Swapping PentD CPUs in my old Dell

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
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My old desktop is a Dell 5150 with a 2.66MHz Smithfield Pent D (805 SL8ZH,) I'm trying to get a little more speed out of the old girl and bought a 3.0GHz (830 SL8CN) off eBay... but it doesn't seem to like it.

805: 2.66/2M/533

830: 3.0/2M/800

The big difference is the bus speed... 533 vs 800, and I'm wondering if that isn't a problem... It won't even power up, just flashes the amber power light at me.

I checked with CPU-World and they say some boards can handle the 800 bus speed, some can't; I just want to make sure I didn't get a bad chip. Anyone have experience with these Dells and swapping chips?
 

borisvodofsky

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2010
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My old desktop is a Dell 5150 with a 2.66MHz Smithfield Pent D (805 SL8ZH,) I'm trying to get a little more speed out of the old girl and bought a 3.0GHz (830 SL8CN) off eBay... but it doesn't seem to like it.

805: 2.66/2M/533

830: 3.0/2M/800

The big difference is the bus speed... 533 vs 800, and I'm wondering if that isn't a problem... It won't even power up, just flashes the amber power light at me.

I checked with CPU-World and they say some boards can handle the 800 bus speed, some can't; I just want to make sure I didn't get a bad chip. Anyone have experience with these Dells and swapping chips?

pentium d?

ahh... whew.. this is a tough one, put in the old chip, and check for bios updates for the motherboard.

That's really all you can do.

When you put the new chip in, make sure you clear the Cmos before you put it in.

And don't do the half ass clear cmos.

unplug power, remove battery, wait 3 minutes^_^

If this is one of those boards, where the Cmos doesn't clear , then try setting some settings for compatibility before hand with the old cpu plugged in.

You've bought $20 worth of trouble LOLOL..
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
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Hmmm... I have the current board BIOS, I didn't think about clearing the CMOS...
 

pantsaregood

Senior member
Feb 13, 2011
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That's odd. LGA 775 boards should all be compatible with 800 MHz FSB CPUs, considering they were designed for that. Clear your CMOS and make sure you aren't getting any beeping from your motherboard.
 

nonameo

Diamond Member
Mar 13, 2006
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CPUs rarely just die a natural death. I'd lay my bets with motherboard CPU support. a BIOS update might help that, but if it doesn't help there's not much you can do. Well, you could try doing a reverse bsel mod(I think you should be able to do this? theoretically?) but that won't help you much as you'll probably end up with a lower clock speed than your old CPU.
 

borisvodofsky

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2010
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CPUs rarely just die a natural death. I'd lay my bets with motherboard CPU support. a BIOS update might help that, but if it doesn't help there's not much you can do. Well, you could try doing a reverse bsel mod(I think you should be able to do this? theoretically?) but that won't help you much as you'll probably end up with a lower clock speed than your old CPU.

No, do not do this, I was young and rash once, one of the worst trips ever of all my years in the hobby. o_O
 

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
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CPUs rarely just die a natural death. I'd lay my bets with motherboard CPU support. a BIOS update might help that, but if it doesn't help there's not much you can do. Well, you could try doing a reverse bsel mod(I think you should be able to do this? theoretically?) but that won't help you much as you'll probably end up with a lower clock speed than your old CPU.

This would not help. Dropping the 830 to 533 bus would result in a clock speed of 1995mhz. Worse than where he was.

In theory it would be possible, but since the points are bridged internally, it likely would require cutting. Which will end really well I'm sure.
 

kongqueror

Junior Member
May 11, 2012
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My old desktop is a Dell 5150 with a 2.66MHz Smithfield Pent D (805 SL8ZH,) I'm trying to get a little more speed out of the old girl and bought a 3.0GHz (830 SL8CN) off eBay... but it doesn't seem to like it.

805: 2.66/2M/533

830: 3.0/2M/800

The big difference is the bus speed... 533 vs 800, and I'm wondering if that isn't a problem... It won't even power up, just flashes the amber power light at me.

I checked with CPU-World and they say some boards can handle the 800 bus speed, some can't; I just want to make sure I didn't get a bad chip. Anyone have experience with these Dells and swapping chips?

Hmmm... does the mobo support overclocking? I have a Pentium D 805 @ 3.8GHz on an Asus P5LD2 mobo. FSB is 190 (default is 133).
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
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Hmmm... does the mobo support overclocking? I have a Pentium D 805 @ 3.8GHz on an Asus P5LD2 mobo. FSB is 190 (default is 133).

No, not at all... it's the Dell mobo.

This would not help. Dropping the 830 to 533 bus would result in a clock speed of 1995mhz. Worse than where he was.

In theory it would be possible, but since the points are bridged internally, it likely would require cutting. Which will end really well I'm sure.

No, I'm not going there, either. All I want is a drop-in upgrade for a tired old computer, no mods.

I'll reset the CMOS and remount it again... if it works, great! If not, well, it's just a backup for the backup... ^_^
 

sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
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Even if the upgrade did work, you would barely even notice the difference in speed. A used raptor HDD would make a better upgrade.
 

Denithor

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Apr 11, 2004
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Find the motherboard model/revision (cpu-z if not marked on the board), search for a cpu support list. You may find it only supports 533mhz fsb cpus.
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
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Find the motherboard model/revision (cpu-z if not marked on the board), search for a cpu support list. You may find it only supports 533mhz fsb cpus.

I actually researched this a bit on CPU-world before I bought it, based on the board specs it was supposed to be able to handle a 800MHz FSB CPU.

Even if the upgrade did work, you would barely even notice the difference in speed. A used raptor HDD would make a better upgrade.

Probably true... even to my fine-tuned speed-sensitive eyes... ;) I bought a couple of used 80GB HDD's from FS/FT so I'm pretty much stuck with those (one went into another build and I have 2 for this Dell... one as the primary drive and one to experiment with different OS's.) I thought about putting my old 60GB OCZ SSD in it when I replace it in my main build, but decided it should go into my HTPC build (or spend the paltry $50 MC is asking for a NIB Agility3 60GB and put one in both...)
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
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Dell Dimension 5150s have an Intel 945G chipset. Your issue isn't the bus speed, it's that the board won't support CPUs with a 130W TDP.

Well... I guess that settles that. o_O

The only step up would be to a 820... .2GHz faster, and that's a 'why bother.'
 

IGemini

Platinum Member
Nov 5, 2010
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I'm finding that some 5150s have been able to install a Presler CPU, up to a P-D 945. Might need to research your specific board model and if it'll support Presler.
 

skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
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Well... I guess that settles that. o_O

The only step up would be to a 820... .2GHz faster, and that's a 'why bother.'

My friends computer which used to be mine had a pentium 820,its not a terrible processor at all,you still will get 800fsb and a extra 200mhz of headroom,finding one for maybe $20 used couldn't kill.

Personally i would wanna stick with a 95w tdp pentium d anyways,they put off enough heat as it is to even consider a 130w tdp chip.
 

nonameo

Diamond Member
Mar 13, 2006
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hrm, well what about a 900 series pentium D? those are 65nm and should get you more Hz for your watt.