Overclock a locked BIOS (works with branded PCs such as dells, gateways, compaqs ect)

[Stuart]

*DISCLAIMER: CAUTION, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I (STUART) AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE (TO YOUR COMPUTER OR YOURSELF) THAT THIS TUTORIAL MAY CAUSE.*

Ok, so some of you may have found the other overclocking tutorial useless, you went through all the preparation only to find out that your BIOS is locked and that you cant change any values on it. Never fear, I have a dell pc (dell lock all of their BIOSs) and have successfully managed to overclock my Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 from a measly 1.86Ghz to a stunning 2.2Ghz. Also i achieved this by using the same stock cooling my system originally had (although it is recommended that you have a proper cooling system for optimal performance).

The best part about this tutorial is that it only requires software. The only time you need to do anything to your hardware is when you need to open your PC case to look for an innocent model number.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED
Software:

> Hardware Monitering/Information:
**Needed CPU-Z: A great tool to check out your pcs specs and to see whether your overclocking actually worked: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
*Recommended PC Wizard: Good for keeping an eye on your CPU's temperature: http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

> Overclocking Software - What you will need to get that beast going, check which one you need below:
**Needed Clockgen: http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_9_208_18213.html
**Needed CPUFSB: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/C...k/CPUFSB.shtml

> Stability Testing Software - Used to check whether youve gone over-the-top:
*Recommended CPU Burn-in: http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/

> Benchmarking Software - Used to test how much you improve you PCs performance by:
Passmark Performance Test v4: http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

STEP 1

Finding your PLL IC model number
Because many mean companies dont want to save a load of money by making your CPU faster or what not, they use un-heard-of mainboards or hide the manufacturer of it. This is why we need to find your PLL IC or clock chip model number.

First power down your pc, open your PC case and start scanning your motherboard (with your eyes lol) for a small crystal that sometimes has 14.3Mhz printed on it. This is not the thing we are looking for but close by should be your PLL IC.


It will most likely have a manufacturer stamp on it and here are a few possibilities:

• ICS
• Cypress or ICW (now the same company)
• Winbond
• IMI
• plllabs
• CMedia
• Realtek
• Pericom
• S - Unknown company - this is used on recent dells such as the dimension 9200.

Take a note down of the make and model number of your PLL and try to match it up with the PLLs here:

PLLs COMPATIBLE WITH CPUFSB:

CMedia:
8864-04 8864-17 8864-26B/D 8864-36 8864-37B 8864-39

Cypress / ICW:
W124 W127 W144 W145 W149 W150 W153 W156 W164 W167 (A / B) W177 W195B W196 W199 W204 W207 W209 B/C W210 W211 W214 W216 W219 W229 W230 W230-3 W247 W250 W281 W305 W311
W48S67-02 W48S68-01 W48S87-04 W48S87-72 W48S101-04 W48S111-14
CY2275-12 CY2277A-2 CY22K7

ICS:
9148B-04 9148-08 9148-17 9148-26 9148-32 9148-36 9148-37 9148-46 9148-47 9148-53 9148-58 9148-60 9148-82 9148-93 9148-111
9150-04 9150-08
9248-39 9248-64 9248-72 9248-73 9248-78 9248-80 9248-81 9248-87 9248-90 9248-96 9248-97 9248-98 9248-99 9248-101 9248-102 9248-103 9248-105 9248-110 9248-112 9248-114 9248-121 9248-122 9248-126 9248-127 9248-128 9248-131 9248-134 9248-135 9248-136 9248-138 9248-141 9248-142 9248-151 9248-162 9248-163 9248-168
9250-08 9250-10 9250-13 9250-14 9250-16 9250-18 9250-19 9250-23 9250-25 9250-26 9250-30
94201 94203 94215

IMI:
C8750 C9703 C9834 C9929

Realtek:
RTM 520-04 RTM520-39 RTM 540-195 RTM 540-630 RTM 560-25

Pericom:
PI6C104

PLLabs:
52C63-1
52C65-2
52C66-1 52C66-3 52C66-10 52C66-11 52C66-19 52C66-23 52C66-28 52C66-29 52C66-31 52C66-31 52C66-38 52C66-39
52C68-2 52C68-4
52C72-4 52C72-5
202-1 202-3 202-4 202-11 202-13 203-51 203-61 205-1 205-3 205-13

Winbond:
W83193R-01 W83193R-02 W83193R-04
W83194R17(A) W83194R-37 W83194R-39(A/B) W83194R-58(A) W83194R-59 W83194R-67 W83194R-73 W83194R-81 W83194AR-96 W83194-97 W83194BR-138 W83194R-630(A) W83194R-730 W83194AR-W W83194AR-WE W83194BR-S
W83195R-08 W83195-14 W83195(A/B)-25 W83195AR-WE W83195BR-S
W83196S-14

If your PLL matches one of these, then the software you need to use is CPUFSB - see above.

PLLs COMPATIBLE WITH CLOCKGEN:


If your PLL is on that list then the software you will be using is Clockgen.

However if your PLL is on both lists then i recommend using Clockgen as it is freeware and much easier to use. Also CPUFSB is shareware so you'll have to reinstall it every 30 days.

