I've never really ventured into the area of overclocking, but I thought I would give it a try with the Q660 I got recently. I keep reading that it is easy to overclock and can go as high as 3.7. I'd be happy with 3.0, so I tried a few weeks ago to up the FSB where the clock speed was right at 3 gig. There was an noticeable performance boost, but unfortunately I started getting BSODs. I have it set back to normal for the time being, but I'd like to know what else I need to set.

I have an Intel 975XBX2KR board and DDR2-800 Corsair memory. I know that board isn't the best at OCed, but surely I can get the CPU up to 3 gig.

If anyone has any experience with this board and processor, I'd appreciate any info.

EDIT for additional info: If it matters, I have the newer G0 stepping, and also have a good quality Thermaltake CPU fan. Temps are now around 25C, at least accoring to the Intel Desktop Utilities.

Miggy, the Thief

Two things:

I just did some research and stumbled upon an explanation for something that has confused me since I got this Intel board. The temp shown in BIOS and in the Intel monitoring program is not actually the temperature, but how much room you have before you reach critical levels. I ran CoreTemp and found out that it was actually 70C. However, the CPU fan is set to auto and runs at practically no speed. I set it to manual and cranked it up. The temp went down to the 40s.

I did a couple of tests and first set the FSB to 400, since I read that 800 speed memory should be able to handle that easily. The BIOS gave an error message upon rebooting, saying that an unsuccessful POST was detected. I had to go back into BIOS. I set it lower, to around 350 and that time it POSTed. However, Vista gave an error message that a startup file was corrupted. I tried booting again and got the same message. I went back to default 266 and the computer and Vista booted up.

Miggy, the Thief

set the core to 333 which translates to a fsb of 1333 with a multiplier of 9.
up to here you should not need to increase the vcore/ cpu voltage or anything else for
that matter.

to get to 3.2ghz, set the core to 355 which translates to a fsb of 1422 with a multi of 9.
here you might have to increase the vcore/ cpu voltage from 1.35v - 1.45v.

it's trail'n'error. it's best to start low and then work your way up and see which setting make
it bsod. back track and start tweaking something else.

Are you saying to set the FSB to 333? I don't know if I've ever tried it specifically, but I'll give it a try.

Why would 400 cause it not to post and 350 let it post, but Vista give an error that a startup .DLL file was corrupted? Then when I returned to normal, the file wasn't corrupted. That seems strange to me, unless it's running so fast that it thought the file was corrupted.


Miggy, the Thief

a core of 400 would be good too if your board can achieve that. it might need some tweakn.
i found that some whole numbers are working better then odd numbers.

with a set multi of 9:
core - fsb - cpu
266 - 1066 - 2.4ghz (stock)
300 - 1200 - 2.7ghz
333 - 1333 - 3.0ghz
355 - 1422 - 3.2ghz
377 - 1511 - 3.4ghz
400 - 1600 - 3.6ghz
422 - 1688 - 3.8ghz
444 - 1777 - 4.0ghz

this is the table i run down and then lower the multi and start over until i find the sweet spot
i highlighted the ons that work well for me

Okay, so I'm going to assume that the BIOS giving an error saying unsuccessful POST just means I can't use that particular setting, and that Vista giving an error message upon bootup means the same thing. I've never read about overclocking causing falsely reported .DLL file corruptions, but i guess anything's possible.

Miggy, the Thief

file corruption (can) occure any time your system is turned off or rebooted abruptly, not
properly. because the data in transistion, hard drive cache and memory can not fully be saved

Yes. It's basically saying that the overclock is not stable. You shouldn't start with a huge increment on the FSB, just start raising it slowly and see if it post then raise it another notch and keep going until you've achieved the desired speed. Remember to watch temperatures and the voltage, if it's set to auto it could be assigned too high giving you high temperatures. When you have your desired clock speed be sure to run a stress test, if the test runs for let's say 9 hours with no errors then you have a stable overclock.

Download these tools for the stress testing.

