Hey all, thankyou for taking interest in my thread, I am looking for some general help and tips on how to overclock my Q6600 to 3.8GHz or higher for benching at a lower voltage.

I will start by listing my hardware:

Gigabyte X38-DS5 DDR2 Motherboard

8 GB OCZ Reaper @ 1035MHz 5-5-5-15 (2.35v)

OCZ GameXstream 700w PSU

250GB, 320GB Seagate Hard Drives

Q6600 @ 3.72GHz 1.325 VID (1.7v) LOL! Temps: 34,34,35,36! - Weird!

ATI Radeon 3870X2 @ stock

Sound card etc.

Ok, what I am obviously concerned about is my crazy voltage on the CPU (1.7v) and the fact that my temps are so low! I have left all other voltage settings on Normal as they don't seem to make any effect when using lower voltage, but I will list the options in my BIOS available and what I have them on:

CPU Voltage: 1.7v Frequency= 3.72GHz 9.0x Multiplier

FSB= 414MHz 9.0x

PCI-E Frequency: Auto

C.I.A.2: Disabled

Performance Enhance: Standard

RAM: 1035 5-5-5-15 2.35v - (voltage too high) - My motherboard has a habbit of automatically lowering the default voltage to 1.8v from 2.2v

Advanced RAM timings: Auto

DDR2 Voltage: 2.35v

PCI-E Voltage: Normal

FSB Overvoltage: Normal

MCH Overvoltage conrol: Normal

MCH Referance voltage: Normal

DDR Referance voltage: Normal

DDR2 Termination: Normal

Load Line Calibration: Enabled!

VID: 1.325V

Idle temps: 33-37c on all 4 cores.

- These are all the BIOS settings I have for tweaking etc, there may be an advanced menu? But I would really like some help at getting my CPU to 3.8GHz+ at a much lower voltage if I can, or is it just a bad CPU? I have not Orthosed the CPU at these settings yet but it seems to be stable in Games and Benchmarks etc, thankyou for your help! - Alex.

Anyone? I am using voltages higher than that of what a B3 requires lol, is it my board? Or am I just not doing it right Thanks.

Sounds that you are too right.LOL.
Sound damn nice to have those temps at such high voltage.
I might left out something but everything seems good.

Humm, so am I okay too but high voltages through the chip as long as I have good temps? Thanks.

Sounds wierd
Which software you are using to ckeck your temps??
What is your ambient (Room) temp ??

Its your Chip, not stepping. You have the Worse VID possible for a q6x00 series. That means your Chip starts as high as possible for a g0.

As you near upper voltages and speed, your chip will automatically need more VCore to be stable, because the VCore becomes less efficient as you raise it.

For instance my G0 1.3250 VID chip needs 1.440 Loaded to opporate at 3.6. (Modifying the GTL refs and junk relinquished the same speed at 1.420 VCore loaded.)

So, besides for high voltage anyways, you'll need a new chip to change that! Damn intel stripping their low VIDs from retail boxes! You have a much better chance at a OEM chip, because its possible that the OEM bought 100,000 a year ago or more, before intel was hip to the VID mattering to us OCers.

--Lupi

Humm, with my 1.325 Lupi I need 1.6-1.65v just for 3.65GHz! Now surely thats not right, as my temps are so low I do not mind going for high voltages, what should I increase in order to achieve 3.8ish with a voltage lower or around 1.7v lol Thanks.

Already know the values of your VDrop and VDroop? If not, boot at factory VCore setting, (The VID) Then load windows and note CPUz's idle violtage. The difference will reflect your initial VDrop. Then test with Prime 95 small ffts for 1 minute, and note the now lowered VCore voltage in CPUz.

Once you get to know those two, you can directly target a VCore voltage without having to look! Also, does your mother board support any version of Load Line Calibration?? That needs to be on big time when testing that high.

--Lupi

Yes it suppoprts Load Line Calibration thankfully, the Vdroop is not much about -0.10 or something, and whats VDrop? Humm, could it be my board at fault? Lupi whats the highest voltage I could put through my chip without it dying on me in a monthor so? Thanks.

At 1.7v, you're risking instant burnout regardless of temperature. It's not just a matter of lower lifespan, the chip can go at any minute. Tune it back down.

It's strange you'd need such high vcore just to reach 3.72ghz. My VID 1.3125 q6600, which is almost as bad, run at 1.65v for 4ghz, one hour prime95 stable. Didn't test for more than 1 hour, 1.65v is too hardcore for me.

hmmm... try with just 2 sticks of ram... I think it might overclock a little better..

Ahhh! LOL! All this is annoying me now! Ha OMG Dagger you have nearly the same motherboard as me (mine is the DS5 version) So what settings did you use in BIOS to get to these settings? Ha maybe we can get somewhere with this?!? Thanks.

@OP: You should set the PCIe to 100.

Also try the following:

Increase MCH voltage a little
Increase FSB voltage +.1

The only thing that's off is PCIE clock. You didn't lock it at 100mhz. Overloaded graphics card can cause loss in stability.

The ram voltage is higher than I'd think is safe, but up to you.

I had no problem running it at stock chipset voltage, but it doesn't hurt to try higher.

Humm, MCH doesnt seem to have any effect with me LOL! By how much? I have put as much as + 2.25 through but still no luck LOL! Could my board be faulty?

Then it's not the chipset voltage. There is no way x38 requires such high voltage for that tiny overclock. Remember, it runs at 1600mhz fsb stock.

So you left everything on Auto except PCI-E Frequency? I just set that to 100 with FSB Voltage increased by .1+ and MCH increased a little and it would even boot into Windows with a 1.65 voltage, IMO what next? Should I get a new board? Thanks.

Just a thought, could my Power supply be limiting my Overclock in any way? Its a 700w OCZ, thanks.

Anyone???