Is My Q6600 A Dog Or Is This Another BadAxe2 O.C. Issue?

[DB_Cooper]

Hello everyone!

Right now I'm trying to over-clock my new (G0) Q6600 processor on an 18 month-old D975XBX2 motherboard.

I'm using the most recent BIOS (2838) and a ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT cooler.

I seem to be hitting a problem at about 366 FSB regardless of how much voltage I dial in, but my core temp climbs to about 63C at idle, so I backed down to stock voltage and my idle CPU temp is now at 49 at 333 FSB (as per Core Temp).
To me that seems a bit high for that mild of an overclock.
Is it?

I also wonder if I have excessive Vdroop as I notice that with V-Core set at 1.500 in the BIOS that it is reported as 1.441 in CPUz.

Anyways, I'd like to hit the 400 club, but I'm wondering what's holding me back.
I suspect that there might be an issue with my motherboard, and/or that I also got a dog of a G0 processor, as unlikely as that might be.


Thank you

Chassis: COOLER MASTER Praetorian PAC-T01-EK
Motherboard: D975XBX2
CPU: Q6600 SLACR
RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) 1.8v DDR2-800
Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

Hello everyone!

Right now I'm trying to over-clock my new (G0) Q6600 processor on an 18 month-old D975XBX2 motherboard.

I'm using the most recent BIOS (2838) and a ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT cooler.

I seem to be hitting a problem at about 366 FSB regardless of how much voltage I dial in, but my core temp climbs to about 63C at idle, so I backed down to stock voltage and my idle CPU temp is now at 49 at 333 FSB (as per Core Temp).
To me that seems a bit high for that mild of an overclock.
Is it?

I also wonder if I have excessive Vdroop as I notice that with V-Core set at 1.500 in the BIOS that it is reported as 1.441 in CPUz.

Anyways, I'd like to hit the 400 club, but I'm wondering what's holding me back.
I suspect that there might be an issue with my motherboard, and/or that I also got a dog of a G0 processor, as unlikely as that might be.


Thank you

Chassis: COOLER MASTER Praetorian PAC-T01-EK
Motherboard: D975XBX2
CPU: Q6600 SLACR
RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) 1.8v DDR2-800
Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W

First I'd like to welcome you to the AOA forums DB!
Everyone here is really good people & the bonis is they have a TON of knowledge & OCing background...

Whats holding you back to start off wih is the ZALMAN CNPS9500 cooler!
Although it's a Zalman cooler it doesn't have the 9700's size & doesn't have the heat displacement needed for 4 cores being OCed & overvolted...
Also, are you running the fan at full speed? If not you need to to get the most cooling you can out of it.
Another thing is the TIM (Thermal Interface Material) used.
You should use the best you can get for heat transference.
Personally I recommend & use Arctic Silver 5.

Now even with H20 cooling you're going to have a hard time getting to 4GHz (Stable) even with the best OCing mobo on the market, but you are using a Badaxe 2 mobo so it's going to be hard pressed if near impossible to do using the i975X chipset.
I would know as this is the mobo I have.
IMO I don't think it's possible to get a stable 4GHz on the Badaxe 2 board especially on air!

You don't have the make & model of your RAM...this is Extremely important to an OC on this board as it's somewhat finicky on the RAM used to get optimal performance & OC's.

[B]Anyways for starters read this Forum thread D975XBX2 Overclocking!!! & this one OC'ing the Q6600 on the Intel D975XBX2 board then get back to me & we'll go from there OK.
Btw, the newest bios isn't the best for OCing...it's v2809 that's good for that!

I've already posted a TON of info on this combo & the Badaxe 2 mobo in general & well worth the effort to read it as it will answer a lot of questions...OK bud!

[DB_Cooper]

Yes, I already saw those two earlier posts and I'm glad you answered this one as well.
Thank you for the warm welcome too!

OK, I'll start off with the basics here.

IF I chuck the ZALMAN CNPS9500, would a SILVERSTONE NT06-LITE CPU Cooler do any better.
I bought that for another build, but if I can use it on my Bad Axe 2 I'd rather do that than have to buy another.

If I gotta buy another cooler, is this the one you are talking about?
ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail [/URL]

Currently I'm using Arctic Silver 5 as a thermal compound.

My memory is 4 sticks of Transcend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)[/URL]

That's running OK on stock voltage at 835.2 MHz

Before I get too much further, If I just toss my MoBo, what's the 'Hot Ticket' for DDR2 Intel 775 solutions?

PS: I tried to link all my hardware, but since I only have one post, the board will not let me.

[DB_Cooper]

I forgot to ask...
Where can I get BIOS v2809?

I'm not readily finding that on Intel's site.

EDIT: I found it via a Google link
I'd post the URL but I can't yet here.

[DB_Cooper]

OK, I re-flashed the BIOS to v2809 and that did seem to help a bit.

This is what I have done so far (at 3.3 GHz from 2.4GHz) :

1. FSB Speed = 367
2. V-Core = 1.500 v in BIOS = Between 1.441 v & 1.430 v on CPUz
3. MCH/ICH = 1.575 v
4. FSB = 1.400 v
5. Mem Freq = 533 or 1:1

At Idle my temp is between 58c & 62c

What else oh master.

