Can someone please help me overclock my Q6600.

[trainergames]

1.I was wondering if i could get some help overclocking my Q6600, i want it to go as high as i can,and still be able to use it every day,but it is only going to be until april,cause when i get my income tax,then i'm going to be doing a new build.

also i am wanting to overclock this,cause i had to down to this q6600 from a q9450(was not 100% supported by my mobo,which caused stablity issues)and i'm hoping it the faster clock speed from overclocking will make up for the lost 4mb of l2 cache.
my pc specs are:
Case:Ultra E-Torque ATX Mid-Tower Case
Motherboard:XFX nForce 680i LT SLI
CPU:Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
CPU Cooler:Coolit Domino A.L.C.
RAM:Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800MHz (2x2048)
Hard Drives:Seagate 1.5TB SATA HD
Optical Drive:HP dvd writer dvd400i
Graphics Card:EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP SLI Ready
PSU:Ultra X-Pro 600w
Sound:the onboard sound card
Speakers: logitech x-530
Headset:cyber snipa sonar 5.1
Mouse:Razer Deathadder
Mouse pad:none
Keyboard:razer arctosa
OS:Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Mointer:22" LG Flatron EW224T 1080

Ok it's a G0 stepping q6600,core temp says the vid is 1.3125v,and at stock the bios said the vcore was 1.26v,i was able to overclock it to 3.0ghz stably by setting the vcore at 1.31250v,and it ran for five hours in prime95,and no errors,next i tried 3.4ghz would not boot into windows at 1.31v or 1.35v so i raised it to 1.375v(but cpu-z says 1.32v),and it would boot,but as soon as i ran prime95 it BSOD'ed,so i went and set it to 3.2ghz and set the vcore to 1.362v(cpu-z says 1.280v)and it ran for 10 min in prime95 no problems(most of my problems happend in the first 5 min)and the temps @ 3.2ghz are 32c idle,61c during prime95.
The vcore is the only thing i have changed while trying to overclock,all other voltages are set on auto,i have the ram and cpu unlinked,so the ram is at the stock 800mhz.
My temps while at 3.2ghz are 32c-61c,at what temps should i give up and say it's getting too hot?
Also at what vcore should i stop at?
I tried to set the cpu to 3.4ghz,with the vcore at 1.38750v,it booted and i ran a program called super pi,and it ran fine,but when i tried to run a small fft's test in prime95,right away the screen went blank,which has never happened to me on this mobo,normally it either BSOD or it locks up(it did the locking up with the q9450)

I'm wondering if mabye i was drawing to much power from my PSU,or was it something else?
This is my psu info, Ultra X-Pro 600W - Introduction / Packaging
And on the newegg psu calculator it says i need 538w(with only one HD) to 577w(with 2 HD's),and on the Thermaltake Power Supply Calculator it says i only need 399w while overclocked to 3.4ghz(so which do i belive?)
Do you guys have any advice for carefully going higher?

2.I'm am wondering if you guys could tell me what you think of my plans for my build in april.
I know it's not good to plan this far ahead,but i'm just going base what i build the info i get from you guys,i am also asking this cause it will be my first build,and i don't want to mess it up.

OK my budget is going to be around 1500$,
CPU:AMD Bulldozer FX-8170(comes out Q1 2012,will not change my mind on this)
CPU Cooler:COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO
Case:Cooler Master Haf-X
RAM:8GB or more of DDR3 1600mhz ram(not sure what brand to go with)
MOBO:ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+
HDD:i will most likly reuse my 1.5TB Seagate SATA 2 HDD
SSD:thinking of getting a 60GB SATA 3 SSD(not sure which to go for)
GPU:i think i will go with a single 6970 to start,(but then when prices go down on them buy 1 or 2 more.)
PSU:CORSAIR 850W PSU

What do you guys think? what improvements can i make to it,and still keep in budget?

Thank you guys for any and all help.

