OCing a Dell Dimension

[JellyWorld]

I followed the steps outlined here:

Since there are so many people now that own Dell Dimensions of one kind or another due to the different deals that have been offered in the last few months, I figure this could come in handy.

While Dell offers no overclocking options whatsoever in the BIOS and in fact uses a PLL that was supposed to be designed to not modifiable, it turns out that one can still overclock.

Step 1) Check to see if the Dell uses the ICS 952601 PLL. See either:
http://www.podien.onlinehome.de/FSB.HTM
http://mitglied.lycos.de/podien/FSB.HTM
for more information.

Step 2) Download and install cpucool available from:
http://www.podien.onlinehome.de/CPUCOOL.HTM
http://mitglied.lycos.de/podien/CPUCOOL.HTM

Step 3) Run cpucool and go to Functions->Change front side bus/change CPU speed

Step 4) Under PLL manufacturer, pick ICS and under PLL type, choose 952607

Step 5) Click on the Fine tuning button

Step 6) Adjust the Frequency using the buttons at the top and adjust to a reasonable overclock value.

Step 7) Hit Freq Set and the system will be overclocked immeadiately. However, not all programs will register it, but CPU-Z and benchmarks that don't rely on processor cycles will show it.

Step 8) Reboot, and then all programs will recognize the new speeds

http://www.telusplanet.net/~sulee/DellOC.png

This procedure has worked for the Dell 400SC and a Dimension 4600. It should be no different for other Dimensions.

Credit goes to:
http://www.aaltonen.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=572
for figuring out the procedure to overclock.

Note: Since the Dell has no temperature, voltage or fan readings, and I'm not even sure if the motherboard will lock PCI/AGP speeds, you have to be careful with your overclock. And since you can't adjust voltage and memory settings, you probably won't get the large overclocks that are possible with enthusiast level motherboards.

Edit in 2004:

One thing you can do to ensure that the CPU is not overheating is to download CPUMSR from:
http://www.cpuheat.wz.cz/html/Download.htm
This utility can monitor the real-time status of the P4/Celeron's throttling mechanism and will indicate if it is exceeding the thermal limit (~72C).


Also, I find that if you shutdown the system for a period of time, it will refuse to boot up when you power-on. Pulling the power plug can and then restarting should enable it to restart without problems.

Edit in 2004: It seems that later BIOS have fixed this problem.

Finally, of course overclocking voids Dell's warranty.

and managed to OC my CPU by 20mhz. However when I tried going up by 100mhz to 3.3Ghz it worked for a few seconds then the whole system hung.

On other forums like this:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=2164&page=2&pp=10

They managed to up it by 300mhz without crashing, how come mine dies so easily?

 

[Icarusintel]

i have just one question: why? are you really gonna be getting that much performance?

 

[JellyWorld]

It's fun. And I'm trying to break the 40s SuperPi mark for once, my friend's OCed AMD 3000 can do it in 38, mine's 44

 

[duffers20]

You should go slow with overclocking. not sure if this is right, but are you saying that you overclocked the cpu by 100mhz in one go, or did you do as you will have done with your gfx card, and go up in small increments of about 5mhz?

 

[JellyWorld]

Well the multiplier is 16, so I upped the fsb by around 7 = CPU increase by 100mhz. And no I didn't do it in increments.

 

[holydeadpenguins]

Raise the voltage.

 

[JellyWorld]

Raise the voltage.

Can't do that with my Dell. Only thing I can manipulate is the FSB speed.

 

[duffers20]

Well the multiplier is 16, so I upped the fsb by around 7 = CPU increase by 100mhz. And no I didn't do it in increments.

You could damage your cpu if you do this, and its probably why it hung after you did it. I would try doing it in increments like you did with your gfx card. That way you will find a good stable clock speed that will give you a performance increase but will be stable enough to run games etc.

 

[aaryn101]

Thx so much dude, this program really does work on my Dell 4600!

Now can anyone point me in the direction of a good CPU temperature monitoring program?

 

[JellyWorld]

Thx so much dude, this program really does work on my Dell 4600!

Now can anyone point me in the direction of a good CPU temperature monitoring program?

LOL you got yours to overclock? What's your speed now?

 

[aaryn101]

LOL you got yours to overclock? What's your speed now?

Current speed= 2.45 Ghz

Im not done OCing yet, but so far that little bit has given me 15 extra points in 3dmark05! lol... :naughty:

 

[JellyWorld]

Current speed= 2.45 Ghz

Im not done OCing yet, but so far that little bit has given me 15 extra points in 3dmark05! lol... :naughty:

Oh yes and I doubt you can get your CPU temperature because I don't think Dell includes a temperature sensor.

