PC overclocking question

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dougal

dougal

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I have this PC with the following spec:

Q6600 Core 2 Quad @ 2.4Ghz
Asus motherboard
4GB DDR2
STANDARD CPU cooler
750 watts PSU

Decided to successfully over clock it to a touch over 3Ghz and it seems so far to be running fine.

What I did was disabled all the CPU options in the bios and then went in the over clocking menu and set the FSB from 266 to 335 (or something) with a multiplier of 9 to achieve 3Ghz.

I did not mess with voltages and that.

Am I risking damaging the CPU or causing overheating ? Is there a way to test ?

I've been using it normally for over an hour and no issues.

I heard the Q6600 are good for (overclocking) 3Ghz, even with stock CPU cooler.
 
hi there is always risks in overclocking

but as long as there is good cooling and the voltage is not too high you should be ok

but cooler could be upgraded somthing like this is great

http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic...o-rev-2-socket-775-1156-1155-1366-ac-frz-7pr2

or this with a nice fan

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ther...t-pipe-heat-sink-fan-intel-775-1155-1156-1366

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program can test it run that

and Prime95 or OCCT
 
johnim said:
hi there is always risks in overclocking

but as long as there is good cooling and the voltage is not too high you should be ok

what cooling you got on her?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program can test it run that

and Prime95 or OCCT
Click to expand...

Hi, the cooling is pretty standard.

Stock intel CPU fan/heat sink
2 case fans
Cooler master Elite case

I will def try those programs you recommend to test it.

---------- Post added at 19:46 ---------- Previous post was at 19:45 ----------

Voltage is standard. I did not put it up.
 
You have not changed the voltage, then you are almost 100% safe as long as ypu keep those temps down.
Run Prime95 and check the temps, if the cpmputer is stable after a cuple of houers running that you got a stabel system.

I have ben running my xp2500 as a 3200 and above since it was released (many years ago) with higher voltage and everything, still going strong :-)

Some ppl say you will shorten the lifespan of a cpu when you overclock it, you might. But if you aint planing on using the cpu for 15-20 years dont worry.
 
Just tried Prime95 ... After about 4 minutes it blue screened and restarted
 
dougal said:
Just tried Prime95 ... After about 4 minutes it blue screened and restarted
Click to expand...

Then your system is not stable.
To find out where the problem is lower the multiplier but keep the fsb as it is, if its stable after that your cpu is giving you the error.
If it keeps crashing increase the multiplier and lower the fsb or change the divider to make the memory go at a lower mhz.

You can also increase the voltage a bit when you find out what is holding you back.
 
i find the best results from my q6600 to be 8x multiple running on a fsb of 400mhz. (aka as 1600Mhz fsb)

(but i am using 800mhz ram) so i try to balance everything out as close to the max speed i can oc my ram too and be stable. (with this ram its 800 mhz,

I like to use occt as a test for it. running that for an hour usually lets me tell whats wrong where..
it makes little graphs. and stops when theres an error
So you can go look at the pictures it made and see that theres a voltage shortage here.. or a pwm is over heating there.. and then chose to adjust your settings/re-position fans as you see fit.

some of your cpu's settings should be left on though..
It should be able to power down if it over hears n stuff, this will halp keep your cpu healthy for longer.

once the system is stable according to occt. i like to use pc benchmark utilities to compare the before and after.
and also i test out 3d benchmark tools too. although i never expect to achive much of a improvment over base tests on those. as the main bulk of overclocking is targeted around processing and generally functions of the system rather than 3d rendering which would be more of a GPU over clock..

any way as i said i think 400mhz running on a 8x multiple is the best place to be for a balance of speed and stability.

OCCT
Pc mark vantage
and
3d mark vantage.
are the 3 main programs i use when i over clock. the 1st tells me if its stable and if its not why it isnt.
the second gives me a nice benchmark at stock settings that i then try to improve on.
and the 3rd is just bells n whistles so i feel epic..

