Hey, I have a Q6600 (G0 Stepping) with GA-965P-DS3 (Rev 3.3) Motherboard, 4GB of Corsair TwinX 800Mhz DDR2 RAM, OCZ StealthXtreme 600W PSU. I've tried OC'ing but it's always unstable. I'm trying to get the CPU to 3Ghz.

So either something is wrong with my config (which I hope) or my RAM is a pile of rubbish (I hope it's not this), here are the settings I used as far as I could remember.

* PCI bus/freq/whatever - locked at 100mhz.
* RAM Voltage at 2.1v (RAMS advertised voltage)

* RAM Latency set to 4-4-4-12 (which is the rams advertised latency, I also tried 5-5-5-15/18, still unstable)

* RAM Multiplier 2.0 (I think, something around 800Mhz)

* CPU VCore @ default (it shouldn't need changing for 3Ghz according to all the websites i've been to, i've started seeing people stable on 3Ghz at 1.22v and so-on though, what's going on here?)

The temps were fine and always have been so I know it was not overheating that is causing it. the BIOS is AWARD so hopefully someone who's dealt with those BIOS's before can give me advice, i'm hoping I can get this stable because 2.4Ghz just isn't fast enough for the stuff I do.

Why havnt you increased the voltage of the vcore just to rule it out anyway, not all chips are the same.

Just edited, i've seen people running it at 3ghz perfectly stable with a vcore of 1.22v, surely raising the vcore is bad? I mean, I don't mind doing it but...

Would turning the C1E off really make a difference aswell?

Yes it is bad, but chips are different as said above.

HI Gjohnny,
overvolting "being bad" is a relative concept. frequency and heat are what eventually what end a processors life and yes if you under volt your CPU and run at a lesser frequency your processor would have a longer life. however if you over volt only what is needed, and keep temperatures well within recommended manufacturers specs, it will shorten the life of your processor yes, however in a vast majority of times it will perform well beyond what you would find a use for it. in other words, do you plan on using the same processor in 5 years give or take? ****now the disclaimer***** whenever you OC there is always a chance, albeit very small, that you can burn it if you follow good OCing guidlines.
if you do some lite research you can different opinions on what is the top voltage for the q6660, but intel says up to 1.372v, of course they err on the safe side and this is OC'ing. for example mine is up to 1.375v by AMD, but the max for oc,ing is generally accepted to be 1.55v and as Super says all chips are different, and you may have a different configuration(motherboard/memory etc...) than the person getting 3Ghz @1.22v.

okay while i was typing HK said it too

Disable C1E and EIST if it is available.Raising the vCore voltage any amount might cause BSOD's Watch the CPU temp... I can get to 2.9Ghz stable, but no higher...

Make that 2.7GHz for stability

I'm at 3.0GHz now... Set the CPU multiplier to 1:1 and increase the clock, and voltage a bit. Turn back on EIST