 

[aaryn101]

Yeah, i think you are right. I have ATI tray tools, and that can tell me the ambient temp of my case. Is there anyway that i could really know if my CPU is too hot, asides from smoke? 0.o

 

[JellyWorld]

Yeah, i think you are right. I have ATI tray tools, and that can tell me the ambient temp of my case. Is there anyway that i could really know if my CPU is too hot, asides from smoke? 0.o

I don't think so, run a stress test like Prime95 and it'll check if your CPU has errors.
And my system starts becoming unstable at 3.250Ghz, so I guess I'm stuck at the default 3.200Ghz. Wow my comp can't even take 50mhz... sad.

 

[aaryn101]

I just finished getting up to 2.5 Ghz, from a 2.4 default. Boosted my 3dmark05 by 100. Im going to run a stability test tool in a few min.

 

[bosox188]

I'm on a blackberry right now so bear with me. I'm in line in boston getting red sox tickets for tonight's game. Waiting from 2 to 5, good thing my dad had his blackberry. I replaced most of the parts on the dell, all except the cpu. I have a much better case and cooling now, so I should get a decent oc. But would this trick still work if I have a new mobo now? It's an intel d865glc. It is an intel like the dell one, although dell's I believe are a little different. But would it still work?

 

[aaryn101]

Ok... weirdness. I get fine performance with my CPU @ 2.5 Ghz, and my vid card OCed a little, but all of a sudden when i exit BF2 my computer does the BSOD, i reboot in safe mode and it tells me my ATI drivers were to blame...

Could this be related to OCing my CPU? I set it back to the default speed, and am installing the 5.6 catalysts as I speak. Pls help, I =

 

[socK]

You'll probually need more voltage to get anywhere decent, and without being able to set it, I doubt you can keep the computer stable for long. Such small overclocks are not worth it, especially when it can become unstable so easy.

 

[holydeadpenguins]

I'm on a blackberry right now so bear with me. I'm in line in boston getting red sox tickets for tonight's game. Waiting from 2 to 5, good thing my dad had his blackberry. I replaced most of the parts on the dell, all except the cpu. I have a much better case and cooling now, so I should get a decent oc. But would this trick still work if I have a new mobo now? It's an intel d865glc. It is an intel like the dell one, although dell's I believe are a little different. But would it still work?

It should probably be better, since it doesn't have the limitations that dell puts on their motherboards.

Ok... weirdness. I get fine performance with my CPU @ 2.5 Ghz, and my vid card OCed a little, but all of a sudden when i exit BF2 my computer does the BSOD, i reboot in safe mode and it tells me my ATI drivers were to blame...

Could this be related to OCing my CPU? I set it back to the default speed, and am installing the 5.6 catalysts as I speak. Pls help, I =

Since you can't increase the voltage, just decrease your speed.

 

[Asus]

Well it's an Intel CPU so if it gets 70C or so then it will downclock. If you have Intel's prescott CPU that would also mean you are around 50-65c already.

 

[sinkoman]

I don't think so, run a stress test like Prime95 and it'll check if your CPU has errors.
And my system starts becoming unstable at 3.250Ghz, so I guess I'm stuck at the default 3.200Ghz. Wow my comp can't even take 50mhz... sad.

Prime95 isn't a stress test, it just runs through prime numbers and it turns out that that's very CPU intensive, so people use it for stress testing.

And it won't check for errors, you'll just get one

Anyway, I wouldn't bother overclocking that thing. It's OK as it is.

 

[aaryn101]

Since you can't increase the voltage, just decrease your speed.

Turns out the problem was that one of the RAM sticks popped out and was poking my video card... lol

 

[aaryn101]

Ok. I am currently @ 2.55 Ghz. I have improved my 3dmark05 score by 300 points, and i was wondering what a good increment to continue overclocking my CPU would be?

 

[JellyWorld]

Ok. I am currently @ 2.55 Ghz. I have improved my 3dmark05 score by 300 points, and i was wondering what a good increment to continue overclocking my CPU would be?

Wow lucky you... wish my CPU was as easily overclockable.

 

[bosox188]

So that ICS number should still work with my D865GLC mobo?

 

[holydeadpenguins]

So that ICS number should still work with my D865GLC mobo?

If you bought a retail, you could just oc from the bios...

 

[Asus]

FYI Dell boards probably do not have AGP/PCI locks so when you OC the CPU you are also OCing the rest of the system such as the IDE/PCI/AGP bus speeds which can make it quite unstable.

 

[aaryn101]

FYI Dell boards probably do not have AGP/PCI locks so when you OC the CPU you are also OCing the rest of the system such as the IDE/PCI/AGP bus speeds which can make it quite unstable.

CPUcool allows you to just OC the FSB... i think. Anyways, Ive reached 2.65 Ghz, and ran 3dmark05 several times w/o any weirdness.

 

[bosox188]

If you bought a retail, you could just oc from the bios...

No Intel boards don't let you OC, just like the Dell one's. Someone please help, I know I can get a decent OC out of this.