Q6600 impulse buy

mas0n

I have issues. I was really only looking at getting a print server so I could quit hosting the family printer on my rig that is always torn apart/reformatted etc...

SOMEHOW, I walked out with a Q6600 G0, ASUS Maximus X38 Special Edition, 4GB PC6400, and a stupid grin...

Pics incoming as I torture this rig over the next few days. Will be dropping this into the "Master" in my signature; hope to hit atleast 3.2GHz and see if the Zalman 9700 can keep up...

First Intel chip in my main rig since P60.

Tex

you guys are making me cry. I am trying to figure out how I can possibly justify one of these suckers (even to me and I'm a pushover for toys....)

I mean my amd64 3400+ does everything I need for sure.... I may have to go in for counseling.....

Instead of standing in front of a bunch of derilects says "I Tex am an Alcoholic...)

I will be standing in front of a room full of geeks saying... "I Tex am a hardware junkie..."

But at least I won't have a half gallon of Jack Daniels I will have a q6600 quad..... LOL

Tex

mmonnin

Hehe how bout this...I went to newegg to buy a 2.5->3.5" HDD adapter and ended up with a Q66....I have been wanting one anyway and going to newegg to actually purchace something put me over the edge.

Nothing wrong with having JD or a Q66, both uber!

Tex

mmonnin wrote:

Hehe how bout this...I went to newegg to buy a 2.5->3.5" HDD adapter and ended up with a Q66....

MMONNIN!!!! Stand up right now and face the crowd here and repeat after me.. ""I MMONNIN am a hardware junkie..."

And if you laugh while saying it you get to write it on the chalk board 100 times.

Tex

Leonardo

hope to hit atleast 3.2GHz

If I can get my unstable B3/IP35-E up to 3.2GHz, then your G0/Asus should have no problem hitting 3.5 or higher...depending upon your cooling and PSU.

Sledgehammer70

TBH to build a Q6600 system is cheap.... making it so easy to buy it over a AMD single core... even if it is fast for you.

I'm a hardware junkie and don't even own a desktop currently

Snarkasm

Leonardo wrote:

If I can get my unstable B3/IP35-E up to 3.2GHz, then your G0/Asus should have no problem hitting 3.5 or higher...depending upon your cooling and PSU.

Agreed. I've got a G0 superduper stable at 3.2 on air, and I had it up to 3.59, but it couldn't handle Prime95 there. I only kept it at 3.2 so I could easily match it with my memory frequencies. No doubt you'll find a good way to get it up there.


... come to think of it, maybe I'll try a little harder now. Time to bust out the math skills...

Thrax

My dad has a Thermalright U-120 Extreme with a 70 CFM 120mm fan, in an Antec 900. At 3.1GHz, the cores are at 60C w/ Orthos instances.

Overclockers beware.

Ryder

Thrax wrote:

My dad has a Thermalright U-120 Extreme with a 70 CFM 120mm fan, in an Antec 900. At 3.1GHz, the cores are at 60C w/ Orthos instances.

Overclockers beware.

G0? They are a lot cooler for some reason.

Thrax

B3, but the g0 isn't more than 5-8C colder.

lemonlime

I've got a Q6600 G0 and P5K sitting here just waiting to be built as well!

There is just way too much bang for the buck, honestly, how can you say no?

mas0n

Swapped out motherboard, processor, and RAM. Dropped RAID card back in and booted up into Windows Vista straight away, it loaded all the drivers on it's own. That was pretty amazing.

However, I do have an odd issue. The BIOS sees all 4 cores, Device Manager lists 4 CPU, but CPU-Z and Task Manager only show 2 cores. Performance results benchmarks and games show results that reflect there only being 2 cores.

I moved from a dual core Opteron, so I am thinking maybe there is still an AMD driver or windows patch that originally optimised the system for that CPU!?!

I'm only going to fight with it for so long before I just format, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to after making it this far.

I don't know how accurate it is but the ASUS AI Software shows idle temps at 30C. I'd run CoreTemp but Vista64 hates it. Everything is stock still until I get this other issue worked out.

SPIKE09

hehe Q6600 impulse buying is very catching Aria.co.uk, friday night and red wine led to two impulse buys of Q6600s. on consecutive Fridays I have hidden my wallet tonight:p

Tex

mas0n wrote:

I'm only going to fight with it for so long before I just format, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to after making it this far.

Why do you need to format anything? No reason to lose your user files or other data.

You only need to format with a REALLY corrupted filesystem. You can always just install a new OS in a new directory.

Snarkasm

mas0n wrote:

Swapped out motherboard, processor, and RAM. Dropped RAID card back in and booted up into Windows Vista straight away, it loaded all the drivers on it's own. That was pretty amazing.

However, I do have an odd issue. The BIOS sees all 4 cores, Device Manager lists 4 CPU, but CPU-Z and Task Manager only show 2 cores. Performance results benchmarks and games show results that reflect there only being 2 cores.

I moved from a dual core Opteron, so I am thinking maybe there is still an AMD driver or windows patch that originally optimised the system for that CPU!?!

I'm only going to fight with it for so long before I just format, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to after making it this far.

