Following the advice of someone in the forums, I'm putting FSB at 400, and the multiplier at 8, giving me a precise 3200 MHz with a 1600 MHz FSB.Temps are:My current setup (3.12 GHz): Prime95, Tj in the mid 70s, flickering back and forth between 79-80C and 75C Tj (which has got me worried); FSX ALL scenery settings maxed, Tj in the mid to low 60s. Idling at 45-49-50C Tj.At precisely 3.2 GHz with a 1600 MHz FSB: Prime95 at 75-78-81C Tj, no more. FSX at 55-60C Tj. Idling at 45-48C Tj.How is this setup and how are these temps?Regards,BoeingGuy

>Following the advice of someone in the forums, I'm putting>FSB at 400, and the multiplier at 8, giving me a precise 3200>MHz with a 1600 MHz FSB.>>Temps are:>>My current setup (3.12 GHz): Prime95, Tj in the mid 70s,>flickering back and forth between 79-80C and 75C Tj (which has>got me worried); FSX, Tj in the mid to low 60s. Idling at>45-49-50C Tj.>>At 3.2 GHz with a 1600 MHz FSB: Prime95 at...Yow, that's warm, but perhaps not for a 6600. Maybe take the case cover off?QX9650 @ 4.0GHz/1.285 vCore / 8GB PC-800 Mushkin (cheap!) / evga 8800GT @ 660Mhz / 2xSATA 2 drives /

-SNIP->At precisely 3.2 GHz with a 1600 MHz FSB: Prime95 at 75-78-81C>Tj, no more. FSX at 55-60C Tj. Idling at 45-48C Tj.>>How is this setup and how are these temps?>>Regards,>BoeingGuyWhat are you using to measure those temps? They seem a bithigh from my experience with my Q6600.My 3.2GHZ overclocked Q6600 is idling at:Tcase 35CCoeres 0-3: 36,37,39,43C The cores usually run about 7C higher that Tcase.Intel specks TcaseMAX at 71C on the Q6600 G0 stepping.I use both Everest and Speedfan to check my temps.Speedfan needs to be adjusted for the Q6600 since it willread the temps 15C lower than they actually are.My temps in FSX are somewhere around Tcase at 42-45 and the Tcores at 49-52C.I think my Tcase ran around 60C in Prime95 with the coresaround 65-67C.I have a Rosewill RCX-Z775-EX cooler on my CPU.FYI, the Q6600 will shut itself down if it senses dangerously high temps. Paul

I'm using CoreTemp. Also, I think Tcase is about 11C lower than Tj.

>I'm using CoreTemp. Also, I think Tcase is about 11C lower>than Tj.Hummm....I just DL'd CoreTemp .0.96.1 and it is giving me temps that are 10-15C higher than both Everest and Speedfan.Something is definately not right there. It shows the TjMAX to be 100C and I do not believe that is the correct value forthe Q6600 G0. PaulEDIT:....opps...belay that. I had the "Show Delta to TjMax" ticked. With that unchecked the temps agree with Everest and Speedfan. Running Prime95 now and seeing 70,66,66,70C for the 4 cores.

Setting FSB higher USED TO BE the standard for o/c and is a myth still propagated in many OC forums. You will find that modern boards often run smoother and faster with the original chipset speed, in your case 1333. You can then enable AI memory booster options. I made extensive tests on my system and ended up running the bus at 333, memory at 1333, with both AI boost options enabled in the bios. Measured with Everest memory benchmark. memory read is then marginally lower (9688 compared to 9950), but everything else, including Write and Copy, plus L1 Cache run faster (copy 119350 rather than 104299 with a faster bus. L1 Cache Copy is ESSSENTIAL for game performance). FSX runs smoother with the lower FSB setting, and textures load faster and more consistantly. Setting your FSB too high on the X38 also causes audio distortion if you don't use a soundcard.You should test these assumptions on your own machine of course, but don't believe the rubbish propagated on so many tech sites that "you always want to start by O/C your FSB". That's not true anymore. Make sure to update your bios before trying anything. X38 is a new chipset, and every new bios release changes the O/C parameters. Finally, your system MUST BE 24/7 PRIME95 stable for FSX to run without hitches. Even an occasional Prime error will come back to haunt you, especially if you use add-ons like the PMDG 744.

