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Dell 4550 533MHz Bus, Dell's Bios Sucks.

G

Garstud

Member
I bought a Dell 4550, 2.4GHz with a 533MHz Bus, I believe the chipset is a intel 845PE. I normally build my own computers and was shocked to see Dell's limited options in the Bios.

Does anyone know if any non-dell bios will work on this board? I would like to at least do some memory timing tweaks? Thank you.

-Gary
 
Dell's Bios Sucks
Click to expand...
Tough way to learn this...by succumbing to,
"gotta get a Dell, Dood".

Sorry, I know of no answer to your ?(s) as the shop I used to work in refused to allow any repair or work on Dells. We only replaced 'em.
 
Thanks Ridefree, hopefully someone will know. It would be nice to find a utility that would check my motherboard and give me a list of compatible bios's.

Anyone else?

-Gary
 
The only other bios's that might work with your Dell's motherboard is a Intel bios and even if that worked you still wouldn't have overclocking options or memory tweaks.
 
Thanks for the reply Diable,

Any idea on finding the intel bios that would work? It has to be better than the one from dell. I could give up a bit of stability for better performance.

-Gary
 
I wouldn't mess with it. Dell has MANY proprietary secrets to force users into "Dell only" upgrades and repair. You might just "flash" yourself out of your warranty.

I got the same 4550 and scooped the P4 2.4 that came with it. I replaced it with a 478 pin Celeron 1.7 (400FSB) from newegg - it booted right up and is quiet and reliable. I just wanted the P4 chip and the upgraded LCD for $70. The rest of the parts were pretty close to free!😎
 
You might just "flash" yourself out of your warranty.


OH NO, then, when something goes bad, you couldn't spend 2 hours on he phone, only to get disconnected 😉
 
Dell 4550 with the 2.4 processor works fine and is fast just the way it is. The bios doesn't suck just because you bought a computer without checking it out first.

If you want to play with memory timings you need to get a motherboard designed to do it, but even if you do that's all you will really be doing, is playing. Except for minimal changes in benchmark scores you won't be improving anything.


 
Dell 4550 with the 2.4 processor works fine and is fast just the way it is.
Click to expand...

Yes...I am sure that Dell has worked their BIOS for the best balance of stability and performance possible.

The bios doesn't suck just because you bought a computer without checking it out first.
Click to expand...

Best reason NOT to buy proprietary.

Except for minimal changes in benchmark scores you won't be improving anything.
Click to expand...

Not to mention possibly loosing stability and deffinately loosing your warranty.. You want a play box, build one. You want a reliable, fast machine w/warranty and support, keep the Dell and don't mess with it.
 
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