I don't know how accurate it is but the ASUS AI Software shows idle temps at 30C. I'd run CoreTemp but Vista64 hates it. Everything is stock still until I get this other issue worked out.

Mason - there's a CoreTemp workaround for x64, you just have to load the driver manually before starting the program. The link is.... here.

That said, I don't know why you're only seeing two cores. It's weird.

Thrax

mas0n wrote:

Swapped out motherboard, processor, and RAM. Dropped RAID card back in and booted up into Windows Vista straight away, it loaded all the drivers on it's own. That was pretty amazing.

However, I do have an odd issue. The BIOS sees all 4 cores, Device Manager lists 4 CPU, but CPU-Z and Task Manager only show 2 cores. Performance results benchmarks and games show results that reflect there only being 2 cores.

I moved from a dual core Opteron, so I am thinking maybe there is still an AMD driver or windows patch that originally optimised the system for that CPU!?!

I'm only going to fight with it for so long before I just format, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to after making it this far.

I don't know how accurate it is but the ASUS AI Software shows idle temps at 30C. I'd run CoreTemp but Vista64 hates it. Everything is stock still until I get this other issue worked out.

Remember what I said about the Windows HAL?

mas0n

Thrax wrote:

Remember what I said about the Windows HAL?

Yeah, I just figured I'd give it a shot though, you know. I'm surprised it made it as far as it did!

Half way through reinstall now.

mas0n

Tex wrote:

Why do you need to format anything? No reason to lose your user files or other data.

You only need to format with a REALLY corrupted filesystem. You can always just install a new OS in a new directory.

My user profile is backed up every night and all of my data is on a different array. Formatting and reinstalling is no biggie.

mas0n

MJancaitis wrote:

Mason - there's a CoreTemp workaround for x64, you just have to load the driver manually before starting the program. The link is.... here.

Thank you, sir.

Leonardo

Q6600, the New Choice for the Impulsive



(Installing my new Gigabyte P35-DS4 R2 when I get home from work today. No siree, my Q6600 build has been planned for months :o ....waiting to pay for wedding and....)


Motherboard Update:
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mas0n

This is where I'm at so far. Seems promising, but I'd like all the cores to be closer to the temps that Core #2 is running at. This is under full load for over an hour. I may have a new CPU cooler before the weekend is over...




Can't say that it's rock solid stable yet, but 3.0GHz at 1.2V is pretty exciting. I'm seeing how low I can get the voltage before I get much further, kinda see what I'm working with before I start pushing the FSB. Tiny bumps to voltage put the temps through the roof.

Snarkasm

Yes indeed. If your experience is anything like the rest of ours, though, there's just a given difference in core temps. Both 2 and 3 on mine are several degrees below my 0 and 1 cores. If you find some way to even them out, let us know. I'd certainly be interested in doing so, especially given it would allow a higher overclock by lowering the temps.

mas0n

Stable for one hour now 1:1 with RAM. Not sure why CoreTemp thinks I'm at 3.6GHz, but whatever...

I'm gonna let it burn for another hour then see how far I can push it and maintain 1:1

Snarkasm

Vista also thinks I'm at 3.6. Some programs just don't take into account that the multiplier might be non-stock.

Qeldroma

I don't know why either- but in my experience CPU-Z gives the most reliable reading. It agrees best with real-time performance measurements.

Thrax

In Windows there's something called a HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer). The name is a little bit self-explanatory. It's a series of DLL files which convert the arcane jumble of electrical signals, IRQs, DMA addresses, multipliers, dividers, frequencies, etc. etc. into something Windows can recognize and work with. If the program consults the HAL, like CPU-Z does, you get a proper clock and multiplier reading.

If, however, the program simply relies on the CPUID of your chip (All chips have a MAC address of sorts, called the CPUID), you'll get BS back. Intel CPU "Drivers" assume a default multiplier and model #.

mas0n

This is as far as I got last night. The voltage is set to 1.315V but it looks like I'm starting to get some droop under load at these speeds. Unfortunately, I need to pick up a new CPU cooler before I can run at anything higher than 3GHz if I want to keep the side panel on my case.

Any suggestions are welcome, what's the best 775 cooler for $75USD or less?

Leonardo

I believe the best HSF right now the Thermalright Ultra Si-120. But wait...there's more. There's that new monster Thermalright that is essentially two 120s grafted together. I don't know if it's in the stores (retail or online) yet.

mmonnin

Same brand it has been for years, thermalright.

Snarkasm

I like my Scythe Infinity. Two 120mm 70cfm fans on either side of it keeps it nice and cool.

lemonlime

MJancaitis wrote:

I like my Scythe Infinity. Two 120mm 70cfm fans on either side of it keeps it nice and cool.

I've been testing my Q6600 under an Infinity (Mugen) as well. It performs very well. Even with just a single S-Flex 1600RPM fan. Manages to keep the hottest core to 50'C at 1.2875V and 3.2GHz (according to coretemp).

Still testing my overclock as well. Not used to intels I had it up to 3.5GHz for a while, but Prime95 never even has a chance to find errors. I seem to get random crashes. Interestingly, I'm much more stable at the 8x multi.