Overclocking (Main Thread)

It didn't work. After a few minutes, my Windows freezes up.

It boots fine, but as soon as I open a couple of programs—CPU-Z, Everest, whatever—Windows just locks up.

Forget it. Even if it works on defaults, that's not what I'm looking for. 😁

Anyway, I bumped the FSB to 333 x9, which puts me at 2997.

I set the memory so that after that FSB bump, it runs at 418 MHz—just a tiny increase. I'm running 1.3V for the CPU; I tried 1.27V first, but when it froze the first time, I added a little more, following what wiredmarlin5 suggested.

The voltages for the memory and chipset stayed the same. Could that be the issue?

I left the timings at 5-5-5-5-15, just like the defaults. Disabled EIST, C1...

And that's it. It runs for a few minutes and then everything freezes.🤣

You don't necessarily have to disable the EIST or the C-states right away, though explaining the whole reasoning behind why people do that is a bit of a saga in itself... 😁

Why don't you try bumping it up to somewhere around 1.32-1.33V? Once you actually boot into Windows, just pull up something like Everest to see what voltage it's settling at, and then let me know how it goes

To really make sure everything is rock solid, I'd recommend running Orthos for stability testing and using Core Temp to keep an eye on things... definitely let me know what those temperatures look like 🙂

I'd suggest giving the memory at least a +0.2V boost... just to be safe. But whatever you do, don't touch the chipset settings...

Man, if your CPU isn't performing, you're definitely doing something wrong. Maybe we should just swap parts.

Just kidding. Your processor is definitely capable of more; you’ve just got a setting or something misconfigured.😁

EDIT: What kind of motherboard are you running?

wiredmarlin5 said:You don't necessarily have to disable EIST and C-states; there's a long story behind why people do that. 😁

Try setting it to 1.32-1.33V. Once you boot into Windows, check Everest or something similar to see what voltage it's actually pulling, then let us know.

Use Orthos to test stability and Core Temp for the heat... and report back with those temps.🙂

Bump the memory up by at least +0.2V just in case. Don't touch the chipset...

Alright, I'll give it a few more shots tomorrow, but I'm definitely doing something wrong. If it doesn't work, honestly, it's fine staying on defaults. 😉

I can grab my phone and snap some photos of the BIOS settings if you want to see where I'm messing up.
I don't want to mess around too much and break anything—I won't be swapping components anytime soon. 🤣

But thanks for the advice. 🙂

Harold Lopez31 said:EDIT: What motherboard are you running?

This one.

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5034/plocakr8.jpg

I wouldn't say the board is the issue. 🤔

It’s the motherboard's fault.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thanks for the support.

Our testing shows the AW9D-MAX can't push the Quad processor's external clock past 300MHz; it's just a hardware limit.

Moving forward, the new BIOS 16 will only support the Intel Core 2 Duo E8000 series, not the Q9000 series.

Have a great one.

Guess I'm swapping out the board. 🙄

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=135288

It wasn't built to overclock Quads. They run fine at stock, but you can't push the clock. Then it tries to overclock Dual Cores like they're nothing.🙄

Alright, I need a new board. Is this Abit one any good?

http://www.newegg.com/p/details/item/030180

@Gary Anderson38/">@@Gary Anderson38

So they've got him clocked at 2.7GHz. Honestly, that motherboard isn't anything to write home about for a Duo, either—it's pretty basic. You'd be much better off with an older 965P chipset if you want any actual performance.

I can't even hold it at 2.7.

I pushed the voltages all the way up to 1.4 🙄

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. 🤣 😁

Dammit... the board too.

Gary Anderson38 said:$500 I basically threw money down the drain buying that board. I should’ve just spent the cash on a night out instead...

There's this one golden rule.

"Never skimp on the motherboard."

Honestly, that is some of the most widespread nonsense I've ever heard. It's right up there with believing in aliens, lizard people running the government, or seeing visions in the clouds after a bad case of food poisoning. 🤮

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.🤣 🙄

Sigh...

If you find that motherboard isn't quite hitting the mark, there's always the possibility that it might just decide to give up the ghost unexpectedly... and honestly, you could just swap it out for one with a newer P35/X38 chipset and everything would be sunshine and rainbows again! 🙂

wiredmarlin5 said:If you aren't satisfied with the motherboard, there's always the chance it might accidentally fail. At that point, you can just upgrade to a newer P35 or X38 chipset and everything will be fine. 🙂

@Gary Anderson38/">@@Gary Anderson38: he's basically saying you could kiss it and it would still look like it walked off on its own. 😉

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.

http://www.abit.com.tw/cpu-support-l...w9d_series.htm

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.🙄 😁

Quick little update:



http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=354263

Still running on the stock cooler 🙂

That should make things a bit easier😁
You might actually break through 4GHz🙂

Just asking out of curiosity, what kind of temperatures are you seeing?
Also, what possessed you to start overclocking during the summer heat? 😛
I mean, what were you even doing during the winter when it was dropping to -20°F at night?

BIOS temps are sitting at 51°C, while in Windows I’m seeing just over 40°C according to Core Temp. I was bored, so I decided to overclock a bit.

Even for me, things just won't settle down... since the CPU still isn't cutting it, I've turned my attention to the GPU... My new 3DMark record sits at 11113...


And here’s what I get on stock settings: 8702

Edward Peterson70 said:@Gary Anderson38/">@@Gary Anderson38: I guess he’s basically saying you could kiss her and she'd look like she just finished a solo performance herself. 😉

I guess you could walk me through the process?🤷 I guess I'm still running on that old 945 chipset, so...😁 To be more precise, it's the Gigabyte 945 p-S3.

wanderingraven4 said:Can anyone walk me through the process?🤷 ... I'm working with an old 945 chipset...😁 specifically a Gigabyte 945 p-S3

Take something from a lighter that produces a spark and just zap the BIOS or the Northbridge/Southbridge😉
just to be safe, maybe do it a few times👍

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.

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=134699

I hate Quad boards, obviously.

Like I said, I'd rather sell the board than fry it.🙄

Anyone interested in buying?😬

Everyone with a Quad seems to have a massive grudge against any 975 or 680i SLI boards😁

For June, he might be able to pull in about $200...so I'm just sitting here wondering if it's even worth the hassle of selling it at all...