A 4th program that i havent mentioned yet "although its always ruinning on my system.
is lavasyst's everest.
handy lil program with monitoring tools and a few benchmark/burn in tests

and then CPU ID
just to confirm that all the things are running at the speed you think they are..

so i guess thats what i recomend.
set it up as a 3.2 (start with a 9x multiple with a lower fsb. and get it stable.
Then increase the FSB but lower the multiple keeping it around the 3.2 mark. and get that stable.

When you get to the point where your running at 400mhz 3.2 8x stable. you can try and go for 9x..
But id probably reccomend better cooling if your gonna try going much above 3.2.

Oh and try to keep your ram running at its default mhs using the 1:2 ratios n stuff..
Only make the ram faster after the cpu and board are running stable at the speed(s) you set them to and are happy with.

and remember faster cpu and slower fsb wont always work out faster than a slower cpu with a faster fsb. (reverse can also be said)
 
ShambleS1980 said:
i find the best results from my q6600 to be 8x multiple running on a fsb of 400mhz. (aka as 1600Mhz fsb)

(but i am using 800mhz ram) so i try to balance everything out as close to the max speed i can oc my ram too and be stable. (with this ram its 800 mhz,

I like to use occt as a test for it. running that for an hour usually lets me tell whats wrong where..
it makes little graphs. and stops when theres an error
So you can go look at the pictures it made and see that theres a voltage shortage here.. or a pwm is over heating there.. and then chose to adjust your settings/re-position fans as you see fit.

some of your cpu's settings should be left on though..
It should be able to power down if it over hears n stuff, this will halp keep your cpu healthy for longer.

once the system is stable according to occt. i like to use pc benchmark utilities to compare the before and after.
and also i test out 3d benchmark tools too. although i never expect to achive much of a improvment over base tests on those. as the main bulk of overclocking is targeted around processing and generally functions of the system rather than 3d rendering which would be more of a GPU over clock..

any way as i said i think 400mhz running on a 8x multiple is the best place to be for a balance of speed and stability.

OCCT
Pc mark vantage
and
3d mark vantage.
are the 3 main programs i use when i over clock. the 1st tells me if its stable and if its not why it isnt.
the second gives me a nice benchmark at stock settings that i then try to improve on.
and the 3rd is just bells n whistles so i feel epic..

A 4th program that i havent mentioned yet "although its always ruinning on my system.
is lavasyst's everest.
handy lil program with monitoring tools and a few benchmark/burn in tests

and then CPU ID
just to confirm that all the things are running at the speed you think they are..

so i guess thats what i recomend.
set it up as a 3.2 (start with a 9x multiple with a lower fsb. and get it stable.
Then increase the FSB but lower the multiple keeping it around the 3.2 mark. and get that stable.

When you get to the point where your running at 400mhz 3.2 8x stable. you can try and go for 9x..
But id probably reccomend better cooling if your gonna try going much above 3.2.

Oh and try to keep your ram running at its default mhs using the 1:2 ratios n stuff..
Only make the ram faster after the cpu and board are running stable at the speed(s) you set them to and are happy with.

and remember faster cpu and slower fsb wont always work out faster than a slower cpu with a faster fsb. (reverse can also be said)
Click to expand...

Great tutorial there :))) ill check it out tomorrow. I'm also gonna buy a better CPU fan/heat sink as I'm sure the stock intel one is crap unless I keep everything standard

Was thinking if the cooler master hyper tx 3. It seems to be very good and only 30 euros.
 
Buy a decent cooler and some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste, then make sure you have at least DDR2 667 RAM (not the 533 stuff). Set the FSB to 333 (so it's 1333 instead of 1066), then adjust the multiplier to 9. That should be all you need to do with a G0 stepping Q6600 to hit 3GHz and have it run stable :thumbsup:.

What Asus motherboard are you using? You don't want to risk blowing a VRM or two if it's a cheap board with a low power phase count (and no cooling) ;).
 
dougal said:
Quick question: I have a credit note at scan computers for 27 euros.

How does this cooler look for my over clocked setup ?

http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/silverstone-sst-ar01-argon-multi-cpu-cooler.html

Seems good but need a second opinion before I get it.
Click to expand...

