# Q6600 owners... what is your VID?



## graysky (Jul 28, 2007)

If you own a Q6600, please reply with your VID and the stepping of your chip.  The VID can be found using coretemp. If you're using vista, coretemp will not display the stepping in some cases, so you can use CPU-Z (it's listed under "revision") to get the stepping.  

Here is a shot of mine for reference:






If all else fails, look on the box your q6600 came in; the last 5 letters after the Q6600 in the production code will tell you the stepping.  "SLACR" means it's a G0 while "SL9UM" means it's an older B3.  Here an example shot taken by XtremeTiramisu to give you an idea:





So, I have a B3 w/ a VID of 1.2875v

*EDIT: Here are the data as of 23-Sep-2007 at 7:30 AM based on people's replies to my VID thread here and elsewhere*; just as a reminder, please do not post your VID from here on out as I won't be updating the data sets:





*Histograms generated with SBHisto

*Total replies: 208*
*102 replies so far for B3 stepping Q6600s:*
(VID: # of replies)
1.1625: 3
1.2125: 1
1.2250: 1
1.2375: 1
1.2500: 5
1.2625: 2
1.2750: 13
1.2800: 1
1.2850: 1
1.2875: 12
1.3000: 14
1.3100: 1
1.3125: 15
1.3200: 1
1.3250: 31

*158 replies so far for G0 stepping Q6600s:*
(VID: # of replies)
1.1125: 1
1.1520: 1
1.1625: 5
1.2000: 5
1.2125: 9
1.2150: 1
1.2200: 1
1.2250: 8
1.2375: 10
1.2500: 16
1.2525: 1
1.2600: 1
1.2625: 17
1.2650: 1
1.2700: 1
1.2750: 25
1.2850: 1
1.2875: 23
1.3000: 17
1.3125: 10
1.3250: 5


----------



## graysky (Jul 29, 2007)

Just updated the first post of the thread with the data collected. Have a look!


----------



## Atech (Jul 29, 2007)

W00t, engineering sample ftw!


----------



## graysky (Jul 29, 2007)

Somethings not right since your core temps are right... must be a vista problem.  I don't think we can believe that VID... you don't by chance dual boot into xp do ya?


----------



## Atech (Jul 30, 2007)

graysky said:


> Somethings not right since your core temps are right... must be a vista problem.  I don't think we can believe that VID... you don't by chance dual boot into xp do ya?


No ... I use Gentoo GNU+Linux, not Windows. That's why it's wrong, I just thought the result was amusing.


----------



## Tatty_One (Jul 30, 2007)

So any clue's to what stepping is best and what overclocking can be acheived realistically on air?  have been thinking about getting one.


----------



## rumbec (Jul 30, 2007)

*graysky*, this is a nice thread you made. I was just wondering... shouldn't you be running the Q6600 to its native FSB, which is 266MHz, to get the right readings for its default Voltage?  As I see it, if you overclock the FSB, the board automatically raises VCore, so all the effort is blown away. Also not all boards report real Voltages to CPU-Z or other software I think. 


I might be wrong though, but I had to ask 
If what you've achieved in this statistics is thrue, one should be lucky to get low Voltages with G0 also, so no point of waiting unless additional price cuts


----------



## graysky (Jul 30, 2007)

@rumbec - I dunno... if I boot my Q6600 9x266 or 9x333 the VID is always the same.


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Jul 30, 2007)

@ Tatty_One:

I had the same question. Here's the thread, it has all the info I found on it about B3 vs G0: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=36118

Basically, G0 is better, can theoretically OC better (although each setup varies), and can take more heat stably.


@graysky: where is this "elsewhere" you're getting replies? Mind if I check it out, I'm always lookin for a new place to scroll.


----------



## graysky (Aug 2, 2007)

Okay guys, just updated the first post of the thread to reflect the new replies... have a look!