Your temps are fine. Throttling starts at 95C Tj. The CPU is protected with a 100C auto-shutdown function. It will reset as soon as temp returns below 100C. You cannot damage the CPU with heat unless you hit it with a hot hammer. Tc generally runs about 10C less than Tj (average). But forget about Tc. It's just a quick reference for a server farm manager that wants a quick, single data point to monitor hundreds of CPUs. Try the 9 multi to get 3.6. A 6600 will run at 3.6 no problem if you can maintain those temps. If Tjs get too far into the 80s, try lowering Vcore (core voltage) a tenth or 2.Everest stress test and FS were runing fine, but I was always loosing cores in Prime. Lowering Vcore a tad cooled things off a couple of degrees and I started getting much better Prime runs. The "100 TjMax" that is shown in Coretemp is the Q6600s autoshutdown temp.I agree that a lower FSB can provide a (virtually undetectable) increase in performance. Wade through this and see if ya'll can see why.http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208&p=4

So is it true that a 345 MHz FSB (which gave me 3.1 GHz, 1380 MHz effective) will give me better performance than a 400x8 setup with a 1600 MHz FSB? Is it worth downclocking to 3.1?RAM also ran 29 MHz faster at 3.1 GHz.I'm torn if I should keep this or go back to 3.1.BoeingGuy

Try a front side bus of 356 with a multiplier of 9. That will get you back up to 3.2Ghz and should slightly lower the temps. Increasing FSB & Vcore will increase your temps...Vcore will have a much more profound effect in raising temps.The more clock cycles you give your CPU the better your performace is going to be so, 3.1Ghz will not perform better than 3.2Ghz. What doesn't seem to make much of a difference performance wise is the memory speed.It all boils down to are you comfortable with your temps? Are your temperatures that much lower at 3.1Ghz vice 3.2Ghz?

It seems to me that you have found a good sweet-spot for your system.3.1 vs 3.2 GHz is simply not going to matter once you are flying, period.Also the Prime benchmark temperatures are a torture test which you are not going to repeat all that often, so do not worry about them!If the junction temps are 70-80 while flying in FSX, you are doing just fine. Just watch out for the heat of summer and keep an eye on your temps then.. Other than that, you have accomplished what you set out to do, so go fly ! :-)

>Setting FSB higher USED TO BE the standard for o/c and is a>myth still propagated in many OC forums. You will find that>modern boards often run smoother and faster with the original>chipset speed, in your case 1333. You can then enable AI>memory booster options. >I'm not sure what you mean when you say "enable AI memory booster options" Do you mean use the AI Boost windows interface for overclocking?CraigLian Li PC 65B CaseCorsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power SupplyPlextor PX-810SA/SW-BL DVD/CDGiagabyte GA-P35-DS3RCrucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)Arctic Freezer 7 ProIntel E6850 Core 2 Duo 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache @ 3.6 GHzEVGA 7950GT KO 512mb 169.21_forceware whqlSeagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATASeagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATAWinXP Pro SP2

I beleive the options for the memory boost that he is referring to are specific to his ASUS mobo's bios.

Thanks to sargeski and Bert, I am staying at 400x8. 356x9 gives me slower RAM (713). I know it won't make much of a difference, but I read somewhere in the long run, it will. I am comfortable with my temps. And I have a 1600 MHz FSB, which FSX likes. I am staying here.Thanks to all,BoeingGuy

different manufacturers have different terminoloy. there are basically two technical approaches: One to allow the memory clock to self-o/c, in a matter of speaking. Asus calls that "AI Clock Twister" on their latest board. Setting it to "Strong" is equivalent to a memory o/c of up to 20% under load conditions, whilst keeping the voltage of the memory chip at reasonable values. The second option is "Transaction Booster". The Anandtech website has an article that explains a bit about the technology behind it, but it's pretty involved and has to do with memory timings. A setting of "2" is high enough, very few memory chips will accept anything over 5. Both options are in the BIOS. You should not use windows-based o/c tools. They are never accurate. Maybe they'll get better in the future, but I haven't seen a reliable one.

You board has the Intel X38 chip, which will run best at its native speed. Try 333/1333. Use the CPU multiplier to O/C ONLY the CPU. 345/1380 us a very odd setting.