Q6600 overclock problems

[daroy]

Hello people, I'm new here at the forums and have a question rightaway.

I have a Intel Q6600 (G0) on a Gigabyte X38-DQ6 motherbord. It's cooled by a Scyth Mugen and I'm running Crucial Ballistix memory. So far so good you would say.

But now I want to OC my processor a bit. I've done some reading and it seems that it is the best to have the memory running at 1:1 with the FSB. Also I needed to lock my PCI Express bus at 100 Mhz.

I changed my FSB from 266 to 270 and booted Windows Vista. This went smooth and after testing it for some minutes with Prime95 I went back to the bios and raised the FSB to 275. I didn't chance the vCore yet, so that is @ stock 2.75 if I remember correctly.

Then I wanted to boot Windows again but after updating the DMI pool it gives my the message that something in Windows is corrupt or missing. I have to insert the Vista cd to repair my Windows it says.

When I go back to my bios and put the FSB back to 266 I can boot Windows normally again.

Does anyone knows what I'm doing wrong?

 

[daroy]

OK a little update. I raised my FSB again and also tried to raise the vCore a bit. Same result as before, Windows won't boot and says checksum in a file or driver is corrupted. So this time I tried to insert my Vista cd but after the loading of the cd has been complete (the white bar completely filled) I get the same a message that a critital file is missing or corrupt.

If I change my FSB back to 266 Windows boots again without any problems.


Please help

 

[mortal]

You dont need to raise voltage on G0 untill 3200mhz.

Try to change ratio fsb and memory, maybe memory iz not overclockabel, and disable in bios coola and quiet or what it's caled...

 

[Kursah]

Make sure your RAM is at stable settings...try slack 5-5-5-15 timings if they are spec'd at tighter timings, try bumping up the voltage by .1v. Vista is very touchy on unstable RAM, I know from experience.

You should be able to hit 3.2 with little to no increase in voltage for bootability, you may need more voltage for Prime/gaming stability though.

Hope that helps!

 

[daroy]

I have my memory running at 5-5-5-18 @ 1.8 wich is stock for these modules I have. The recommended settings are 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2v but I wanted to OC my processor first befor going further with the memory.

I will try with giving my ram a bit more V and than report back here.

 

[ntdouglas]

The ram is your problem. Try 2v. What was the ram at when you raised fsb? To me, giga boards are touchy with ram. My old giga board I'd get that stupid checksum error.

 

[daroy]

So far I don't have the problems solved. I've tried to raise the V of the ram but it makes no difference.

But onces I've removed the side of my casing I've noticed 1 of my HDD's is making a ticking noise. It's not loud or making this sound all the time but could it have to do something with it?

I will explain my HDD setup:

1 samsung HDD wich is running Windows

2 Hitachi HDD's wich are in a mirror raid for data storage


One of the Hitachi HDD's sometimes makes that noise. I don't know how I can test this disk with Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test because it's in a raid.

 

[daroy]

OK I am a bit further now.

I turned of the sleep fuction in Windows and after raising the FSB Windows starts loading now. But when you would say he is ready with loading and ready to go to the login screen I get a BSOD, all the HDD's are shutting down at this point. The PC starts to reboot and the HDD's are comming back to life one by one.

Any idea's?

 

[Bundy]

Yus say your RAM is 1:1. What strap did you choose for this in BIOS? was it something like 2.0A or 2.0B? If so, did you select the strap with the letter (A,B etc) matching 333FSB?

 

[daroy]

That did the trick bundyrum&code, I had it set to 2.0A and now switched to 2.0B and my Windows booted

Can you explain me what is the difference between the settings?

 

[Bundy]

I dont know much about this but besides the RAM timings, there are also northbridge timings. When you select a RAM timing, you also select the timing (Strap) for the motherboard. The number is the RAM ratio and the letter is the strap.

When you increase fsb frequency, you need to relax timings (i.e change strap). These Gigabyte boards list those straps as A B C and D and they all correspond to the boards recommended timings for fsb.

As you were going above 266fsb, you will get better stability if you change your strap to 333. If you go over that, change the strap again. Note that changing straps loosens timing and therefore reduces performance. Strap selection can also be used to get better performance but in your case stability is the issue.

The strap speeds are listed at the side in your BIOS screen.

Maybe someone else can explain better....