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

Yes, I already saw those two earlier posts and I'm glad you answered this one as well.
Thank you for the warm welcome too!

OK, I'll start off with the basics here.

IF I chuck the ZALMAN CNPS9500, would a SILVERSTONE NT06-LITE CPU Cooler do any better.
I bought that for another build, but if I can use it on my Bad Axe 2 I'd rather do that than have to buy another.

If I gotta buy another cooler, is this the one you are talking about?
ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail [/URL]

Currently I'm using Arctic Silver 5 as a thermal compound.

My memory is 4 sticks of Transcend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)[/URL]

That's running OK on stock voltage at 835.2 MHz

Before I get too much further, If I just toss my MoBo, what's the 'Hot Ticket' for DDR2 Intel 775 solutions?

PS: I tried to link all my hardware, but since I only have one post, the board will not let me.

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

I forgot to ask...
Where can I get BIOS v2809?

I'm not readily finding that on Intel's site.

EDIT: I found it via a Google link
I'd post the URL but I can't yet here.

I don't think the Silverstone is the cooler I'd go with because all it does is recirculate air around instead of exhausting it to the rear case fan.
Yes, the CNPS9700 is the Zalman cooler I was talking about, it's the big brother of the 9500 but I'm not sure it's going to be enough to cool the Q6600 processor OCed with some voltage on it.

Looks like your case is a lot like mine with the exception that mine has 2x80mm fans in the back & a 120mm in the front instead of 2x80.
Tip for better case airflow: Although filters clean out the dust that can get into your case they also severely restrict the airflow as well so take them out!
Once I took all the filters out of my case fans the ambient temps dropped by 25F! This will make a BIG difference on the cooling performance of the CPU cooler & the graphics card then as well... My whole system runs cooler because of this but yea, once I week I have to blow the dust out but big deal...

IF you got the funds I'd go with the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or something along these lines. Tons of heatpipes with a huge surface area.
This keeps it cool enough to put more vcore on it without it burning up!
Btw DB, anytime you see text that is underlined, it is a Link OK.
With me I bold it as well so it stands out more.
So the link to the 2809 bios was already in the post I had made.

As far as settings for the Q6600 ccper had on a i975X chipset said it didn't OC well at all on it & he didn't get much pasted 3.2GHz.
So I really don't know if you can get anything more out of it on the badaxe. There is no "Magic" settings with this mobo at all. It's very straight forward & simple & it does or doesn't do what you want it to.
So Experiment..Try looser timings on your memory, or try a looser NB timing like the 1333 FSB strap & see if that helps it go higher. (in the bios this is the reference frequency)

As you already read, I by no means am an expert at this but I do get results finally in the end from persistence along with trial & error testing.

Pics below are of the inside of my case & airflow layout & system temps in F & C.

[DB_Cooper]

OK, I just tried loosening up the memory timings and it didn't seem to make any difference.

It looks like if I want to see anything beyond 370 I'll need to change out the board, and while I'm at it replace the heat-sink.

Any thoughts on a new 775 DDR2 motherboard?

[Daniel ~]

Lots of nice boards out there! You might want to take a look at the P5Q. My 6600 quad hit 3.825 set to AUTO with just a bump in RAM and CPU voltage... Run it every day at 3740 on ALL AUTO... might be worth a look for you. BTW Welcome to AOA!

P.S. I should have mentioned that I'm water cooled.":O}

[DB_Cooper]

The ASUS P5Q SE/R looks OK and it's not too expensive.
It's not exactly cheap... but a $100ish isn't too bad either.
I paid over twice that for my BadAxe2.

BTW, in an effort to get my temperature down, I under volted the Q6600 down to the board minimum and although it didn't seem to make much difference in my core temperatures (idle at 48-50), it's still stable.
Hummm...

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

The ASUS P5Q SE/R looks OK and it's not too expensive.
It's not exactly cheap... but a $100ish isn't too bad either.
I paid over twice that for my BadAxe2.

BTW, in an effort to get my temperature down, I under volted the Q6600 down to the board minimum and although it didn't seem to make much difference in my core temperatures (idle at 48-50), it's still stable.
Hummm...

Yea, as I said DB the 9500 just doesn't have enough surface area to get rid of all the heat being produced by 4 cores being OCed.
I'm sure it works fine for it at default settings but that's not what you want.
Also I will say again...the lower the ambient temps are in your case the better your CPU cooler will work!
The ambient case temp on my system is 75F & that is because I removed all the filters to allow for maximum airflow through the case.
This is why my core temps are so low. Before they were 15-20F higher.
That made a HUGE difference...it really moves the air through it now!
There will probably be air filters on the top fan & front fans.

[ccperf721p]

To reach your goal of 400FSB with a quad, you will need to switch to a different board.

The 975/965 based boards were out quite awhile before quads started to hit the streets so a few critical design features just aren't there when it comes to overclocking.

