How to: Overclock Dell, Gateway, Compaq and other branded computers

Discussion in 'Links' started by qube, Nov 14, 2002.

  1. qube

    qube Guru of 3D Security

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    GPU:
    ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
    Overclock Dell, Gateway, Compaq and other branded computers (w/o BIOS or Jumpers)

    So you want to overclock that beast but you can't find those magic multiplier, front side bus, and voltage settings in the BIOS or mainboard? Well I can help you with the first two. Before we begin, if you're shy of opening up your PC to look around, stop here as it'll take a bit of investigation work. Otherwise...

    Because you have a branded computer, it's highly unlikely that it includes an industry recognized mainboard like Asus, Abit Gigabyte, Soyo, etc. So the first thing we need to do is to find the PLL IC or clock chip that regulates the systems FSB among other things.

    The PLL IC is usually located in close proximity to the crystal so that helps. Most of the time, you'll find the crystal with the number 14.3 MHz stamped on top in some fashion. Once you've located it, the PLL IC is not far away.

    Samples:
    [​IMG][​IMG]
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    To help you out, the PLL IC will usually have the manufacturer stamp on it. Possibilities include:

    • ICS
    • Cypress or ICW (now the same company)
    • Winbond
    • IMI
    • plllabs
    • CMedia
    • Realtek
    • Pericom

    After finding the PLL IC model number, see if it is supported:

    If your PLL IC matches with one of the above models, congratulations! You can change the FSB and possibly the multiplier via software!

    The next step is to obtain software to work those magic numbers for you. I recommend CPUFSB by Podien. It supports most of the major PLL ICs but the only drawback it that it's shareware, meaning you'll have to reinstall it every 30 days. Err, or register it in some fashion.

    Get CPUFSB here

    After installing CPUFSB, you'll need to reboot your computer so I'll wait here until you come back...

    --------------------

    Welcome back! Now start up CPUFSB. You'll be greeted with a 'please register' screen. Click ok to dismiss it for now. Next you see the following screen:

    [​IMG]

    All you have to do now is to click on the arrows under PLL manufacturer and find your specific brand of IC, then on the box next to that, click the arrows to find your specific PLL type. Now comes the proving moment. If you have everything correct, press the GET FREQUENCY button. Your current FSB and multiplier settings should coincide with your Actual Frequency.

    From here on, it's like any other overclocking procedure. Up the FSB in small increments (remember to press SET FREQUENCY) and run benchmarking software at each try so you can see if things are changing. I prefer Passmark's Performance Test because of it's ease of use and speed. It's not very comprehensive, but it'll give you a good ballpark figure of where your system stands.

    Passmark Performance Test v4

    On a side note, the performance gain may be limited by the CPU core voltage. Unfortunately I do not know of any software that is able to change this. If you can do it on your mainboard, great! If not...

    Also, this 'tweak' also works on notebooks. I've used it on my Compaq 1692 bringing the 450 K6-III to 600MHz and my Gateway Solo 3150 Fireant from Celery 300 to 345MHz. Of course, you still need to find the PLL IC. Heh :p

    Well that's it in a nutshell. Any questions?
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2002
  2. zapp122

    zapp122 Guest

    great

    This is great I overclocked my old 600 mhz to a 750 safely. THANKS!
     
  3. Pudgy38

    Pudgy38 Guest

    Emmm what's the chance of the proggie supporting a new mobo i have a NEC mobo which runs a p4 2.53 Ghz is this too modern to be supported?

    I know i havent found the PLL to tell you but i think it's probably too new................
     
  4. Pudgy38

    Pudgy38 Guest

    Ok i got my info:

    ICS
    952001AF

    I tried the 952001 setting in the menu and I tried to "get frquency" and it came p with an erorr saying that there was an error reading the PLL.

    :(..........?
     

  5. shotys31

    shotys31 Guest

    when i click get frequency or wut ever my pc locks up
     
  6. JoeBob

    JoeBob Guest

    im just unlucky enough to have a pll which is unsupported. I dont remember what it is anymore. But about a month ago i wrote it down and checked it on the CPUFSB site. sure enough its a pll that doesnt allow changing the fsb through the system management bus.
     
  7. D Thorne

    D Thorne Guest

    if you can find a copy of it softFSB might work for you ..
     
  8. JoeBob

    JoeBob Guest

    ive tried that already. softfsb is still one that changes the fsb multiplier. there's no way for my comp to change it stupid thing i hate dells.
     
  9. shotys31

    shotys31 Guest

    :eek:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 28, 2003
  10. D Thorne

    D Thorne Guest

    every computer has a pll chip..from the top of the line to the bottom of the barrel..and chances are they're using the cheapest one they can find..if it's cheap than it's common..if it's common than chances are somebody has cracked it..most of these apps support users writing there own pll data file..so do a little research and you might just be able to get more outta that box of yours..
     

  11. sucker

    sucker Guest

    i have
    ICS
    CA730771
    0147
    950201AF

    and it isn´t supported
    mabye in the next version perhaps
     
  12. tristeno

    tristeno New Member

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    GPU:
    Ati Radeon 9500
    laptop pll

    very interested in this thread. I have a compaq 17xl470 laptop (pIII 700 (7x100)) and have been trying without success to overclock. Not too much but i would like to know it can be done. I checked the motherboard which is a Tiger-11 (i think tyan makes them-well done compaq-hehe) but could not find anything resembling the crustal so i could not find the dll either. Any ideas? I have send a message to tyan and i am expecting their responce. Compaq didn't bother to answer.
     
  13. V_LESTAT

    V_LESTAT Maha Guru

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    ive spoken to wolfgram podien and he only backed up what i had already thought, too many of the intel 850 pll's are locked, meaning they do not allow writing to the pll, especially the OEM boards, and specifically the INTEL made boards. other ones like asus, or abit or gigabyte usually allow overclocking per bios.

    and qube if your going to rip off Podiens ENTIRE CPUFSB webpage then the least you could do is give thanks to him for all the years of hard work he has put into the webpage and the creation of that program.

    you have a link to the cpufsb page, but you could have at least mentioned everything in that post, is from the cpufsb page.
     
  14. Snobgoblin

    Snobgoblin Guest

    nope

    damn it i cant get this damn thing to work. i think my system is to new for this old ass thing.
     
  15. Snobgoblin

    Snobgoblin Guest

    damn

    that damn web page dosnt even work you have to buy some stuff from them
     

  16. V_LESTAT

    V_LESTAT Maha Guru

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  17. Snobgoblin

    Snobgoblin Guest

    thanks

    do you have to pay for this stuff
     
  18. V_LESTAT

    V_LESTAT Maha Guru

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    ill give you one guess







    but there is an evaluation period so you can atleast try it out
     
  19. Snobgoblin

    Snobgoblin Guest

    ok it works

    thanks i got it to work. i can change the cpu speed but cant chang the fsb. i only change it a little bit cause i dont want to break anything in there. do you know how i can change the fsb in this program.
     
  20. Bobby

    Bobby Guest

    Actually, if you dload the app, it has it. I have the same PLL chip and it doesn't work on my Intel D845WN mobo. Oh well.

    -Bobby
     

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