Overclocking name brands.

[PayBack]

Hi,

I buy Dells (remember this is a flame free zone people!! :-). I won't go into why here as it's not relevant (let's just say I'm lazy and willing to pay for onsite support etc ok?)


Anyway I know how annoying it is when ppl ask questions in forums when 10 minutes in google could answer it, but I've looked myself and get conflicting answers.

Can you overclock Dells? I have always heard you can't, but I have been told there is a way of resetting them in to a kind of setup mode, so they boot with the FSB speed able to be adjusted, but I can't find out how. Mines a Dimention 850 with a 3 gig P4.

Please don't just say "No you can't, and serves you right for buying a name brand you no0b!" cos as I said I have my own reasons for doing so.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers!
:)

[fatsanchez]

at a guess, i'd say no.

and even if you could, i cant see a dell having killer o/c support even if you could get to it, so it wouldent be worth it anyway.

dell will also run and hide with their onsite warranty if you ever screw something up.

[PayBack]

lol yes well I was going to wait till the warranty runs out before trying it (it runs everything ok atm anyway).

As to the O/C suppot.. wouldn't it just be like any other Intel, and a matter of upping the FSB speed?

[Agent666]

what I think he means is the hardware probably wont be up to it....... like they will not have great ram in there etc..... so you will be limited by that ...

also they usually have some OEM board without to many options as they are geared towards being stable above anything else.

[whetu]

it probably depends on the hardware.. you'll have to actually open it up and have a look and figure it out (eg you'll have to put in *some* effort)

as each model of dell is obviously different, that's probably where your conflicting google information comes from..

So when your warranty runs out, open it up and take a look at what's inside... look for jumpers, dip switches etc and any markings printed on the mobo... sometimes a name company like dell will use a namebrand mobo product.. HP traditionally use(d) mostly Asus mobo's for example... In which case you just search for manuals, drivers, bioses and anything else related to that motherboard model.

If it isnt so obvious however, you'll either have to figure it out yourself (there maybe that one magical jumper there) or you'll have to look at software overclocking... or you could just buy a pre-built rig from a smaller company, that way you'll get the support you hold so dear and you'll also be able to overclock ;)

[Grrr!!]

Like stated above; dell uses boards which have physically been striped of all overclocking capability ... though if you were really keen you might be able to use a hacked BIOS, and that might be able to access any features in the chipset.

The boards are not designed to be overclocked, as are the other parts of a Dell PC.

[PayBack]

OK thanks ppl...

Agent 666... the RAM should be up to it, it's 1066 MHz RAMBUS RAM which costs a testicle!

whetu... Software overclocking??? Whazzat? Oh yes and dude I am willing to put in some effort.. it's just I work in IT, and at home I don't want to build a PC and bugger about with Drivers and Conflicts etc.. but I do understand some of you guys enjoy that stuff ;)
Also the reason I didn't go for one of the smaller dealers is A) They generally have Back to Base warranties, and little phone support and B) Dell was the only one in NZ who could supply me a 3 GHz P4 before Christmas! :)

Oh yes, and as agent says.. they're stable! :D

Grrr.. actually yes, I had heard something about flashing the BIOS opening up some options, but they were all very light on details.

[Solid Snake]

I buy Dells (remember this is a flame free zone people!! :-). I won't go into why here as it's not relevant (let's just say I'm lazy and willing to pay for onsite support etc ok?)Actually most people in OCNZ I believe wouldn't flame someone just because they bought a Dell or what ever. In fact I would usually recommend a Dell/HP/Compaq to someone or a family who doesn't know anything about computers, simply because of the onsite/phone help that they will receive ... because if I bought and made them a computer I wouldn't be able to fix or help them all the time since they don't pay me to do that. I suppose it's like tards who say they hate Microsoft and say it is evil and whinge about it but still use it AND not bother to learn Linux or an alternative OS. People earn the right to say they hate Microsoft when they have mastered Linux or an alternative OS ... m'eh ... I suppose people on the before hand just annoy me because they claim there is no other alternative ... [sheesh]

Anyways, I agree with most other pepple. Dell's and other computer package companies do not really want people to overclock their machine and then warranty it. I know with HP's you are allowed to open your machine and still keep a partial warranty (I think it only covers software then) since I asked a technician before hand. Also you already have a 3Ghz P4 ... why do want more Hz? I believe P4's and other Intel CPUs have their multipliers factory-locked so if you up the FSB that's pretty dangerous since you'll be up your FSB, AGP/PCI bus speeds as well ... and if you don't have good PCI devices they won't like it very much.

Overclocking is an art form, it takes a lot of skill to do it properly. Simply upping the FSB is not going to mean a stable overclock, although you may get the numbers for it a short time as in Bios will report the number ... but that's about it. System usage will be pretty unstable ...

[SilverPriest]

There's always softfsb.
I used that to overclock a mates old Dell Dimension. (P3-500)
Didn't overclock well though, only about 30 or so mhz, wasn't worth the risk of a corrupted HD so back to stock it went.
I'd do a google on softfsb and see where that lands you :)

[PayBack]

Silver.... yes I actually downloaded that... but it couldn't detect my (don't recall what it was called). I just have to look for a tag on a chip on my M/B to see if it's compatible.

lol Snake you want to go onto the jetstream games forums and say you bought a Dell !! I got tired of explaining why it suits me even if it doesn't suit them! It was my money to waste after all (soz now you got me ranting :-)

And no, as I said, at 3 gig I don't need to overclock it.. YET! In a few months 3 gig will be standard.. and few more it will be minimum spec!

