Finished: My Dell Dimension 4600 Rebuild project, Pictures

[xthekidx]

I don't think in my Dell case there is good airflow, I'll probably have to mod it and stick a fan off the side. Anyways do you think this case will fit ATX motherboards? How is overclocking on m-ATX boards? I see that you've ran two instances of Prime95, is it not optimized for dual/triple/quad cores?

I stuck another fan under the front cover of the Dell to increase airflow, it normally only comes with one rear exhaust fan. With that extra fan in the front it ran pretty well and didn't get too hot at all. Got up to 64C once on a pretty hot day while I was running Prime95, which is a very managable temp and would have some longevity for the chip.

I couldn't find anything on Dell B1100...is that the same thing as a Dell Dimension 1100? If it is, it looks like it uses the exact same case that the Dimension 4600 uses, and no, it will not fit a full sized ATX board in it, you will have to use mATX. Overclocking can be good on mATX boards, it just depends on which one you get. The DFI LP Jr P45 board is supposed to have excellent OC'ing. The SBM this month used a ASRock G41 MB that oc'd to 4ghz with an E5200. The particular board I got wasn't particularly impressive, but it overclocked alright, as long as the IGP was disabled. If you were to get a Phenom II processor, Biostar makes a mATX 790GX board which overclocks well, as does DFI.

Prime95 only ran 2 threads in my build because I used a dual core CPU, but if I used an i7 then it would have run 8 threads if HT was enabled. Prime95 only runs as many test cores as your CPU has.

 

[Shadow703793]

@OP: Are you using the Dell OEM XP copy or not? Usually the Dell OEM copy don't let you activate on non Dell hardware.

 

[xthekidx]

@OP: Are you using the Dell OEM XP copy or not? Usually the Dell OEM copy don't let you activate on non Dell hardware.

Yep I used the Dell OEM license, don't ask me how. I just tried reactivating over the phone and the tech just activated the copy, without asking for a license or product key. I didn't complain. I figured when I tried it that it was worth a shot, worse they would tell me was sorry it couldn't be done. Apparently it can be, although I was under the impression that those licenses couldn't transfer either.

 

[Shadow703793]

I was under the impression that those licenses couldn't transfer either.

Same here, hence why I asked. Guess some people are lucky 😉.

 

[AKM880]

I stuck another fan under the front cover of the Dell to increase airflow, it normally only comes with one rear exhaust fan. With that extra fan in the front it ran pretty well and didn't get too hot at all. Got up to 64C once on a pretty hot day while I was running Prime95, which is a very managable temp and would have some longevity for the chip.

I couldn't find anything on Dell B1100...is that the same thing as a Dell Dimension 1100? If it is, it looks like it uses the exact same case that the Dimension 4600 uses, and no, it will not fit a full sized ATX board in it, you will have to use mATX. Overclocking can be good on mATX boards, it just depends on which one you get. The DFI LP Jr P45 board is supposed to have excellent OC'ing. The SBM this month used a ASRock G41 MB that oc'd to 4ghz with an E5200. The particular board I got wasn't particularly impressive, but it overclocked alright, as long as the IGP was disabled. If you were to get a Phenom II processor, Biostar makes a mATX 790GX board which overclocks well, as does DFI.

Prime95 only ran 2 threads in my build because I used a dual core CPU, but if I used an i7 then it would have run 8 threads if HT was enabled. Prime95 only runs as many test cores as your CPU has.

Thanks for the reply, yes it is the 1100 desktop with a m-ATX motherboard. Yeah I only need something like a Celeron Dual Core for this build since its like a web browsing, video sufing build. How far do you think a chip like the E2200 will go? I also heard a stress test program called OCCT has support for multicore CPUs. But however I still think that Prime95 is the best all around stress test.

 

[xthekidx]

The E5200 is $3 more at newegg...why wouldn't you just get that? I have no idea how well an E2200 can OC, but I know that the E5200 can OC like crazy.

 

[AKM880]

Haha, sweet. But I can't order online anyways. Looks like the local retailer carries the E1400 and the E5200. Theres a $27 diff. CAD between the two. Which one would you get?

 

[xthekidx]

E5200. Its newer, overclocks better, and uses less energy because its the 45nm wolfdale core instead of the 65nm allendale core. It also has 4x the L2 cache, which makes a considerable difference IMO.

 

[Shadow703793]

E5200 vs E2xxx, E5200 can OC MUCH better with less voltage. You can easily get 3.2-3.6Ghz on the E5200 with a good board.

 

[AKM880]

Thanks, I'll probably don't even need to overclock for what my computer is used for, but I have a question. If I O/C it to 3-3.2GHz can it be comparable to a Core 2 Duo at same speeds or no because of the architechure and technology?

