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Dimension E520, DM061, upgrading and software overclocking
Hi all,
Several years ago we were donated my mums old e520 / pentium D machine. This was fine for general internet and for the children to use for their homework.
However, my youngest is now 13 and interested in pc gaming, I saw him playing team fortress 2 and he was enjoying it despite the appalling frame rate, so have set on a course of upgrades, mainly just for the fun of it to see what difference a few budget upgrades would make.
First I upgraded the bios to the latest version and put in a spare Core2duo 1.86 and went to 4gb ram. I then upgraded my own pc and put my old Core2duo 2.66 in and swapped the 128mb 7300 video card for a spare gt610 2Gb.
The most recent step was another cpu upgrade, I spotted a cheap, poorly described Qx6800 2.93. This is working fine and recognised in the bios and in windows, and while increased the benchmark scores wasn't the jump I was expecting.
Doing some reading around other e520 posts on this board I have read of people using throttlestop to increase the multiplier.
For some reason it won't work on mine, I can't do anything other than increase the voltage one step, nothing else will adjust up, it will only let me adjust the multiplier down. Are there different motherboard / chipsets which may be preventing an overclock? I have read of others using 3.5 or even 4ghz on this cpu with improved cooling setups.
novabench cpu scores have gone from 119 to 182 to 241 to 256 and overall score has jumped from 246 to 455, with the whole thing feeling noticeably snappier. 3Dmark06 went from 752 to 4186, Team fortress 2 runs like a dream and looks really nice, my boy is over the moon, and it's been fun experimenting with this old machine and has so far cost me a total of £18.
I would love to put a modern graphics card in which I could transfer to a new system later, but the space restrictions may mean this is as far as I go with it.
khmiller
8 Posts
0
August 25th, 2019 16:00
like you, i've fooled around w my mother-in-law's old E520 but never got a CPU past a Pentium 4 @3.60 to run. how did you get a core2duo to run on the DM061 motherboard? just curious. this was my experiment machine with my first W10 installation (limited to 32bits due to original 32bit WXP license).
thx, kyle
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
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47K Posts
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August 26th, 2019 06:00
There is no overclocking. This is LGA 775 WG864 ancient machine.
Pentium D 915 up to 960 is supported with current bios and Mini Tower.
Ubuntu 18.04.3 works fine on these models.
http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/ubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso
That means you can max the ram at 4 gigs and run windows 10.
Optiplex GX620 and E520 and Dimension 5200 are very similar.
Audio is OEM, Video is OEM and Legacy.
Not supported does not mean not working with windows 10.
Works fine once you have a key and use OEM system builder media to install. Region code may have to be set for DVD drive before F12 booting works. If it boots XP CD but does not seem to work with WIN10 DVD this is the issue. You can do Ubuntu and change region code or install XP for bios updates and changing Region code firmware on DVD Drive. Otherwise you may want to spend $30 on a newer drive that does not have issues.
