Overclocking a C2Q Q9550 - It's possible!

[Seudral]

This is just to show people its possible to overclock a Q9550 on a locked Motherboard/Bios. Managed to get from stock 2.83Ghz speed to 3.4Ghz with just a tiny piece of tape!
Picture: https://ibb.co/i09pSb
Proof: https://ibb.co/hadoLw
The trick was just to put the tape on the 2nd and 3rd pin under the clip.
Hope it helps someone

I used a 0g254h motherboard which came with the PC. Sorry for no pictures of the tape placement, I didn't take any while doing it :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyaz-ZrF3j0 <---- Good video to show you where to place the tape

 

[Math Geek]

this is a well known trick.

perhaps some more details like mobo model and some pics of the mod would help someone else down the line do this themselves.

 

[King_V]

So, does this allow for increasing the multiplier? Or does it require an FSB increase?

 

[william p]

It requires a motherboard that supports 400fsb. It tricks the MB into thinking there's 400fsb CPU there. Does it run a stress test without a Voltage increase? That's the catch, if you need more Voltage then it's not so simple.
That's a Dell XPS 430 MB. It was high performance from the start. The X48 chipset is why it worked. X38 also has hidden 400 FSB support. it also supports 130W Core2Extreme CPUs like the QX9650. But still a nice result for a $25 CPU on an old BTX board.
You might like this.iI added your result as an example.
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2897377/overclocking-dell-btx-computers.html
Or the link in my sig. (click the image when you get there).

 

[Math Geek]

i have an xps 420 that i did this too as well with a q6600. get's that one to 3 ghz and has run fine for a few years like that.

and thanks for editing and adding some pics.

i've long ago lost the link i followed but the video you provided is plenty good enough for others to follow.

 

[william p]

The XPS 420 supports QX9650. You could be starting at 3GHz. The X38 had hidden support for 400FSB. I don't know if Dell bothered to lock it out since 400FSB CPUs didn't exist yet. The pinmod could get you to 3.6GHz base, and the similar Dell T3400 runs QX9650 at 4.15GHz for a userbenchmark score of 57% CPU.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/3530803
This was by Justajohn who posts here sometimes, using the Throttlestop overclock method.
The 3GHZ Q6600 scores just behind the $25 Q9550 CPU so is somewhat obsolete now. It would even go 3.6GHz with a Q9650 chip. TS only raises Voltage with unlocked CPUs though.

 

[Math Geek]

the pc was given to me and the kids use it. it came with the q6600 and that's all it's gonna get. would never be worth changing to a q9650 or anything else. still a pretty capable system with an r9-270 thrown in. kids ain't complaining anyway

was just noting that that's the cpu i did the little pin trick with, not that anyone should go out and get one!!