----------



## graysky (Aug 6, 2007)

I don't quite know what to make of this whole lower VID = higher o/c potential thing.  My chip for example, is a B3 stepping Q6600 w/ a reported VID of 1.2875V (coretemp), yet I can run 9x266 (stock) which is stable to 2x orthos for over 8 hours (I stopped it after 8 hours) @ 1.1375V in the BIOS which is 1.040V in CPU-Z under load.  I can also run 9x327 @ 1.2275V in the BIOS or 1.208V in CPU-Z under load or a full 9x333 @ 1.2625V in the BIOS or 1.232 V in CPU-Z.

My point is that all these vcore values are *under* the VID reported in coretemp.  In my case, the VID reported in coretemp doesn't seem to mean anything given that I can run my system up to a 25 % o/c well under this voltage.

Questions: 

-What does the coretemp VID mean if anything?
-When comparing two identical stepping chips, does the one with the lower VID equate to anything meaningful?


----------



## Namslas90 (Aug 6, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> So any clue's to what stepping is best and what overclocking can be acheived realistically on air?  have been thinking about getting one.



Most forums are talking about the Q6600 GO stepping, being the best.  However, thats because the first run of B3's were not doing so good.  The latest B3's and GO's are just fine; 
Random Murderer got a B3 and pin modded it, NP runs like a champ.


----------



## petercintn (Aug 6, 2007)

You are using the auto setting in the bios? 

Getting a G0 sometime next week from Tankguys and will let you know what the Auto setting CPU VID is once she's in the socket.  But really, each motherboard is going to give you a different value, much less different manufacturers' models.  No electronics have the exact charateristics so the saying 'Your mileage may vary.'  I'm sure you know all this and are getting frustrated with me by now.  So I'll cut to the chase.  I believe, my humble position on this is the motherboard is much more a variable than the CPU, though it is a variable also.  So no, I don't believe reading such as Core Temps, which rely on a reading that the motherboard must ship out to the OS somehow, are reliable enough to describe anything meaningful. Or CPU-Z either.  If the readings were reliable they would be the same at the same time.

But I've been wrong before, a lot.

Did that wrong, sorry for the double post!


----------



## petercintn (Aug 6, 2007)

Specs need updating, gave the system I got listed here to a friend.


----------



## kenjin (Aug 7, 2007)

i have G0 stepping at 1.285 VID ( i already reply your post on toms hardware guide grasky, so dont add me to list or will be double listing ) 

and it seems like my highest clock resuilt is 2.9 at 320x9 , and it will not go any higher even if i raise my all voltage. ( yea even highest voltage on NB and SB)  so im thinking is either im hitting the FSB wall from my mobo, or this CPU is not much different then the B3 stepping

my current temp is 39-43c through out all 4 cores FULL load at 55-59C  

i see people with B3 stepping on other forums hitting 3.2ghz.... but thats on a p35 motherboard..


----------



## graysky (Aug 7, 2007)

You might try relaxing your mem timings as well; overclocking isn't just a function of the CPU settings.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 7, 2007)

kenjin said:


> i have G0 stepping at 1.285 VID ( i already reply your post on toms hardware guide grasky, so dont add me to list or will be double listing )
> 
> and it seems like my highest clock resuilt is 2.9 at 320x9 , and it will not go any higher even if i raise my all voltage. ( yea even highest voltage on NB and SB)  so im thinking is either im hitting the FSB wall from my mobo, or this CPU is not much different then the B3 stepping
> 
> ...



in THEORY the G0 stepping was supposed to be much better all around, especially for overclocking, but they haven't fared so well. the B3's seem to be reaching around 4GHz on water(5.5-6GHz on phase/LN2 ); i've got mine at 3GHz via pin mod and the damn thing hasn't even broken a sweat, i'm pretty sure i could get 3.4-3.6 if i really wanted to.


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Aug 7, 2007)

Do you have a link to a "howto" on that pin mod? With like pics n stuff? That seems awesome, I just don't want to do it wrong =/. Is that pin mod on just the B3 stepping, or the G0 also? 
Also, can you overclock it after the pin mod?


