overclocking a Dell!!!

grimloch

my friends computer is as follows:

its a Dell dimension 4600 from august 2003

p4 2.66ghz 512 L2cache 533mhz bus speed(not sure about fsb) with a heatsink not a cpu fan

512mb of SO-DIMM RAM (possibly ddr)

80 gig IDE hard drive

nvidia ge-force fx 5900xt 128mb

unknown power supply(Dell so most likely uncompatible with all forms of machines)

micro atx mobo of shifty Dell origin(again most likely uncompatible with all forms of machines)

all not overclocked due to cooling issues and no agp lock ie. everything is overclocked at once i believe

1) is there anyway to improve it without overclocking or spending any money?

2) if not, would the increase in performance justify the overclock? as its a dell and will most likely overheat as its a small dell case with one case fan

apologies about the length but hes desperate to improve

any and all advice welcome

Ciaran500

There's nothing you can do with that without spending a decent amount of money. Any overclock would be minimal before you have big stability or heat problems.

grimloch

precisely what we all thought

however what if we removed the side and fired a dirthy great big table fan in front of it would that help??

or failing that would water cooling be a feasible option?

Ciaran500

Even if you could keep it cool I don't think Dell coponents would be up to the strain to run much overclocked, and the psu would probably not give stable power to enable a good overclock.


I doubt water cooling would fit inside the case and the money would be better spent buying new components.

Col_Loki

Water cooling and dell just dont go toghter. The system is built to be anything but overclocker friendly, the chip isnt known to overclock that well, the Ram prob isint up to an overclock, the PSU prob isint either.

You would be better off getting a cheap AMD system (like Xp2500+ with an NF7 or A7N8X) and overclocking that........ while selling your old machine. The GFX card is decent, you could prob overclock that easily enough but thats about that im afraid (AFAIK anyway).

Dempsey

Dell use the same components as anyone else, designed to last but with the Dell BIOS ya wont be able to do anything in the lines of a overclock. Ya can overclock that GFX card though. Hard to tell with heat, dell boards dont have temp sensors. Its not worthwhile.

unkel

grimloch wrote:

p4 2.66ghz 512 L2cache 533mhz bus speed(not sure about fsb) with a heatsink not a cpu fan

Passive CPU cooling? I find that hard to believe. Can you check again?

The p4 2.66 is 512 L2 533MHz FSB bus alright

Ciaran500

Dempsey wrote:

Dell use the same components as anyone else

Dempsey wrote:

dell boards dont have temp sensors.

Isn't this a contradiction? I've never seen a recent mobo without temp sensors on it.

grimloch

unkel wrote:

Passive CPU cooling? I find that hard to believe. Can you check again?

The p4 2.66 is 512 L2 533MHz FSB bus alright

i joke you not, its a huge big heatsink on the CPU then a green plastic air duct device leading to a case fan to blow the air out ie. no fan on CPU at all

Ciaran500

This is the way my brothers computer was cooled. There was one fan to cool the case, CPU and power supply. :eek:

grimloch

not quite the psu as far as im aware, the air duct appears only to remove air from the cpu heatsink, that being said it might do the case and psu aswell, either way it doesnt look like an effective cooling situation to me as air flow is hindered by many things

astrofool

just laugh at him for buying a dell

grimloch

astrofool wrote:

just laugh at him for buying a dell

we do, as were starting to build our own and overclock them which he has been thus unable to do

that being said his pc is still respectable as it can run far cry etc since he got that new gfx

Mac daddy

unkel wrote:

Passive CPU cooling? I find that hard to believe. Can you check again?

The p4 2.66 is 512 L2 533MHz FSB bus alright

I have seen this in a dell system before to- just the heatsink popped on the top and a green exhaust
:eek: :eek: dude your buying a dell- I have seen them matching cpu's with 800 Fsb with 1x 256 PC2700 ram ????? why do not know just the mysterys of dell suppose :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Venom

unkel wrote:

Passive CPU cooling? I find that hard to believe. Can you check again?

The p4 2.66 is 512 L2 533MHz FSB bus alright

This is dell were talking about here man so I dunno whats so hard to believe. I got a Dell 8200 p4 2.4 533mhz system off them a few years ago and its got passive cooling. The chip has got a passive heatsink thats smaller than any Northbridge heatsink Iv ever seen. There isint even a way to attach a fan based cooler due to there being no clips/struts to attach a normal fan due to Dell using weird ass mobo's. Why do you think Dell pc's are so quite?

Stephen

SO-DIMM ram in a desktop PC? Weird.

Dempsey

Ciaran500 wrote:

Isn't this a contradiction? I've never seen a recent mobo without temp sensors on it.

That first quote I was referring to the quality of components used. I should have been clearer.

No, Dell boards dont have temperature sensors

grimloch

Stephen wrote:

SO-DIMM ram in a desktop PC? Weird.

i know, he thinks its SO-DIMM but im not sure, my ''computer'' has SO-DIMM

however i think his ram was some experiment by dell so that might explain something

The Real B-man

the psu's in dells are only 250w you could flash the bios but theres not much point i have a dell but i didnt buy it! so dont laugh!

grimloch

250w ehh? arent those psus differrent sizes thus making any salvaging off their computers next to impossible?

pyrogenx

Aaahhh Dell ! no no.......

No offense guys but if you have ANY way of gettin rid of them and buy a real PC, DO IT. Dell computers are well payed for especially on buyandsell, so sell em if u can and customize ur own.

Now thats only what i would do, but do whatever you like

magick

isnt it true some parts of a Dell PCs use only dell custom components , such as they dont have molex connectors or their mobo heatsinks are quiet different to other PCs?

Col_Loki

Not quite. They do have molex connectors (or adding a CD drive / hard drive wouldnt be possible). On the ones ive seen they have re-wired ATX connectors for the motherboard, ie it will fit and clip onto a regular motherboard but will just make a strange scary sound when you try it out......... and yes i did try it .

Also there cases wont fit regular motherboards, thus the motherboard wont fit in a regular case. There motherboards are cheap pieces of dirt that have every last possible extra skint off it to save money.

pyrogenx

Col_Loki wrote:

Not quite. They do have molex connectors (or adding a CD drive / hard drive wouldnt be possible)

But under their warrantee (spellin=terrible) policy the user isn't even allowed to open the case, so i assume u won't be allowed to add a HD and CD-ROM urself. is that always the case/matter though?

Col_Loki wrote:

There motherboards are cheap pieces of dirt that have every last possible extra skint off it to save money.

NOW WE ARE TALKING! thats exactly what i always try to explain to people but no! a week l8er there it stands in the corner of the living room...the Dell. aarrgghh

Mac daddy

pyrogenx wrote:

But under their warrantee (spellin=terrible) policy the user isn't even allowed to open the case, so i assume u won't be allowed to add a HD and CD-ROM urself. is that always the case/matter though?

Hmmmmm i remember one of the lads- his dvd drive was not seen in OS or bios defect drive- i called dell for him- after knowing that the drive was defect - they ask me o open the case remove re attach drive check cablin blah blah blah i asked him before i opened the case would it effect the warranty he said nope

Dempsey

It only if the hardware is changed when they go to fix it then they say the warranty is void

pyrogenx

Didn't all (i think) Dell computers used to have a seal (sticker) on the side of the case so that if u open it the sticker was broken and warrantee void?

Dempsey

They used to but I dont see it on my 8200