Overcloking Q6600 on Abit IX38 Quad GT

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by yaz, Oct 1, 2008.

  1. yaz

    yaz MDL Novice

    Sep 22, 2008
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    #1 yaz, Oct 1, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 4, 2009
    Hello All,

    I wanted to post my overclocking experience here as i had a hard time to find any resources on how to overclock on Abit IX38 Quad GT.

    Please note, i wont get into details of what this and that means, lots of forums start from scratch by explaining everything, if you want to fully understand each setting, refer to such forums, this is a get into play post.

    To get things started:

    Here are my pc specifications:

    PSU: 500W (not a known brand).
    Mainboard: Abit IX38 Quad GT
    CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 stepping
    RAM: 2 X 1 GB Corsair Dominator 2.1 V
    Video Card: Nvidia G-Force 8800GT
    Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
    H.D.D: 500 GB Western Digital Caviar 16MB cache
    Chass: Gigabyte Triton (Two big fans, front and rear).
    O.S: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

    Now, The beauty of Abit Mainboards is that it has UGuru chipset which controls almost everything related to Clock,Temp, Voltage,Fan. so all what you need to do is to start the UGuru utility that comes with mainboard software and start doing some overclocking,

    I was able to get 333X9 (3.0 GHZ) after half a day although this is my first time experience, its pretty easy. the key here is the CPU and ram voltages related to the FSB, as increasing the FSB would need more power for RAM and CPU to operate, so they need more voltages. increasing voltage generates heat, so you need to do lots of testing to get your pc stable at lowest voltages it needs to operate.

    I got it stable at:

    CPU: 1.1875 V
    RAM: 2.225 V
    CPU FSB: 333
    Multiplier: 9
    RAM Frequency:1000MHZ
    CPU Temp: 24 (idle) - 47 (full load like prime95)

    Now before we proceed, you need to run MemTest and Prime95 on the stock settings to ensure that you dont have any defected items. once verified, you can proceed.

    Note: i got a blue screen on stock settings, thats because the RAM operates on 2.1 V and the voltage in bios was set to 1.1875, so sometimes you need to adjust the stock settings.

    with the uguru utility all what you need to do is increasing/decreasing the voltage and FSB, modifying Settings in Uguru utility will be reflected in bios and vice versa, so follow these steps to get started:

    1. Run Uguru utiltiy from windows:
    2. click on Setup Button.
    3. Navigate to OC Guru.
    4. Drage the slide ExtClk to 333.
    5. MAKE SURE THE PCIEClk is set to 100.
    6. you will find lots of voltage settings at the bottom, the only two settings we are interested in are CPU VID (Cpu voltage) and DDR2 (Ram Voltage).
    7. adjust them to desired voltages, you can use mine as a start, EXCEPT THE RAM, BEWARE OF RAM VOLTAGES, YOU COULD DAMAGE YOUR RAM IF SET IT TO HIGH VOLTAGE,CHECK YOUR RAM VOLTAGE RANGE BEFORE YOU PROCEED.
    8. click ok or apply.

    In terms of voltage, every digit counts, 1.1865 (this value doesnt exist, but for demo) in cpu voltage is not the same as 1.1875, and that applies on RAM as well. i used to get blue screens on RAM 2.2V, increasing it to 2.225V got them stable. so you have to increase/decrease voltages slowly.

    Now, run Prime95, choose Options --> Torture Test--> Blend test and set the threads to 4. if system encountered a error/bluescreens/hangs, default settings will be loaded automatically when restart, if not, enter the Bios and load defaults. or you can turn off your PC and press CMOS button at the rear panel which will clear your bios settings.

    No need to run memTest as Prime95 Blend Test will do that job for us.

    Prime95 should show 4 windows with a green icon at the top left corner of each one, that means the cpu core is running, if some of them turned red and exited as soon as you started the program, then start another torture test and now select Small FFts(first one), if the four of them ran and turned into green, then you have a problem with windows virtual memory, so go and check your virtual memory by right click on Computer --> advanced System Settings --> Settings in performace Tab --> Advanced --> change, select the drive that has your OS installed on and set it to windows managed. the reason for that is blend test consumes all the RAM, so the OS needs the virtual memory to operate well, so setting it to a lower value would not let Prime95 to run all cores together as the OS will not release the RAM. (i discovered that by myself as i had it set too low by eleminating the paging, i read it in vista tweak forums but ITS A BULLs**t,windows knows how to utilitze RAM and paging, so no need to play with the virtual memory,so none of the overcloking forums posted an issue like that).

    Diagnoses:

    1. Blue Screen/Restarts = More Ram Voltage.
    2. System Hangs = more cpu voltage.
    3. Prime95 sumbit errors = more cpu voltage.

    RAM Errors dont cause hangs, either a blue screen or restarts, CPU Errors can cause system hangs or Prime95 errors.

    DONT PLAY WITH ANY SETTINGS EXCEPT VID (Cpu Voltage) AND DDR2 (RAM VOLTAGE). leave everything else as is.

    you need to run prime95 at least 4 hours to start thinking that you got a stable system, after that, i would recommend to leave it for 12 hours, more hours are better.

    if you didnt encounter any prime95 errors for 12 hours, then you can say you got a stable system.

    If Prime95 fails on one or more of the cores after some time, then you need to increase the cpu voltage.

    DONT SET CPU VOLTAGE TOO HIGH, AND KEEP MONITORING YOUR CPU AND SYSTEM TEMP, IF CPU GOES ABOVE 50 then stop (although its still a safe temp but i dont recommend it).

    If you got a stable system and in future you got a crash, check the cause of the error in control panel --> problem reports and solutions, it might be a bad driver, not all crashes are related to overclocking, so dont freak out, i got couple of crashs after overclocking caused by my LAN and video card drivers, so update them to the latest.

    As long as you get stable results in Prime95 after 12-24 hours, then your system is stable, any crash you may encounter is not related to overclocking.

    Many forums say dont trust utilities that come with your mainboard to measure temp and voltages, well UGuru is a trustworthy, i compared temp and voltages read from recommended applications and they read same as UGuru, so you dont need any utility except Uguru, MemTest and Prime95.

    Abit mainboard proved itself by providing great tools to customers, although some other mainboards can be pushed more than this one, but who gives a ****, i dont seek more than 3.6 Ghz in future, and i can do this with only 2-3 hours effort, safe procedures and less trouble, so in my opinion, If this mainboard is not the best for others out there, it is to me from a real experience and great stable hardware. And no i'm not working for abit.

    Last, I'm not responsible of any defects that might caused to your hardware, i posted my overclocking experience trying to help you to understand and get started as i had hard time to find such a resource, if you understand this, do it at your own risk and dont come and blame me if something went wrong.