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 7, 2007)

surfsk8snow.jah said:


> Do you have a link to a "howto" on that pin mod? With like pics n stuff? That seems awesome, I just don't want to do it wrong =/. Is that pin mod on just the B3 stepping, or the G0 also?
> Also, can you overclock it after the pin mod?



ahh, you know not of the pin mod magic, aye?
yes, i have a link, check the end of this post. the mod works on ANY lga775 processor, there's actually two different pin mods, one to make the processor run with a 1066 FSB stock and one to make it run 1333 stock, and yes, you can still oc it. all the pin mods do is tell the bios that the stock fsb is different than what intel set it at. as you can imagine, these mods come in quite handy when dealing with a mobo that has limited oc options or even none at all.
1333 FSB mod
1066 FSB mod


----------



## graysky (Aug 7, 2007)

That pin mod is interesting, but I'm assuming if the board allows the user to set the FSB, there is no point in doing this pin mod, no?


----------



## driver66 (Aug 7, 2007)

graysky said:


> That pin mod is interesting, but I'm assuming if the board allows the user to set the FSB, there is no point in doing this pin mod, no?



I agree unless there is something I dont know? please do tell 

Will this help someone with an enthusiast board or no?


----------



## Mediocre (Aug 7, 2007)

holy cow thats a bit of reading...

I got through a bunch of it... It's purpose is mainly to OC in a mobo without OC options.

My question:

Will it raise the FSB wall on my mobo? (currently 404)

Guess I have to try it to find out...


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 7, 2007)

driver66 said:


> I agree unless there is something I dont know? please do tell
> 
> Will this help someone with an enthusiast board or no?



eh, i did it, and i have a pretty high end board.


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Aug 8, 2007)

Ya but basically, I think the question is, is this any different than just adjusting it in the bios? Will the pin mod make it more stable, even in higher OC? It's pretty dope overall tho.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 8, 2007)

surfsk8snow.jah said:


> Ya but basically, I think the question is, is this any different than just adjusting it in the bios? Will the pin mod make it more stable, even in higher OC? It's pretty dope overall tho.



people have argued both sides. some say it will make it more stable, others say it's the same as just raising the fsb in bios. i did it simply for the convenience of not having to oc in bios, i just connected the pins and put it in the mobo, the thing runs like a champ.


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Aug 8, 2007)

wow, sweet deal. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go for this when I get my new Q6600 rig. And it's just adding a piece of wire insulation "that got caught in there, dang how the heck!?", which is untraceable... w00t.
Plus, either way, it's not decreasing stability, so there's only positives in this scenario! I'm dissown yisso.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 8, 2007)

surfsk8snow.jah said:


> And it's just adding a piece of wire insulation



no, it's a conductive ink you actually write on to the chip.


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Aug 9, 2007)

Namslas90 said:


> don't forget the "slipcover" pin mode (cover pin A6 with a piece of insulation from 28-30 gage wire, and widen socket hole w/paper clip). Q6600 will now start up at 3.3Ghz with no adjustments.
> 
> Random Murderer got a B3 and pin modded it, NP runs like a champ.



What was Namslas talking about then? Different mod?


----------



## Ravenas (Aug 9, 2007)

I've been trying to OC my q6600 past 2.86 GHz on a 680i mobo. Hasn't worked thus far, pm me if any of you have had better results.


----------



## Random Murderer (Aug 9, 2007)

surfsk8snow.jah said:


> What was Namslas talking about then? Different mod?



namslas doesn't have a fucking clue what he's talking about, lol.

EDIT:


Ravenas said:


> I've been trying to OC my q6600 past 2.86 GHz on a 680i mobo. Hasn't worked thus far, pm me if any of you have had better results.


