at the same time it would be benifical to upgrade
seeing that your new to overclocking, i would suggest trying to overclock in BIOS
so go into your BIOS settings, and look for somthing like "Frequency control" change it from auto to manual, and raise the cpu clock up

i wouldnt suggest going up 1 each time coz you'll go crazy lol... try going up by 30's until you start blue screening, then go down until the blue screens go away

last note the optimal temp for this processor is 62C, but try not to exeed 70C... and if you can 62 lol
 
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Theres a overclocking guide thats stickied that explains it better. Also doing and OC on that CPU will be quite good, from what I recall most people were getting around 3.6ghz OCs from that type of CPU.

And you will notice a significant difference in speed in CPU heavy tasks. I just recomend picking up a good aftermarket heatsink before you do this.

Only reason why i would this wouldn't be possible is if your computer is pre-built and has the bios more tightly locked down.
 
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I am running the Q6600 at 3.4ghz (stock is 2.4). As jsc noted, motherboard is important, as is RAM and rated speed. Depending on your DDR3 speed and type, that may limit your overclocking ability. Depends also on your northbridge and how the FSB handles your multiplier and RAM clocks...some are always linked, some have the ability to unlink (as mine does, 790i).
 
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I built this computer quite some time ago, and to be completely honest I forget what the hardware inside is. I'll have to disassemble and have a quick look. In the meantime, here is the dxdiag report.

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 6.0
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
System Model: 132-CK-NF79
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
Memory: 4094MB RAM
Display: GTX 260
Aftermarket Cooler: Noctua (unsure which model)

NOTE: Disregard the other thread.. accidently made a duplicate.
 
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I have almost the identical CPU, GPU and MB you do...I have the Q6600 and 790i FTW and GTX 260.

Do you know your RAM speed? You also should be able to bump the CPU multiplier and leave the RAM unlocked to the FSB and leave it as stock...I know I can on my MB.
 
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What setup are u running? I'm using a Gigabyte e43-ud3l with G.skill rip jaw ddr3 1600mhz and I can only get my Q6600 to be stable at 3.0ghz.
 
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Ideally i'm trying to get a setup ready for BF3 that will be able to give me a good framerate at high settings. I can't do it with my current set up (thought over-clocking might help, but it seems it only would marginally). Was just going to pick up a new graphics card and overclock my cpu a little bit. Think that would be enough?
 
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I do believe that this is your motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188025

Every single review I've read indicates that BF3 is largely a GPU-limited game. BF3 doesn't care what CPU you've got, so long as it's a quad-core clocked somewhere around 3.0GHz.

The GTX 260 might be able to handle 1680x1050 on medium, but you'd probably have to tweak a few things down to low to insure you MinFPS never/rarely dropped below 30FPS.

An HD 6870 or a GTX 560 Ti would be able to handle 1920x1080 on high no problem. Whether or not you feel that it's worth the $$$ is up to you.

But yeah, the CPU is fine, the CPU should overclock to 3.0 crazy easy, just make sure you know what you're doing before you start changing values in the old bios.

Guide: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647&highlight=q6600+overclock+guide

Another Guide: http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/497993-newbie-guide-overclocking-updated-core-2-a.html#post6093855

- Nim
 
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Thanks for the suggestion, that's actually a very directed response for what I was looking for. I think I still need to overclock my CPU a little bit to get the best performance, temperature isn't really an issue, my tower sits in a relatively cool position and I have an aftermarket cooler as well. I've been thinking about the GTX 560TI, the only question I have is when the optimal time to get it would be. Do you think it's worth waiting until Christmas for a good deal on it? Realistically it would probably be a savings of maybe $30, which isn't huge, but a deal is still a deal regardless. Just wanted to get a sense as to when the best time (if any) to purchase hardware is.

Thanks again.
 
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This card is currently price over $500 at Newegg. Buying cutting-edge hardware almost always involves paying a premium price, sort of like buying a 2012 vehicle today, right off the showroom floor. Newegg does have a price alert option where you can enter the price you want to pay. No guarantee you will get a response before Christmas though. I spent some months overclocking a cheap AMD 620 quad core. My conclusions are that it mainly produces more heat and more noise for a few extra fps. My son used to design and test computer chips. He tells me that even though the chip is kept cool, the life will be definitely shortened when you go above the default settings. They prove it in simulated testing. Also the cost of extra cooling equipment could be used to buy a cpu that achieves the higher performance without overclocking ... your decision.
 
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