Dell Vostro overclock?

[crunchochango]

I recently purchased a Dell Vostro 400 through passwird.com for $540 and am in the process of making it capable of gaming. The first step was buying a new power supply (Rosewill 450watt) and pre-ordering a 8800GT MSI OC. Recently I've been wondering if it is at all possible to over clock my processor, despite the fact that Dell's bios has no such options. The processor is an E4500. Is there anyway to bypass the provided software? If not, I'll buy a new motherboard sometime in the distant future when I have money again...

 

[21stHermit]

Just read Zap's thread.

 

[myocardia]

Welcome to anandtech. Don't be surprised if your Dell power supply has more power than that 450 watt Rosewill, even if it's rated alot lower.

 

[Zap]

Welcome to Anandtech.

Only way to do it is to BSEL mod it to 2.93GHz... and pray that your CPU can do it at default Vcore. If not, then you'll need to voltmod it (some instructions at VR-Zone.com).

 

[21stHermit]

Originally posted by: Zap
Only way to do it is to BSEL mod it to 2.93GHz... and pray that your CPU can do it at default Vcore.

Isn't that a high probability? Say 80:20?

 

[crunchochango]

Thanks for the help guys... so a BSEL mod involves covering pins on the cpu itself so the motherboard thinks it is a different chip, and then that could potentially cause problems with the allotted voltage? Sorry, I'm new to all of this.

 

[magreen]

What about ClockGen?

 

[21stHermit]

Originally posted by: crunchochango
Thanks for the help guys... so a BSEL mod involves covering pins on the cpu itself so the motherboard thinks it is a different chip, and then that could potentially cause problems with the allotted voltage?

For a newbie overclocker I'd say your way ahead of most OCers.

You can get just so far OCing on stock voltage. Any good OCing MB allows you to up the CPU voltage in BIOS. Your Dell's BIOS does NOT allow you to up the CPU voltage.

So either the CPU is stable at 2.93GHz or it isn't. If it POST, smile. If it boots to Windows, smile more. If it flies under stress testing, you're there!!!

If not, well remove the foil and run it stock until you get that OCing MB.

 

[marcusrab]

Any luck or anyone try this?

Im looking at a deal.. from dell.. for a Vostro 200 slim tower with the same e4500 processor and want to know if I can push it to 2.93 or not... for the price (450, w/ 19" monitor) Im not too worried..

Just out of curiosity.. is the MB in the vostro 200's based of abit boards and if so.. anyone know which one so maybe I can do a seperate MB flash?

Anyone tried overclocking the memory on these? It says it supports 800mhz ddr2 so I will prob purchase aftermarket memory as well..


Marcus

 

[Yongsta]

I recently got the Dell Vostro 200 w/ 19" for $379, but mines has the E2140 chip. So if I do this mod pictured here on the E2140 with the window defogger (instead of aluminum foil) it should work? Thanks.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: marcusrab
Im looking at a deal.. from dell.. for a Vostro 200 slim tower with the same e4500 processor and want to know if I can push it to 2.93 or not...

You will likely need to do a Vcore mod as well as BSEL. I've played around with a few E2140, E4500 and E4300 chips and they seem to be able to hit 2.5-2.8GHz pretty easy on stock vcore, but around 3GHz is not a sure thing. It will most likely boot and run stuff okay, but may not pass stress tests.

Originally posted by: marcusrab
is the MB in the vostro 200's based of abit boards and if so.. anyone know which one so maybe I can do a seperate MB flash?

Foxconn G33M is the nearest close cousin. You can probably flash the board, but the Foxconn BIOS won't give you too much more and I wouldn't want to risk bricking the box.

Originally posted by: marcusrab
Anyone tried overclocking the memory on these? It says it supports 800mhz ddr2 so I will prob purchase aftermarket memory as well.

There are no manual BIOS settings for the memory, so you will probably need RAM that has the info for 800MHz programmed into the SPD, plus does it all at JEDEC standards (CAS 5, 1.8v).

Originally posted by: Yongsta
I recently got the Dell Vostro 200 w/ 19" for $379, but mines has the E2140 chip. So if I do this mod pictured here on the E2140 with the window defogger (instead of aluminum foil) it should work? Thanks.

Hey, a link to my site!

Use whatever you want as long as it makes a conductive path between the two pads. I initially tried with window defogger stuff and it would not stay on the CPU, so I tried aluminum foil and it worked great! Too bad I didn't try it first, would have saved me $13.

 

[Yongsta]

Originally posted by: Zap

Hey, a link to my site!

Use whatever you want as long as it makes a conductive path between the two pads. I initially tried with window defogger stuff and it would not stay on the CPU, so I tried aluminum foil and it worked great! Too bad I didn't try it first, would have saved me $13.

Thanks for the reply. I already have window defogger but I guess I'll try the aluminum foil first. With the stock heatsink/fan, what kind of temperatures are you getting? Thanks.