 

[joefriday]

Nice, did you overclock the Sempron CPU too? Or is it enough for your home theater needs?

It's very mildly overclocked to 2.0GHz (originally 1.9GHz). That's more because of the ability to run the ram at rated speed than the 100MHz increase in speed. It also makes 4x multiplier just a bit more effective, as now the base clock speed is 850MHz. Surprising what 50MHz can do when the cpu is running that slow already. My HTPC is SD only, so the Sempron rig works well. The capture cards are hardware encoders, so the CPU is not important for encoding. It's really only used during playback of video and when watching DVDs, the majority of which can be performed even when the CPU is at base 850MHz speeds. Works well.

That HP case looks like it would a pain to work with. Can't fit a good CPU cooler in there either with the placement of the PSU...I think The Dell case that I used is much easier. I actually found it to be fairly roomy for an mATX case and was quite pleased with it.

Ah....no sense of adventure. It is a smaller case though, about 2 inches shorter and 4 inches smaller in depth. Besides, CPU choice is the biggest factor in CPU cooler needs. The E5200 you chose would work well in a case like that, do to it very low power consumption. I agree with the roominess of the 4600 style case. It's pretty much your basic form factor mATX case, with pretty good cooling characteristics.

 

[AKM880]

Yeah I can't wait for my parts to come in....:lol:

 

[xthekidx]

Thanks, I'll probably don't even need to overclock for what my computer is used for, but I have a question. If I O/C it to 3-3.2GHz can it be comparable to a Core 2 Duo at same speeds or no because of the architechure and technology?

Well its a crippled core 2 duo, since it only has 2mb L2 cache instead of 4 or 6, but it will otherwise be very similar in performance.

 

[sahil]

wow really cool... and nice OC, i hope you can make a good buck or two on it!!

 

[xthekidx]

$500 on craigslist. Enough to fund my next project. I probably could have gotten more for it, people seemed pretty interested, but I wanted to move it so I could get the money for my next build. I just kinda do it for fun, and the profit I make will just allow for me to build a slightly better build the next time I do it. Its much more fun to build higher end PC's than the budget ones, so hopefully I can work my way up to building some nice systems.

 

[AKM880]

Well I'm deciding to go with a G31 chipset board :lol:, since my budget is fairly small. The local retailer carries two major brands MSI and Asus which one would you pick?

 

[xthekidx]

Asus I think. If its the P5KL board that one is supposed to be pretty good.

 

[rewindlabs]

Wow Kid!

Thanks for the inspiration....i may just end up selling my secondary gaming rig i pieced together for 30$...might make a little profit 😀

 

[Shadow703793]

Thanks, I'll probably don't even need to overclock for what my computer is used for, but I have a question. If I O/C it to 3-3.2GHz can it be comparable to a Core 2 Duo at same speeds or no because of the architechure and technology?

A E2180 OCed to 3.2Ghz is the same performance as a E8400 in 90-95% of the benchmarks.

 

[xthekidx]

A E2180 OCed to 3.2Ghz is the same performance as a E8400 in 90-95% of the benchmarks.

Yeah you can kinda make up for the fact that the older chips don't have much cache by pushing them to slightly higher clock speeds, although sometimes that extra cache can't really be replaced.

 

[AKM880]

Thanks Shadow, sounds like a good idea but I'm thinking I'll go with a E5200. How's the overclocking capability on G31 motherboards?

 

[xthekidx]

Thanks Shadow, sounds like a good idea but I'm thinking I'll go with a E5200. How's the overclocking capability on G31 motherboards?

Not great, but you should be able to achieve something decent, it should be enough for what you need it sounds like. I think that the E5200 will probably top out at FSB 1350 or so though, its not known for having a high FSB. But with a 12.5 multiplier you should be able to get up there pretty high.

 

[AKM880]

Sorry for the questions (noob) :lol:, but does O/Cing overclock the RAM too? And is it as simple as just raising the FSB? (because the multi is locked)

 

[AKM880]

^ Might seem a bit awkward since in my sig, my CPU is O/Ced but that is with software so......I dunno about doing it in the BIOS 😛

 

[xthekidx]

Yeah to overclock a Locked multiplier CPU you have to change the FSB. The ram speed is also determined by the FSBxRam multiplier, however most ram multipliers go down to a 2x multiplier, so you don't have to overclock the ram if you don't want to since you can just select a lower multiplier to adjust for the higher FSB. Typically though, you will end up with overclocked ram as well since it usually doesn't work out so nicely that you end up with a 400FSB, and DDR2-800...usually its like DDR2 883 or something like that.