Pin Modding and Overclocking a Pentium M Guide

Pin modding an Intel Pentium-M to overclock performanceisn't a new thing, but with current Core 2 Duo chips drivingfirst generation Pentium M Dothan pricing down, you can upgrade your 2-year old Pentium M notebook for only a few dollars.

Step 1: Pretend to know what you are doing

This pin modification ("pin mod") allows you to overclock a Dothan CPU to being 33% faster than its normal speed. This modworkson Pentium M 715, 725, 735, 745, 755 and 765 processors (1.5GHz, 1.6GHz, 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz, 2.0GHz, 2.1GHz respectively when not overclocked). Opening and overclocking a notebook is a risky procedure, especially if you have NO past experience, so it would be a wise choice to do it on a used old notebook -- even better if it'ssomebody else's, such as a friend's.

When asked by your friend how pin modding works mumble something about grounding the BSEL[0] pin, thus "tricking" the CPU Front Side Busto run at 133MHz instead of 100MHz, since its multiplier stays the same it will overclock by 33% turning a 1.6Ghz CPU (16 X 100Mhz) into a 2.13Ghz CPU (16 X 133Mhz).If they keep asking more annoying questions to see if you know what you're doing, just tell them it's magic.

Step 2 : What you need

Whether a friend'snotebookor yours, Pentium M Dothan pin modding is possible only with "SONOMA" notebooks. That is, any notebook with the Intel 915 chipset and running at 533Mhz (4 X 133MHz). The Dell Inspiron 9300 used in the making of this tutorial is an example of a notebook with the Intel Sonomachipset. If you don't know whatPentium M processor and chipset your notebook has, check with CPU-Zto findthe motherboard clock speed. Chances are that the Sonoma notebook youhave on handis already out of warranty and about to croak any second now -- well not really but it will make you feel better thinking that when you damage it during this process.

In addition, you'll need to get your hands on a Pentium-M Dothan rated at 400Mhz FSB. This mod will not work on 533Mhz Dothan processors since they are already working at 133Mhz. The required CPU must also have 2MB Cache size and can be identified by the 7x5 model number scheme. Recommended picks are the lower end 1.5Ghzand 1.6Ghz (Pentium M 715 or 725) Dothans, those can be easily found usedon eBay for 30$-50$.

A new Intel Pentium M 725 1.6GHz Dothan processor that will serve as the processor to be pin modded (view large image)

Below is a table of processors that can be modded and the speed that can potentially be achieved by doing a pin mod:

	Core speed	Overclocked
Dothan 715 2MB 400FSB	1.5Ghz	2.0Ghz
Dothan 725 2MB 400FSB	1.6Ghz	2.13Ghz
Dothan 735 2MB 400FSB	1.7Ghz	2.26Ghz
Dothan 745 2MB 400FSB	1.8Ghz	2.4Ghz
Dothan 755 2MB 400FSB	2.0Ghz	2.66Ghz

This might be a good time to remark there is no 100% success guarantee, even if you try to overclock a low end CPU, as you go up the speed scale of processors to the 2.0GHz chipthe chances of sucessfully pin modding and overclocking by 33% gets slimmer. The 1.7GHz andfaster CPUs are most likely to fail with or without an increase to the Vcore, making the machine very hot, unstable or both. Furthermore, you might damage the CPU and/or the notebook by modding. By following this article you are hereby take full responsibility for the consequences. Sign here -- here -- and on the dotted line here.

For the pin modding itself you'll use a very short and thin strand of copper wire, you can get this by cutting a piece of any TV antenna cable --just make sure it's the neighbors cable and not yours.

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You'll also need a thermal paste such as Artic Silver 5, unfortunately you can't scrounge that out of the garbage and will have to buy it for $3 or so.

Step 3: Take out the old CPU

Some notebooks allow instant direct access to the CPU via a plate cover on the bottom. But you will have to dismantle it piece by piece until you get to the heatsink that covers the processor. Once you remove the heatsink, turn the screw to unlock the CPU from the socket. Carefully remove the CPU and put it aside with the rest of the parts in a sturdy box --that way it will be simple to send them later along with the notebook to the nearest authorized repair center.

Step 4 : Connect the pins

Cut outfrom the antenna cable a strand of thin copper wire about 0.5cm long -- throw away the rest of the 5 foot cable you cut earlier (what a waste). Don't make this small piece of coppertoo long as you only want to connect the pinsnot to shorten the circuit below the socket holes. If you think you'll have a hard time cutting such a tiny wire without dropping it, waituntil you try to form a U shape wire out of it.

