Successful E5200 BSEL and Volt Pin Mods

Thought I would share my success I have had Overclocking my E5200 by way of Bsel and Vid pin mods for use on my non-overclock friendly Asrock 4coredual Sata II Rev 2 mobo.
For starters had to find my default Vid for the cpu, which is 1.1625v, then had to work out how to get about 1.3375v default bootup for 266x12.5 for 3333mhz after doing Bsel mod.
I used the Circuit writer pen available here in Australia from Jaycar at a premium of $25, Took me about 5 goes before I figured out the best way, tried isolating the pins with insulating tape, but always the Silver would go over other pins. Eventually just wrote direct on the cpu, and wiped off failed attempts with Metho, no need for isopropyl alcohol or Acetone.
I had to be ultra careful fitting cpu back in so that the tiny square pieces of insulating tape I had stuck over 2 of the pins didn't move.
Anyway, 1st time bootup Success, could hardly believe it.
I might nothave quite enough volts for a stable overclock asthe 1 time I ran SuperPi it shut off before finishing, succeeded next 2 times though.

Here are some pics to prove it, also some benchmarks with my Powercolor HD3850 AGP.

 

Hi, i also managed to run a BSEL Mod from FSB 800 to FSB 1066 with tinfoil.
I get my E5200 runnig stable @ 3,1GHz with corevoltage 1,20V. (4h Prime testing)
I also tried the Vid Mod but the Voltage won't change.
I made the modifications as shown in your image.
How did you find out wich pins have to be modiefied?

I only found this for my modifications: http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=98439&page=1

Board: ASRock Wolfdale 1333-667 R2

 

Hi to a fellow cpu modder ,
I have since removed the piece of insulating tape to the left of the short circuit at top of image, for 1.3625v, which is the max allowable according to Intel's spec sheet.
1st You have to download the data pdf for the E5200

http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320467.pdf

Page 15 has the information for voltage selection, and page 43 is where You can work out the pins that need to be either shorted to a nearby VSS pin (Ground) point or have Insulating tape put over to convert a 0 into a 1.
You HAVE to know Your cpu's default voltage before You can do anything, use coretemp to get this, it was 100% accurate for me.



From Your default voltage You can work out what pins need to be either converted from a 1 to a 0 (shorted to a nearby VSS), or converted from a 0 to a 1 (blanking off with Tiny piece of insulating tape).
Another EXTREMELY IMPORTANT point is that the view of the Processor on Intels pdf is top down, so You have to reverse it from left to right so you know what pins need altering.
In the pic of the cpu above I had set the cpu to boot at 1.3375v, and from my 1.1625v standard Voltage You should be able to work out what pins I altered to get 1.3375v.
That is what I did anyway, used some pics from other cpu's to work out how they did it first.
I had some stability issues at 266x12.5, that is why I have altered it to 1.3625v, andas that is the official max allowable. no harm in using that voltage. I just ran some benchmarks at 3407mhz no probs at all.

Good luck and more than happy to answer further questions.

 

Hi, thank you very much.

Core Temp is showing me a 1,2250V core voltage.
So if this is right, i only have to connect VID4 to VSS to get 1,3250V
Additionally i could connect VID3 to VSS for a 1,3750V core voltage.

But i think i'll try 1,3250 first to see what happens with temperature.

These modifications can't be made with tinfoil because around VID 4 there are no pins in the socket to fix the foil.
No i have to get some conductive ink.

 

Vid4 to VSS will do the trick.

From what I have read onthe Internet, it appears Your cpu is at the high end of default voltages, so unfortunately may not overclock as well as You might hope.
Of course I do not know anything about how Intel arrives at the default voltage to fix the cpu at. In any case it should be easily capable of 3.1 - 3.2ghz at 1.3275v.

Another thing to consider is whether or not Your power supply can handle the load, as I have recently discovered that my Antec Smartpower 2 500w has more trouble even giving me a bios screen, let alone boot, the higher I push the cpu.
I have proved this (I think) By underclocking the cpu to 266x6 1600mhz, and at that speed it boots everytime, the faster I go the less often it will boot or give a bios screen, curiously though when it does boot it normally is quite stable.
I would say that it is the initial boot-up load current required that is causing the problems.

I personally do not like the idea of tinfoil, just in case it shifts position, could be a bit of a disaster if that happened.
The circuit writer pen is a pig to use, but when You sort out a good method it works well, just have some metho and a cotton bud handy to wipe off failed attempts, then try try again until you get a good clean connect.

 

This is indeed a symptom of a failing psu.

Congrats on your bsel mod, I'm sure many users will find it very useful.

Best of luck with it

 

Hi,

i checked my PSU and sadly had to find out that it only has 280W!
So i think before buying the ink i have to buy a stronger PSU to get higher clocks. ;(

Output:
3,3V/20A 5V/26A 12V/13A
3,3+5 => 175W
3,3+5+12 => 280W
230V 4,5A

Maybe it is strong enough to use 3,33 GHz @ 1,35V because i do not have a PCI/PCI-E card. But i don't want to risk to crash my PC.

For now i'm running 3,1GHz @ 1,225V...

