Q6600 Overclocking (1066 or 800 RAM) - Page 2

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Did you read the thread befoe asking this question?

Memory choice is all about how hard you want to overclock and how good is your CPU and whether you are really bothered or not about a second or 2 on superpi 1MB test. If you are not overclocking then DDR2 6400 memory will meet your requirements. No need to buy higher spec if you are not going to use its full capabilities.
lHigher FSB will give you higher bus speed and and run the memory to its best capability at 1:1 . If you run a q6600 say at 450x8 (or 9 if you are so lucky) then running DDR800 memory slightly o/c to DDR900 with tight timming will give good performance/speed. That said I have Ballistix 1066 memory that I run at 1128 on good timming to get a slightly higher bandwidth -depends on what you are looking for. If you run FSB above 450 your 6400 memory may not be capable of o/c to run 1:1 opr higher so you get 1066 memory - its all so cheap now why not just get the 1066 which you know is going to clock higher than the 6400 mermory. If its good quality o/c chips it will also run tight timmings at lower speeds.
Check the article I posted in a previus post re the techrepository o/c quide . It gives a detailed expanation on maximising FSB/BUS etc and a o/c speadsheet where you cen see what the actual speed /CAS response gains would be or not.

wonder if a zalmen 9700 ultra quite would do well at 3.6 .

Thanks, this timing and clock speed stuff is a new concept to me.

A lot of q6600 GO reach 3.6 or more on air with relatively low volts. The latest batches with VID of 1.2 are getting even higher on air- with water 4.0Ghz plus. . The one I have will run 3.8 (475x8)3dmark06 stable on 1.45v but not prime. So if you run a lower multiplier and can run higher FSB (say anything above 450 upward) you may be better with 1066 ram to run 1:1 cos not all 6400 ram o/c that well. 8500s will also give you a more or less guaranteed option of o/c to running on higher ratios e.g 2:3/4:5 etc to gain higher bandwidth. If you dont want to push it hard then buy good 6400 RAM like ballistix and its no problem - 8500 are after all only cherry picked 6400 chips in alot of cases..

Any ncreases makes a difference to scores in Superpi and 3dmark etc which are important to overclockers trying to get highest scores and squeezing the last out of the system or just the fun of seeing what it can be pushed to as a rule. The system performance on mine is a lot zippier and responsive with 3.8 - faster bus speed ,memory running slightly higher etc. unfortunately not fully stable though -lol!. So I run 3.6 quite happily 24/7 and its pretty good for all games out at full maxed settings(except crysis which eats PCs) - I have a decent graphic card which helps a lot as games now tend to be re GPU restricted . At 3.6 itw great for video editing, Burning CD performance etc. So unless your in it to see what you can get it maxed to stable - 3.6 is great.

If you havent read it already check this overclocking guide for optimum performance setting re what you actually gain or dont from increasing FSB etc. http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=195
Very interesting and informative

Normally it is best to run the ram @ 1:1 timings with the cpu.

So even a Q6600 @ 3.0 only needs ram that runs at 667.

Thats why many say just get 800.

You can even drop the multiplier 1 notch and run 3.2 @ 800...

For extreme memory over clocking you can drop the multi further...so you get moderate CPU speeds(still over 3.0 and fast ram)

Not quite - I said the PC seemed zippier. I was refering to the operating system(I run Vista x64 so I need all the help I can get-lol) You get slight increases in benches etc but no real gain in games and real day apps. Thats mainly due to the fact the are not optimised to use mutithreading. The only real advantage a Q6600 give you over dual core at present is improved scores on 3dmark06 and times on video rendering and burning CD. But the are the furture as games and apps will be moving in the direction of multithreading. But they are cheap and overlcok relatively easily with a decent motherboard. But that said penryn,x48 and DDR3 are round the corner. Another expensive adventure for no real purpose apart from fun - its as bad as when I used to play with cars to make them go faster and look flashier- lol!

In this case it may be better to start a new topic. since this one is about ram.

What board?
There was an EVGA 680i board that does not OC with quads....nor run any with a FSB of 1333

http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] cture=eVGA
read under the board name

Ok, i did this on air

CPU-Z Database (ID : 293462)
Submitted by Mike Mischler
Submitted on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:38:55 +0100 with CPU-Z 1.42



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (*1)
CPU Arch : 4 Cores - 4 Threads
CPU PSN : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
CPU EXT : MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 EM64T
CPU Cache : L1 : 4 x 32/4 x 32 KB - L2 : 2 x 4096 KB
Core : Kentsfield (65 nm) / Revision : G0
CPUID : 6.F.B / Extended : 6.F
Freq : 4013.28 MHz (445.92 * 9)
----------------------------------
MB Brand : MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD
MB Model : MS-7345
NB : Intel P35/G33/G31 rev A2
SB : Intel 82801IR (ICH9R) rev 02
----------------------------------
RAM Size : 4096 MB
RAM Freq : 445.9 MHz
RAM Type : DDR2-SDRAM Dual Channel
RAM Ratio : 1:1
RAM Timings : 5-6-6-17
----------------------------------
Slot 1 : 2048MB (PC2-6400)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : G.Skill
Slot 2 : 2048MB (PC2-6400)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : G.Skill

Here are a few good guides for overclocking:

The writer clocked his q6600 to 4.0Ghz on air.

Either way - some good guides:

The Asus Maximus Formula:
http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/rev [...] eview.html

C2D Overclocking for Beginners:
http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/ove [...] nners.html

Intel Overclocking Guides:
http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/gui [...] uides.html

Hope they can help some of you..