*cough*pin mod...*cough*


----------



## kenjin (Aug 9, 2007)

i just bought a new evga board and going to RMA my Foxconn 680I board 

this is my new OC result with the Evga A1 version of 680I board





Running everest stabllity test for the past 30mins stable so far.... but is HOT!!!! up to 70C on air with full load now!!!!!  im at 1.5Vcore 1.4 FSB Voltage 1.4 NB voltage.. 

im very impress with this chip and motherboard i got here awesome result!!! all my frustration is gone from that cheap ass foxconn board


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Aug 9, 2007)

Wow... 3.73GHz! Nice job dude, I might be PMing you when I get the same board for your procedure. What's the rest of your setup: Memory, CPU-cooler, etc?


----------



## kenjin (Aug 10, 2007)

check my system spec for my setup


----------



## hat (Aug 10, 2007)

70C is too much, you want to stay under 60. Try 3.5GHz and back off the volts.


----------



## kenjin (Aug 11, 2007)

running at 3.4ghz at 1.4vcore 1.4nb 1.4fsb idle at 37-43 load at 50-55c STABLE!!! 

memory set at 4-4-3-6 1T 4 GB 4 Sticks!!!


----------



## graysky (Aug 11, 2007)

Just updated the first post of the thread with the data collected... I counted 113 replies so far.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 11, 2007)

What would be really handy (from my perspective) is if some of the G0 guys could post their batch numbers as well as their vid's, that way we could get a handle on the ones most likely to overclock the best.....well I sure would appreciate it anyways


----------



## graysky (Aug 12, 2007)

Updated the first post of the thread with the data collected (123 replies now) and added some histograms and basic statics to help visualize the data set.


----------



## Wile E (Aug 12, 2007)

Very nice on the histograms. Good thread as well. Keep up the good work.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 12, 2007)

It strikes me that even with the G0 stepping, unless you are really lucky and get an extrememly low Vid they will overclock well but there is also a tremendous amount of heat there, air cooling I think is not going to allow big overclocks 24/7.......that sound about right?


----------



## Wile E (Aug 12, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> It strikes me that even with the G0 stepping, unless you are really lucky and get an extrememly low Vid they will overclock well but there is also a tremendous amount of heat there, air cooling I think is not going to allow big overclocks 24/7.......that sound about right?


Seems that way to me, on the heat issue. But honestly, it's to be expected with 2 extra cores. Same thing happened with the single to dual transition.


----------



## Mussels (Aug 12, 2007)

Q6600, G0
1.2375V is reported in coretemp.

Batch is: L725A903

atm i'm at stock, 2.4GHz.... but at 1.150V  not finished yet, its going looooow. ~40C load at these volts, itsa good!


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 12, 2007)

Mussels said:


> Q6600, G0
> 1.2375V is reported in coretemp.
> 
> Batch is: L725A903
> ...



Nice, I am just about to bid on an E6850 on flea bay, at the moment it's about 40% below retail price with 3 minutes to go!

Edit:   Got it!......£125, cheapest I can find in the UK is around £168.....that will do me nicely!......E6600 anybody?


----------



## surfsk8snow.jah (Aug 12, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> Nice, I am just about to bid on an E6850 on flea bay, at the moment it's about 40% below retail price with 3 minutes to go!
> 
> Edit:   Got it!......£125, cheapest I can find in the UK is around £168.....that will do me nicely!......E6600 anybody?



So Tatty, why'd you decide on the E6850 over the Q6600, esp after that whole retardedness from Tuk lol (glad that fool got banned btw, was so ridiculous)? I'm just curious because I'm on the edge too, about to get a new proc. I was looking at the Q6600, and wantin to OC it w/ a Ultra120Xtreme.

btw, nice job on that purchase. good find!


----------



## Mussels (Aug 13, 2007)

Q6600's dont OC on his mobo  that'd be why

Same mobo here and my Q66 G0 cant pass 3.1GHz, theres an FSB wall (~350) with duals, its around 450. Quite the difference.

