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Overclocking an Upgraded Dell.

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CrazyApple

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Hi.

In 2006 i bought a Dell Dimension E520. It worked great the first 2-3 years. After than i couldn't really enjoy gaming anymore because of the low frame rate so i bought a new video card. (Ati x1330/1500 series upgraded to Nvidia Geforce 9500GT 1GB)

1 year after that (This january) i decided to upgrade my RAM&CPU as well (2GB ram too 4GB and Intel Core2Duo 1.8ghz to a Q6600 Core2Quad 2.4GHZ).

But now with the new upcoming games such as CoD MW3, Battlefield 3 etc etc... my video card is getting old again. So i'm looking forward to upgrade it to a GTX460 (also my PSU from 305w to a 600w)

With all that done, i want to overclock my Q6600 because i heard it's the safest&easiest CPU to be overclocked. I want to do this because 2.4GHZ CPU with a GTX460 video card will get me to a bottleneck.

But since i have a dell dimension e520 and they disabled overclocking in the BIOS, and i also can't use ClockGen and/or setfsb because my pc shuts down constantly.

Is there any other way to overclock a dell e520?

Thank you, Apple

O yea i forgot my specs what i have now:

Code: 
Intel C2Q Q6600 2.4Ghz Stock.
4GB Ram
Geforce 9500gt 1GB (I will 100% replace this with the GTX460 in the next months)
305W Stock Dell PSU (Standard ATX)
533/800/1066MHz FSB, Intel G965 Express Chipset. (MotherBoard)
 
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So... basically all thats left from your Dimension is the motherboard, since you swapped everything else? The easy way would be to get a new motherboard. There are plenty of cheap and good ones that let you overclock, and can handle an overclock, for that matter.

Also the 6600 isn't exactly the easiest CPU to overclock, there are plenty others that are easier.

But maybe you can lurk around certain communities for custom BIOS and the like, if you up for the danger that this will bring with it.
 
MRCL said:
So... basically all thats left from your Dimension is the motherboard, since you swapped everything else? The easy way would be to get a new motherboard. There are plenty of cheap and good ones that let you overclock, and can handle an overclock, for that matter.

Also the 6600 isn't exactly the easiest CPU to overclock, there are plenty others that are easier.

But maybe you can lurk around certain communities for custom BIOS and the like, if you up for the danger that this will bring with it.
Click to expand...

My case is BTX so a new motherboard wont really fit in it and my CPU cooler is a part of my case, so if i'm going to get a new motherboard, i will need a new case and a cpu cooler, which is a waste of money if theres a way to overclock :)

About the modifying of my BIOS yes, that sounds tasty :D thanks for the tip :)
 
I'm just saying if you're going to overclock, you'll need powerful cooling solutions. What temperature is your CPU running now?
 
MRCL said:
I'm just saying if you're going to overclock, you'll need powerful cooling solutions. What temperature is your CPU running now?
Click to expand...

With Xfire,Skype,MSN,Opera,Firefox,MySQL and some updaters running:

Core1 50C stable
Core2 48-49C
Core3 45C Stable
Core4 48-49C

Fans= 40%

My geforce 9500GT: 61C
 
CrazyApple said:
With Xfire,Skype,MSN,Opera,Firefox,MySQL and some updaters running:

Core1 50C stable
Core2 48-49C
Core3 45C Stable
Core4 48-49C

Fans= 40%

My geforce 9500GT: 61C
Click to expand...

Now imagine, for a decent overclock, up the volts a bit, and play a CPU heavy game, or an intense application and watch that DIE melt :)
 
Before overclocking, I would recommend:

New motherboard
New case
New PSU
New CPU cooler

That's what's unfortunate about pre-builts. Sorry for the bad news.
 
If you are not wanting to spend much you can just go for the graphics card.
Those pre-built machines are just not made with overclocking in mind.
 
DanishDevil said:
Before overclocking, I would recommend:

New motherboard
New case
New PSU
New CPU cooler

That's what's unfortunate about pre-builts. Sorry for the bad news.
Click to expand...

This^^

If your not willing to do that, then dont overclock.. the end
 
you could try using software based overclocking, like setFSB. but you'd need to make sure your board will work with it... here's a page with info on it.

http://www13.plala.or.jp/setfsb/

It worked fine for my acer aspire 3680 laptop. i can't remember if it saves your overclock settings and loads at startup or not, but that seems the best way to do it, at least that i found for that laptop.

*use at own risk*
 
you can try a 'q6600 BSEL mod' think you got to tape 1 pin and it will automatically increase FSB speed to 1333mhz giving you a 3.0GHZ Q6600
 
oh there's also a fanspeed app for dells that well let you run that massive front fan at max speed. it'll be noisy but it'll keep the cpu cool. http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/ its old but seems to work every dell i've tried.

Nvm about set fsb... just re-read ur first post.
 
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That PSU very likely wont be able to handle the GTX 460... take the advice we already gave you and upgrade the PSU, MOBO, CASE
 
Like i said before, it's 100% sure that i am going to upgrade the psu to a 700w psu, i am also going to get the gtx460 and ill also do the pin mod and ill increase my fanspeed.

But the question is.... wont my cpu melt down with 600mhz overclock with a gtx460 on 700w psu? Would my new PSU handle the overclock & the gtx460?

Thanks, Apple.
 
CrazyApple said:
But the question is.... wont my cpu melt down with 600mhz overclock with a gtx460 on 700w psu? Would my new PSU handle the overclock & the gtx460?

Thanks, Apple.
Click to expand...

yes, a decent 700w will handle that CPU + 2 GTX460's with no problem
 
cheesy999 said:
yes, a decent 700w will handle that CPU + 2 GTX460's with no problem
Click to expand...

Thank you, so i have came to this decision:

First i will get the PSU,
Secondly ill get the GTX460,
Third and lastly, ill do the pin mod & increase my fan speed.

Thanks for the help guys, Apple.
 
Make sure you get a quality PSU. Some models are garbage and really only offer a couple hundred watts, yet advertise much higher. My recommendations would be Antec, Corsair, Enermax, Silverstone, PC Power & Cooling. I may have left out a few. You should be great on a 550-650W from one of these brands.
 
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