Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

[=98=]

I finally got my Q6600 (with P5Q Deluxe) stable at 3.6ghz. I had a chip with a very low VID of 1.25v. I used the following settings:

CPU Ratio: 9
FSB: 400mhz
PCIE frq: 100
FSB Strap to NB: 333mhz
DRAM Frq: 961mhz (P5Q won't boot with memory under 800mhz)
DRAM timing: 5-5-5-15 (other settings auto)
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
DRAM Read Training: Enabled
MEM OC Charger: Disabled
AI Transaction Booster: Manual
Common Performance Level: 08 (All pull-in's disabled)
CPU Vcore: 1.4125v
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2): 0.630
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (1/3): 0.670
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.56
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.28
DRAM Voltage: 2.1
NB Voltage: 1.3
NB GTL Voltage: 0.630
SB Voltage: 1.3
PCIE SATA Voltage: 1.5
Loadline Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
All others enabled.

The board is stable after 6 hours of Orthos. At first it refused to POST, but having looked around BIOS guides, apparently the P5Q Deluxe has a "high end feature" where it won't boot with memory slower than 800mhz (PC-6400)!

It takes quite a while to learn the function and safe settings for most of the voltages and after that, it's quite a bit of hit and miss as to whether it boots or not. But, a little persistence and now i have a super fast machine :yay:

If anyone has any questions about voltages or what certain BIOs features do, just ask :)

[Evil Spongebob]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

nice...what happened to your p5b?

[=98=]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

Sold it. I am going to go watercooled this December (Bday and Christmas) and i wanted a good overclocking board before i do.

This Q6600 and P5Q has a lot of potential, especially given the low VID of the CPU and high potential FSB of the motherboard :)

[=98=]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1



My score :)

[Jazzman]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

nice oc alex :thumbsup: what cooler do you have?

how does fsb work?
My motherboard specs says it can run at 1600 MHz
my cpu runs 1333 MHz
and when you're talking about overclock it is 333 or 400.

can someone explain this to me

[=98=]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

nice oc alex :thumbsup: what cooler do you have?

Xigmatek HDT-S1283 with a Thermalright blot through kit. I had to take off the standard push pins with a hacksaw to use the bolt through kit.

how does fsb work?

The FSB is basically the bus that carries data between the Northbridge and CPU. So, the faster the bus, the faster information is carried between the two. This is why a 400x8 (FSB x multiplier) is faster than 356x9 despite the overall CPU speed being the same.The FSB speed effects the overall CPU speed. Multiplying the FSB by the CPU's multiplier will give you the total processor speed.

When overclocking the front side bus, a number of voltages need to be fiddled with. The two most basic are the CPU Vcore and NorthBridge voltage. The faster the CPU speed, the more VCORE (CPU voltage) it will require. Similarly, the faster the FSB (even if the overall CPU speed is the same) the more voltage the northbridge needs.

There are other voltages such as CPU PLL voltage, FSB Termination Voltage and CPU GTR (Gunning transceiver logic) voltages but these are for advanced overclocking and are only required for squeezing out the absolute final mhz.

My motherboard specs says it can run at 1600 MHz
my cpu runs 1333 MHz
and when you're talking about overclock it is 333 or 400.

This is a quite confusing area! Modern motherboards use what is called "quad pumped" technology or in it's real name, "Quad Data rate". Basically, it means that the motherboard can transfer 4bits of data per signal, so 2bits on the upside of the signal and 2 bits on the downside. Imagine it as a binary style transmission, with a flat line being a 0 and a 1 being a raise. This is done every clock signal.

So, two bits on the upside, two on the down.


So, a 400mhz frontside bus, when quad pumped is 1600mhz and a 333mhz frontside bus is 1333mhz. So, if a board states it can run a 1600mhz FSB, it means it can run the latest CPU's that use a 400mhz actual FSB.

However, in overclocking this isn't that important since we often raise the FSB above these rated figures. Look at the screenshot below, as you can see the default FSB speed for my Q6600 is 266mhz or 1066mhz when quad pumped. However, after overclocking, that is blown out of the window!



With advanced boards, it is possible to change the FSB/Memory strap used. So, my default strap was 266mhz (1066mhz), which when trying to overclock to 3.6ghz is a little too aggressive. So, i relaxed it to 333mhz (1333mhz) which enabled me to achieve a higher FSB speed whilst maintaining sensible memory speeds.

[Jazzman]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

so if i want i can raise the fsb over 400 MHz?

[=98=]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

I would increase the Vcore, northbridge voltage, slacken the FSB/memory strap to 333mhz and go from there.

[Corkum]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

Well, I certainly just learned more that I was expecting to.

[Dr_Zyklon]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

50% increase? crazy, i have barely gotten like 42 out of mine, wont get much higher i think though

[TheEn|gma]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

GJ Alex... now come and do it to mine?

[.Gunfire]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

Wow, congrats Alex

[Wizrdwarts]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

Nice. Can you get it stable without load line calibration? It might send spikes of voltage above the processor's rated level if you have it enabled and your vcore is near the limit.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

:yay::yay::yay::yay:

yay :) great job on the o'c axuk. sure a lot of tweaking went into that.

any idea whether the penryn's and nehalem's overclock as well? and at what voltages? in real hands?

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: Yay, 3.6ghz !!!!1!!!1

What where your before and after 3dMark scores (or whatever you have been benching with)