Q6600 Vs E7200

[--Randy-- 5]

I currently have a system with a Q6600 Quad and it runs like crap. I thought it was going to be an &@($* kicker when I built it but I get a lot of stuttering and pausing in FSX...as many of you are familiar with. Since I am not ready to lay down the bucks for an i7 yet...I was wondering about getting an E7200 and overclocking the hell out of it as described in the article " How To: Get A 4 GHz Dual-Core For $120" on Tom's below. Overclocking the Q6600 doesn't seem to work well....I up it a bit and XP startes freezing up. Do any of you have any thoughts or experience with the E7200..........Thanks. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overcl...E7200,2072.html

[TechguyMaxC 516]

How are you attempting to overclock? What RAM do you have? Motherboard? Cooling? It's incredibly unlikely that your chip is incapable of stable operation at higher speeds. The problem is likely one of configuration. I would take advice from THG with a grain of salt. 4GHz on a lower-binned chip like the E7200 will be much more difficult than with an E8000 series chip. Mid-3GHz is a much more realistic expectation.

[Mace 1,902]

I currently have a system with a Q6600 Quad and it runs like crap. I thought it was going to be an &@($* kicker when I built it but I get a lot of stuttering and pausing in FSX...as many of you are familiar with. Since I am not ready to lay down the bucks for an i7 yet...I was wondering about getting an E7200 and overclocking the hell out of it as described in the article " How To: Get A 4 GHz Dual-Core For $120" on Tom's below. Overclocking the Q6600 doesn't seem to work well....I up it a bit and XP startes freezing up. Do any of you have any thoughts or experience with the E7200..........Thanks. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overcl...E7200,2072.html

I have no experience with the E7200, sorry. But I can tell you one thing. You can purchase an E8400 or E8500 cpu for less than $200 and it will easily overclock to mid-3's...and with your hardware ought to clock to high 3's, and at that point you will get a sim that performs well and looks good, too.Incidentally, I see two things in your config that may be hindering your Q6600 overclock to mid-3's. They are the 680 chipset and the modular power supply. In my opinion (this is debateable around the scene...) a modular power supply, no matter the quality (and I like Corsair p/s's) is not going to cut it with a high-end overclock. And getting a Q6600 to 3.5-3.6 is a high-end overclock with that chip.

[--Randy-- 5]

Thanks for responding guys. Max...you can see my current config in my signature file and Mace...thanks for the info. When I built this system I thought a 680i would be good for overclocking and I didn't know a modular power supply would make that kind of difference...that is good to know. Thanks again. Randy

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Thanks for responding guys. Max...you can see my current config in my signature file and Mace...thanks for the info. When I built this system I thought a 680i would be good for overclocking and I didn't know a modular power supply would make that kind of difference...that is good to know. Thanks again. Randy

Randy,I see that now. I don't think your hardware is holding you back. 3GHz+ should be doable with that rig. What options are you changing in the BIOS in order to achieve your desired overclock?

[--Randy-- 5]

Randy,I see that now. I don't think your hardware is holding you back. 3GHz+ should be doable with that rig. What options are you changing in the BIOS in order to achieve your desired overclock?

I upped the FSB speed to 1300. With FSB-Memory Clock Mode-Linked and FSB-Memory Ratio in Sync Mode that puts the CPU at 2925Mhz with the Multiplier at 9X. I haven't tried this in a while.....will give it a go and see what happens...will report back. Thanks for your help.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

I upped the FSB speed to 1300. With FSB-Memory Clock Mode-Linked and FSB-Memory Ratio in Sync Mode that puts the CPU at 2925Mhz with the Multiplier at 9X. I haven't tried this in a while.....will give it a go and see what happens...will report back. Thanks for your help.

What voltage settings have you changed, and what values are they using?

[--Randy-- 5]

What voltage settings have you changed, and what values are they using?

I didn't make any voltage changes....only FSB to 1300.....should I make some voltage changes?

[TechguyMaxC 516]

I didn't make any voltage changes....only FSB to 1300.....should I make some voltage changes?