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Take the U-shaped wire you prepared and use it to connect the 15th & 16th holes from the leftin the 3rd row of holes. Be persistent trying to do this,you'll manage it eventuallyon the 4th piece ofwire you've cut after droppingthe first two on the carpet and accidentally inhaling the 3rd.

Step 5 : Replace the CPU and apply AS5

Double check the wire is in the right place and then seat the 400Mhz Dothan in the socket, and secure it in place using the Zif-lock. Carefully clean the core surface of any old thermal paste residue and fingerprints using pure isopropyl alcohol, even the thinnest oil layer will reduce the effectiveness of heat transfer from the core to the heat sink resulting in overheating of the CPU.

Processor before Arctic Silver 5 is applied (view large image)

Apply Arctic Silver 5 on the core according to the Arctic Silver 5 instructions page, some claim a thick layer is better as well as another layer on the heat sink, however Arctic Silver instructions specify otherwise, explaining you should have as littlepaste as possiblebetween the CPU and heat sink. So put ononly a small amount, about half the size of a rice grain, and spread it using a new clean razor blade until you have only a thin layer. Clean excess AS5 residue and bandage your finger you cut with the razor blade (try and make sure no blood gets on the processor).

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Processor after applying Artic Silver 5 (http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/16908.jpgview large image)

Using pure isopropyl alcohol to clean the heat sink itselfof anyold thermal paste residue before you mount it back over the CPU.

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Bottom of the Heat sink -- use isopropyl alcohol to clean off old thermal paste residue before placing back over the processor

Heat Sink back in place over the pin modded processor (http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/16914.jpgview large image)

Step 6 : First boot

After completely reassembling your notebook, press the power button and pray for the thing to work, if it doesn't, curse yourself for tightening all those screws you now have to unscrew again --next time reassemble the notebook "loosely" for preliminary checkups. Should the notebook actually boot up enter the BIOS and look for the processor info, if you didthings right it should say the overclocked speed as the "Current Clock Speed". As you can see in the screenshot,our Pentium M725 1.6 GHz processor reads as2.13Ghz -- you're right, I don't believe it worked either.

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Step 7 : Temperature check

Continue to load XP, and check if the CPU temperature is within the reasonable range.With the fresh coat of Artic Silver 5 you applied, the new CPU shouldn't be hotter then the old one. You can check and keep a constant watch overthe CPU temperatureusing programs like http://www.almico.com/speedfan.phpspeed fan, mobile meter or I8kfangui for all the Dell dudes.

If the temperatures continues to rise fast above the normal range IMMEDIATELY power the notebook off, you could fry the CPU and even damage the entire motherboard. If this wild temperature rise does happen you'll have to start all over with fresh application of Arctic Silver 5 layer and make sure the heat sink is properly mounted --make sure the CPU fan was connected back on properly too.

Step 8 : Stability check

Load the program Prime 95 and start a torture test using the maximum FPU stress option that puts 100% load on the CPU. Check theCPU-Z Core Speed reading to verify that the CPU is now running at its overclocked speed. The torture test will continue until stopped or untilit encountersa CPU error. Let it run for several hours to verify the CPU stability while keeping an eye on the temperature, it should increase considerably but still stay within a reasonable range.

Higher speed CPUs are more likely to fail at this stage, even if the notebook successfully booted with the overclocked CPU at ahigher clock speed, the CPU will require more voltage for stable operation. While possible to achieve, the added voltage will raise the already high temperature making an overclocked 2.66Ghz notebook hot, noisy & impractical for anything but bragging. Keep a poker face as you trade your fast 1.8 GHz Dothan with someone who has a 1.6GHz Dothan -- what a sucker.

Step 9 : Benchmark ( optional )

Now that everything hopefully works OK, you probably want to tighten the remaining screws and "loose" parts and find out how much faster your notebook is now. The following comparison benchmark resultwere taken with the Inspiron 9300's original Intel Dothan 730 1.6Ghz 533/2MB processor that was replaced by a Dothan 725 1.6Ghz 400/2MB processor that we just overclockedto 2.13Ghz.

3DMark05 comparison before and after Processor switch and pin mod:

Intel Pentium M 730 1.6GHz

Intel Pentium M 725 1.6GHz Overclocked to 2.13GHz using pin mod

We get an 8% increase in the 3DMark05 score,mostly a GPU based test

Intel Pentium M 730 1.6GHz

Intel Pentium M 725 1.6GHz Overclocked to 2.13GHz using pin mod

We get an 18% increasein PCMark05 results, ascore thatis based on processor, HD & memory.

