Bad Q6600 or Bad 680i

Associate
Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
21
Hi Gang...

Been running my EVGA 680i Revision A2 with a E6600 at 3.2GHZ on air without any trouble for 12 mths...

Just put a Q6600 G0 in the board and the best I can seem to overclock is 2.7GHZ at 1.325V.

Its deffo not memory related as memory is Cellshock and was never a problem with the E6600.

I have tried to up the CPU voltage to 1.4 volt and FSB for 2.8 GHZ but system fails boot.

I thought the G0 Q6600 were suppose to clock far better ?

Could it be the revision of my 680i board ?

Any ideas anyone ?

Thanks

Coolur
 
Associate
Joined
4 Jan 2003
Posts
316
Location
County Durham..
I am not 100% sure but i am sure i read somewere that 680i boards don't handle overclocking quad cpu's well..No doubt someone will post and prove me wrong with a great overclock:p
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
4,639
Are you running linked or unlinked?

Running unlinked I can get to 3.4 with my Quad at 1.4v, but I can't get it stable as my PSU is not beefy enough and I can't be bothered replacing it just to get an extra 400mhz.

3ghz was a breeze though, all it needed was the FSB raised. All voltages are left at default.

It's probably a simple bios setting that needs changed, or maybe you need to give the HTT, Northbridge/Southbridge a little more voltage.

Just remember the quad puts a lot more stress on the memory bus, especially if you are using all 4 banks of memory.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Nov 2007
Posts
21
Are you running linked or unlinked?

Running unlinked I can get to 3.4 with my Quad at 1.4v, but I can't get it stable as my PSU is not beefy enough and I can't be bothered replacing it just to get an extra 400mhz.

3ghz was a breeze though, all it needed was the FSB raised. All voltages are left at default.

It's probably a simple bios setting that needs changed, or maybe you need to give the HTT, Northbridge/Southbridge a little more voltage.

Yes it probably is. I am doing the same on a 680i LT SLI and have been through four days of configure, test, reboot!

Specs:
cheapo spare Jeantech 350W PSU
-Asus P5NT-WS (680i LT SLI)
-intel Q6600 G0 + Artic Freezer 7
-2x2GB OCZ 2Gb Platinum OCZ2G8002G
-Cheapo spare PNY 7200 video

-Single 500GB sata disk

I've found the Q6600 will run at 340FSB on 9 multiplier at vCore=1.325. However, to do this i set the memory unlinked at 800MHz (stock speed, at 1.9V) and Northbridge (NB) was upped to 1.4V, and VTT was set at 1.3V. The SB and HT settings were ok and didn't matter. (SB=1.5, HT=1.2). Further testing showed that dropping NB to 1.35v resulted in errors, as did dropping VTT to 1.2V.

This configuration ran Prime95 for for a short test, so should be pretty stable. I did a five hour test with Vcore=1.4

I am now trying to get a few more MHz but I believe that to go above 340FSB I may have to drop the multiplier to 8 (see ), and then will be able to go higher, as it seems to need a LOT more vCore to go up, but this may be the way I have configured the memory.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2007
Posts
2,896
Location
London, Moscow & Samara
Hi Gang...

Been running my EVGA 680i Revision A2 with a E6600 at 3.2GHZ on air without any trouble for 12 mths...

Just put a Q6600 G0 in the board and the best I can seem to overclock is 2.7GHZ at 1.325V.

Its deffo not memory related as memory is Cellshock and was never a problem with the E6600.

I have tried to up the CPU voltage to 1.4 volt and FSB for 2.8 GHZ but system fails boot.

I thought the G0 Q6600 were suppose to clock far better ?

Could it be the revision of my 680i board ?

Any ideas anyone ?

Thanks

Coolur

Did you reset cmos/ restore Bios default settings before/ after installing the Q6600?

Which bios? P31 is the latest btw.

Indeed, the Bios is something you need to check also.

The p31 Bios update as suggested By both ops should help as well.

As it improves kentfield O/C with GO stepping
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
10 Oct 2003
Posts
5,518
Location
Wiltshire
I know it's a bit pedantic to point this out but there is every chance that a given CPU could be from the worst part of the silicon, but if it runs its rated speed (2.4Ghz) without errors then it's perfectly fit for purpose and isn't "a bad chip" as such.
 
Associate
Joined
22 May 2007
Posts
318
Location
North Yorkshire
On a similar note, i've been meaning to post my own thread, but..

I have a BFG 680i SLI motherboard with updated bios to P31 like mentioned before, PSU is Enermax 720w.
The problem I have is my E6600 clocks well, or appears to. My current FSB is set at 1422 which is 3199 GHz. The next FSB so my memory works fine is 1500. The voltage I think I need is around 1.44v is this going to be too high and do you think I've reached my limits with 1422fsb?

BTW, temps at that OC are about 33C idle, I tried the 1500 once and booted into windows but was unstable, temp was 41C so is a big increase.
 
Last edited:
Associate
OP
Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
21
Re Q6600 680Sli Overclock

Hi Again

My bios is indeed the P31...

Yep I did a cmos reset...

Any more ideas, ive tried all the suggestions on voltage increases and to no avail, anything past 2.7 GHZ and its unstable...

Cheers

Coolur.
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Dec 2003
Posts
25,666
Check your board revision, if it's the old one then it must be the board as EVGA replaced all old boards with newer ones so the Quad/680i problem must have been quite catastrophic to warrant a replacement service.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
18 Sep 2005
Posts
21
Seems Like Its The 680i

Hi

It seems my problem is due to the fact I have an "AR" revision of the board which borks like crazy with quad cores...

I have sent EVGA an RMA request and will see what happens...

If the RMA is gonna take a while to get sorted I may have to buy another board as I can not exist without my PC.....

Any thoughts on the P35's and what brand/model works well for overclocking?

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far.

Cheers

Coolur
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2007
Posts
2,896
Location
London, Moscow & Samara
Snip
Any thoughts on the P35's and what brand/model works well for overclocking?

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far.

Cheers

Coolur

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-135-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

When you receive back your RMA you can put it on the flea market or keep for a 2nd rig/ spare.

The Abit pro has a reputation for over clocking;). Search and read the reviews

also see forum thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17739133&highlight=official+abit+pro
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom