overclock a dell

I new to all this. I already learned not to by a dell but its what i currently have.

I currently have a dell dimension (9140 i think) with a pentium d 915 on an LGA 775.
I have a pentium d 945 on the way.

I have heard great things about overclocking this processor. However Ive also been told that you can not overclock a dell.

Is it possible do overclock my machine?
if so how?

Is it possible to replace, change, or upgrade the bios?

if it matters Im running windows vista, 3gb ram pc5300,

you cant overclock it. The motherboard doesnt have the ability to change FSB speeds.

I would suggest that you don't experiment with clockgen, but save up money and build your own machine that fits your needs best. 8)

LOL. Talk about FUD. How many more watts do you think were used from a 300MHz overclock at stock voltage? I'll tell you this: It's under ten.

lol...

I aint OCing my XPS gen 3 though.

Dont wanna mess with my Heatburst CPU

chip set i945P/PL/G/GZ
south bridge 82801gb

im not understanding the PLL

it seems that the pll is i945p, but that isnt an option from Clock gen.

What should I use?

I can open the computer but I have no idea what I am looking for

i think i found it does

cyp 629874 seem right?

with clock gen using ics 9504005 the clocksare very close but not exact. my pll doesnt seem to be listed

i dont know, only thing you can do is try, i located the chip based on that guru3d article or similar and i used sysinfo. I dont have any experience with it going wrong, but it should match existing ones that are listed in some combobox( ive not use clockgen in ages so i cant help you there )

im not entirely confident that cy28410 is your PLL, so i cant really comment on that, if you use any autodetect the PLL, Dell apparently provide misinformation from the mobo for this simply to prevent overclocking, thats why you have to read it off writing on the chip

Anyway, as for a new mobo, you can do that if you know that youre PSU doesnt use one of those crappy Dell proprietary connectory, mine had this issue and would cost 70euro for a converter type thing so i gave up on the whole issue and just got rid of the dell, seemed too much hassle to upgrade it at all

i feel like an idiot

PSU = power supply

new modo - around $100
new PSU - around $25.00

so for under $150 I can over clock a pentium d 945 3.4 to a 4.0 or better.
have 3gb of pc 5300 ddr2, keep my 2 Sata HD, and xp600.

that seem like a deal. Then in a year or 2 i can upgrade the processor again.

Im not a gamer, just a power hungery graphic/web designer.

This really seems like the way to go. Can you tell me what mobo and power supply to get or should I start a new post with all my spects

Stop spreading FUD. The only thing proprietary in your 4600 were the front panel connectors (and even that can be easily remedied by simply rewiring them). The PSU was 100% ATX standard, meaning any PSU would have fit and worked fine in your Dell. Dell stopped using propietary PSUs in their tower systems around 2000-2001.

Now, allow me to address your little temper tantrum:

That's simply not possible. USB standard dictates a 5volt output with a max of 500mA current. That means a possible 2.5 watts maximum, off the 5 volt line. It would have no bearing on CPU overclocking, which gets all of it's power through the 12volt line. Did you just make up this factoid?

Disconnect CD drives? What kind of fool are you? Do you have any idea how much power a CD drive consumes while idling? It uses less than 2 watt, and that's off the 5 volt line!.

Now this takes the cake. You first state that Dell's crappy PSUs lack overhead. Then you mention you add an X850pro turned x850 XT, more ram, and another hard drive to your system. These upgrade put you AT LEAST 30 watts over the factory specs, and that's being generous and assuming your Dell 4600 came with the Radeon 9800 PRO. Ya, that Dell PSU sure sucked.

My point exactly. That 250 watt Dell PSU is quality, and you were NO WHERE NEAR maxing it out with that system, so stop spreading FUD.

I got to this many posts by showing people like you for what they really are: huge n00bs who have no clue as to what they're talking about.


To the OP: Although "9140" brought up no search results, but I suspect you mean either 9100 or 9150, which is one of the newer BTX-based Dells. Although not exactly proprietary, the lack of BTX boards in the aftermarket channel means it might as well be. I'm afraid you'll have a tough time finding a cheap BTX board to replace your current Dell.

so will a

ASUS P5ND2 SLI fit in my dell case and run off the dell power supply if im not adding much?

yes, it's a 9150 sorry about that.
the case is huge and has room for a thermalright cooler

i couldn't even be bothered with your FUD, ohh look, with your so called 'expert' knowledge the power consumption for my old Dell at stock on http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine is 333w, ohh how wrong i was, ohh n look max volt on USB2 is actually 5.25v x500mA = 2.75W my bad .......

Good man on the 'expert' knowledge, looks like your not too clued in either

I suggest you look over the SPCR article I linked previously. A Pentium D 820 machine equipped with a 6800GT consumed "only" 223 watts under GPU and CPU load. That was at the wall, meaning even less after the efficiency of the PSU is taken into consideration. If I had to guesstimate, the PSU in your Dell system was pushing out around 150 to 160 watts during combined heavy GPU & CPU load (gaming), using ~10 or 11 amps on the 12volt rail. That would be the heaviest usage scenario I could come up with. In any event, your old Dell was no where near 300+ watt power consumption the extreme PSU calculator estimated.

Here's a prime example. My Dell 4500 system has the following specs:
Pentium D 805 @ 1.15 vcore
Asrock 775i65G
GF3 Ti200
2x256MB ram
80GB Seagate IV
200GB Seagate 7200.7
3.5" floppy
DVDRW
DVDrom
Winfast TV2000XP Expert capture card
Aureal Vortex 2 audio card
Dell 250 watt PSU

extreme PSU calculator says I need at least a 283 watt PSU. My own power consumption tests (yes, I actually own a Kill-a-watt power meter and a clamp ammeter) have shown that the idle power consumption of this rig is 100 watts, with 125 watts single Prime95, and 150 watts under dual prime 95. It seems the extreme PSU caculator is guessing almost double the actual power consumption.

Sorry, but it's 5 volt. It runs off the 5 volt line. If a PSU is so crappy that it outputs 5.25 volts, so be it, but the IDEAL is 5 volt. 5.25volt is just the absolute out of spec maximum the voltage could be and still have reliable USB operation. The USB port could output 6 volts even, if the 5 volt line was putting out 6 volts.

Sorry for dirtying up your thread. As for your question about the ASUS board, bildcat4 said exactly what I was thinking. In order to fit an ATX board into a BTX case you would have to do some MAJOR modifications. Heck a BTX board mounts on the opposite side of the case than an ATX. The I/O panel is on the wrong side of the case. The best idea is to do one of two things:
1. Sell the computer case and mobo on Ebay as a package deal. Dell cases are, for some reason, highly valued on Ebay. I would guesstimate that you'd probably get at least $100. You can then use that to apply to a new case and mobo.

2. Do nothing, and just forget the idea of overclocking for right now, and instead build your own rig when the next time comes to upgrade.