Intel Pentium M 730 1.6GHz

Intel Pentium M 725 1.6GHz Overclocked to 2.13GHz using pin mod

We get a 26% increase in performance with CPUMark 2.1, a CPU focused benchmark

Intel Pentium M 730 1.6GHz

Intel Pentium M 725 1.6GHz Overclocked to 2.13GHz using pin mod

We get a 15% increase inSuperPi results,the overclocked processor results are inline with "authentic" 2.13Ghz Dothans scores.

Step 10 : Heat & Undervolting ( optional )

Your upgraded notebook is now scorching fast. Surprisingly, when idling or with minimum activity the overclocked Dothan @ 2.13Ghz temperatures are about the same as with the 1.6Ghz,both sitting atabout 34 Celsius. This is probably because the Intel processor Speed Step technology lowersbothprocessors to 789MHz when idling, but given the slighest CPU load the pin modded processor jumps to 2.13GHz and the temperaturejumps 10 C -18 Cinthe blink of an eye,right up to 57 C,while the 1.6 GHz non-modded processortakes longer to warm up and peaks at 55 C.

If you arewary of drastic temperature changes you can undervoltthe pin-modded overclocked processorusing RM CPU clock utility. After I did a bit of undervolting on the modded Dothan running@ 2.13Ghz, it was idling at 32 Cand running the demanding Prime 95 program while keeping temps stable at about 47 C.

Conclusion

Now you can brag to your friends your notebook is 33% faster, tell them Microsoft XP boots in half the time, applications startup inthe blink of an eye and that you have no lag in multiplayer games. Only, you andI know such claimes would be a lie.

In reality, when usingeveryday applications you won't notice much difference in performance.Like most computers, your overall performanceis limited by bottlenecks such asa slow hard drive, which cause the CPU to only rarelybe utilized at its full speed potential-- even ifyou are working at 100% load. Real performance gains will be seen only with CPU intensive tasks such as audio & video encoding, rendering, mathematical applications and games where the GPU isn't the limiting factor.

Only then will you see the return on your $30-$50 investment when your 1.6Ghz Dothan overclocked to 2.13Ghz will runsuch processor demandingapplications at the incredible speed of -- well, a 2.13Ghz Dothan retailing for hundreds of dollars. You can probably sell the old CPU you took out of the notebook for some cash, use it to buy a new door lock -- hopefully it will stop that pesky neigbour that has latelybeen coming overto your home to watch TV.

That's it, follow this and you've earned yourself a 2.0 GHz or 2.13 GHz Pentium-M for practically nothing, that and the right to add "[email protected]" to your signature in online forums being the 1ee7 h@x0r you are.

 

Wow! That's brilliant. Congratulations. I do agree that anyone without solid experience shouldn't attempt this. I sure wouldn't, not on a notebook anyway. Good job!

C.

 

Great article Gilo! I'm not sure I could attempt this but It's great to see it can be done.

 

A very interesting read with the right humorist touch. Enjoyed it much.

 

Step 1: Pretend to know what you are doing
I LOVED that!

 

Great guide. A fun read as well. Thanks for submitting.

 

I did! The problem is that while my signature seems to be firm, the dotted line goes up and down when scrolling...

 

<subscribing to thread>

Thanks all , to be honest its not that hard but I wouldn't do it on a new notebook under warranty because it will probably void it . You're welcomed to ask questions here .

 

/me applauds

Bravo. Well written technically and in terms of style. I don't see enough good writing anymore.

 

lets see what you can do with Core Duo...?

 

Hey guys -- Remember me?? LOng time not being here

Well as u know from my sig I have a stock Pentium M 2 GHz CPU -- If i overclock this is it going to get way to hot? It is already running as hot as 60 C on average........

I do need this laptop (still after all these years 2002-2006)... I just dont see a reason to upgrade) - so if it blows up im in some dead trouble.

Does AC 5 actually work THAT that well??

THANKS

 

"If they keep asking more annoying questions to see if you know what you're doing, just tell them it's magic."

 

Great article! Fun to read.

 

Next: How To Make a Core Duo 64 bit

 

Really nice article, liked the humorous & witty comments throughout.

My Sager supports the 400MHz FSB processors, except I already have a 750 in there with a 1.86GHz clockspeed and 533 bus, probably not worth the money to try this.

 

lol!¬ great read!

 

did you get some alcohol on the processor?

 

Nice guide, thanks! The procedure was know for a year, and some other detailed guides have been written.

