overclocking on a locked dell bios

[cronus.jitter]

so i did a motherboard swap a little while ago and now i want to overclock the i7 930 that im currently using as its showing its age. as of right now the cpu is sitting at a clock of 2.8ghz on all 4 cores and turbos to 3.1 and i was wondering if anyone knows a way i can overclock as i have proper cooling and power

specs:
i7 930
some dell motherboard
24gbs ddr3 1600mhz
msi radeon r9 290 4gb
evga 600b psu

 

[Peter Martin]

you are going to need a mobo that allows it, no?

 

[william p]

The trick is to find an unlocked CPU that runs on that MB. Since that's a 130W LGA1366 CPU that shouldn't be too hard.
The overclock can be done in Windows using Throttlestop software. There's a link in my sig. to an old Dimension E520 I did this to.
http://valid.x86.fr/bg4n0r
Here's a thread where LGA1366 Dell overclocks are popular.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-overclocking-desktop-pcs.235975/
But your either going to need an unlocked MB, or an unlocked CPU.
You could try playing with SetFSB. You will need to determine your MB PLL chip# and results are often very limited, due to Lack of Voltage control and changing RAM timings.

 

[cronus.jitter]

The trick is to find an unlocked CPU that runs on that MB. Since that's a 130W LGA1366 CPU that shouldn't be too hard.
The overclock can be done in Windows using Throttlestop software. There's a link in my sig. to an old Dimension E520 I did this to.
http://valid.x86.fr/bg4n0r
Here's a thread where LGA1366 Dell overclocks are popular.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-overclocking-desktop-pcs.235975/
But your either going to need an unlocked MB, or an unlocked CPU.
You could try playing with SetFSB. You will need to determine your MB PLL chip# and results are often very limited, due to Lack of Voltage control and changing RAM timings.

sadly it did not work but the i7 970 is overclockable i just need to see if there is a way to unlock the bios by using a jumper or something because i could turn down the clocks and stuff but i couldnt turn them up

 

[william p]

With an unlocked CPU you can turn them up.
You might try BIOSMODS.com maybe they have something. But usually for Dells they don't.
https://www.bios-mods.com/

 

[unclewebb]

Keep your eyes open for a Xeon W3680. These socket 1366 CPUs will drop right in. 6 cores, 12 threads and an unlocked multiplier so you can use software to overclock them on any motherboard. Here is a pic from my Dell Precision T3500.

The turbo power limits are also fully adjustable on these CPUs. The Xeons are almost identical to the Core i7-980X or i7-990X but can usually be found much cheaper. For many tasks, they are still very competitive.

The Core i7-930 is not overclockable on your Dell motherboard.

 

[cronus.jitter]

the i7 930 is not overclockable as ive senn in the bios as when i used the debug settings on the bios i could only downclock so now its time to get a new cpu i was either thinking of upgrading to a 8086k or going for a i7 990x

 

[unclewebb]

The Core i7-990X is a waste of money. On your Dell motherboard, an overclocked W3680 and an overclocked Core i7-990X will max out at the exact same speed. Under the microscope, they are probably identical. Your Dell motherboard does not allow CPU voltage adjustment so there is only so much overclocking you can do.

The 8086K is a completely different animal. If you have money to burn and can afford a new motherboard and some new DDR4 memory then have at it and stop messing with this old stuff.