E6600 Overclocking TIPs

[brandonwh64]

OK i just got a E6600 used from anandtech forums and i want some overclocking tips on this CPU. this is the specs:

E6600- stepping b2, SL9ZL
2.4ghz 9 x 266mhz
65nm
1066Mhz FSB

The board i have it on is GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L

FSB 1600(O.C.)/1333/1066/800MHz
45nm support

and the ram i have is 2 x 1gb Dell branded Hynix PC2-4200(533) DDR2

OK it clocks GREAT on stock voltage. I can hit alittle over 3 ghz without any voltage bumb BUT after that it doesnt matter how much voltage i give it it wont go higher than 3.1 1/2

Is there some tips i can get to see some more progress?

 

[newtekie1]

Are you lowering your RAM speeds when you do this?

 

[brandonwh64]

nope i havnt touched ram yet until i got some advice here.

 

[newtekie1]

Well if you haven't adjusted your RAM speeds, then that is likely your problem. 266MHz RAM probably isn't going to handle 333MHz that well.

Either loosen your timings, change the RAM divider, or raise the memory voltages.

 

[brandonwh64]

OK im going to try that.

 

[brandonwh64]

i cant figure out how to lower the mem clock. easy tune fails and the bios doesnt go under 533?

 

[Jstn7477]

Since the processor is 1066FSB, 533MHz may be the lowest memory divider setting possible.

 

[Velvet Wafer]

consider investing in at least some ddr-800.
the better the modules, the easier the OC. with my 1066 dominators, clocking works like a charm. the E5200 i use, which is only an average volting chip,very limited compared to other of its kind,clocks 3.5 stable at 1.4. its pre-owner once validated it at 4, and needed 1.7 volts for ir. i dont know if the wolfdales clock so much better, you got a conroe, but i believe, if you got better ram, you could clock it much better

 

[brandonwh64]

OK last night after raising some voltages i got it to 3.3 and thats with the memory at 2.2v cpu core at 1.45v and CPU termination at 1.4v

but yea if i could lower the Memory clock it would be alot better but easy tune wants to restart and when it does it fails and i tried Memset and when i hit apply it seems not to do anything

 

[niko084]

OK last night after raising some voltages i got it to 3.3 and thats with the memory at 2.2v cpu core at 1.45v and CPU termination at 1.4v

but yea if i could lower the Memory clock it would be alot better but easy tune wants to restart and when it does it fails and i tried Memset and when i hit apply it seems not to do anything

Being cheap ram you will probably burn it up very quickly running it at 2.2v.

As said before, invest in some good ram, your cpu probably has a bit further it could go, lots of people were running those at 1.5+ volts under good air cooling, granted that is not the best clocking board either but at your current rate your ram will not last long.

Can you loosen your ram timings at all maybe like 6-6-6-18?

 

[francis511]

You won`t get like a REMARKABLE clock out of it anyway tho`.

 

[newtekie1]

OK last night after raising some voltages i got it to 3.3 and thats with the memory at 2.2v cpu core at 1.45v and CPU termination at 1.4v

but yea if i could lower the Memory clock it would be alot better but easy tune wants to restart and when it does it fails and i tried Memset and when i hit apply it seems not to do anything

Try going into the BIOS and seeing if you can adjust the timings. If you change them to 5-5-5-15, the memory should be good for a little more, you might even be able to lower the voltage on them a little bit.

You won`t get like a REMARKABLE clock out of it anyway tho`.

My E6600 did 3.9GHz in my 780i, so they can get to some good clock speeds. Though probably not going to see much over 3.4-3.6GHz in a P43 board.

 

[francis511]

My E6600 did 3.9GHz in my 780i, so they can get to some good clock speeds. Though probably not going to see much over 3.4-3.6GHz in a P43 board.

 

[brandonwh64]

OK loosened the ram timings to 6-6-6-22 and got to 3.5ghz
I did get to 3.5ghz but it locked up

yea the ram seems to be the issue cause when it locked up at 3.5ghz it BSOD and said something about the memory

 

[JrRacinFan]

Loosen your CAS Latency to 5, All precharge to activate to 5 or 6 and your tRRD to about 4 or 5. Also vcore seems a bit high for 24.7.

 

[brandonwh64]

for some reason memset wont let me change the CAS latency to 5?

 

[InTeL-iNsIdE]

Why are you using easytune and not oc from bios ?

 

[JrRacinFan]

for some reason memset wont let me change the CAS latency to 5?

Overclock via bios. It's much easier and helps you get a little bit mroe stability.

 

[niko084]

Indeed, never overclock from software.

You want to loosen those timings on your ram, 2.2v will fry most ram sticks, especially ones without coolers.

Make sure your cpu temps stay well within range for 24x7 use.

Your bios should allow you to get your CAS out to 5, 6 probably even 7. Loosen those timings up and drop the voltage, see what you can squeeze out of it.

My old E6420 did 3.4 @ 1.45 on a P5LD2 R2.0, 945 board. Be surprised what these chips will do.

We just have to get around your obvious ram issue.

 

[brandonwh64]

for some reason when i change the ram timings in the bios it shuts down while booting 3 times then it will boot with default settings? is my ram not capable of hitting those timings?

 

[Velvet Wafer]

for some reason when i change the ram timings in the bios it shuts down while booting 3 times then it will boot with default settings? is my ram not capable of hitting those timings?

seems not... this it will do, when it fails

 

[Sasqui]

What I did to test the chip vs memory and NB was lower the CPU divider, and looked for the upper limit on the FSB, while keeping the CPU at a speed & voltage I knew was stable (like stock).

I concur with the RAM assessment - that's probably hoding you back and there are no memory dividers that give you less than the FSB - only more. Try the above and you can find out.

 

[brandonwh64]

Hmm sounds good guys. I need to get some DDR2-800 Ram instead of this 533 ram

 

[Velvet Wafer]

Hmm sounds good guys. I need to get some DDR2-800 Ram instead of this 533 ram

its even a sin to run this ram^^
i would prefer ddr1 400 with nice timings, if i had to choose between those 2 options,ddr2 533 or ddr1 400

 

[brandonwh64]

i think i got these 2x1 sticks for 15$ shipped on hard forums LOL