Q6600 now at 3.6GHZ and stable!

[Kage]

I will do

All components differ, but my motherboard is an extreme overclocker. Its had a lot of reports of it being able to support a very high overclock indeed.
It doesn't support dual GPU's though at full 16x speed, so running in Crossfire is a no no.

I'm not going to push mine past 3.6GHZ though. I've definietly finished.
I'm just going to try and keep forcing the voltage down, until the computer doesn't do stress testing/or doesn't boot up anymore, so I know the minimum CPU core to set.

I have the memory running at 900mhz from 800mhz at a 1:1:1 ratio, and don't know how much performance I'd achieve making it run at 1:1:20, and 1:1:50, if any.

 

[Kage]

Just got a blue screen, after quite a while in Everest.

I've set timings of the RAM back, and set the speed to 400mhz at 9x multiplier, to gain the same speed, and left the voltage at what I got it down to:
1.4675V

I'll see if it bluescreens again after a while. If it does, I know to increase the voltage.

 

[MooseMan1]

That is very cool kage. How many case fans do you have in the machine and all?

 

[A True Folder]

I decided to make a new thread because I'm pretty happy about this.

I started off with a basic Quad Core Q6600, with a Zalman 9700. You can read my specs to see what I have.

My first step was to overclock it to 3.0ghz. Easy.
Second was to overclock it to 3.2, again, very easy (I didn't even have to up the voltages).

Well today, I played around again, and I successfully have the Quad running at :

3.6GHZ!!!

Well done mate, that's a very respectable oc on air.

 

[esa193]

kage your zalman is set on low?
crank up the speed you could probably get 4ghz if you pushed it hard enough

 

[Kage]

Haha, thanks

I'm happy with 3.6 I know, if I push it anymore, the PWM temperature at least will reach scorching point.

With the overclock I have with the fan speed almost at low, the highest a core gets is around 66 degrees C when really pushed.

The Zalman is too loud for my tastes on full for normal useage too.

It was running Everest then though for 1 and a half hours, and was still running, so it must have been the RAM at 900mhz that stopped it before.
I still had the voltage at 2.0 for that though, so maybe upping to 2.1 will fix that.

As for fans, well, theres 2 front 120mm fans, the CPU coolers fan, a back 120mm fan, a top 200mm fan, the GPU's fan, and the PSU's fan.

All in all, 7

 

[MooseMan1]

Well glad to see you have sufficient cooling! That is very neato. You should do an overnight burn in and see how it works

 

[Kage]

I might do actually

Is anything under 70 degrees C fine? Like if all cores did get to 67 degrees C for example in a worst case scenario?

Or is anything above 60 really lowering my CPU's on time?

 

[MooseMan1]

i would say do not go any higher than you have. You are probably lowering the life of the processor running it at above 60C under loads. Not a lot I wouldn't think, but still some. Besides, you simply don't want to be running hot anyways.

 

[A True Folder]

I might do actually

Is anything under 70 degrees C fine? Like if all cores did get to 67 degrees C for example in a worst case scenario?

Or is anything above 60 really lowering my CPU's on time?

You're right on the edge of the thermal specification at 70°C (Q6600 G0 at Intel) so keeping it as low as possible will prolong the processors lifespan.

I think it's a toss up of that extra 0.4GHz or even 0.6GHz v the heat, is it worth it?

Personally I think 3.2GHz or even 3.0GHz is perfectly fine for every day use (I'm at 3.0GHz) and I'd only run at 3.6GHz 24/7 if the temps were reasonable. I'd crank it up to 3.6GHz on air for benchies though and 24/7 during winter maybe, wouldn't need a room heater then.

Did you do a 3DMark06 run with that 3.6 and a gpu oc?