STEP 2 - CPUFSB VERSION

Finding out your motherboard
If you have a dell, you might aswell skip this bit and carry on to the CPUFSB or Clockgen instructions. If not, this is when you need CPU-Z, download the program and start it. Give it a few secs to gather you system info and then click to the Mainboard tab at the top.

Note down your manufacturer and your model.

Using CPUFSB
Run the setup then reboot your PC. On startup you will meet a register screen - press ok for now. In the menu match up your mainboard manufacturer and match your model to the type (if your model does not match up then select none). If youre running a dell then select Abit and none. Next 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 its just like any other overclocking process, increase the FSB in small increments (eg. 10 at a time). When you reach the point that your PC crashes, youve gone too far and will have to set it back to the last safest clock. When you think youve got a nice stable frequency run CPU Burn-in to check if there are any problems, (run cpu burn-in and whilst its running do not touch your computer). Also you could try running some benchmarking software to test your performance.

STEP 2 - CLOCKGEN VERSION

Using Clockgen
Download the program then start it, go to clock setup and then find youre PLL in the drop down window. Make sure "ignore GSB/PCI" is checked and press update selection, then press apply selection.

Now exit that, and go to PLL control. If you were correct with youre PLL you should see your fsb and frequency that you have at the moment. Now just like normal overclocking increase the FSB in small increments (eg.10 at a time) do this by adjusting the slide.

When you reach the point that your PC crashes, youve gone too far and will have to set it back to the last safest clock. When you think youve got a nice stable frequency run CPU Burn-in to check if there are any problems, (run cpu burn-in and whilst its running do not touch your computer).Also you could try running some benchmarking software to test your performance.

If CPU Burn-in finds no problems then open clockgen, go to options and select apply current settings at startup.

Pheww... that took ages, especially since i had to redo it a couple of times as i kept closing the tab!

If this helps you, or you just think im a nice guy dont hesitate to plus rep me.

Hope you like it

Ps. +rep is good

EDIT: If you have a problem, dont pm me, post it in the thread. This is so it can help other people who may have the same problem.

[endlessinsanity]

Jebus, Stuart. How long did it take you to compile this?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by endlessinsanity

Jebus, Stuart. How long did it take you to compile this?

30 minutes
The only thing is that it took like 1h30 in reality seeing as i deleted it twice :P woops

[scrizz]

nice

[Gregory]

Cool, +rep.

[Gow616]

Originally Posted by Stuart

30 minutes
The only thing is that it took like 1h30 in reality seeing as i deleted it twice :P woops

Stuart is BACK to writing!! Hooray!

[jackluo923]

Some dell desktops have unchangable PLL chip where it only works with 1 frequency, and you cannot change it through the software.

[Numb3ronep1mp]

.:Looks pretty cool, I'll try this out for my desktop:.

[Trogdor]

very nice!
might attempt this
+rep

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Numb3ronep1mp

.:Looks pretty cool, I'll try this out for my desktop:.

Originally Posted by Trogdor

very nice!
might attempt this
+rep

Ok but be careful, make sure you post if you have any problems

[=Ra1N=Rab1t_K1ll3r^]

hey, i am fairly new to your board and have one of the PLLs listed, the SL one listed in the drop-down above, but i cannot find a clokckgen version that has it... which version did you use??

thanks

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by =Ra1N=Rab1t_K1ll3r^

hey, i am fairly new to your board and have one of the PLLs listed, the SL one listed in the drop-down above, but i cannot find a clokckgen version that has it... which version did you use??

thanks

This one: http://download.freewarefiles.com/files/ClockGen.zip

[133794m3r]

OK, Stuart I'm using a compaq laptop and I don't know how easy it will be to scan. Do you think that it'll be kinda easy?

[zachnehrenberg]

Wow. This is much easier than what I did to overclock my locked comp. I had to mess around with the jumpers on the mobo and almost ruined my computer many times. I will try this.

P.S. I haven't tried this, but you might be able to find the PLL using system info.

P.P.S +rep

[jackluo923]

If you can't find the pll on the mobo, just test each pll options. You'll know it's the correct one if it has the correct fsb, clockspeed, pciexpress speed, pci speed.. etc Also a correct pll option shouldn't make the computer freeze.

Also newer dell and some hp computer can't be overclocked using clockgen. They have locked pll chip. The only way to overclock those comptuers are to do a BSEL mod.

[=Ra1N=Rab1t_K1ll3r^]

hey guys I have a stable overclock now and I would like to say thanks for telling me how. but there is one thing I would like to say. I have a q6600 quadcore stock runs on 2.4GHz cpuz reads the core clock at 1611MHz, is that above 2.4 GHZ???? anyways my comp is a dell dimension 9200 with an 8800GTX q6600 quad core and I also have 4 gigs of ram just to let you kow, oh and on a final note do you X out of clockgen when you are done overclocking?? anyways thanks again bye.

[spenc938]

1611Mhz is 1.611Ghz. 2.4>1.6 It sounds like you didn't overclock, you underclocked.

[assassin82492]

helpful