Desperately seeking overclock

GregH · Post by **GregH** » 23 Feb 2008, 19:06

Previously I had an E6600 2.4 Ghz CPU (800FSB) clocked at 2800 rock solid stable by simply adjusting the FSB up in the Bios. No extra cooling added.

I have "upgraded" to a Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz. My M/Board states it supports all the way up to 1333Mhz FSB.

Anyway, I cannot overclock this CPU to even 2.5Ghz by upping the FSB and get it to run stable. I can up it to 2.8Ghz and get a 3DMark06 score of 12100 and all looks good BUT if I run MS Flight Sim X with advanced payware aircraft (PMDG 747-400X in particular), the PC suddenly reboots after anything from 5 mins to 30 mins on the smallest o/clock. It does not do this when I run at the default clock speeds so it has to be an o/clock issue right?

But surely I can get something extra out of the Quad Q6600? Any suggestions on what I can do because Flight Sim X really struggles along with under 20FPS is some situations, purely due to CPU bottleneck. (FSX is very CPU dependant and an increase in CPU speed related directly to FSX frame speed).

Could I fiddle with the CPU or FBS voltages, and if so, how do I go about this without destroying something expensive?

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 23 Feb 2008, 19:15

Up your Vcore voltage to 1.3v

I have my Q6600 sitting @ 2.8ghz very stable (hasn't crashed once) on 1.3v

Could even be your ram, I'd download Orthos and run stress tests on your cpu and ram seperately. One of them are bound to fail and then you'll find the problem.

For now I'd say up the volts!

GregH · Post by **GregH** » 23 Feb 2008, 19:34

Thanks Adv4anced!

My Bios does not have a setting specifically saying "Vcore"
There are a number of options including FSB overvoltage, RAM overvoltage etc. How do I know which one to up?

GregH · Post by **GregH** » 23 Feb 2008, 19:52

OK, I think I have answered my question - went into Bios now and found "CPU Voltage Control" which is currently set to 1.26250V and there are options to raise it up in increments as follows:1.26875 / 1.27500 / 1.28125 / 1.28750 / 1.29375 / 1.30000 etc. I guess this is what you refer to?

If I up the RAM (DDR2 Overvoltage Control) in my Bios, I can do so in 0.05V increments. What should I be loking to do here if the CPU voltage adjustment still provokes a sudden restart?

Thanks in advance!

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 23 Feb 2008, 23:24

Open up CPU-Z, check the speed tab to see @ what volts your ram @ stock should be. Probably 2.0v or 2.1v - you can raise this to around 2.250v if you're ocing your ram by e.g 100mhz

Yes the CPU Voltage Control is what I was referring to. Since its only at 1.26v raise to 1.28 or 1.29v

Remember that you always raise your voltages in small increments (e.g The next volt option your bios gives as to what volts you're currently on).

GregH · Post by **GregH** » 24 Feb 2008, 14:38

Thanks Adv4nced!

Before reading your last post, dived right in and upped the CPU voltage from 1.26250V to 1.30000V.

Running like a dream at 2.8ghz now. I tried my best to knock it over by doing things in FSX that knocked it over before and it seems solid, even after 3 hours.

CPU temp does get a little higher - mid 40's (may even touch 50 degrees as I only check by quickly rebooting into the bios under PC health options. CPU temp alarm is set for 70 degrees. Is this too high - I only have choices of 60, 70, 80, 90?

Thanks again for your advice - appreciated! Guess I can change my signature now