2.6G Northwood in a Dell

[jlfirehawk]

I grabbed a Dell Dimension and threw a 2.6c Northwood in it for my son, I never noticed until tonight that it runs at 1.3G, doh. The motherboard is the factory Dell Dimension 2400 board, with a 845 chipset and it has the latest (as of 2005) bios on it. Is there anything I can do to get this thing running at the speed it should be. BTW this is for my 8 year old so he hasn't noticed it running slow or anything, I am just curious at this point that it doesnt work. The pc came with
F1534 PROCESSOR, 80532, 2.53, 512K, 533, SOCKET N, DECISION ONE
from the factory.

 

[o1die]

The board doesn't support the cpu. The "c" series northwood needs 200 fsb to run at 2600, and your board is running it at 100. You're lucky it works at the slower speed. It's tough to change boards in a Dell case. Many are proprietary, not standard atx or micro atx. Check pricewatch or ebay for any dell 865 chipset boards, and measure the dimensions carefully. It might be easier to change cases if you decide to change boards.

 

[jlfirehawk]

Nice catch didn't notice that little detail. I know all about the dell case issues, I have been building pc's for years I just didnt know the answer to what was going on. Guess I will sell this processor (assuming people still buy the northwoods, I know they were good overclockers) and put one in it that will work correctly. Anyone know what the fastest processor I can put in this machine?

 

[dexvx]

2.8Ghz at 533FSB
2.53 or 2.66 / 533FSB for a more cost effective approach.

 

[Stumps]

if you can find one you can get the 2.4, 2.6 and 2.8ghz in the 100(400)FSB IIRC they are Northwood A cpu's.

they are very rare but they do come up on Ebay occasionally.