It’s running stable right now, though I bumped the voltage from 1.2V up to 1.25V. I'm thinking about dropping it back to 1.2, but would that be cutting it too close for a Q6600?
I can grab CPU-Z screenshots if needed... here's what I've got:
412.5 MHz 4:5 5 5 5 15 2t
I'm no expert at overclocking, so I figured I'd ask. I really want to push this thing a bit further and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way.😁
I tried setting the FSB to 400 so the memory would run at 801 MHz. Set the CPU Voltage to 1.4V and didn't touch the memory settings at all. Multiplier is 9x.
It won't boot into Windows.
Then I dropped the FSB back to 360, bumped the DRAM Voltage up to 2.0V, and set it to run at 856 MHz (not sure of the exact number, just the lowest option available at that FSB) and managed to get into Windows. But the second I launch Prime95, I get a BSOD.
Right now, FSB is at 330 and Voltage is at 1.25V, though it runs stable at 1.2V too.
Memory is sitting at 412.5 MHz.
Everything is stable.
Current settings are working fine.
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual Overclock tuner : manual CPU Ratio Setting : 9.0 FSB Frequency : 330 PCIE Frequency: 100 FSB Strap to North Bridge : Auto DRAM Frequency: 830 (roughly, somewhere between 820 and 840)😁 DRAM Timing Control: manual, all 5 5 5 15
DRAM Static Read Control: Auto Dram Read Training : Auto MEM OC Charger : Auto Ai Clock Twister : Auto Ai Transaction Booster : Auto
CPU Voltage : 1.25v CPU GTL Reference: Auto CPU PLL Voltage : 1.6 (set this to 1.6 because I read online it’s good for quads) FSB Termination Voltage: Auto DRAM Voltage : Auto NB Voltage : Auto PCIE Sata Voltage: Auto
Load Line Calibration : Enabled CPU Sread Spectrum : Disabled PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled CPU Clock Skew: Auto MB Clock Skew: Auto
So, what do I need to do to get this thing running at 400 FSB and 3.6 GHz? Theoretically, the memory should be running at its default clock with that FSB, right? Since it gives me the option to set it to 801 MHz, it shouldn't be an issue. Am I wrong?
HW Monitor is showing temperatures 10 degrees higher than Everest. I had Prime95 running in the background for about 40 minutes, so these are definitely under load.
Which one is accurate, and why is there such a huge gap?
I can't get this crap to install for the life of me.
Downloaded it straight from Microsoft's site, still nothing.
It just hangs mid-install, freezes up, or throws some error about missing files.
Specs are abit ip35 pro q6600 Nvidia gtx275 4 4 gigs RAM Samsung monitor is cranking Two hard drives, one Seagate, one Hitachi. I've tried everything—installing on one, then the other, swapping them out one by one...😁 I even swapped the GPU, pulled the RAM out, even moved a power supply from another PC thinking it was faulty. Swapped basically everything except the motherboard and the CPU.
The CPU is overclocked, though I reset it to stock clock speeds thinking that might be it. Didn't help.
Nothing else in the hardware seems weird enough to stall an install. Googled it, found nothing. I even ran that Microsoft compatibility tool to see if it'd handle Windows 7, and it said everything's fine. It did mention potential issues with Daemon Tools and Norton, but that shouldn't matter here.
Obviously, grab the GeForce... it's small and won't demand much from your power supply. 😬
Picking up a "standard" GTX 260 wouldn't be a bad move either. 😉
I went with the Nvidia GTX 275 👍
Based on reviews and benchmarks, it's nearly as fast as the 285. At my resolution of 1680 x 1050, there's basically no difference—maybe 2 or 3 fps, which doesn't matter. Now I'm curious to see what happens when I overclock it...
It's a great card, just massive... plus, it's the first time I haven't gone with an AMD card. 😁
It's pretty cool seeing those two 6-pin connectors coming off the PSU. The whole thing looks beastly because of its size. 🤣
Some reviews lean toward Nvidia, while others swear by AMD.
I just saw a review for Bug Heaven where AMD absolutely destroys this Nvidia card—it eats it alive. But then I find another review online saying the Nvidia is faster.🤷
stormyheron4 said:Some studies suggest that former smokers who relapsed 30 times (not 30%) actually face higher cancer risks than those who never quit.
Well, we all have to die of something.🤷 Nobody’s ever died from being too healthy.
Obviously, quitting helps everything recover. No more coughing, you sleep better, things feel calmer, and your sense of taste comes back. I remember when I wasn't smoking—food just tasted better and you generally felt more human. 🙂
But I'm a total wimp, so I started again. 🤷 I picked up the habit during a phase where I just didn't care about anything. If I had kicked the bucket back then, maybe I would've escaped this... so, yeah. 😁
I remember when I finally quit smoking. I went four and a half years without a single cigarette, and honestly, I missed it every single day.
Then, thanks to some crappy timing and a bout of depression, I was stuck with two choices: start using drugs or pick up the habit again.
When I finally lit that first cigarette after four and a half years, man, what a rush. 🙏
It really hit me. 🙏
The first month is pure bliss, but eventually, you just get used to it again.
Now I’m thinking about quitting again, just for a few months, if only to chase that feeling one more time. But I can't do it—I just don't have the willpower right now. 🤷
wiredmarlin5 said:Any P45/X38/X48 can push a quad past 3.6GHz, though it really depends on whether you're running a B3 or G0 stepping. My advice? Grab a cheap X38 board like a DFI from The Spot for $367 or just go with a Gigabyte or ASUS P45.
Nice.
I've had my eye on this Abit Intel Core i7 for a while. I did some digging on Google 😁 but figured I'd ask here before pulling the trigger on these three options. 🙂
I just need a solid board that handles overclocking well. My current one won't let me push the quad past 300 FSB. Still, it's served me okay for nearly two years.