Since my G0 is so awesome, i'm just going to a P35 chipset and selling this board with my old E6600.

(My Q66 is currently running 2400MHz (stock) at 1.035V. F*ck yeah!)


----------



## trt740 (Aug 13, 2007)

Ravenas said:


> I've been trying to OC my q6600 past 2.86 GHz on a 680i mobo. Hasn't worked thus far, pm me if any of you have had better results.



Yours won't I answered this question bro your version will not go past a 1333 fsb if that. It was one of the original designs from Nivida and will not overclock a quad very well, some companies Asus, Evga have offered to exchange them. The newer 680I boards are designed specifically with a newer beefed up phase power system that will over clock a quad. In fact the newer 680i boards will overclock a quad just about aswell as the P35. Mine will do a 500+fsb with a G0 stepping chip.You would be better off selling your quad and buying a e6850 or keepnig you quad and buying a new motherboard. The SE version of the 680I are designed to overclock the Dual cores not the Quads and are rebadged original revisions and not the ones you want.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 13, 2007)

surfsk8snow.jah said:


> So Tatty, why'd you decide on the E6850 over the Q6600, esp after that whole retardedness from Tuk lol (glad that fool got banned btw, was so ridiculous)? I'm just curious because I'm on the edge too, about to get a new proc. I was looking at the Q6600, and wantin to OC it w/ a Ultra120Xtreme.
> 
> btw, nice job on that purchase. good find!



I went for the 6850 as an interim solution, at the end of the day I probably would not have got it over the Q6600 with G0 stepping had I not got it so cheap, damn thsi 6850 cost me less than a retail 6600, I will probably get near to the price I paid for the 6850 just in flea baying the 6600.
I will then probably ask the wife for a Q6600 and Vista Home Premium for a Christmas pressie (part exchanging the 6850 of course).  My purchase of this chip is not suggesting I think it's any better than the Q6600 therefore, just the better option for me currently.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 13, 2007)

Mussels said:


> Q6600's dont OC on his mobo  that'd be why
> 
> Same mobo here and my Q66 G0 cant pass 3.1GHz, theres an FSB wall (~350) with duals, its around 450. Quite the difference.
> 
> ...



Now thats strange, have you checked out the mobo's forum at Anus?  There are a couple of guys there pushing out 3.7Gig+ if you beleive them.....I will see if I can dig it out when i get home, they too had some issues I think, cant remember what they did to sort and the posts were quite a while ago now so probably not G0 stepping chips.


----------



## Mussels (Aug 14, 2007)

G0 steppings handle it differently tatty, with an E4300 or an E6600 i can run 425 FSB on every CPU, with my quad G0 i have trouble passing 300.

Its got a 1/10 chance of booting and being stable, but after a reboot it wont come on again (hard drive LED is lockd on, until i clear CMOS)


----------



## trt740 (Aug 14, 2007)

Mussels said:


> G0 steppings handle it differently tatty, with an E4300 or an E6600 i can run 425 FSB on every CPU, with my quad G0 i have trouble passing 300.
> 
> Its got a 1/10 chance of booting and being stable, but after a reboot it wont come on again (hard drive LED is lockd on, until i clear CMOS)



Thats power related not stepping related it because a quad takes alot more power and the first revision of the 650/680I board didn't have the right power design to oc quads correctly.


----------



## Mussels (Aug 14, 2007)

You might be right, i was under the impression B3 OC'd higher than G0's on this mobo, which counters that idea (they;re lower wattage than a B3)

However its likely i'm wrong there, i've never owned/researched B3's fully.


----------



## graysky (Aug 19, 2007)

Updated the first post of the thread with the data collected (182 replies now)... this has turned into a nice little thread


----------



## Grings (Aug 19, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> Nice, I am just about to bid on an E6850 on flea bay, at the moment it's about 40% below retail price with 3 minutes to go!
> 
> Edit:   Got it!......£125, cheapest I can find in the UK is around £168.....that will do me nicely!......E6600 anybody?



