Q6600 little OC

[nuggetprime]

I just thought I'd OC my Q6600 with stock intel fan a bit. Now the thing I'm asking is temps.
Well, with no oc and stresstesting cores 0 and 3 are at 72°,the other two at 69°. It has always produced good results and is very stable. When I OC to 2.5 GHZ and stresstest, I don't know how high it would go, I canceled at 74° because I was afraid my cpu could get damaged. So I'm now asking you: What temp is safe?At which temp do I need to cancel the stresstest?

Thanks,
nugget

[mdettweiler]

Originally Posted by nuggetprime

I just thought I'd OC my Q6600 with stock intel fan a bit. Now the thing I'm asking is temps.
Well, with no oc and stresstesting cores 0 and 3 are at 72°,the other two at 69°. It has always produced good results and is very stable. When I OC to 2.5 GHZ and stresstest, I don't know how high it would go, I canceled at 74° because I was afraid my cpu could get damaged. So I'm now asking you: What temp is safe?At which temp do I need to cancel the stresstest?

Thanks,
nugget

For a Q6600, the "thermal spec" is at about 71.5-72 degrees (I forget exactly); that's the point at which it begins to slow itself down in an effort to keep itself a little cooler. Thus, it is counterproductive to overclock so much that it will take you past this level, since it will result in a net slowdown anyway. However, running at this level should not damage your computer.

The "critical" level, by contrast, is at 100 degrees for a Q6600. (Note: That's much higher than many other CPU's. The Q6600 is a somewhat hardy model. ) This level is the point at which, if reached, the computer will automatically shut itself down (without warning), to prevent itself from being fried.

Long story short, with a modern CPU like a Q6600, you probably won't even be able to fry it--the worst that can happen is an automatic shutdown if it gets way, way too hot (and you're likely to notice before it gets up there).

However, it sounds like the overclocked temperatures that you're getting are slightly above the thermal spec, so you don't want that. I would recommend either running it at stock speed, or getting a better (i.e. non-stock) cooler. Stock coolers are tailor-made by the manufacturer to cool the CPU at non-overclocked speeds; they don't take much more than that, though.

One other thing you might try is cleaning out some dust from your heatsink/fan assembly. The fact that you're running at 72 degrees with no overclock indicates that there's something in there that's driving up the temperature a bit--usually, the culprit is dust. You'll definitely want to clean that out regardless of whether you overclock, because as long as it's running at or above the thermal spec, your CPU is operating somewhat slower than it should.

Hope this helps!

Max

[nuggetprime]

I've OCed it from 2.4 to 2.45 GHz and temps are around 72 degrees. LLRnet iteration time dropped from 0.78 ms to 0.76 ms. Not bad for that little overclock!

--nugget

[em99010pepe]

I would recommend to install a new cooler. The latest stock intel fan is not so good as the previous one.
I also have a Q6600 and it's running at 2.96 GHz with anArctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 cooler. My temps are lower than 52 ºC with 4 LLR instances on Winter and 62-62 ºC on Summer.

Carlos

[henryzz]

its 71 according to http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SLACR
that is presuming that you have G0 stepping which i think is probable as you would already be having problems
otherwise it would be 62.2

[nuggetprime]

Yes,it's a G0.
I might buy a new cooler, but most probably not in the next few months.

--nugget

[db597]

A good cooler is always worth it on a quad. Try to get one using heat pipes that has a "tower" design. Mine is running overclocked to 3.2GHz and I don't even hit 70 degrees with 4LL threads. And it's quiet too!

[mdettweiler]

Originally Posted by db597

A good cooler is always worth it on a quad. Try to get one using heat pipes that has a "tower" design. Mine is running overclocked to 3.2GHz and I don't even hit 70 degrees with 4LL threads. And it's quiet too!

Just curious...what exact cooler are you using? Mine, which is also one of those "tower" designs, also cools excellently but is very loud.

[IronBits]

I use Noctua
http://www.dvhardware.net/review110_...a_nh_u12f.html
or a Thermaltake Big Typhoon
http://www.modsynergy.com/review155.htm

[henryzz]

i use
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=20729
it keeps me at 50 overclocked to 3 Ghz

[IronBits]

Nice! Only $26 at NewEgg

Problem with it is I've never been able to get a stock locking mechanism to work and I don't think it applies enough pressure for my liking.

I've tried several of those stock HSF that come with the processors, and never have I been able to get it to stay in the damn hole. /bangs head