PROJECT LOG Dimensional Overdrive

There is not much to this build log, but I think it proves that for a small investment (e.g., a few eBay purchases here and a few good discount deals there) you can revive an older (worn down and noisy) system. This is my older Dell Dimension E520 from 2006, it had a super slow Core-Duo and passively cooled 256Mb GPU. I didn't think to test it prior to the upgrades but last night it scored 2067 on a performance test. It is vastly more responsive than it was prior to, although it still does have an occasional pause when loading certain programs, it is nothing as slow as it was prior to this round of upgrades.

Its upgrades include:

1. A refurb Dell E520 MOBO (I found a bent CPU pin that I tried to move back, but have another used board on the way just to be certain it does not cause any future concerns).
2. A Quad-Core QX6800 CPU, (which required that the BIOS has been updated to the most current version 2.4.0.)
3. G.Skill 4Gb 800Mhz. G.Skill Pi 8Gb 800Mhz. (Yes this works in Windows XP, only it shows 3Gb as being available.)
4. PNY 650GTX 2GB. (Found this for half price at Bestbuy online.)
5. Kentek 600w Dual Fan PSU. (Scored this for under $35.)
6. A new 120mm CPU fan and Silverstone filter (for BTX FF MOBO), two 80mm and one 92mm Noctua Redux (gray colored) PWM fans (will attempt to use the two 80mm on the rear vents to make case positive pressure and the 92mm to either blow on the GPU or as pull fan at the rear of the CPU tunnel). The three Noctua fans will be connected to a bay fan controller.
7. PNY Pro 240Gb SSD (Windows 7 Ultimate.)
8. WD RE 2Tb HDD (Windows XP Pro.)
9. All cables upgraded to a themed sleeve and SATAIII (even though this system is not SATAIII capable, figured it could not hurt any.)
10. I moved a LG 14x 3D Bluray, WD Green 2Tb HDD, Silverstone USB 3.0 card (providing two rear USB 3.0 ports) from my other PC to this one (I will be upgrading that system with a LG 16x (same model) and a new edition of the Silverstone USB 3.0 card.)

(Also to note this was prior equipped with a U.S. Robotics 10/100/1000 NIC and a Soundblaster X-Fi card)

I had originally attempted to move my Windows XP over to the SSD from an HDD, but failed every attempt, ultimately wasting my entire weekend, to which I then decided to enact plan-B (which is vastly better I think and am not certain why I did not go that round to begin with), entailing a dual OS using a boot program (EasyBCD). So now not only is this an entirely revamped system, it is two systems in one, providing the benefits of both 64-bit and 32-bit Windows. Joy!
Now onto finalizing my Liberty Raven build—once and for all.

(Sorry for the blurriness in several of the images, it appears my Canon digital camera is starting to fail.)

I have a Dell E520 similar to yours. I post at Overclocking.net in the LGA775 club forum. [email protected],8GB DDR2, Win7 64, 240GB SSD, GTX750Ti O/C. I also started an E520 thread, no replies yet but some info there. I'm running stock Delta PWM fan but either D9729 heatpipe cooler (bolt in), or slightly better T9303 that requires minor mod to shroud to clear heatpipe ends.$10-15 Ebay. I put copper heatsinks on every mosfet on the MB (2 packs Enzotech 4 pins will almost do it. Had to fab a couple more from 1/16'' copper stock. Ditto the NB and SB. got my voltage up from 1.45V. to 1.5V.+. All my results are based on lapped heatsinks and TX4 paste. Most of the heatsinks will have to be custom fitted to clear items close by. A spare motherboard, and an afternoon should do it. Don't forget to fit around the heatsink mountings. The overclock is accomplished with Throttlestop software intended to under clock laptops, control volts, and multiplier nad few other things. A warning about dual boot. I f you're really stressing your system and need to reboot into Safe Mode to recover, it won't be an option when the dual boot screen comes up.

I forgot to mention 1.4625V. for 3.45GHZ It crashes after about 45 minutes of 4X Prime 95, but runs 3X OK. Normal use no problems. I'm sticking with the BTX one fan cooling system. Delta GFB1212VHG 2 stage, twin motor counter rotating fan fits in the stock fan holder. I'm justt now figuring out how to power the 3.4A. fan.

That is really interesting, had no idea you could OC Dell rigs. I was originally considering a dual-slot GPU, but decided against it. This is now so much faster now than prior to the new upgrades anyways. At this time I am needing to keep the XP OS as well because it holds my CS3 suite.

