Q6600 OC on nForce 780i

[lastMagi]

Newbie overclock for the first time here, read up on a bunch of guides and followed the most promising and easy to read guide with these values:

Multiplier dropped to 8
All spread OFF
FSB Memory > LINKED @ 1:1 w/ 1600 QDR
CPU @ 1.4v, RAM @ 1.850v, FSB @ 1.4v, SPP/NB @ 1.4v, MCP/SB @ 1.525v, and HT @ 1.25v
Fans all at 100%

Saved w/ reboot didn't pass the boot test, and prompted me to change memory timings etc, or F1 to continue in safe mode anyways. Naturally I reset everything to their original values, and now I'm posting here.


SPECS:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i
EVGA GTX 670 FTW
G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB

 

[drums101]

If I were you I would leave as much stock as possible dont mess with anything you do not have too....basically you can start off with a vcore voltage and just bump up the fsb speed until it becomes unstable...I cant remember what kind of VID that chip has but I had this exact setup and I got it to 3.4ghz stable for like 2 years this way...like I said leave everything stock and just mess with the vcore and fsb speed right now....keep an eye on NB temps 780i tends to run very hot

 

[inzone]

If your overclocking to gain some performance increase in gaming then you can clock the gpu a bit and then do the cpu a bit. The single most difference maker in gaming is the video card and as long as you can keep the cpu from being a bottle neck then the gpu can give you a good increase in FPS. You have a nice new just released 660Ti and that should give you some nice FPS in your games.
Was your cpu a bottleneck?

 

[lastMagi]

If your overclocking to gain some performance increase in gaming then you can clock the gpu a bit and then do the cpu a bit. The single most difference maker in gaming is the video card and as long as you can keep the cpu from being a bottle neck then the gpu can give you a good increase in FPS. You have a nice new just released 660Ti and that should give you some nice FPS in your games.
Was your cpu a bottleneck?

Yeah, i'm certain my CPU is a major bottleneck for my GTX 670. From what I've seen from other people that at least have an i5 complementing their 670, i should expect 60+ FPS in Guild Wars 2 on high settings. I average around 20FPS, with very little difference on medium settings (around 28FPS avg). Honestly, the problem could also be that the drivers just aren't at the level they need to be right now for optimized performance, but either way bumping my old Q6600 from 2.4 to 3.2ghz just seems like a no-brainer for some extra performance.

If I were you I would leave as much stock as possible dont mess with anything you do not have too....basically you can start off with a vcore voltage and just bump up the fsb speed until it becomes unstable...I cant remember what kind of VID that chip has but I had this exact setup and I got it to 3.4ghz stable for like 2 years this way...like I said leave everything stock and just mess with the vcore and fsb speed right now....keep an eye on NB temps 780i tends to run very hot

Drums I will take your advice and give that a shot. So you left everything stock and only modified the vcore/fsb? That's quite contrary to pretty much every guide I've seen thus far. But as I mentioned this is my first attempt at any sort of overclock, so I appreciate the advice.
So to be clear, all I should have to do is modify 2 values in the BIOS? Vcore and FSB? I should leave memory on auto and CPU multiplier at 9?

 

[drums101]

leave the multiplier high there is no sense in dropping it...that is really only for insanely higher clocks but in this situation that just means more fsb needed to be pumped out by the northbridge...most of the settings they have you set your other settings to is very close if not the same as stock levels...so in my mind leave it where it is unless you are trying to win an overclocking competition or something...thats just one more thing to mess up.

 

[rubix_1011]

You can simply change your FSB from 266 to 333 and instantly have 3.0ghz without any other changes. If you go higher, you'll need to bump vcore and need to know what your RAM is running at.

 

[drums101]

^^that is called a quick and dirty oc lol...love it! that was exactly what I was trying to get him to do

 

[nforce4max]

Try to keep the volts to the most minimum while still being stable to keep the power consumption down. Keep and eye on the SPP and MCP temps. Once they get to hot performance suffers and stability becomes a problem. For 65nm quads you want to make sure the power vrm phases for the cpu isn't getting to hot as I have seen to many boards fail over the years. When the machine is on and under full load the only ways of figuring the power vrm temps is either with the thermal probe, infra red thermometer, or the finger method. The two phases at the top of the board seem to be the hottest to measure there.

I got the XFX version and the board is 90% of the work when overclocking. I got my Q8200 all the way up to 3.275ghz so far on only 1.168v after vdroop


EDIT: Leave the ram and fsb clocks unlinked so the memory controller doesn't immediately become an issue while keeping the ram in spec when pushing for higher fsb clocks. If you chipset temps are high change out the crappy stock fan for any high end 60mm fan. Zip ties and tap are the only easy ways to strap it onto the NB cooler.

 

[lastMagi]

You can simply change your FSB from 266 to 333 and instantly have 3.0ghz without any other changes. If you go higher, you'll need to bump vcore and need to know what your RAM is running at.

Just finished attempting this, with no success.

Bumped the FSB to 1333, using linked memory which brought that up to 997mhz from 800mhz. This is well within the operating range of the RAM I use, so I'm not sure what went wrong. When I F10 save and reboot, following the power up self test I get an error saying "Entering safe mode, please adjust CPU or memory timing settings." There is an option to F1 to continue to boot, but something has to be wrong here.

 

[nforce4max]

Ignoring advice isn't a good idea.

 

[lastMagi]

Ignoring advice isn't a good idea.

I wasn't ignoring anyone's advice.
I had read yours over a few times, and all I was able to get from is was not to let the CPU or board get too hot, and use unlinked for fsb/ram. Now, since I'm not very experienced with this, I decided to try Rubix's suggestion first, as it was the most simple and only needed 1 setting changed. This means linked fsb/mem. If i was going to do unlinked, I would guess to put it at 1000mhz as that's roughly what it goes to under "auto" settings, but this is only a guess on my part. I assume if I choose to use unlinked fsb/mem as you suggested, I would also have to edit the voltages or timings, which I know very little about.

 

[drums101]

if you choose unlinked fsb all that means is that the RAM frequency doesnt go up as the FSB goes up...so it allows you to keep the ram at stock speeds while you push the cpu...then once you are done with that and its stable you can try bumping the ram up....it just isolates what you are changing to as little variables as possible. does that make sense? you basically want to only change one thing at a time so that if it doesnt work you know what to change back and mess with

 

[lastMagi]

if you choose unlinked fsb all that means is that the RAM frequency doesnt go up as the FSB goes up...so it allows you to keep the ram at stock speeds while you push the cpu...then once you are done with that and its stable you can try bumping the ram up....it just isolates what you are changing to as little variables as possible. does that make sense? you basically want to only change one thing at a time so that if it doesnt work you know what to change back and mess with

Alright, that makes sense. I was under the assumption that it was necessary to increase the RAM as well, to account for the increased CPU speed. I'd thought "unlinked" was meant for experienced fine-tuning, and "linked" would allow me to just alter the FSB and have everything else brought to necessary values automatically.

 

[drums101]

nope increasing your ram is not necessary most people just do it to get more performance....you will eventually but not right away...the goal with overclocking it to change one thing at a time...that way if something goes wrong you know right away what it is....it makes overclocking be a much longer process but it will pay off in the end when you are not sitting there scratching your head wondering what the hell is wrong