 

[Zap]

I currently have a Celeron 420 in there instead of the original E2140. Haven't monitored temps, but at 2.66GHz and running Prime overnight, heatsink stays pretty cold to the touch. Of course ambient temps in my garage is pretty cold too. I'm pretty sure the heatsink makes great contact since it bolts down.

A dual core running Orthos may actually heat up the heatsink.

 

[googly]

If you want to get fancy and overclock, why get a Dell? You'd do much better putting together parts from Newegg and AT For Sale forums.

 

[googly]

If you want a decent low-end power supply, take a look at the Antec Earthwatts EA 380. Currently $60 (free shipping) with $30 rebate at Newegg. Read the customer comments. Similarly the Antec Earthwatts EA 500 $75 with $40 rebate, but customers complain about the high pitched whine. Anyway, it's rare to see products that have NO, ZERO, NADA 1 or 2 egg comments!!!

BE warned, Dell machines can trip you up with their non-standard form factors, so be very very sure that what you get will fit.

 

[Yongsta]

Originally posted by: googly
If you want to get fancy and overclock, why get a Dell? You'd do much better putting together parts from Newegg and AT For Sale forums.

I already have a Q6600 overclocked system I built but needed another desktop. With the deal dell had (E4120 CPU, 1GB DDR2 Ram, 80GB 7200rpm HD, 19" widescreen monitor, keyboard, mouse, case w/ power supply, 16x DVD, Windows XP, already assembled w/ 1 year warranty on-site service) for $379 it was too good to pass up. It was hard to approach something similar on newegg with a similar monitor, keyboard, mouse, and Windows XP. I already have a 7800GT that I'm not using and with the BSEL overclock, it should be a decent system at a great price.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Yongsta
I already have a 7800GT that I'm not using

I'm not sure about the Vostro 400, but note that the Vostro 200 will be unable to run that video card unless you swap out the PSU. In examining the one I got, it is apparent that the PSU does not have a 6 pin PCI-E power plug, and also does not have any standard molex plugs with which to connect an adaptor. Besides motherboard hookups it only had one FDD and four SATA power connectors.

 

[Yongsta]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: Yongsta
I already have a 7800GT that I'm not using

I'm not sure about the Vostro 400, but note that the Vostro 200 will be unable to run that video card unless you swap out the PSU. In examining the one I got, it is apparent that the PSU does not have a 6 pin PCI-E power plug, and also does not have any standard molex plugs with which to connect an adaptor. Besides motherboard hookups it only had one FDD and four SATA power connectors.

So my molex to PCI-express adapter won't work? I also have a spare Xclio GoodPower 500wat t PSU... but maybe I'll just sell the 7800GT and get an 8600GT.

 

[googly]

I didn't mean to be a cold shower on you. The Dell deal you got is very nice! In fact we got that very same one for my wife's sister. Now she's as happy as a pig in "you know what".

I only meant to say that "name-brand" machines can trip you up in unexpected ways if you try go outside the envelope.

For one thing fancy graphics cards might stress the Power Supply. I wouldn't be surprised if Dell (et al) choose the minimum quality Power Supply to provide the exact amount of juice that the components they ship require.

Best Regards

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: googly
I wouldn't be surprised if Dell (et al) choose the minimum quality Power Supply to provide the exact amount of juice that the components they ship require.

The PSU I got in mine seems up to the task of all the connectors it has. It is a Bestec with 300W, with 18A on the single +12v rail. Others have gotten LiteOn units with similar specs. It should be capable of powering the motherboard, the fastest CPU that motherboard can hold, the fastest video card that doesn't need additional power, four SATA drives and one floppy drive. At that point it'll probably still be idling just over 100W and peaking at around 200W power usage.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that the extra SATA connectors in mine were already run to the empty drive bays, ready for a drive to be installed. Also, the motherboard had enough SATA ports to match the number of SATA power connectors. Coincidentally the case has just the right number of drive bays to match all that. You just have to supply the drives themselves, plus the SATA data cable.

 

[kimber]

hey all

long time no post.

anyway i just bought one of those vostro 200's w/19" for 399 deal for my daughter.

well i wanted to try my hand at maybe getting a little more speed out of the 2140 and was wondering if anyone here has went any further with the bsel mod on these. i've been using pin tricks in amd's for years but this is my first time back with intel in a long time. hmmm since p3 700 i believe.... lol

has anyone tried ditching 667 ram in favor of 800? i was wondering if theres a speed gain there worth pursuing. with only getting 1 gig of ram with system and ram so cheap right now i've been thinking about selling the 667 and getting a decent 800 2 gig kit from newegg.

also any brave soles try flashing to foxconn's bios?

i've done it on my old dell lappy to get a bigger processor in but that bios was still from dell just a newer model.i also tried it on a older sony vio desktop that had an abit and that went good giving me some oc'n options.

edit: lol look at my sig..... thats many systems ago. note to self must change sig.