Bandit Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 OK after building my PC last year I have decided to give overclocking ago and squeeze some more juice out of my PC. From all the doco I have read the components I have chosen are suited to an OC attempt. ASUS Striker Extreme Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.40GHz Corsair Dominator DDR2 RAM 2GB (2x1GB) Inno3D GeForce 8800GTS OC 640MB ASUS Silent Square CPU cooler Core Temps running at ~36C at idle (according to CPUID HWMonitor) From what I have read I should be able to OC up to 3.0GHz. I would appreciate anyone who could help me here with some pointers as how to proceed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heiko Glatthorn Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Much to read... A guide at FSW : http://www.flightsimworld.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56097 And one from Xtreme Systems : http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57148 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Hi Heiko Thank for the pointers alas the 2nd link is like a Dodo .................... extinct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Short answer DONT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Mango was this the thread you were talking about? http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t261409.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Webb Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I was able to overclock my Quad Q6600 @2.40GHz to 3.0 2.40GHz. Took a few failed attempts, but finally got there. I accept the risk on the basis that I purchase the 2.40 at $226.00. A 2.83 is $679.00. If I blow anything up, chances are that I will still be in front if I have to replace a part or two. Cheers, Matt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heiko Glatthorn Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Hmmmm, the second link works for me - maybe you have to be logged in... Well, this extremoverclocking guide is excellent too ! Stick to that one. Maurice, why not...? I am running a 2.4 GHz C2D at 3.6 GHz (50% over clock) for almost 2 years and the difference is like day and night. Just now it's showing it's o/c age and i had to pull back a notch to 3.5 GHz. A new E8500 will arrive tomorrow and my target is nothing less than 4.0 GHz. That will feed the 280 GTX well . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmrich28 Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 keep an eye out for those 4870's from ATI too Mango..and yes I'm a lifelong NVidia guy. Too bad I had to buy a system on a panic..couldn't live without one on a weekend break. (I'd toss this HP board out the window so I could o'clock too) Well that day may be coming..I LOVE tweaking..messing up..fixing...repeat Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heiko Glatthorn Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 lol yeah. Well, i was tempted to wait for the 4870X2 results - but i decided that i was waiting long enough now. This card might bite the 280's tail but you never know which problems occur with dual cores. Maybe my next GPU will be a ATI/AMD again. I really hope they will continue to close the gap in the high end section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I'm old school and NEVER overclock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMcIver Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I'm running my q6600 at 3.7 (on water) and couldn't be happier. As long as you watch the temps you'll be fine. It's worth getting some extra cooling, water isn't neccessary unless you think its fun, in which case it suddenly becomes very neccessary, but for 3.0 you should be fine. Not overclocking the C2D and Quads really is a great injustice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgruschow Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I used to agree with Mozz. NO overclocking! If you want more power, buy better cpu. But after reading Asus's advertising I decided to have a look at it. With the latest motherboards you can't realy get into trouble. If it doesn't like your settings it just switches itself off. Or wont even start. My computer had an X6800 dual core cpu clocked at 2.97. I had it running comfortably at 3.6. with standard cooling. At 3.8 it became slightly unstable. I have core temps displayed at all times, and temps never exceeded 60 degrees I recently bought a new machine with an Asus Striker ll extreme motherboard and a QX9650 quad core cpu clocked at 3.0. It easily o'clocked to 3.6. It's running beautifully. Temps stay in the low 60's. I could still get a bit more out of it, but I think I will leave it where it is for a while. It may be necessary to go to water cooling if I go any higher and I don't feel happy about water and electricity so close together. And I'm running fsx with all settings at max and the only place I've found where fps drop below 22 is flying over Brisbane. So I'm happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solareagle Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 This is what you are looking for: http://www.nvidia.com/docs/CP/45121/nforce_680i_sli_overclocking.pdf This is the Official Nvidia 680i Overclocking guide, and its just the thing for your 680i MBD. It covers overclocking basics as well as the specifics of overclocking your Chipset and BIOS. If your Q6600 is a G0 stepping you can probably hit 3.0Ghz in the stock cooler and 3.5GHz on aftermarket. My MBD is the wrong revision for Quad OCing, so there is no way to get mine stable above 3.0Ghz without a new board. I had my E6750 doing 3.5Ghz on a cheapo Arctic Freezer. There is really no reason not to overclock these days, and in fact if you are building your own system I would consider it an essential part of the system