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-32-350-238
Sigmatel STAC92XX C-Major HD Audio DriverMore details
Windows Vista 64-bit
DM061 2.4.0 System BIOSMore details
DM061 2.3.2 System BIOSMore details
DM061 2.2.1 System BIOSMore details
DM061 2.2.0 System BIOSMore details
DM061 2.1.2 System BIOSMore details
DM061 2.0.5 System BIOSMore details
DM061 2.0.4 System BIOSMore details
DM061 1.0.2 System BIOSMore details
This package provides the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility and is supported on Latitude, Optiplex and Precision models that are running the following Windows Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Windows 7.More details
Windows 7 64-bit
Windows Vista 64-bit
Windows XP
Windows Vista 32-bit
Windows XP x64
This package provides the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Pre-OS Install) Driver and is supported on Latitude, OptiPlex and Precision that are running the following Windows Operating Systems: XP, Vista (32-bit) and Windows 7 (32-bit).More details
Windows Vista 32-bit
Windows XP
This package provides the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Pre-OS Install) Driver and is supported on OptiPlex, Precision and Latitude models that are running the following Windows Operating Systems: XP (64-bit), Vista (64-bit) and Windows 7 (64-bit).More details
Windows XP x64
Windows 7 64-bit
This package provides the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver and is supported on Latitude E6510, Precision T5500/T3500 and OptiPlex 960/XE that are running the following Windows Operating Systems: XP, Vista and Windows 7.More details
Windows 7 64-bit
Windows XP x64
Windows Vista 32-bit
Windows Vista 64-bit
Windows 7 32-bit
This package provides the AMD ATI 256MB Radeon X850 XT 256MB Platinum Edition/ X300 SE/X600 SE 128MB Hypermemory PCI-Express X16 (DVI/VGA/TV out) / X600 256MB Hypermemory/ X1900XTX 512MB/X1300 Pro 256MB Graphics Driver and is supported on OptiPlex, XPS Desktop, Inspiron Desktop, Precision, Vostro Desktop and Dimension models that are running the following Windows Operating System: Vista.More details
This package provides the AMD ATI Radeon x1300/AMD ATI X1300 Pro/Radeon X1900XTX 512MB/AMD ATI X1300 Pro/X1300 Pro 256MB Graphics Driver and is supported on OptiPlex, XPS Desktop, Inspiron Desktop, Precision and Dimension models that are running the following Windows Operating System: VISTA (64 -bit).More details
8.332 32bit WHQL Vista driver.More details
64 bit Vista graphics driver for Intel G965 and Q965 controllersMore details
32 bit Vista graphics driver for Intel G965 and Q965 controllersMore details
Intitial release Vista WHQL logoed driver.More details
Initial release Vista 32bit driverMore details
Vista 64 bit graphics driver for Intel Q965/G965 graphics controller.More details
Vista 32 bit graphics driver for Intel Q965/G965 graphics controller.More details
savvy2
2.5K Posts
0
August 26th, 2019 06:00
RETIRE THIS Relic. 13 years old, is too old, CORE(tm) i3 ,i5, i7 sure but this Pentium NO.
move from year 2006 and try to get Gen4 CPU, CORE) at least.
buy used Dell ,spend $50 (or is that Euro's) , retire it, ok>? it has no purpose now.
nor can it you overclock it, and tell me why would you abuse any PC doing so , unless rich and PCs are toys.
Gaming what does that mean, no example stated.
playin HEARTS or $60 AAA+ top games on say STEAM? I call that DC to daylight different.
there is no upgrade path to any old PC to run AAA games, unless played in black and white and no textures?
cpu's
these are PIG PCs' avoid them if you can.
Thehazster
2 Posts
1
August 26th, 2019 07:00
I downloaded the latest bios off the dell website which was very easy to install with a nice easy windows based program.
From then on the core2duo processors worked fine. After some fiddling around I got throttlestop to work with the x6800.
I eventually fitted a Radeon 6670 and the machine was excellent at older games. It turned roblox from a stop motion stuttery mess to smooth and playable, was really nice on team fortress 2, and would even play fortnite to a certain degree with some very low settings.
I would not suggest anyone go out and buy one, but I had fun tinkering around with it and I'm sure others would too.
pieda
1 Message
0
March 25th, 2020 14:00
@speedstep why do you say max the ram at 4 gigs? it's 64-bit capable if you didn't know
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
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47K Posts
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March 25th, 2020 15:00
Capable and being able to get 2 gig DDR2 ram modules is something else entirely,
They haven't made them in a while and crucial no longer carries them.
You would be better off getting a newer model than upgrading with obsolete ram.
I did find this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VO4M8TC/
But I don't know that it works unlike the crucial ram which is guaranteed to work fine.
The other issue is that Pentium D 900 series is REQUIRED for 64 bit windows 8.1 or 10.
So having 8 gigs is not going to work if the OS is 32 bit.
wavvy01
3 Posts
0
June 14th, 2022 16:00
Actually, the E520 supports up to 8GB of RAM and can take some 1066 FSB Core 2 Quads. It’s nearly equivalent to the Optiplex 745. The Dimension E510/5150 would be the equivalent to the Optiplex GX620.
khmiller
8 Posts
0
February 27th, 2023 21:00
errrr....... i was fooling around w a dimension 4700, not my E520. so never mind .....