I was checking out your rig, anymore photos available? http://www.overclock.net/t/952622/lga775-club/1130#post_24355599

Throttlestop works very well in XP, it loses some features, and Windows security asks permission before running it in Win7. My GPU was dual slot for about 5 minutes. Took the bracket off, cut it in 1/2 with tin snips, flattened it out and bolted it back on. Cut out the plastic shroud so the air could get out the side towards the exhaust vents. I just bought XP 64 to put on a 2nd SSD because it benches 1500 3Dmarks higher than Win7. BTW beautiful work, those fans look like orchids in there. The heatpipe cooler would finish what you've started with the cooling. The simplest OC is 3.2GHZ, no heatsinks needed and rock solid at 1.400V. If you don't have a G0 (SLACP) chip 3.45 could be pretty hard anyway.
If you have high GPU temps, a small expansion slot blower cleans the hot air out from behind the GPU.

Next time I have it open I'll take a photo of the heatsinks. But since you have a spare MB you can see what you're up against.

BTW my 3.45GHZ is with a used QX6800 from E bay and it's a very poor example, it runs 78*C on core 0, but 3 and 4 are running 69*C. I think it's had a hard life, so 3.45GHZ might be easier with a more pristine CPU. I'd like to see the Temperature spread on yours. Throttlestop is a nice program even if you don't OC. Lots of info. in real time, and task bar speed and temp. numbers. It was designed to extend battery life in laptops by underclocking them. The OC with X chips is a happy coincidence.

The temps. I gave are with it running prime 95, not normal use.

Since the air intake on your PSU is now on the side you could make a cover for all the spare wires at the top. It would make all your other work stand out more.
BTW heatsinking "might" not be necessary to duplicate my result. I reported it because I heatsinked my board while waiting for my CPU from China. Vcore was very close to what's needed without it. You're might be one heatpipe cooler away from having what I have.

I got a CPUZ validation at 3.72GHz today. I haven't really changed anything just haven't tried to run Prime95.

http://valid.x86.fr/l2j5p1 3.99Ghz on heatpipe cooler with "twin engine " fan, and better CPU, 3.72 is now my speed for daily use.

Just a small update concerning this build. My prior used QX6800 was having serious issues, shutting Windows down constantly, rebooting without detecting primary drive, no BSOD, etc. So I recently replaced it with another used QX6800 (that was after quickly checking if it would handle a Q9650, which it did not.)

Upon inspecting the case, the front 120mm filter was completely covered with lint (as it was completely hidden inside the CPU housing), which would very likely explain why the CPU crapped out. So I decided to flip all the fans so the rear double 80mm pull air in to the 92mm and 120mm fans, which then pull that air, pushing it out of the front; this way I can easily keep visual on the rear double 80mm mesh filters clean. I also replaced the front Noctua Redux 120mm with a NoiseBlocker Bionic Blade PWM which runs up to 2000 RPM and connected it to my Gelid fan controller. However, now I have to F1 on every reboot, would like to figure out how to mock a connection for the CPU fan to cease that issue.

Also, a while ago my XLR8 Pro SSD failed, I RMA it and PNY quickly sent me a replacement--although I just recently noticed it was their non-performance edition (I never actually took the time to read the box and did not need to use it, as I had already installed another PNY SSD I had), so I was totally ticked off by that.

Oh and the heat spreaders on each of my G.Skill Pi all sagged apart so I used electrical tape to press them back together.

I see your still working on your E520. I have the F1 issue also from moving my 3.4A. Delta fan off of the MB. I just use sleep mode instead of reboot. I posted a tutorial at Tomshardware "Overclocking Dell BTX Computers" you might like. I'm getting ready to install an R9-285 ITX GPU. I had to install an EVGA Supernove B2 750W PSU. It barely fit, I had to remove 1 DVD that was longer than the other to get it in. Sorry to hear about your QX6800 mines still going strong @ 3.72Ghz (I run 2,93Ghz for web browsing). For that C2Q you really should have the D9729 heatpipe cooler. That's what Dell used with the faster Pentium 4/D 130W CPUs. The cooler you're using is what came with my E6300 C2D.

So that cooler fits in the plastic housing then? I will go ahead and upgrade to that one then, thanks.

That looks like a sweet GPU. And I did not think you could use aftermarket PSU on Dell MOBOs? That is cool though, you made a wimpy E520 into a powerhouse.