build. When the MBD manufacturers are releasing official overclocking guides and CPU manufacturers are releasing unlocked chips you know overclocking has become a mainstream practice. It's nearly impossible to damage anything provided you keep the voltage within spec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heiko Glatthorn Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 Of course there is nothing wrong with running hardware at stock speed. However, CPUs and mainboards today are specially designed to be capable of much higher clock speeds then the default specification. That's an important marketing aspect. Over clocking gives you the opportunity to create a high end power house at a low budget. When i built my 2500 $ PC almost 2 years ago, it was wiping the floor with those 7000 $ Alienware rigs... And it is not beaten by any stock PC today. FSX is heavily depending on high clock speeds. Even today a 1500 $ top end CPU struggles to run it on very high settings. However, a 200 $ E8500 at 4.0 GHz does the trick. Mine arrived just 5 minutes ago - please excuse me, i am off to lap the IHS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singletracker Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Bandit I have an almost identical system to yours, bar a 8800GTX instead of the GTS. I have been running my system at 334X9 (3Ghz) with no probs for about 6 Months, very stable. Managed about an extra 12FPS in FSX above the un overclocked config. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Webb Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Hey solareagle, thanks for the link to the overclocking guide. Skimmed through it and it's a great guide. I'll give it a better read on the train to work tomorrow. Certainly will help fill a few gaps the big hole in my knowledge on the topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Hey solareagle, thanks for the link to the overclocking guide. Skimmed through it and it's a great guide. I'll give it a better read on the train to work tomorrow. Certainly will help fill a few gaps the big hole in my knowledge on the topic. Ditto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Has anyone use nVidia's nTune for overclocking?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtualwombat Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Don't use nTune! Always set the Bios settings directly. There are any number of horror stories about nTune on the net. My own experience backs them up. nTune screwed up my system really badly so that it took months to get it working properly again. I bought gear specifically designed for overclocking; the 680i (like the Striker II) has features that make it easy. If anyone is interested in this motherboard, EVGA have a user forum where recipes for overclocking the 680i are posted, complete with step-by-step instructions and images of the Bios settings required. Too easy! I've been running my system at E6700 at 3.2 GHz for over a year with no problems. Bear in mind that not all CPUs of a given model can be overclocked to the same level. Results will vary, not only because of cooling capacity of your system, but also because of variation in the CPUs themselves. The CPU selection process (binning) means that some parts will only just scape into a category whereas others of the same model maybe a lot better and therefore are overclockable to a higher speed. So the message is, don't just apply an overclock the same as other people are doing; check your temps and take the speed up in small steps. Your ceiling maybe much lower (or higher) than the next bloke. Cheers, Noel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 Thanks for the warning Noel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin Gillett Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I'm old school and NEVER overclock Hello Maurice I understand your reluctance but the old days have passed and it is far safer to overclock your PC than 4 years ago. There are now many built-in protection features that will prevent thermal overload and save your PC well before any physical damage can be done. I have my Quad Core Extreme 9650 3.0 GHz running at 4 GHz safe, stable and below 65C without water cooling. As an added bonus my PC now acts as a heater for the colder months and will keep my computer room at a mild 22C with the door closed on even the coldest days. Kind Regards, Gavin Gillett AirBornComputers.com Phone: (08) 9525 0088 Email: gavin@airborncomputers.com Web: http://www.airborncomputers.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozzy_06 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I recently bought a new machine with an Asus Striker ll extreme motherboard and a QX9650 quad core cpu clocked at 3.0. It easily o'clocked to 3.6. It's running beautifully. Temps stay in the low 60's. I could still get a bit more out of it, but I think I will leave it where it is for a while. It may be necessary to go to water cooling if I go any higher and I don't feel happy about water and electricity so close together. And I'm running fsx with all settings at max and the only place I've found where fps drop below 22 is flying over Brisbane. So I'm happy. So you get these temps on an O/C of 3.6 on stock cooling? Just interested, because I've just setup a Q9550 and am about to order an aftermarket cooler to OC a bit (3.4 to start with) 2.83 stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Thanx Guys, Great advice. I oc'd my quad 2.4ghz last night to 2.7 and it's running like a dream, no noticeable difference, except in FSX, where that little boost has upped my frames by 3 or 4 (average). I'm still experimenting with my settings, but I'm gonna take it to 3.00ghz. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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