Swine!, why is it every time i try bidding on goods on ebay they ALWAYS go for MORE than retail


----------



## Mediocre (Aug 19, 2007)

I'll let you all know on tuesday night what the max OC and VID are on my G0 Q6600 in the mail 

$290 (-$20) shipped on newegg ($20 off with paypal20)

Nobody let teh wifey see the credit card statement this month....k.......thanx


----------



## trt740 (Aug 19, 2007)

My q6600 b3 stepping 267.00 shipped. If I get 3.3 to 3.4 ghz I will be happy


----------



## trt740 (Aug 19, 2007)

kenjin said:


> i just bought a new evga board and going to RMA my Foxconn 680I board
> 
> this is my new OC result with the Evga A1 version of 680I board
> 
> ...




I have a T1 and am getting a q6600 b3 stepping whats your stepping on that chip.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 19, 2007)

His is a G0 Trt.


----------



## Tatty_One (Aug 19, 2007)

Grings said:


> Swine!, why is it every time i try bidding on goods on ebay they ALWAYS go for MORE than retail



Cruising at 4.1Gig at the moment....volts good....temps good   let me know when you want one, I'll get you one for £125 no worries


----------



## Lopez0101 (Aug 19, 2007)

I have a B3 and the VID is 1.3v. CPU-Z reports 1,280v idle and 1.232v under load. My VCore is set to 1.3250v in BIOS, lowest to get it to run totally stable @ 333x9.


----------



## Grings (Aug 19, 2007)

Tatty_One said:


> Cruising at 4.1Gig at the moment....volts good....temps good   let me know when you want one, I'll get you one for £125 no worries



Very nice, thats a damn good clock on that gts too, is it an a3 core? and hows youre 3d mark score now


----------



## graysky (Aug 25, 2007)

Updated the first post of the thread with the data collected (208 replies now)...


----------



## trt740 (Aug 25, 2007)

Q6600 revision B3 1.25 Vid stepping 7


----------



## graysky (Sep 23, 2007)

Okay all, this will be the *final* update; please don't post new VID data.  

I'm not totally sure the integrity of the data collected is that high.  What I mean by that is I have read several reports of different reported VIDs for the same chip on different boards.  I have also read about the VID changing based on the speedstep state and other factors.

I started this thread hoping to see some sort of correlation between VID magnitude and vcore @ a given o/c level.  I have received mixed reports on this front as well.  *I think the bottom line is there isn't a correlation between VID and overclockibility.*

Since you guys took the time to reply to the post, the least I can do is update the data for the last time:

Replies for B3: 102
Replies for G0: 158
Total replies: 260 (a great response!)

I updated the first post of the thread with the new histograms.

Thanks to all who replied.


----------



## Mussels (Sep 24, 2007)

thanks for that - i can verify i ran mine with speedstep disabled, but of course i cant verify for others.


----------



## PaulieG (Sep 24, 2007)

My GO VID is 1.2750. I currently have it OC'd to 3.55ghz. on 1.43v. My temps are good, hovering around 50-55 in SG and 60-65 in coretemp. I know it has more in it though. The one issue I have is that it needs a significant bump in voltage over 3.5. I can get it stable at 3.6, but it wants more than 1.5v, and I'm not sure the increase in temps is worth the extra 50mhz. I can even get 3.7 booted and through superpi, but not prime or occt stable. I may give it a go after the AS5 has cured a bit.


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 24, 2007)

Grings said:


> Very nice, thats a damn good clock on that gts too, is it an a3 core? and hows youre 3d mark score now



Sorry must have missed this post before, I can now boot to windows at 4.2Gig with my new cooler and have voltmodded the GTS so am at 700 core running cool, I can now hit around 12,400 on 3D Mark 2006.  It;s the A2 which is why I voltmodded but Gainward uses the very best chips which prob explains why I got decent clocks out of an A2 rev.


----------

