Testing Methodology

All comparison testing was done on a closed case system with an ambient temperature of 15c. Recorded temps were as reported via Prime95 and confirmed with CoreTemp. Average load temps were taken after 15 minutes of running Prime95 v25.3 and are taken directly from Prime95’s temperature text file. MS Excel was used to average the results of all cores (whether it was 2 in the case of the e4600 or 4 in the q6600). Idle temps were taken 15 minutes after Load testing ceased. Motherboard temperatures were recorded using SpeedFan.

Except where noted, Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste was used for all tests. Application of thermal paste was according to manufacturer's instructions, and allowed to cure for 24 hours under moderate load prior to testing. All tests were run 4 times and only best results are represented.


The “Intel Stock Cooler” mentioned in the following results are actually two separate coolers both of which came with the CPUs . The e4600 is the smaller aluminum base style cooler while the q6600 OEM cooler is aluminum and copper design. The Thermalright Ultima 90 is used for comparison and contrast only. Unlike the Igloo 5750, the Ultima 90 does not come with its own fan. For this review it was paired with a Scythe F 120mm fan.


Notes about Overclocking

For e4x00’s that use 1.28volts I consider 1.4 volts to be the most that I would seriously consider for a moderate-to-long term overclock. Yes you can go much higher but the longevity of the cpu is then called into question. For the same reason, I consider 1.45volts to be highest that I would comfortably go with a Q6600. Just as importantly all Intel’s CPU’s should max out at LESS than 60c as this is also what I consider the safest, maximum long term overclocking temp. For the purposes of these tests I was willing to overlook temperatures as long as they stayed below 65c and did not peak over 70c.

With these two general guidelines I overclocked both systems until either one (or both) of these "rules" was needed to be broken to continue.

Overclocking was accomplished by increasing FSB speed and then Vcore (only if necessary).

Before testing for idle and max temperatures Orthos was run for 1 hour to make sure that it was stable at a given overclock and voltage. If both finished with no errors SuperPi set to 32m was run twice. After the stability testing was accomplished the given system was allowed to sit idle for 30minutes before starting the official tests. IF both of the above stated guidelines were not broken then testing continued with an increased overclock. These steps were then repeated until 1 or both of the general guidelines were broken.

As they have no bearing on these tests the RAM’s voltage and timings are not recorded, the RAM was set to run at or as close to as possible PC-6400 speeds by running various cpu : memory dividers. Please do not consider this a full “how to” review on overclocking or “safe guidelines” for overclocking nor even an indicator on how well a given CPU will overclock. IF you are interested in OC’ing your system, and use these guidelines we at HWC take no responsibility for the results. Bad Things can happen if you are not careful.

Complete Test System:

Processor: e4600 or Q6600
Motherboard: Gigabyte p35 DS4
Memory: 4GB G.Skill PC2-6400
Graphics card: XFX 7200gt 128mb
Hard Drives: 1x Western Digtal Se16 500GB
Power Supply: Thermaltake Purepower RX 600W
Case: Cooler Master 690 w/ 6 Scythe E fans