[Your_friendly_gamer]

please dump AMD, and go with sandy bridge, go with 2500K and a decent z68 mobo for the same price! Other than that you should be good to go, and as far as ocing is concerned I am not really familiar with 680i board, sorry

[trainergames]

Originally Posted by Your_friendly_gamer

please dump AMD, and go with sandy bridge, go with 2500K and a decent z68 mobo for the same price! Other than that you should be good to go, and as far as ocing is concerned I am not really familiar with 680i board, sorry

Well i have a few reasons want to go with AMD,i want a new CPU that will last as long as possible,the i5's and i7's are getting old,plus i am wanting a an eight core,cause i will not only be gaming,i will be recording the game play,and putting some on youtube,and my current pc struggles to do so,also i have about 10 old pc's(one is an old AMD 333mhz cpu) lying around,and most are intel, but a few are amd,and all the intel ones are showing there age,and the amd's all run great,and i always had good AMD cpu's,i only have this rig,cause i was broke and had just gotten a job,and it was for sale on craigslist for 300$.

[boggtrotter59]

It's probably the fsb speed that is limiting your OC on that mobo... I have the exact same board and IIRC the max stable fsb speed I could get was around 350 mhz. Try dropping the multiplier and see where the board craps out at.

[3.0charlie]

Oh my. Been a long, long time since I've played with a Q6600... wasn't the Vcore 1.5V for 3.6GHz, or something? I'll have to dig in my old oc spreadsheets...

[trainergames]

Originally Posted by boggtrotter59

It's probably the fsb speed that is limiting your OC on that mobo... I have the exact same board and IIRC the max stable fsb speed I could get was around 350 mhz. Try dropping the multiplier and see where the board craps out at.

I may try that later tonight or tomarrow.EDIT: i do know that right now at 3.2ghz my bus speed is 355.5mhz.

Originally Posted by 3.0charlie

Oh my. Been a long, long time since I've played with a Q6600... wasn't the Vcore 1.5V for 3.6GHz, or something? I'll have to dig in my old oc spreadsheets...

Idk,but i did notice something weird when i had tried 3.4ghz,with 1.4v,cause when i set it at that,and i saved it,the pc restarted,and in the post,it said it was in safe mode,and it was set back to stocks speeds,and voltages,so i tried 3.4ghz 1.39v,and it posted,and booted,and ran,but when when i tried a new program called OCCT,so i could also check my PSU to see if it was good enough,and i ran a quick test,and 30 seconds in the pc locked up,the cpu usage had got up to 92%,and it was slowly going up,the ram got up to 2600MB usage,and it was still going,but when the cpu usage got to 93%,and the ram usage got up over 3000MB,is when it locked up,hopefully this helped you help me.

[tyreman]

Try 8 x 400 for 3200mhz and start v core from 1.2700 and upwards some need about 1.43125 with a cpu term of 1.30
pci express freq. lock at 100
cpu term auto till you get the exact num.
mch ref auto
1ch core 1.10 or 1.20
cpu pll 1.57
1ch/1O 1.50
those settings are approx and surely can vary
if you have ddr2 ram at 800 it will run at its default with the right strap(2.00d?) you select.
ram performance enhance standard

[trainergames]

Originally Posted by tyreman

Try 8 x 400 for 3200mhz and start v core from 1.2700 and upwards some need about 1.43125 with a cpu term of 1.30
pci express freq. lock at 100
cpu term auto till you get the exact num.
mch ref auto
1ch core 1.10 or 1.20
cpu pll 1.57
1ch/1O 1.50
those settings are approx and surely can vary
if you have ddr2 ram at 800 it will run at its default with the right strap(2.00d?) you select.
ram performance enhance standard

these are the only voltage options i can change on my board.
CPU Core:
CPU FSB:
Memory:
nForce SPP:

P.S. keep in mind i am a noob at overclocking.

[Roby The Beast]

Q6600 need good voltage, dont be surprised if you need 1,4V. Mine is easily stable at 9,5x356. The FSB is lower so is more easy for the motherboard.

[trainergames]

Originally Posted by Roby The Beast

Q6600 need good voltage, dont be surprised if you need 1,4V. Mine is easily stable at 9,5x356. The FSB is lower so is more easy for the motherboard.

Well i can't set mine at 9.5,cause my mobo's only options are 6,7,8,9.