Do you know if it is possible to do the same with ULV PM processors if there is intel915 chip on the mainboard? I know these processors are soldered. I probably would find a save way to connect two pins of the soldered processor if I were sure they are in the the same place as on the standard PM and that the fact that FSB on this mainboard is 400MHz doesn't prevent the pin-modded chip to work under FSB 533 MHZ after the proper pins are connected. Any adea?

 

I wonder who and how discovered that.
Superb guide

 

I could give you a link, but it would take me some time to search for it.
You can find the corresponding thread on notebookforum.com and the link is there in one of the first posts.

 

Can't see anything that can be done. They already use a 133 bus.

 

I stated that , but I didn't do it then because my notebook was still under warranty . All I did was simplifying the instructions and made them fun to read so anyone can have a go at it .

Btw that took much longer then the mod itself which was only 2 hours including reassembly .

The original title was Pentium M 2.Ghz for 30$ but to be honest it cost me much more as I bought at Ebay 2 used CPUs 1.6 & 1.5 for about 110$ which is more then 1 new 1.6Ghz .

I did that for safety in case one didn't overclock and because I went for "good" looking ones , with some effort you can score a used working 1.5Ghz for 30$ .

Not if the mobo itself is 400Mhz like you mentioned , as stated you MUST have 533Mhz mobo . If it is you can download your sepcific mobo Intel data sheet which specify pins location .

Yes , to clean the core and heatsink I used 96% which was the purest I found , if you can find 99% its even better .

Yes the fresh coat of AS5 really helped , however if you go 1.7 and over you'll probably need to raise the Vcore , even if it works it will be very hot if its already 60c now .

Again , if your mobo is 533Mhz then the CPU inside is also 533Mhz which won't work . Even if it did like Chaz said its not worth to upgrade from 2Ghz to 2.13Ghz ( anything above is risky ) .

 

Does the CPU boot up at its highest or lowes speed? Because if it's lowest you could take a 2.0ghz CPU and use RMclock or similar to force it to run at the lowest multiplier, then gradually increase the multiplier til you find the highest one that is stable.

 

I believe the multiplier is locked otherwise everyone would simply raise it and overclock their notebooks to no end .

Even if it worked why waste a 2.0Ghz by "overclocking" and then "underclocking" it when you can simply start off with a 1.8Ghz for example .

 

As far as I knew they were unlocked in the downwards direction to allow speedstep to work. This is certainly the case with core duo ones. The reason I thought this would be useful was if you had a higher clocked CPU to begin with. Lets say you have the 2.0ghz CPU. Simply pin modding would OC it to 2.66ghz, which is unlikely to be stable. By also changing the multiplier you might find a lower clock speed, say 2.26 or 2.40ghz, that is stable but is still faster than how you started.

 

even if I will never try such a mod, reading the guide was worthwhile for the humor alone. Still laughin right now!

 

I mean did you accidentally get some on the green part of the processor.

 

Even if you its not a big deal because it isn't harmful and it evaporates very fast .

 

Great reading! Very detailed info.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

can I do this to the computer in my sig? it has a dothan celeron M 370, with a 533mhz fsb it would be a lot faster

 

Yes , it would be perfect , just get a Dothan like described in the article (1.5-1.6) and you'll be able to cross out that last line in your sig .

 

Hi,
I'm new!!!
I have a notebook with pentium m " Banias" processor, I would want overclock, but i have found different opinions.
There's who says that it's impossible;
Who says that it's possible only a software method;
Who says that it's possible with pin mod, and I have also found a detailed guide: http://www.overclockers.com/tips1232/ .
But, what must i do???
Help me please !!!
thanks!!

 

Done

Pentium 735M (1.7ghz) @ 2.26 ghz

Acer TravelMate 2428 huhu

 

ok, i have successfully pin modded to 2.26. the only problem i'm concerned about is the video card (geforce 6800 go). when i was attempting to put as5 on the cooling assembly, i unseated the whole card and separated it from the cooling assembly. there were a total of three pieces, and i kind of forgot where the smallest piece is supposed to be placed, i don't have pictures but its shaped like this )=( . to be more precise about the shape, it looks like the CPU's heatsink, but it feels like plastic/aluminum and it has a hole in the middle, approximately the size of GPU's core. I have this piece under everything (cooling assembly on top of GPU chip, and the piece i described under the chip to secure the GPU heatsink screws). Everything has been prime stable for 12 hrs, max cpu load temp 55 and gpu temp 45. the dell documentation does not have pictures of the piece i'm talking about. can anyone confirm if i put them all back together correctly? thanks.

