After 2years or so, I finally decided to rebuild my PC. I went from an AMD FX53, 1GB DDR, Dfi Lanparty, x800xtpe/x1800xt/x1900xtx to an Intel Q6600, Asus P5K deluxe, 4GB Corsair 1066 RAM and an Evga 8800GTX super clocked.
In the FX53 days, it was the fastest chip on the market, by a fair margin and the Intel chips simply could not hang. Back then, overclocking your chip by a few hundred mhz on air was a big deal. Unfortunately, my chip wasn't a great performer in this area.
Fast forward to last week when I ordered the above parts for a new PC. Being out of the loop for 2 years, it took about a week of research to find the "ideal" combo. Got myself a G0 stepping Q6600. Without breaking the sweat, the CPU was running at 3.0ghz. This was well within the volatage range and the heat output was not even an issue. And this is on the stock heatsink!
So I ordered up the mighty Thermalright Extreme 120 with a Scythe 120mm FAN. Wow, what shoddy craftmanship on the Thermalright unit. It's amazing the shit they can sell to enthusiasts and expect them to sand down the heatsink to flatten the surface. I won't go into details but right now, I'm not a happy camper.
However, it still does work better than stock so I decided to put the voltage to 1.372 which is still within the specs! No overvolting yet. Got it up 3.4ghz. That is amazing. Think about it, I got a 1ghz OC on air thus making it 400mhz faster than the fastest chip available. All for under $300!
Once I get my heatsink issues sorted out, I plan to push it between 3.4 to 3.6 which seem to be limit for most Q6600 chips. This will be for everyday use.
Much credit to Asus for a very stable board and a well done bios that makes overclocking fun, not frustrating. Also, the Corsair RAM rocks!
In the FX53 days, it was the fastest chip on the market, by a fair margin and the Intel chips simply could not hang. Back then, overclocking your chip by a few hundred mhz on air was a big deal. Unfortunately, my chip wasn't a great performer in this area.
Fast forward to last week when I ordered the above parts for a new PC. Being out of the loop for 2 years, it took about a week of research to find the "ideal" combo. Got myself a G0 stepping Q6600. Without breaking the sweat, the CPU was running at 3.0ghz. This was well within the volatage range and the heat output was not even an issue. And this is on the stock heatsink!
So I ordered up the mighty Thermalright Extreme 120 with a Scythe 120mm FAN. Wow, what shoddy craftmanship on the Thermalright unit. It's amazing the shit they can sell to enthusiasts and expect them to sand down the heatsink to flatten the surface. I won't go into details but right now, I'm not a happy camper.
However, it still does work better than stock so I decided to put the voltage to 1.372 which is still within the specs! No overvolting yet. Got it up 3.4ghz. That is amazing. Think about it, I got a 1ghz OC on air thus making it 400mhz faster than the fastest chip available. All for under $300!
Once I get my heatsink issues sorted out, I plan to push it between 3.4 to 3.6 which seem to be limit for most Q6600 chips. This will be for everyday use.
Much credit to Asus for a very stable board and a well done bios that makes overclocking fun, not frustrating. Also, the Corsair RAM rocks!