Right now the **** memory chip is the Micron D9 if you buy your ram made from them it will perform well, no need to go over PC2 6400.
All this other stuff is just Fapp Fapp Fapp.
Most every Q6600 will OC to 3hz without much trouble at all, and that beats the Extreme Quad.
As to going with 4Gig of ram, there is just no reason to do it for most people.

Actually alot of the games at higher resolution and lower resolutions are limited by the CPU since the GPUs are so much more powerful.

Cards like the HD3870 and 8800GTX etc... series need every ounce of juice the CPU can throw out. Also remember the difference from an single core CPU like a P4 or an Athlon 64 from say 2.4 to 2.6 might not seem like a whole lot, but a 4 core CPU going from 2.4 to 2.6 is a great jump, that FOUR extra cores giving an overall .8 which is almost a whole 1.0ghz jump. So applications that can utilize the 4 cores, or even 2 cores get a much greater boost then a single core CPU.

Here at work we have a server that renders 20G+ graphics files to be send to an HP1500 silex printer and since I put a C2D 2.0 ghz in it and the difference from the P4 they originally had that was 3.6 is a bit more than 50% faster in rendering times. Even though the CPU is 1.6ghz lower.

If you want great cooling without the hassle of water or vapor, go with either the Coolit Eliminator or Freezone. I have the Eliminator on my

workstation, Q6600, P35 Pro, 8 gig 6400 Patriot memory 1:1, 8800 GTX, etc. Overclocked to 390x9, vcore 1.27 actual 1.34 in BIOS. The Q is a newer G0,

1.2 vid. On mid settings for the Eliminator, ambient around 21C, 100% load on Prime95 for an hour, temps around 36 to 40C CPU, max of 55C on the

cores. At idle CPU ~ 15C, Cores 19 to 22C.
My render farm has 3 Q's on Gigabyte DS3L's with 4 gigs of OCZ 6400, 1:1, all running at 370x9, 1.29 to 1.31 vcore with Thermaltake Big TYphoon's. Temps average around 55C on cores under full load.. My E6600's are on P5W DH, same memory, same cooler, 390x9 at 1.42 vcore. Average a couple degrees higher.

Screenies of my work station:

How about the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 to use with a Q6600? Seems to be ranked #1 @ frostytech http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

I just got a Q6600 and want to OC with just Air cooling as well....anyone have their 2 cents for this heatsink?

to be honest with all of you guys, he is not going to get 3.6ghz prime stable, period, I have tried everything to get it prime stable and the only thing he can hope to reach prime stable is 3.45ghz, yeah he can get 3.6ghz easy and it will run all day long like mine but it wont be prime stable without 1.7-1.9v, it just takes too much, i guess that why i got a qx9650. If you want 3.6ghz go with it, it will run all day at around 1.52v-1.58v no problems, just dont believe the fact that you can get it prime stable at a decent temp or voltage

I have been building systems and overclocking for several years and just got a Q6600 (G0) to go along with my EVGA 680i SLI board, Swiftech 220 Compact water cooler and 2x1GB OCZ 6400 (OCZ28001024ELGE) and 2x1GB Corsair 6400 (CM2X1024-6400C4) ram.

The best I have been able to do to this point is 2700 Mhz (I am wary of saying "stock" voltage, because it seems stock is a fluid concept here; some say it is 1.3v, some 1.16v, etc.... I think stock on this proc is actually 1.2625, but when I let my voltage auto, CPU-z shows around 1.18v under load, and 1.21v idle). Perhaps I just have a dog of a chip, and there is not much I can do about it, but I wanted to see what you guys think.

I was able to run prime on all 4 cores for 8 hours with no issues at 2700 mhz (temps hit 49 degrees C under full load after 8 hours), and with ram at 400 (800 doubled). When I try to run at 3.2 ghz or 3.6 ghz (fsb at 400x4 and ram at 400x2), the system fails upon entering windows, even after boosting voltage up to 1.5v (i stepped up the voltage to try different levels, up to 1.5v). I am at a bit of a loss here because this cooler is amazing, and keeps temps very low. I am currently at 3 ghz (not yet prime tested) and am idling at 32 degrees C for the hottest core, down to 26 degrees C at the coolest core.

I am looking for any suggestions you might have. The only thing I can think of is:

Getting 2x2gb sticks of ram (either 800 or 1066; not sure if 1066 makes a lot of sense if I am trying to maintain system stability, thus hoping for a 1:1 ratio) as my understanding is that more sticks = greater likelihood of instability (but is this only the case as to overclocking ram, or the system in general??); perhaps mixing the ram is an issue....

It seems that heat is not my problem as I have about 20 more degrees C to go before I am worried about long term stability (over my 2.7 ghz OC), but I am at a bit of a loss. I am willing to purchase some new ram as it would only be 100 - 150$ if that will do it, but I want to know if anyone sees anything crazy going on w/ my setup, or if anyone has any other suggestions.

Thanks!

hi, i have a evga 780i with a q6600 that i can get about 3.4-3.5 with 3.5 is unstable though (i havent changed any voltages and left the ram unlinked. the ram says that it clocks to 4-4-4-12 but i cant seem to get it that low running at 800mhz. the ram is corsair xmls2 6400 2x2gb i was thinking about getting the dominator 8500 ram. i was wondering if this would be of any benifit to me. also my overclock is a cheap entry level watercooling with a mod or 2. any help with clocking my ram or cpu any higher would be apreciated. thanks

That is cool and all(farther then I ever pushed my Q6600), but this thread is almost 2 years old.