 

nvm, i finally found a picture.

http://hardware.gotfrag.com/files/upload/shoes_i9300_7900.jpg

 

Is this possible with a CLevo m570u, with t7600 processor?

 

I tried to do this on my Inspiron 600 M. Nothing happened. The only difference my computer has from the guide is an Intel i855PM mobo instead of the 915 chipset. Is that why this is not working?

 

Posting to say that my 1.6 Celeron M pin modded to 2.16ghz is giving identical benchmarks as the Pentium 725 chip. Perhaps an even cheaper chip to aim for?

 

Wow...great work! Funny too...

I'll post my success/failure with this over the Summer when I try it out.

How the heck did you figure the whole pin thing out?

 

Why would you need to overclock a T7600 ?

Yes , must be a Sonoma platform .

Nice find , I guess you used the 380 ? Is it possible that the "new" Celeron 1.6 is actually a branded "old" Pentium 1.6 ?

But does is speedstep as well ( going 800MHZ <---> 2133MHZ ) ?

 

Not sure why this isn't working for me....I think I have the right hardware. Here's what I did...

Removed everything down to processor.....got the 1/2 cm piece of copper wire, bent into 'u' shape, inserted into holes 15/16 (3rd row from top) on the mobo, cleaned the raised platform on the processor and heatsink, applied thin layer of AS5 onto raised area of processor, put everything back together, and pressed the power button. Machine started post test but there was no display on the LCD. I shut the power off after about 5 seconds and retraced my steps. Didn't see anything amiss so I removed the wire and put it back together. This time it booted up fine and has been running as before for the past two or three days (wheee....no damage ).

I then tried the whole thing again a day ago and got the same results.

Anyone know why this isn't working on my Acer? My setup is very similar to the notebook used in the guide.

**Edit**
OMFG.....I think I just realized why it didn't work. I was looking at the guide again and noticed that the screw you turn to release the processor is on the left in gilo's pictures. On my notebook I had it turned so that the screw was on the top.....thus the wire was put into the wrong holes. Wow.....how did I not short out my mobo or fry my processor?

**Follow Up**
Okay, after placing the piece of wire in the right holes, this worked. Hmmm.....follow the instructions and it works.......interesting . Thanks gilo!

 

Anyone try this with a HP NC6000 notebook? Specs as followed..

Intel Pentium M 1.6Ghz (400FSB)
9600 32MB
80GB 5400 RPM

 

I own a Inspiron 6000, which of course is not as big as the 9300, so it has less ventilation inside. It has a 725, not yet overclocked, so my doubt is the following, the temperature where I live regularily is between 38 and 42 degrees C°. I have seen the processor working up to temps of 75 C° without any problem, like 3D gaming, DVD playback, heavy software compilation... you know the usual deal for a geek like me. So... I haven't yet decided to overclock due to the temp, about how much would it rise from the 75 C° working at 1.6 if I overlock to 2.13, cause honestly, where I live a 725 wouldn't be a bargain, (Colombia, for those that might ask..., by the way, I not a drug dealer), so I don't want to fry my little baby, but I sure could use that extra speed, so if anyone could guide me a bit on this deal, wheather the temp would rise still being sustainable for the chip with no other mod, remember, no money... just for the thermal paste, which by the way, and by changing the currency would be at $25, so imagine how much a 725 would cost... If it fries, I'll jst leave it the way it is, else...

Hope anyone can help me solve this deal

__________
DI6K
Pentium M 725 1.6 Ghz
1 Gb DDR2 400 Mhz RAM
100 GB 5400 rpm Fujitsu MHV2100AH
Windows Server 2003 Std

 

Welcome di6k ,

75 C° is too hot imo , I would open the case , clean the heat pipe grills and reapply thermal paste to see if it helps .

If it stays hot I wouldn't put an overclocked CPU to fry in there .

If it helps ( and it should ) getting ~50s under load then imo you can move on with the mod .

I just looked at your sig ( DDR2 400 ) , this mod will work only if your FSB is 533 .

 

Ok, I'll check if there's any problem with the thermal paste, to get a regular ~50 c° temp. But the issue from the FSB wouldn't matter, since the memory is DDR2 it splits the speed of 400 Mhz between the two mems, 200 Mhz each, with 533 on the CPU wouldn't it increase it a bit, meaning faster memory access? 533 / 2 = 266 Mhz againts the regular 200 Mhz?

Thanx for your help dude...