hey im having trouble overclocking my Q6600. i have been playing around with it for a while and cant get it stable above 2.66ghz. (FSB 333 x8) where (FSB 333 x 9) is unstable.

currently i cannont run my pc on stock core voltage it crashes. (1.28corev)

i suspect it may be damaged, the highest i have ever had the core voltage to is 1.45v for 3.2ghz.
temps are around 30 degrees at stock speed.

Q6600
zalman CNPS9500
Evga 750i ftw
4x1 corsair xms2ddr2 ram pc6400 (2.1v no oc)
650 silverstone zues psu
antec 900


i have had it stable at 3ghz on an x38 but i suspect the cpu not motherboard because the cpu was stable at 2.66 ghz with fsb of 333 x8 but unstable with fsb 333 x 9

when this pc was first built the stock intel cooler couldnt get it below 60c on stock settings.
any thoughts
if you think i may have killed it
just unlucky and cant oc this cpu
need more skills in ocing

What stepping is the CPU, use CPU-Z then report back. I know the GO stepping is supposed to be better. maybe that's your problem.

Or, your just unlucky and got a bad OCer.

Do you have a real HSF? Intel Stock doesn't cut it for OC.

I would say mobo.

Evga motherboards aren't known for OC. These days, OC'ing is done on Intel motherboards. IE P35,P45,X38,X48

the mobo is the problem.insanely vdrop and vdroop.try to boost the voltage further. monitor the actualy voltage in windows and compare it to what you set in BIOS.

its G0 stepping,

pc gamer: i installed the zalman 9500 before attempting to oc i did have a stock cooler on for about 2 months and it was overheating drastically (on an x38 board)
I have had it at 3ghz on an x38 and the 750i but never had it stable higher recently i cannot get it to reach that speed again.

iluvgillgill: you think my motherboard is dropping the coreV, on me?

yes blackknight! if you search around the forum and see other nvidia mobo OC thread. on a normal Intel mono the vdrop/vdroop will be lik 0.02-4V where as Nvidia mobo on the other hand goes down to 0.08-0.1V and believe me that is ALOT!

i assumed there would be some fluctuation from what i told it to do and what it actually did i didnt know that it could be that huge (yes i know for a cpu .1v is insane)

well that sucks i have a x38 sitting on the desk at home but i cant sli if i use that and i dont ever have more then 2 monitors

well CF will get you better multi monitor with less hussle thats what i heard.

yes well that means i have sell off my 8800gt's and buy some 4850's pain in the back side as i have no money

then just stick with the good performing 8800GT. they are not that bad.

i love my 8800gt's $220AUD their fantastic, just keen to push the cpu but i need to give up on it i think, it lets me know its unstable as i try to log into vista, just after password it freezes. so i cant use any of my monitors thier.

(warning vista issuewhat it has done twice now is after a reboot, screwed windows vista so hard the orginal install disk doesnt work(and very nicely instructs me to insert the boot disk and repair install) yes my windows install disk fails to boot after vista crashes

requires disconnect from mains bios reset and then windows recovery from the install disk.

update, reinstalled windows after it broke again, i wasnt trying to oc and it failed.

i think now that there may be something about my old vista install that was causing it as linux ran perfect with a small oc to 2.8 but windows crashed during login. just reinstalling games/apps now will try oc soon

im going to mark this thread as solved.

issues: first was that my windows vista install was corrupt and a low level format and reinstall fixed it.

second issue uncovered is that the core voltage drops by at least .05 when cpu is under load about .04 when not under load.

tested psu by removing one of my 8800gt the vcore drops remaind excatly the same, this eliminates the psu as a problem.
good load and run using linux means the cpu wasnt damaged,
ran a ram test no issues
currently running at 9x333 corev set 1.3875, actual 1.336 prime95 test all good after 30mins. highest temp under 54c

thanks for the help guys and good call on the mb issue "iluvgillgill"