Prime 95 http://www.freewarefiles.com/Prime-V_program_19638.html This will stress the hell out of your cpu and run it to the max, this test if successful will determine the stability of your overclock.

wPrime http://www.wprime.net/download.html?q=wprime_160.zip If you don't want to wait for 9 or 10 hours to test your stability then I suggest wPrime, I've found that if not stable it will fail within minutes or so letting you know so you can restart and change the settings.

Core Temp http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ Monitor your CPU temps.

CPU-Z http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php View your cpu info.

I'll work with this some more on Thursday, which is the next day I have off. I might come back and post what my BIOS options are, so I can figure out how to set the voltage if I need to, and what to set it to.

Miggy, the Thief

It's Thursday, and I've gotten to do some O/C testing. Here are the results.

FSB set at 350 or above will not POST. "BIOS has detected an unsuccessful POST...."

FSB set at 340 will POST, but gets an immediate BSOD when Vista tries to start.

Highest that I got to work was 336, and here's what CPU-Z has to say:

Core#0 - Corespeed 2019 Mhz, Multiplier X6, Bus Speed 336.5, Rated FSB 1346
DRAM Freq. 504.8, FSB: DRAM 2:3

One small point to make here is that Corespeed and multiplier change briefly upon first starting CPU-Z, and it does this no matter what FSB I am testing. In the example of FSB 336, it changes briefly to 3028 X9 and then back to 2019 X6. I know the figures correlate and is just the speed expressed in terms of multiplier or 6 or 9. And I've not used CPU-Z before, so maybe this is normal. I just thought I'd point it out.

Now for reference, here is what it says on the stock 266 speed:

Corespeed 1600 Mhz, multiplier X6, Bus speed 266, Rated FSB 1066
DRAM Freq. 400, FSBRAM 2:3

If my reading into OC guidelines is correct, the raising of the FSB is also overclocking the memory. Thus, the raise from stock of 400 to 504. And therefore, I'm limited in the CPU overclock because the memory doesn't have as much room. I imagine that is what's causing the BSODs when the memory goes too high. I can't find anything to set the ratio of FSB to DRAM to 1:1, so 3028 Mhz CPU (336) might just be my ceiling. But for reference, here's what I can find in BIOS that I can change:

CPU Voltage Override: Currently set to DEFAULT. Choices are 1.6000V down to 1.2875
Enhanced Power Slope: Currently set to DISABLED. Choice is to ENABLE it.
Front Side Bus Voltage Override: Currently set to 1.250. Choices are 1.500 down to 1.200
MCH/ICH Voltage Override: Currently set to 1.525. Choices are 1.700 down to 1.500
Memory Reference Frequency: Currently set to DEFAULT. Choices are 333 Mhz. down to 133
Memory Frequency. Currently set to 800 Mhz. Choices are 800 down to 400.
Memory Voltage: Currently set to 1.84. Choices are 2.80 down to 1.80.

Miggy, the Thief

Well.....

I had played Crysis for an hour when I had settled on 336. After I posted the findings here, I loaded up Bioshock. It gave a BSOD after 5 minutes. Knocked it down to 335, same thing. I currently have it on 333 and just got through playing the first level.

Am I stuck here, or is there a way to up the CPU without the memory?

Miggy, the Thief

Set to x8 on the multiplier. I use this to get to 1600FSB or higher. I've also used
x9 multi to get 1600FSB but my board handles it.But using x8 will get you better
results.

Each mother board & model & make is different. Start over with setting your CPU
to 266MHz, and your RAM to 533MHz, set Multi to x8, then up your CPU Freq another
amount. say 290Mz (Note: and FYI by setting your 266cpu to 533mhz, your setting the ratio to1:1 ie: [syncing the cpu to ram]).

Note: 290MHz is just off the top of my head, a reference number.

When you get closer to 3GHz or over, then start ramping the Volts up.
On my board, i had the 3.60GHz (CPU 400mhz by RAM 800MHz) and the
volts on CPU was 1.56v and the ram was at 2.05v.

