HOWTO: Overclock C2D Quads and C2D Duals - A Guide v1.0

@Rammstein - cool man, glad to hear you solved the problem.
@syrrine - let us know how it goes (from your specs it looks like you're hitting 3.2 GHz).

 

Are this temperatures a little bit too high for Intel Core 2 Q6600 and Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme cooler ?

 

That looks very interesting, i'm tempted to give this a go, any articles you know reguarding the dangers of over filing the cpu heatsink?

 

@twofast - if those are your load temps, they're normal.
@tuco - I never heard of anyone lapping to the point of removing the IHS. I think you'd have to do it for a LONG time actually - certainly past the point of flatness.

 

Minor updates made.

 

Version is now 1.5.2 (updates in first post)

 

Very good guide, 5/5!

Gonna get my E6750 up to speed now, quite bottlenecked atm by the ol cpu ;<

 

Wow man, great guide.

I have a question, however.
I have DDR2-667 memory with 5-5-5-12 timings. Will I still be able to overclock a Q6600 to 3.0? I'm getting one soon, you see.

Cheers,
Peezee.

 

Well, if you're running 9x333 @ 1:1 that'll be 667 MHz on the RAM so I don't see why that wouldn't work. BTW, you might wanna re-read the guide, I'm about to update it to version 1.6

 

Guide is now version 1.6

• Added a detailed section to help you find the minimum stable CPU and MB vcore settings. Check it out (near the bottom of the guide entitled, “Stress Testing and Minimizing Your Vcores”)!
• Updated the CPU table
• Provided a less than $5 method you can use to shave off some NB load temps (in the thermal management section at the end of the guide).

 

Sounds great, keep it up!

Anyway, won't my lower default timings of 5-5-5-12 be a problem, even if I do manage to overclock to 333 on the FSB (1:1 ratio)?

I may know alot about CPU and GPU, and their overclockability, but fact is that as I'm still stuck with a hot P4, so I haven't researched much about the memory limitations when overclocking.

Also, how about the vcore voltage? You went to 1.2526, right?
I'm just wondering, if I push mine to 1.3 to start with, would this work? To lower it from 1.3, bit for bit, till it gets unstable - to find the limit.

Cheers,
Peezee.

 

Your timings should be fine. 333 on the FSB = 666 on the DRAM when 1:1.

As to your vcore question, only you can find out what stable is for your hardware. I dunno about P4 voltage ranges, (see intel's processorfinder) but yeah, follow the guide and lower it until it's no longer p95 stable, then add some back. etc.

Let us know how it goes!

 

Thanks, but I was talking about a Q6600
I'm gonna order one next month, I think.

 

Excellent, I'll start OCing the comming weekend

 

Version 1.6.1 is up. Totally re-wrote the section on memory which now includes a discussion on both DDR2/DDR3 and formulas you can use to calculate max supported FSB of a given module based on it's DDRX-Y and PCX-Y designations. Also re-ordered the first part of the guide.

 

Thanks once again for the guide. The update is sure to come in handy, but there is one thing I'd like you to add (I couldn't find it atleast):

Strappings - what are they?
Memory multiplier (based on strappings apparently) - how does it work?

Or atleast reply and tell me a bit about it, because I cannot select ratios with my current motherboard. I can select this memory multiplier instead (which is at 3.33 at default, and I can choose 3.20, 3.00, 3.40, etc.)

 

Peezee, take a read of this.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=128913

Basically, without reading the article, the strap could be best explained as the internal timing of the NorthBridge, much like RAM timings for example.
A 1066 strap will have tighter timing, thus offering better performance at equal clock but a 1333 strap will allow for higher OC making up for the lost performance of the internal timing. The strap is in relation to DRAM frequencies, the lower the strap, the higher the overclock you may get, and the lower your RAM timing gets, since the DRAM timing and the CPU frequency are linked by FSB, this naturally increases as you compensate by increasing the FSB. They usually flick between different FSB speeds, such as 800, 1066, 1333, and newer boards will have 1666.

It's not a ratio as such, but if you look in CPU-Z, they still show as a ratio.

 

What he said
Maybe I'll add a paragraph about straps in the next release... funny thing is that not all boards have an option for them (my P5B-Del didn't which is why it wasn't added originally).

 

Aye, im not sure which boards do.

Obviously Gigabyte boards have them, and i think Asus? A lot of manufacturers dont let the end user have access to FSB straps, just memory ratio's, and the straps are usually controlled by the NB

 

@PFruit - yep, which is why I love DFI. They have all most all of the features available for you to tinker with... sometimes to your hardware's detriment!