It looks quite large, has copper heat-pipes and a good size fan :). If it can cool the volcanic LGA 1366 i7 processors then i think it'll be fine for an oc'd Q6600... I say go for it :thumbsup:. Just remember to apply some good thermal paste like Arctic MX-4 or similar (it might come with some generic goo, but i'm not sure how good it will be?).
 
I ended up buying a CoolerMaster Hyper TX3.

It's much better but Prime95 crashed after about 5 mins with some cores at 75 degrees.

Need to tune the settings in bios a bit I guess
 
dougal said:
I ended up buying a CoolerMaster Hyper TX3.

It's much better but Prime95 crashed after about 5 mins with some cores at 75 degrees.

Need to tune the settings in bios a bit I guess
Click to expand...

You shouldn't be hitting 75C with a TX3 (are you using single or dual fans with it?)... Don't forget Prime95 pushes your PC beyond the boundaries of any game or other software, it's a real stress test and i doubt you'll hit those temps with normal every day usage. Have you evenly applied some decent thermal compound (not too thick or thin)? It can make a world of difference.

My old Q6600 (running at 3GHz) was cooled using a cheap old Arctic Freezer 7 Pro and it never went above 66C under full load... Something must be wrong with your setup :unsure:. How much variation is there between the individual core temps?
 
I used the thermal paste that came with the cooler. The whole (small) tube. Applied it to the heat sink not CPU as per instructions

While installing it I made a mistake and the heat sink lifted off the CPU slightly. I just put it back on again without cleaning the fresh thermal paste and re applying.
 
dougal said:
I used the thermal paste that came with the cooler. The whole (small) tube. Applied it to the heat sink not CPU as per instructions

While installing it I made a mistake and the heat sink lifted off the CPU slightly. I just put it back on again without cleaning the fresh thermal paste and re applying.
Click to expand...

You could have small air pockets or an uneven spread if you did that... You only need to cover the CPU with a thin layer and make sure the cooler is clamped down nicely on all four corners too :thumbsup:.
 
Here you can see different metods on how to do it and what it will look like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

Edit: Remember that the whole heatspreader does not need to be coverd, the core under the heatspread (ppl used to crush their cores on the early cpu´s so this is just a protection bit) is way smaler then the big chunk they place ontop of it. see here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXs0I5kuoX4

Edit2: In the old days i used to remove the heatspread just to gain better connection between the cooler and the core to gain those last mhz i needed to push my system further up in the 3d mark score board
 
Q6600 is a good over clocker, you should be able to get that to 3.2GHz perfectly stable with a stock cooler and some decent thermal paste.

The way I'd do it if you have a motherboard capable is limit the voltage to a specified amount and push up the FSB (leave the multiplier as is). That way is usually pretty safe since it can't take in more voltage than you specify and voltage = heat.

You need to find the sweet spot between stability and temperature. Sadly I don't recall the voltage and FSB settings but increase the voltage 1 step up from stock only at a time as you set the FSB to whatever equates to the 3.2GHz clock speed. Keep pushinf teh voltage up in steps until it boots at 3.2GHz without freaking out. Test and make sure the system doesn't hang under stress, if it does push the voltage up 1 more step.

If you can mod the FSB so the CPU operates at 3.2GHz and temps are below 48C idle, while the voltage is the lowest it can be set without the system crashing, you've found the sweet spot. Temps may vary a little however depending on your setup and cooler / thermal paste. There's no need to touch the multiplier this way.


A q6600 done properly shouldn't idle above 50C and wont exceed 60C when working full load. Anything approaching 70C+ and you have a problem. The voltage is the first thing I'd be looking at.

Also, don't use too much thermal paste. As someone who has been building PCs professionally since the single core Athlon days (roughly 12 years now), I can say that an amount the size of a small garden pea in the center of the CPU is usually enough, too much is usually counter-productive and makes things hotter. I'd never use a full (even a full small) tube on 1 application.
 
Last edited:
@Kawazu

Do I REALLY need to remove the heat spreader ? Looks risky is all I mean.

Or would it be enough if I remove the heat sink again, clean the heat sink and CPU / spreader and only apply a small amount ("pea sized") in the middle of the CPU / Spreader ?

I'd like to get this right first time now.
 
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