3.60GHz at x8 multi was (CPU 450MHz by RAM 850MHz), and the volts was
roughly the same, as well as the RAM.

What you need to do is get say for example, 3.0GHz stable, and work out what you
want to push, and then amount of volts you need to tinker with. On your MoBo,
maybe (for arguments sake) when you hit 3.20GHz, your system, will become unstable,
then the volts on your CPU & RAM need to be adjusted. If you get it stable at 3.20GHz
with the volts you set, then you can figure out how much more you wanna push.

Your fluctuating CPUZ is a setting in your BIOS. I can't remember of the top of my head
what it's called again, but i disabled it. It's an option where when your pc is idle, say on
desktop, the OC will go back to near stock levels to save power. And when you start
a game or an app, the clock will shoot back up again.It's nothing to worry about.
Check your manual on how to disable this on BIOS.

Again, it's just a bit of time and pateinceto get an OC especially a high one stable.
It takes practice and perserverance. Stick at it,and within days, you'll get to grips
with it. It sounds to me that you're totally unfamiliar with your Hardware's capabilities
and stability. So don't ramp up to full OC straight away. Do it bit by bit or chunk by chunk
lol. And you'll soon unlock ur potential.

Tam...


Also, when you get to an extreme high OC, things get tricky. On boards like mine,
I have tiny increments for RAM Volts & CPU volts which helps makes things easier.
On other boards that are not designed for extreme OC'ing, the incrememts maybe much
larger, and that's a problem with in itself.

Thanks for the info, Tam.

First, a minor update. I had to lower the FSB again - this time to 300 - when I determined that the o/c was causing Flight Simulator X to lock up. That program is particularly memory intensive, as it's constantly unloading and reloading new terrain as you're flying.

Before I even try to get into what you were detailing, I should add that my multiplier is locked at 9X. Does that mean I'm totally out of luck, or can I follow a modified version of your suggestions?

Miggy, the Thief

Look in BIOS for MODIFY RATIO SUPPORT that's how you unlock the multiplier.
That's what it's called inmy BIOS. Should be the same for you. Once you unlock this,
then your ram timmings become available. example 5-5-5-15 or 4-4-4-15, etc.

I'll look... but I don't recall seeing anything like that in there.

What board do you have? I have an Intel 975XBX2KR.

Miggy, the Thief

I have the ASUS Commando.

Well, I couldn't find anything like that in BIOS and after doing some research, I have learned that the multiplier on a Q6600 is locked. I probably heard that before, but didn't pay much attention to overclocking issues.

Am I at a dead end, then?

Miggy, the Thief

I thought I was on to something! But I did accomplish one thing.

Tam, I re-read your message and something hit me. Setting the memory down to 533 and then raising it back up with the FSB might allow for more of a CPU speed increase.

I first tried FSB 333 to get 3.0 gig and it's stable this time. Memory runs at 666 Mhz. instead of 800. So I tried for 400 to get the memory back to 800 and hopefully have 3.6 gig. But still got not POST. Something else is stopping it.

I tried for 340, but that got a BSOD.

It's set at 333 (3 gig) now, and that is a noticeable improvement, but what else can I try to get above it? If I can't, can I set the memory at 667, and maybe get it back to 800?

Miggy, the Thief

3.60GHz might be too much for your MoBo. But check ur voltages for both CPU & RAM.

I'm going to leave it at 3 gig for a little while and see how that goes. Then I might begin again with trying to raise it a bit.

Am I to assume that the system not POSTing means that FSB just can't be used? And that to get the lower FSBs (340, etc) that will POST to be stable in Vista I might have to raise the voltages?

Is this the correct procedure? Raise the FSB to say, 340. Slowly raise the voltage until it becomes stable. Do you know anything about the Enhanced Power Slope setting? It says it allows extra current to go to the CPU. It's disabled now. Could that be why it's not letting the FSB go above a certain level?

Miggy, the Thief