P35-DS3L+ Q6600, I can't even get stable @ >3.2GHz

[bloodclox]

CPU: Q6600 G0, vcore 1.3250
RAM: 4x1 A-data EE
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211174)
HEATSINK: ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011)

What the heck am I doing wrong? I've been trying for days, on and off, to get a stable CPU overclock at a value thats greater than 3.2GHz. Right now im running at 3.32 unstable with tight ram timings, this is probably hurting my PC, so i guess thats just one more reason why i should be writing this. Oh as you can probably tell, I am a first time OC'er xD This is what I tried so far.

Loosened RAM timings, 5-5-5-18 and 5-5-5-14 and probably other timings.
Everything else i left on AUTO and DEFAULT, this might be the problem.

I upped the FSB little by little until i got a BSOD, then i increased voltage until i didn't see another BSOD. I did this until I couldn't start the comp at all (8xYYY always gave me BSOD so i kept it at (9xYYY). The max i got was 9x373 at 1.48750 or so voltage. ( thats only 3.357 GHz, i was expecting at least 3.4 or 3.5 STABLE with air cooling, this mobo, and my CPU's VCORE (1.32500) because of the threads of people posting their Q6600 OC ) I then increased that to 1.5 voltage so i could get a stable CPU. No luck in ORTHOS or PRIME95. First second i ran it i got an error =\. After that i kept the voltage at 1.5 and started to lower FSB until I could get a stable, and ended up making a MINOR performance increase from 3.2 🙁. What on earth is going on here?

As for the voltage settings, i was unsure and hesitant what to do, heres a screenshot, this might the problem as well. Can anyone tell me what I should put these settings at?
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5238/voltagegf6.jpg


Here are all the important settings in my BIOS:
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/3227/82842136vv5.jpg
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/8343/48961334eq0.jpg
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/6753/60417996fm8.jpg
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2737/49533271qu9.jpg


Thank you all very much in advance.

 

[Evilonigiri]

First double check the guide here on overclocking. It should solve most of your problems.

If that doesn't help, I would suspect that the ram is causing the problem, not the cpu. The voltage for the cpu is a tad high, since with 1.45v most Q6600 can go to 3.6Ghz.

Use Prime95 and do a blend test. If it fails, tweak your ram around. After it is stable for 8 hours, move on to small FFTs stress test.

 

[bloodclox]

First double check the guide here on overclocking. It should solve most of your problems.

If that doesn't help, I would suspect that the ram is causing the problem, not the cpu. The voltage for the cpu is a tad high, since with 1.45v most Q6600 can go to 3.6Ghz.

Use Prime95 and do a blend test. If it fails, tweak your ram around. After it is stable for 8 hours, move on to small FFTs stress test.

Thanks for the reply, I read that guide 3 times to make sure I got everything xD

Should I continue to loosen the ram timings even higher than 5-5-5-18? Or should I tweak the advanced timing controls? Here is a screenshot of my ram timings again, http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/3227/82842136vv5.jpg

My settings were 5-5-5-18 at the time i was testing for stability.

 

[benzene]

I notice from the new egg reviews that a fair few people report problems with this RAM with some not getting it to run at the rated speed and others not getting great overclock results. I'm inclined to believe that that is where your problem lies.

That being said, if you can get it stable at 3.2Ghz (I go for 8x400 so the RAM runs at its rated speed and 1:1) that's a sizeable overclock from stock and the only time you'll notice the benefits of anything higher are when you benchmark or calculate Pi or if you render or encode very large files.

Oh, and I would definately back the Vcore down a tad as well (I got a Q6600 stable at 3.2Ghz (8x400) at less than 1.4v) - what temps are you getting?

 

[bloodclox]

With 1.5 voltage the highest ive seen was 45 C

That was with ORTHOS on for about 1 hour.

Darn this ram!

Thanks for all the help, ill just get it stable at 3.2 then,

oh and what should i do for the other voltage settings? Heres a screenshot

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5238/voltagegf6.jpg

 

[Evilonigiri]

Thanks for the reply, I read that guide 3 times to make sure I got everything xD

Should I continue to loosen the ram timings even higher than 5-5-5-18? Or should I tweak the advanced timing controls? Here is a screenshot of my ram timings again, http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/3227/82842136vv5.jpg

My settings were 5-5-5-18 at the time i was testing for stability.

Set the FSB:ram to 1 (or 2 if 1 DNE). If you're going to OC below 3.6Ghz using 9x multiplier, you can leave the settings at 5-5-5-15.

Then just tweak the voltages until you pass 8hours of Prime95 blend test.

If you feel that you want to OC your ram more, decrease the timings, perhaps to 4-4-4-12 but this depends on what FSB you're using. Keep in mind tighter timings require more voltage.

 

[Evilonigiri]

With 1.5 voltage the highest ive seen was 45 C

That was with ORTHOS on for about 1 hour.

Darn this ram!

Thanks for all the help, ill just get it stable at 3.2 then,

oh and what should i do for the other voltage settings? Heres a screenshot

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5238/voltagegf6.jpg

Leave everything but the DDR2 and cpu VID to auto.

 

[jbj190]

Uhm, turn off advanced timing controls and keep them off until you've got your overclock stable. Also, why is Refresh to ACT Delay set to 0?

 

[bloodclox]

Thanks, ill do those suggestions when I get home from school.

"ACT Delay : 0" Is the default Optomized setting, so i just left it as that. Should I change it?

 

[bildo123]

Another problem is that it is a DS3L, which I have and I think maybe the FSB of 400Mhz that is needed to get the 3.6Ghz speed on the Q6600 might be to much for it to handle. I tried using a 8x400 to get 3.2Ghz on my E2180 and it had a hard time getting into windows and when I load was introduced it would crash, yet when I run it at 9x355, its the same 3.2Ghz but rock stable compared to before, I didn't change anything else other than the multi and the FSB. So I think this makes a conclusion that in the end the DS3L is a budget board that does overclock, but not as well as the $175+ mobo's. Not only that when running at 400FSB your TOTAL FSB rated will be 1600Mhz, the DS3L is only rated for 1333Mhz, probably with some amount over still stable though, it's a nice board for it's price, thats why I bought it.

 

[bloodclox]

Ahh wow thank you!