Overclocking ASUS P5Q Pro and Intel Q6600 with Air Cooling

**Rumble** · 10-15-10, 07:11 PM

OK, I have my own computer repair and support business but have never really delved into the details of overclocking a computer before.
I am trying to find a good comprehensive guide to overclocking my ASUS P5Q Pro motherboard with an air cooled Q6600. The air cooler is highly rated for overclocking, as long as you don't "over do it" HAR HAR HAR.

I just want to know what I need to change in the bios and what numbers to use to not overclock too much. Most guides I read talk in generalities and talk about experimenting to find your sweet spot. I was hoping I could find overclocking for dummies or something. I'm wanting some more power out of my rig so I can put off buying a new processor/motherboard/ram, but I dont like the idea of taking chances with "experimenting" with the numbers.

Thanks for any help anyone can lend.

**Viktor_Olin** · 10-15-10, 11:35 PM

I couldn't find a guide specific to your configuration, but I did find this: http://overclockingworld.com/overclo...e-motherboard/ (Site seems to be temporarily down just now).
If your BIOS is similar, it might work for you.

I recently put a Q6600 on an old EVGA 680i MoBo and had no luck at all overclocking (probably RAM related). Hopefully your luck will be better than mine.

**HeavyG** · 10-16-10, 01:39 AM

You shouldn't have any trouble getting the Q6600 up to 3.4-3.5 GHz if you have good cooling and airflow.

**Rumble** · 10-17-10, 11:16 PM

I just can't find what to change the voltage, fsb, multiplier and memory to.

Like I said I know so little about what I'm doing in this area, it's embarrassing.

**HeavyG** · 10-18-10, 03:54 AM

Before you start the overclocking process, you need to download some software to make sure the system is stable. I recommend having the following (some of which I am sure you already have):

CPU-Z - Use to validate the new clock settings.
HardwareMonitor - Use to monitor system temps during stress testing.
Prime95 - Stress/Torture test for your CPU.

As a general rule, I try not to increase my voltage unless absolutely necessary, but when dealing with serious overclocks, you will almost always need to increase your voltage. You will need to know the detailed specs of your chip. Does your Q6600 have B3 stepping or Q0 stepping? Pay particular attention to this as the B3 has a max safe temp of 62c while the Q0 stepping has a max safe temp of 71c. Obviously, the Q0 stepping is the more desirable version of the Q6600. You also need to know the max safe voltage. I believe the max safe voltage on the Q6600 is 1.5v. Here is a link to the specifications of the Q6600 to verify:

Intel® Core 2 Duo Q6600

Your overclocking interface is similar to most other ASUS boards. Once you enter your BIOS, go into AI Tweeker. It should look as follows:

You will want to set the AI Overclock Tuner to Manual. Here is a list of the settings you will want to change:

FSB Frequency - Slowly increase the FSB Frequency, save the settings and reboot. Remember that Clock speed = FSB Frequency x CPU Ratio Setting (Multiplier), so have a calculator handy if you are unsure of the resulting clock speed when changing the multiplier. If the system posts and starts Windows, then check for stability using Prime95

CPU Voltage - Increase if system fails to post, blue screens When loading windows and applications, or if Prime95 stress test workers fail. Make sure not to exceed the max safe voltage for your chip. Also remember that the goal is to keep the voltage to a minimum to reduce heat.

DRAM Frequency - As you increase your FSB, your overall memory speed will increase. Depending on how overclock friendly your memory is, you may want to change the DRAM Frequency to decrease the speed of your memory. You may need to adjust the voltage of your memory if the higher memory clocks are causing your overclock to fail.

DRAM Voltage - Increase if system fails to post when overclocking your memory. Make sure you know the specs of your memory as they are all different. You will need to know the max safe voltage when overclocking.

I hope this information can get you started. I would give you more info, but I gotta get ready for work. Achieving a good overclock is an art. When achieving maximum performance, you will be pushing your hardware to it's thermal limits, so don't expect it to run super cool unless you have some serious liquid cooling going on. I think that you could get it to 3.4-3.6 GHz if you tweek it enough and keep it cool.

**Rumble** · 10-18-10, 07:09 AM

Thank you VERY much. I appreciate the time you took to get that together for me.

**BIGAG** · 10-18-10, 10:37 AM

Rumble if you want to do some overclocking get with HeavyG.....thats all he does to his machines.

**Rumble** · 10-18-10, 07:41 PM

HeavyG my hope is to hit about 3.0GHz with it and be stable. Still a little confused about picking numbers that work.

**BIGAG** · 10-18-10, 11:44 PM

So with all this talk of overclocking I went out and bought a new CPU cooler. I grabbed and installed a Corsair H50. Im breaking it in right now and hope to do some over clocking in the near future. I will be hitting this thread back up in a day or two to see what I can do.

**HeavyG** · 10-19-10, 12:51 AM

Okay, so I looked at the specs of the Q6600. Your FSB Frequency is 266 MHz and your Multiplier is 9. This makes your overall clock speed = 266 x 9 = 2.4 GHz.

To achieve an overclock of 3.0GHz, you would need to increase your FSB Frequency to 334 MHz. You will probably need to increase your CPU voltage. I can't really tell you what voltage will be the best, just make sure you don't exceed the rated 1.5v. From searching around on Google, it looks like you should be able to reach 3.0 GHz while staying well below the dreaded 1.5v.

Take a screen shot of CPU-Z so we can see the exact model of the Q6600 we are dealing with.