The Asus P5Q would do everything you wanted and then some. Some of the boards I have used and have topped 450 with are the Asus P5Q, Asus P5K premium, DFI LP P35 and the Biostar TPower I45 I have now will go 475 with a little work.

[bonesaw]

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

At Idle my temp is between 58c & 62c

What else oh master.

whoa thats a little to high, those are higher than my load temps

i would back off

check out these
Newegg.com - OCZ OCZTVEND2 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks
or better
http://www.xoxide.com/thermalright-u...0-extreme.html

[DB_Cooper]

With undervolting (and seemingly no change in stability) I have my temps down to 50C at Idle and 62C under load with Prime95.

I agree, that is still too high; I need to keep them to about 35C at idle and no more than 50C under load.

My memory seems to be better than I thought, as it's running at 835.2 MHz (rated at 800) at 5-5-5-15 without a hickup, and that is with all 4 slots populated with 8GB total (2GB X 4).

I guess the first thing I need to do is get another cooler, see how or if that changes anything (I don't think it will fix my over clocking problem but it will bring my temps back into line), and then I'l look at that ASUS P5Q SE/R motherboard.
If nothing else I probibly should be happy (for now) with a 600MHz overclock to 3GHz.


Finally I want to thank everyone here that helped me on this.
I'll keep you guys updated on what happens.

That BadAxe2 turned out a disappointment, but I guess when that board came out that was the best there was, and if nothing else, it is stable and hasn't given me a bit of trouble at stock speeds.

[MUff1N]

Actually DB temps do matter when it comes to OCing as excessive heat will cause stability problems.
At the higher clock speeds the cooler it is under load the more stable it will be.
So it is important to have cool temps other than not burning it up.
IF you want to go on Air for cooling you should go with either the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme or TRUE coolers.

No other Air coolers cool as good as these two cooler do!!!
Mind you though that both of these coolers are a Massive 6" tall so you need
a case that they will fit in. This won't fit in my case with the side on...it's about a half a inch too tall.
They are the reining Kings...

[DB_Cooper]

Yeah, that case fit thing is a problem for me.
Sure I want better cooling, but having a rig with the cover off invites other problems.

I think I'm coming more than 95% to the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with the XIGMATEK HDT-S1284EE 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler.

It will fit inside my case, and if I want to go nuts I can attach a better 120mm fan (maybe a Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Case Fan) if I want quiet.

After all of these years, why are there no after market air-ducting solutions out there (assuming I have not missed them)?

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by DB_Cooper

Yeah, that case fit thing is a problem for me.
Sure I want better cooling, but having a rig with the cover off invites other problems.

I think I'm coming more than 95% to the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with the XIGMATEK HDT-S1284EE 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler.

It will fit inside my case, and if I want to go nuts I can attach a better 120mm fan (maybe a Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Case Fan) if I want quiet.

After all of these years, why are there no after market air-ducting solutions out there (assuming I have not missed them)?

Yea, if you read some reviews you'll see that the Ultra 120 Extreme is one of if not the best air coolers out there!

As far as after market airducts I suppose the reasons are that home PC cases now are built with very good air circulation in their designs.
That & the newest 45nm dies produce a lot less heat too & are much easier to keep cool.
Mine case moves a TON of air through it... especially after my modifications that I did to it for OCing Coolness.
6 case fans, PSU fan & the GPU fan altogether.
Yea, it's makes some noise but I don't hear it with the volume up a bit on it.
Only in the middle of the night does it seem a bit noisy.

You could always go with an H2O system, but you're looking at about $200 for a good one that will be reliable for years to come & that won't leak...
Personally I don't like the idea that at any moment a leak could start & short out the whole system taking a lot of expensive HW with it!
(This happened to a friend of mine)

[DB_Cooper]

Like you I'm a bit leery of water cooling.

When major manufactures start regularly building and selling water-cooled servers, then I'll reassess my position on that.

I'm just not into OC'ing THAT MUCH that it makes a big difference to me.

[Daniel ~]

Ambient temp 61 F CPU Temp 20C
2.44 2 core @ 3750

Water is massively better than air at cooling...5 times the ability to cool of air...If your really interested I did a review of my Koolance set up for front page a while back..

Just so you know, I'm no great shakes at these things and am prone to error, yet I've never losrt a single bit of hardware to water in 8 years...":O}

They are water cooling Video cards for a reason...":O}

[dabaerman]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

Ambient temp 61 F CPU Temp 20C
2.44 4 core @ 3750

Water is massively better than air at cooling...5 times the ability to cool of air...If your really interested I did a review of my Koolance set up for front page a while back..

Just so you know, I'm no great shakes at these things and am prone to error, yet I've never losrt a single bit of hardware to water in 8 years...":O}

They are water cooling Video cards for a reason...":O}

I too have been H2o cooling without failure for 6 years. I like it so much that I have 4 Koolance 602's. I intend to make some upgrades when I get a Quad Core and water cool the vid cards too!!

Ron

[Carlos_will]

Incase you haven't upgraded your cooler DB cooler, you might want to try the titan fenrir =]