Gilbert, were you thinking of this one?
One more thing—what’s the actual difference between the DS4 and the DS5? Is it worth shelling out almost $133 extra for the DS5?
Didn't want to start a whole new thread, but this isn't exactly pocket change, so I don't want to waste money on something that won't work. 🤣
Can't wait to get this quad properly clocked so I can come back here and brag about it. 😁
Jesse Kern4 said:Hey guys, could someone walk me through the overclocking process? I want to mess around with it a bit. I've got an Intel Core 2 duo E4500 2.20 GHz 800 on a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3. What exactly do I need to bump up? Thanks in advance.
you shouldn't let it climb past 60C if you're running it 24/7
But we're talking 55, not 60, for the whole CPU 😁. Plus, that was two hours of pure heavy lifting; normally, it doesn't even break 40 degrees when it's just idling. Besides, this quad can handle hitting 80 degrees 🤣. 😁
I'll see how things look at 3 GHz. If I can even get it stable at that speed, I'll pick up a decent, high-end cooler... ☕
As long as it stays under 70 degrees under load until I grab a new cooler, I'm good. 🤣 😬
55 under load, and at most one core hit 60 degrees after running Prime95 at 100% load for a full 2 hours...
At idle, it stays at 39 degrees, just like without any overclocking....
Cooler is a Zalman 9500🙈
I'll see how it goes once I bump it up to 3 GHz (if it works) 😁, but I'll mess with that tonight. No time today—grilling out, friends are over... just browsing the web while my buddy watches the meat🤣
Oh yeah, I overclocked the GPU a bit too, nothing crazy, just using ATI Overdrive. On my old X1950 Pro, you could barely touch the clock speeds, but on this HD3870, I bumped it from 776 MHz to 850 MHz, and there's probably more room... I just don't see the point. I don't like pushing things too far unless there's a reason.
If I hit 3 GHz on the CPU, I'll post screenshots of the temps, voltage, and stuff...
I've got Prime95 running in the background and zero errors so far. Honestly, before I flashed the BIOS, Windows would freeze up after just a few minutes. 🙂
Now, I'm really curious if I can push it a bit further. Hitting 3 GHz would be the dream...
But if I can't go past 300 FSB, no big deal. I might try playing around with the memory settings instead.
I'm genuinely interested to see what I can squeeze out of this cheap Kingmax kit. 🤣
Do you think it could handle 450 MHz using the default timings?
Just flashed the BIOS to the latest version, but I didn't have the guts to pull the plug mid-process... that would've helped, right? 😬
Anyway, I was on BIOS version 15, now I'm on 17. Going to see if I can hit 300 FSB with this one 🤷
I might head over to the shop where I bought the rig, but that was back in September last year. The board is still under warranty, so maybe I can talk them into a swap 🤔
Not that I doubt it—besides, even if I fried the board, those guys at Best Buy would probably just order me the exact same thing.
I had a minor issue with my graphics card there once, too; they wouldn't budge on letting me upgrade to a newer model, so I seriously doubt I'd get anywhere with the motherboard.
I’d honestly rather just sell the board. I stumbled onto a thread on an American forum last night where some guy overclocked an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 on this thing without any issues. Overclocking dual cores seems fine, though from what I gather, that chipset hits a wall around 400 FSB—unless some people managed to push past it, but who knows... I don't really care.
It’s an old board. It wasn't really built for Quads... though every single review I managed to find said something like this
Who could have known it wouldn't handle overclocking a Quad properly? I totally miscalculated. Even though it supports the Quad, you need those newer BIOS versions.
I don't see the point in trying to "fry" my motherboard just to see if I can squeeze performance out of a newer chipset. Everything runs perfectly fine by default—the whole PC works great... until I try to overclock.
At first, I thought maybe I was just a total amateur. Since I'm still pretty green when it comes to OC, I figured, "Yeah, I definitely don't know what I'm doing." But then I did some digging... and everything I found pointed to the same thing: the Q6600 and this specific board just don't play nice together once you start pushing the clock speeds.👎
I feel like an idiot for wasting the money, honestly. But hey, I'll learn from it eventually.🙄 😁
Man, this really ticked me off, but honestly, I have nobody to blame but myself.
It’s an older chip on an old board, and I got carried away—back when the P35 chipset was still the go-to choice.
I could've grabbed a decent board for half the price just to handle the overclocking, but hey, you live and you learn.
At this point, buying a new motherboard feels like a waste. The PC works fine, and this board isn't even broken.🙄
It's just throwing money down the drain.
I almost went out and bought a massive Noctua cooler and some high-end thermal paste a few days ago just to keep the CPU cool since I was planning to OC.🤣 🙄
I set the memory ratio to 4:3 to keep it at 375 MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings; that shouldn't have killed it. It was running at 450 MHz with voltage up to 2.3. I tried various voltages, but after a while, Windows just freezes—first programs start lagging, then everything stops responding.
I force a restart, reset the BIOS to defaults, and it works fine again.
$500 I wasted my money on this board. Total waste. I should've spent it on something fun instead...
Now I don't know if there's some other trick, but I spent four hours digging through the internet last night, and everywhere I looked, nobody managed to overclock a Q6600 on this specific board. It just can't do it.
Some dual-core CPUs were hitting 5 GHz, and the E6600 hits 3.4 GHz without breaking a sweat.
I'm tempted to smash it with a hammer. And that guy at the repair shop who swore there wouldn't be any issues? I'm gonna lose it on him. I'm getting in the car right now to go down there and give him a piece of my mind. Well, maybe not that extreme, but I'll definitely give him hell. 🤣 😁