Though I haven't learned Linux I will bag MS.. only because I have read a lot about their tactics... Maybe I'm nieve, but buying browser technology, agreeing to pay a percentage of the profit and then giving it away free (thus no profit) till the company you have the agreement with goes bust THEN selling it, seems low to me... not to mention all their other questionable bullying behaviour...

Soz guys... turned the question thread into spam..

Thanks for your imput though! :)

[Solid Snake]

lol Snake you want to go onto the jetstream games forums and say you bought a Dell !! I got tired of explaining why it suits me even if it doesn't suit them! It was my money to waste after all (soz now you got me ranting :-)

This is because most of the people on that forums are usually very young, well between 13-16 years old. The fact that they don`t quite understand real world is different to us. Most of us OCNZer`s are uni/poly/mit/ex-uni/ex-poly/ex-mit students so we know what we talk about. I mean for example, I got flamed for saying that Intel still holds the title for being the most overclockable... but it`s true. I mean AMD is so approved from us as OCer`s is because of the best bang for buck rule ... anyways you guys know all this so ... to carry on ...

Mmm 3 Ghz is the new magic number at the moment, although 4 Ghz is a reality I think now, but even so I don`t know of many games that would even require 4 Ghz ... because you`d always be bottlenecked by something else ... GFX card, memory latency etc etc.

You can attack M$ all you want but using their products only shows support for them in the end. It`s like people I know who whinge about their Uni course. I`m like, damn, in Uni you choose your own course that you want to do. No one is keeping you here, and if you hate it that much then just leave ... well ...

[PayBack]

No dude I think this is another example of living in the real world. I don't have time to learn Linux and more importantly I have to interact with the masses who use Windows. All the apps I need are available for Windows, not all of them are for Linux (I consider games a "need" as it's my primary use for a PC at home :) ). If more ppl used Linux then it would have the apps, and vise versa, but joe public is not going to change anytime soon (if ever). So rather than take responsibility myself, I'm going to blame MS.... and the peasants;)

[Elle T]

Originally posted by PayBack
No dude I think this is another example of living in the real world. I don't have time to learn Linux and more importantly I have to interact with the masses who use Windows. All the apps I need are available for Windows, not all of them are for Linux (I consider games a "need" as it's my primary use for a PC at home :) ). If more ppl used Linux then it would have the apps, and vise versa, but joe public is not going to change anytime soon (if ever). So rather than take responsibility myself, I'm going to blame MS.... and the peasants;)

Then be quiet.
Your either part of the problem or the solution there is no middle ground.

Do us a favor & don't waste our time.

[varkk]

Originally posted by PayBack
So rather than take responsibility myself, I'm going to blame MS.... and the peasants;)

So that would make you a peasant as well then :p
I mainly use Linux now, only really use Windows for playing games which aren't out for Linux, I guess that makes me special.

For identifying your motherboard have you tried running SiSoft Sandra. It may properly recognise your motherboard, or atleast give you some clues, although it may just say it is a Dell...

[SilverPriest]

Guys, chill out, this is the newbie forum, happy place mmk.
If you wish to debate the merits & downfalls of various operating systems, take it elsewhere in the forum and conduct it civilly.
Please, on-topic posts only :)

[PayBack]

Originally posted by Elle T
Then be quiet.
Your either part of the problem or the solution there is no middle ground.

Do us a favor & don't waste our time.

Gee I'm glad I posted in the flame free area.

[PayBack]

Originally posted by varkk
So that would make you a peasant as well then :p
I mainly use Linux now, only really use Windows for playing games which aren't out for Linux, I guess that makes me special.

For identifying your motherboard have you tried running SiSoft Sandra. It may properly recognise your motherboard, or atleast give you some clues, although it may just say it is a Dell...

AH but there you go, you still have to use windows. Which is my point.. why use two OS's? merely so you can say you use linux? (SP dude, this is just answering him, and said in the friendliest of tones :) )

And thanks, I'll have a look at SiSoft Sandra :)

[varkk]

Originally posted by PayBack
AH but there you go, you still have to use windows. Which is my point.. why use two OS's? merely so you can say you use linux? (SP dude, this is just answering him, and said in the friendliest of tones :) )

Well one OS isn't big enough for me :D.

Actually I have software I need to run which isn't avialable for windows and vice-versa(Actually the windows only software is important apps like Battlefield 1942, the linux stuff is for my uni work, for some reason the people who work in my field only seem to publish software for linux. I also use linux for most online stuff now, and as more games start having linux installers like UT2k3 and Quake3 etc windows is becoming less important for me personally)Also it is good to have experience in multiple platforms.

[PayBack]

No I agree the experience won't hurt.. I'm planning on learning a bit of Linix myself as some of our clients are playing with it (one has had their fingers burnt a bit cos the 12 year old ;) running the project left and no one else had a clue what to do, so they moved the Server back to windows).

Don't get me wrong, I cheer every time Linux makes MS twitch and I hope it takes a decent chunk of the market. And the fact I intend to learn at least some basic linix means I expect it to (at least in the Server market).