Very detailed article: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2897377/overclocking-dell-btx-computers.html

R9-285 ITX is installed and running. 71.8 fps in Unigine Heaven 4.0. Usual Dell BIOS nonsense. GPU won't support Dells chosen BIOS resolution, so I cant go into SETUP. Not much useful in there anyway. But still I'm hoping for a fix.

I just installed the T9303, it seems to have reduced CPU temps by close to 10F (it just fits inside the housing, the tubes on top just touch the top and also align the wrong direction; I also purchased the housing for the T9303 but it does align correctly with the front 120mm fan housing).

Though, having issue still, all this week the computer will randomly reboot, after warming up, then will reboot over and over as Windows is attempting to load--no BSOD or anything, just like somebody pressing the reset button over and over and over, until I turn the PSU off. I read it is likely the PSU or some Windows virus, I am just hoping it is the former and not anything else, like the MOBO or GPU, I doubt is memory related, as that would surely throw a BSOD, or heat as that would also throw a thermal warning, and besides it does it even with the side cover off--although it never seems to do it while sitting in BIOS, even for prolonged periods of time, though I suspect there is little pull on the PSU while in BIOS either. So I was thinking of just upgrading to the PSU you are using, I have one LG Bluray player at the top bay, would that be in the way?

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOV...95&sr=8-1&keywords=evga+supernova+b2+750w+psu

D9729 is the cooler that fits directly. T9303 is the better cooler I use for massive O/C. You can cut the top off of the T9303 cover, cut out the E520 cover to clear the pipes, and glue the T9303 top on the old one (leave about 3/8" down each side). I did one like that, removed the cable hangers, filled the holes with Bondo and painted it. Looks much better then factory stuff. But D9729 is cheap and easy.
Take a look at all the capacitors on your MB to see if they're swollen or discolored on the top of the cans. There was a batch of bad caps back then and Dell got their share of them. Aftermarket PSUs fit, it should'nt be too hard to swap out the PSU for a test run.

It seems it was the PSU, I put back my old aftermarket one and everything has been fine for several hours now. So I ordered the SuperNOVA to replace the failed one.

ETA:

I checked the MOBO everything looked clean and shinny, nothing swollen. And the temps are still doing great, even after doing some video conversion and a system cleanup/virus scan (at a little cooler than room temperature.)

Justajohn at Tomshardware turned me on to this. Dell Precision T3400 workstation Supports QX9650 and Crossfore 2X2 slot wide GPUs.
he got 4.15GHz. and scores 7541 in 3Dmark Firestrike (I get 7004 with R9-285).
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/7686088/fs/7666510/fs/...
I found a refurb. at Newegg for $119 so I ordered it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883158408
I already have a second R9-285ITX, and a pair of QX9650s so this might get interesting. The X38 chipset is known to support 1600FSB unofficially. It remains to be seen if Dell MB will go there. But I intend to find out. It's the easiest pinmod I've ever seen. Electrical tape over 2 adjacent pins.
You might also like Rollback Rx Home. free software that resets your computer like System restore, only it will work even if Windows won't run. Another version is Rollback Reboot, which restores at every boot automatically. It's intended for public computers.

I would not have ordered that for $119. I think over a year ago I paid $100 for an i5 750, 4 GB of RAM, a motherboard, and a decent GPU as a combo from someone on this forum. From your deal that'd be bring my own... HDD / CD / optical / case and power. But still... quite a leap ahead. Check out craigslsit, there's always deals. (Good and Bad!)

I know people get them for free sometimes. I'm doing this more for the knowledge it can produce than to have the fastest computer. "You can't overclock a Dell"= false," BTX is no good"= false, "3 phase motherboards can't overclock"= false. The price of the Win7 64 preinstalled is a factor for me . $5.99 shipping for a 40# computer also was a consideration. My overclocked QX 6800 scores 5941 Physics in Firestrike between i5-3550, and i5-2550K at 3Dmark already . The QX9650 @ 4.15 is much faster than that. 6929 physics score = i5-6500 scores 6910 there. i5-750 comes in at 4410 on their chart. Q9650 scores 3720 there. So the O/C makes a huge difference. My E520 is at 58% ranking in Firestrike, scoring 7004 overall. It won't save my result because it doesn't like the latest AMD drivers. The O/C t3400 scores 7500 overall with Crossfire HD7850s.