 

First of all... SUUUPAA job on the CPU mod, we need more stuff like that posted. :nerd:

Are you sure that's the symptom of a failing PSU? Every time I've ever overclocked the **** out of a CPU it sometimes doesn't boot up from a cold boot but never once has the PSU failed. Even my current rig sometimes fails from a cold boot even the first day I got it. The motherboard automatically just sets the CPU clock back to normal and it boots and from there spending 2 seconds to go through the BIOS and clicking one option restores my previous settings and it boots fine (it always does so long as it's not a cold boot).

I never use an unstable overclock either, I make sure it's stable in things which light the CPU on fire (hotter than anything else ever can make it) such as Orthos Prime.

 

In my personal experience it's certainly one of a host of symptoms. When I say "failing" I don't actually mean the psu itself is on the road to permanent death.......just that it's failing to supply the required voltage (amperage) a system is drawing.

For example.....say you have an overclock of 3.6ghz stable on a particular cpu and you also have a high-end gpu in the same system. You may find all cpu intensive benchmarks pass no problem (orthos included) however when you run 3D benchmarks your system may reboot/bsod etc.

Also, if a user can boot their pc with the cpu overclocked to say 3.2ghz with 1.30v for example and be perfectly stable....then if they reboot and simply increase vcore to 1.350v-1.375v and the system keep restarting during post then it's most likely the psu which is failing at that point.

Ofcourse if the psu is not pushed beyond this "working" point it may indeed last for some time....it's simply failing to work harder when asked to.

This is actually quite a common cause of overclock "walls" I've experienced. A lacklustre psu can cause the best of hardware to perform poorly.

 

Hi,

:banana:

i can't believe it. I was bored today, so i did the VID4 mod to get 1,3250V.
With TINFOIL and TAPE!!! and it works. (See avatar image)
Now running E5200@3,33GHz. :nerd:
I can't get higher speed because my PSU varies core Voltage 1,320 downto 1,288.
Core temperature rests at 62°C (SpeedFan value) while prime95 stress test.
Thats really cool.

 

good one :thumbup:

If you mean your vcore fluctuates slightly under load thats perfectly normal....all boards do it to a certain extent....even the best mobo's.

 

Hi,

after 1,5h Prime testing i would say the system is stable.
here a screenshot:



and here an image of the modded CPU with tinfoil and tape: :nerd:


And thanx to Imperious for the pioneer work. :thumbup:

YES WE CAN!
But it is no fun to cut and fix tinfoil and tape...

Don't do this at home! :no:

 

more more more :bounce:

 

OK here is more.

Finally i managed to run the system @ 3,41GHz stable with Prime (it also runs at 3,5 no cpu load).
I decided to stay at 3,333 to have some kind of overhead.

Here is another image showing that voltage at 100% load is staying down at 1.296 volt. (should be 1,325)

 

I can't take all the credit for the "pioneer work", as I just implemented (on my e5200) what others had put in the hard yards to work out on their e4x00's and e2xxx's.
There was a lack of info on this specific Cpu however, so better to share what I had done so it can help others eh?,
that is what these forums are for.

Awesome stuff Cas27, nice to see You proved Yourself wrong about the tinfoil, cheaper for sure than getting the circuit writer pen.
when I had my cpu running at 1.325v, 1.296 was the exact same minimum it went to under Prime95.

As far as my psu goes, I think I'll post in the PSU forums for advice.

 

That's really great result mate......3.3ghz on 1.296v real is quite decent. Atleast you know you got a little bit left in the tank

 

Hi,

because i am bored again i've tested how far i can go with my 1,325V.
I am able to run Windows with 3,6GHz@1,325V.




Now i am wondering how much i have to increase Voltage to run 3.66 stable.
Any suggestions?

 

Great stuff on the 3.6ghz there!

Just an update on my PSU issues, got a new Thermaltake Toughpower Qfan 650 today,and now have no issues booting computer, so old PSU wasn't faulty, it just couldn't supply the Juice required.
The only time I got no boot was at 3.65ghz, and that was half expected.

I think You may find that voltage required to go higher goes up exponentially, just do the best you can at 1.325v and be happy with it.
I did quite a bit of searching through e5200 overclocking threads and quite a few wouldn't go to 4ghz without massive voltage increases, like 1.5v+

Another thing I have found out is that Intel uses thermal paste (instead of soldering) between the cpu cores and the ihs on all their cheaper processors. e2xxx. e4xxx. e5xxx, and possibly e7xxx, which would explain why these run so much hotter than the full blown e8xxx 45nm processors.

 

A nice big heatsink and upto 1.400v with good temps, would probably do it.

1.450v-1.550v for 3800mhz-4000mhz but you'd need to lower your temps some.

congrats on 3.6ghz.

 

Just to mention.
I was able to start and run windows 3,6GHz@1.325V but only if cpu has no load!
If you start prime then it stops after 20 seconds.

Yeah that's the point.
If i raise voltage up to 1,425 (7,5%) maybe (with a lot of luck) i'll be able to run 3.666.
But this is only about 10% more performance and will boost heat and power consumption to a level that requires another heatsink and maybe PSU.