Ok, this is why you aren't able to achieve a higher overclock. You've found the limits of your hardware at stock voltage settings.As for whether you should make changes, that's ultimately your decision as there are potential risks. If you inadvertently change one of these values too high, you can damage components. If done properly there is little risk, however. I personally over-volt every computer which I overclock, but I have been doing this for many years and understand the risks. If you wish to continue overclocking by adding voltage, do it one notch at a time, meanwhile also slowly raising your FSB until you reach the desired overclock. The "safe" values for these voltages will depend on your CPU cooling, primarily, as you're likely to exceed the thermal dissipation capacity of your cooling system before you require such high voltages as to cause immediate permanent damage. The two settings which you would need to change in order to effect a higher overclock are CPU voltage (Vcore) and memory controller voltage (usually Vmch). As stated earlier, raise these one notch at a time until you reach the desired clock levels. With your CPU I'd say you're likely to hit 3.2GHz or higher with some mild voltage adjustments. Higher than 3.6GHz is unlikely without extreme cooling (i.e. heavy-duty water loop or phase change).

[--Randy-- 5]

Ok, this is why you aren't able to achieve a higher overclock. You've found the limits of your hardware at stock voltage settings.As for whether you should make changes, that's ultimately your decision as there are potential risks. If you inadvertently change one of these values too high, you can damage components. If done properly there is little risk, however. I personally over-volt every computer which I overclock, but I have been doing this for many years and understand the risks. If you wish to continue overclocking by adding voltage, do it one notch at a time, meanwhile also slowly raising your FSB until you reach the desired overclock. The "safe" values for these voltages will depend on your CPU cooling, primarily, as you're likely to exceed the thermal dissipation capacity of your cooling system before you require such high voltages as to cause immediate permanent damage. The two settings which you would need to change in order to effect a higher overclock are CPU voltage (Vcore) and memory controller voltage (usually Vmch). As stated earlier, raise these one notch at a time until you reach the desired clock levels. With your CPU I'd say you're likely to hit 3.2GHz or higher with some mild voltage adjustments. Higher than 3.6GHz is unlikely without extreme cooling (i.e. heavy-duty water loop or phase change).

Thanks for the info. My system seems to be running ok at the 1300 FSB adjustment...at least in FS9. I will probably run with this for a while and then play with the voltages to see what I can come up with. Thanks again for the help.

[jfri 42]

Incidentally, I see two things in your config that may be hindering your Q6600 overclock to mid-3's. They are the 680 chipset and the modular power supply. In my opinion (this is debateable around the scene...) a modular power supply, no matter the quality (and I like Corsair p/s's) is not going to cut it with a high-end overclock. And getting a Q6600 to 3.5-3.6 is a high-end overclock with that chip.

I don't see any sense in a modular PSU not being able to power a OC CPU becausr it's modular.

[peppy197 165]

I don't see any sense in a modular PSU not being able to power a OC CPU becausr it's modular.

The problems arrise inside the PSU which I think becomes more cluttered and easily overheated?Do a Google on Modular PSU tehre is some info there

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Speaking purely in a statistical sense a modular PSU has more failure points (in this case the extra connection for the cable) and is thus more prone to failure. However, in the real world modular PSUs do not seem to suffer greatly from this, assuming one is buying a quality brand in the first place. Early modular PSUs did seem to have a higher failure rate than their contemporary counterparts, but that's to be expected with anything new. We're well past that stage now.

[jfri 42]

The problems arrise inside the PSU which I think becomes more cluttered and easily overheated?Do a Google on Modular PSU tehre is some info there

I doubt this very much. If it's correctly desigmed and of good quality it's not cluttered inside in a way that make it performs nad or overheat easily. Otherwise the problem shouldn't be limited to OC and the problem would be more known. For example my modular corsair has got very high ratings in a number of thorough test reviews. A problem like this would have shown up during such tests I think.

[Mace 1,902]

I don't see any sense in a modular PSU not being able to power a OC CPU becausr it's modular.

I never said a modular won't drive an overclock. What I did say was that if you are looking for a high, major clock, I would not put one in a system designed for that if it were me building it. However, I am not gonna debate the merits of modular vs. traditional here, that has gone on many place many times. Besides, I don't really feel that strongly about it either way. For the OP, I think that p/s is just fine for the overclock he's planning to do.