Overclocking Q6600: Motherboard recommendations?

[GoStumpy]

Summarized Story: Bought Bro-in-law a GPU & PSU for Christmas thinking he could upgrade that since he already has a Q6600 CPU. Turns out his motherboard is a POS and the GPU won't fit. (capacitors in the way, WTF?).

So we've decided that a new case & motherboard are necessary, he'll pay for them of course.

I'm wondering what a good overclockable motherboard would be? I haven't overclocked in a Loooong time, and I've heard that the Q6600 should be stable at ~3ghz pretty easily... Should be a big improvement from 2.4!

What is a recommendable motherboard for the LGA775 socket? I have a spare set of DDR3 ram if his motherboard is DDR2...

I'm thinking any respectable $30 cooler will work fine for 3.0ghz?

Thanks for any help!

 

[tweakboy]

You can pretty much get 3Ghz without touching the voltage,, Is your CPU GO stepping ?

If so with no problems you can just UP the fsb ,, and watch the ram freuquency and get 3Ghz.

Grab a ASUS or Gigabyte P35 chipset LGA 775 gl

 

[GoStumpy]

No idea, not my computer, 300km away Will be buying the parts then heading down there to help assemble it.

Just found out that you can get DDR2 or DDR3 LGA775 motherboards... I have some 1333mhz Corsair XMS3 ram, so I think I'd be best using that?

 

[GoStumpy]

I can't seem to find a P35 chipset available new anymore? Being in Canada the forsale/trade forum isn't very useful...

Asus P5G41T-M/CSM LGA775
http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=480...nufacture=ASUS

Could that work?

How about:

MSI G41M-P34 LGA775
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813130306

 

[jellowiggler]

You can also use p45 and p43 boards. In fact the 4x boards don't have the voltage droop problems the some p3x boards do.

 

[GoStumpy]

MSI P45 NEO3 - FR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130180

Would this be a good choice? I found one for-sale locally for $50! I hear the P45 is the one to look for...

Shall I snatch this up for $50?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have a very high-end X48-chipset S775 mobo from DFI, brand new in box, in my FS/FT thread here on AT. However, you might not like the price.

 

[GoStumpy]

Thinking I'll pick it up today if nobody says it's no good!

Also the CM Hyper212 EVO is on with free shipping... $37 a good enough deal? ($35 on newegg.com, exchange rate is the only difference)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Thanks again!

 

[GoStumpy]

Ok, I have the choice between these two motherboards:

Which to use?

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 $65

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813127030


OR

MSI P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 $50

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687


Worth the extra $15?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Abit IP35-series boards were solid overclockers.

I don't know much about MSI's S775 boards.

 

[skipsneeky2]

The Abit IP35-series boards were solid overclockers.

I don't know much about MSI's S775 boards.

The p35 platinum was a piece of junk that didn't oc that well and despite that roller coaster heatsink it still was hot.

The southbridge made the fitting of a gtx280 impossible without hacking off almost half the southbridge heatsink if they ever revised and fixed this later idk...ended up donating it to a thrift store.

The other motherboard linked above by msi the neo3 fr i owned as well...oced ok ran hot as well despite all the good i heard about p45 that thing did not impress me and that one ended up being my last msi purchase.

 

[Ketchup]

I am very happy with my Gigabyte board, I have heard that Abit made a good P35 as well. As far as the CPU goes, you will need a G0 to get a really good overclock.

 

[GoStumpy]

Not looking for too much, pairing it with a Radeon HD4870 GPU, I think it would be better at 3.0 or 3.1ghz rather than 2.4!

 

[skipsneeky2]

Ip35-pro was a good motherboard i played with one but opted for a asus for the extra goodies but do remember it ocing my q6600 rather good.

The motherboard ketchup79 has is very good as well wasn't that one of the budget must have boards at the time?

 

[dpk33]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd stay away from the P35 boards for Q6600 overclocking, or any chip for that matter. Maybe I just got some bad boards, but my Abit IP35e had a massive vdroop of about 0.1 v and my EP35 DS3L had something similar, not as bad though. If I were you, I'd get a quality P45 or x48 chipset. I hear the Gigabyte P45s are really good.

 

[rbk123]

If you get the Abit Pro, I can help you with overclocking it; just pm me. I have been (and currently) run the IP35e for 4+ years now with my 6600 at 3.6G. I don't know anything about the MSI board.
Note - the IP35pro is a DDR2 board.

 

[Shmee]

ya, the gigabyte P45 UD3 series were the best 775 OC boards out there.

 

[GoStumpy]

Ended up buying the MSI P45-Neo3FR for $50. Hopefully will be heading down to build the computer in a few weeks, I'll update when that happens! :thumbsup:

 

[GoStumpy]

Well, to revive my old thread with some updates:

Bought the MSI P45 merely because the seller of the ABIT never got back to me...

I went down to set up his computer, and he ended up being rude and a bit of a prick to my wife (his sister) so now he doesn't get the computer parts...

So now I have a motherboard and case, and I'm thinking of building myself a second gaming computer for when I have friends over

Local shop selling this CPU:
Q8200 2.33ghz Quad-Core $80

Also selling Memory:
Corsair XMS2 800mhz 1GB sticks $10ea ($40 for 4GB)

Will 800mhz DDR2 ram slow the computer any noticable amount? I see from newegg that the motherboard is 1066/1333/1600.... Also I think it would hinder the overclockability?

I have spare GPU, HDD's, PSU, etc, just need CPU & Ram

 

[tweakboy]

1. ASUS
2. Gigabyte

Stay away from all other manufacturers, some in Korea too.

P35 chipset like I told you,, gl

 

[GoStumpy]

I already have the motherboard, I am *not* buying another one. This will do just fine. :sneaky: Need advice on Memory more than anything... Will DDR2 800 allow me to overclock this Q8200?

 

[gramboh]

Default multiplier is 7 (7 x 333MHz FSB = 2333MHz), so DDR2-800 at spec would allow you at most 7 x 400 = 2,800MHz OC, you will need more RAM to go higher. Not sure how well P35 handles FSB > 400, I would look for a different CPU, the 8200 is not a good choice if you want to hit 3.2-3.6GHz.

 

[GoStumpy]

If I read correctly, the Q6600 will reach 3.6ghz (theoretically) with DDR2 800, whereas the Q8200 will only reach 2.8ghz with the same Memory...

I'm wanting BF3 to run smoothly on 32 player maps... I've gathered from reading that BF3 really wants 3.0+ghz per core to run well...

 

[blckgrffn]

Honestly? Sell that mobo

I bought the q6700 just for the higher multi so I didn't have to pull off any epic FSB. I would suggest simply looking for something like that if you are looking for an "easy" 3Ghz+.

Or you could just buy an AMD setup for about the same price, but with default clocks north of 3ghz

 

[GoStumpy]

Freaking sucks having spare parts laying around, especially when they're almost useable! :'(

I can't really sell computer parts around here (Kelowna, BC, Canada) except perhaps on ebay..

I may be better off just building a decent rig from parts for friends/co-workers and sell a fully working PC