How to Overclock a i3 4150?

[Icedwhisper]

I know, I know, this isn't an unlocked processor.. But can it be overclocked? If it can, By how much? Has anyone actually ever tried it? These are the only questions I really want to know.. Thanks!

[rotNdude]

For a non-K CPU, you have to increase the blck. The CPU and motherboard will determine how much.

[Rove]

I've heard a lot about how you can not and not very much about how you might try.

I think it's basically that Intel currently has it heavily locked down and will not let you.

I don't run a current Intel myself. I went for a AMD, partially cause they are much more generous about having them unlocked and overclockable on most models.

My theory on how one might do it would be that basically you need to look how the 1st generation i3 (only one I have found overclocking data on) was overclocked and then adapt the technique to the modern 4th gen and new technology. For example I think the FSB has become the DMI (basically just renamed) and other things may also have changed.

It's multiplier locked so you can't change that. I guess you could just fiddle with all the other settings and see if something like DMI would work the same way as FSB did.

The only other way I can think of is to hack the microcode. Assuming it's even hackable and hasn't been permanently set into hardware in some permanent way. The i5 K series are unlocked, the Pentium G 3258 (and only exclusively that one) is unlocked. It should be technically possible to unlock a i3 with the right microcode & BIOS mods to allow for it. It's just very complex machine langauge and encryption that you would have to both know and be able to correctly input into the CPU and motherboard. There's probably a security system in there to stop you also. You might also find like I said that it could have somehow been permanently set into the hardware physically with no hope of erasing and rewriting it.

I did hear about a guy who either unlocked hyperthreading on a i5 (what he claimed) or re-labled his i7 as a i5 to hardware sensors while retaining hyperthreading (the other thing that might be possible). So if that story was true then maybe you can do magic on a i3.

I have heard that all the Intel i series CPUs from 2 core i3 to 4 core i7 are all actually the exact same CPU with different settings in the microcode locking off different parts and setting different speeds. So if you can get as good with that stuff as Intel and it is all modable and not permanent then you may be able to turn your i3 into a unlocked i7.

The computer programming skills this would require are probably worth much more for the time it would take than the cost of a new i7 Extreme 8 core ($1000~). So if you manage to do it next go apply for a job at Intel.

[Wampum Biskit]

Originally posted by Rove:

I have heard that all the Intel i series CPUs from 2 core i3 to 4 core i7 are all actually the exact same CPU with different settings in the microcode locking off different parts and setting different speeds. So if you can get as good with that stuff as Intel and it is all modable and not permanent then you may be able to turn your i3 into a unlocked i7.

they are and that's mainly because the way they are produced , when they come off the production likne they get tested and they get their designation , lower testing units get I3's and higher units get I7's , now this is also why the highest intel's are expensive because % wise they are far and few in between production runs.

because of the inherit unstable condition of a silicon cpu , they differ from chip to chip.

once they are tested and designated they get their respective microcode.

atleast that how it used to be , im not sure if that's still the case nowadays.

[Icedwhisper]

Originally posted by Rove:

I've heard a lot about how you can not and not very much about how you might try.

I think it's basically that Intel currently has it heavily locked down and will not let you.

I don't run a current Intel myself. I went for a AMD, partially cause they are much more generous about having them unlocked and overclockable on most models.

My theory on how one might do it would be that basically you need to look how the 1st generation i3 (only one I have found overclocking data on) was overclocked and then adapt the technique to the modern 4th gen and new technology. For example I think the FSB has become the DMI (basically just renamed) and other things may also have changed.

It's multiplier locked so you can't change that. I guess you could just fiddle with all the other settings and see if something like DMI would work the same way as FSB did.

The only other way I can think of is to hack the microcode. Assuming it's even hackable and hasn't been permanently set into hardware in some permanent way. The i5 K series are unlocked, the Pentium G 3258 (and only exclusively that one) is unlocked. It should be technically possible to unlock a i3 with the right microcode & BIOS mods to allow for it. It's just very complex machine langauge and encryption that you would have to both know and be able to correctly input into the CPU and motherboard. There's probably a security system in there to stop you also. You might also find like I said that it could have somehow been permanently set into the hardware physically with no hope of erasing and rewriting it.

I did hear about a guy who either unlocked hyperthreading on a i5 (what he claimed) or re-labled his i7 as a i5 to hardware sensors while retaining hyperthreading (the other thing that might be possible). So if that story was true then maybe you can do magic on a i3.

I have heard that all the Intel i series CPUs from 2 core i3 to 4 core i7 are all actually the exact same CPU with different settings in the microcode locking off different parts and setting different speeds. So if you can get as good with that stuff as Intel and it is all modable and not permanent then you may be able to turn your i3 into a unlocked i7.

The computer programming skills this would require are probably worth much more for the time it would take than the cost of a new i7 Extreme 8 core ($1000~). So if you manage to do it next go apply for a job at Intel.

Wow! Thats a hell lot of useful info! So basically, I can get a i7 CPU for the price of an i3 if I know programming? Well, I sure do hope that someday, I'll be that great, But until then, I guess I'd better not temper with any settings..

[Wampum Biskit]

Originally posted by Icedwhisper:

Wow! Thats a hell lot of useful info! So basically, I can get a i7 CPU for the price of an i3 if I know programming? Well, I sure do hope that someday, I'll be that great, But until then, I guess I'd better not temper with any settings..

you don't think if that was true someone would have done that by now ?

[Rove]

The people who can do that (if it can be done) make so much per hour or yearly on salary that it would make more sense for them NOT to do it and work 1 hour or less and buy a i7.

[Icedwhisper]

Originally posted by Rove:

The people who can do that (if it can be done) make so much per hour or yearly on salary that it would make more sense for them NOT to do it and work 1 hour or less and buy a i7.

Well, How much time does it take if you have already know the code and know how to bypass the security? I mean those people could earn more by unlocking those cores and then selling them for a much higher price..

[Rove]

That might bring the legal trouble from Intel. Also that's already what Intel does so I doubt they could make any more money doing it than Intel is already making.

[rotNdude]

Originally posted by Icedwhisper:

Originally posted by Rove:

The people who can do that (if it can be done) make so much per hour or yearly on salary that it would make more sense for them NOT to do it and work 1 hour or less and buy a i7.

Well, How much time does it take if you have already know the code and know how to bypass the security? I mean those people could earn more by unlocking those cores and then selling them for a much higher price..

All of this talk is not worth your time.

[Wampum Biskit]

Originally posted by Rove:

The people who can do that (if it can be done) make so much per hour or yearly on salary that it would make more sense for them NOT to do it and work 1 hour or less and buy a i7.

it can't , an I7 is technically (tested) different from a I3 , due to the inherently unstable silicon grids , lower testing cpu's get lower designation... they are also far more common then an I7 and thus cheaper.

[Wampum Biskit]

Originally posted by rotNdude:

Originally posted by Icedwhisper:

Well, How much time does it take if you have already know the code and know how to bypass the security? I mean those people could earn more by unlocking those cores and then selling them for a much higher price..

All of this talk is not worth your time.

not only that , you pshysically have to disect the cpu and use some very high $$$ lab equipment to even have a chance of getting into the microcode.

it's been done before on another industry and it took 100's thousands of dollars to break into a chip.

[Icedwhisper]

Originally posted by rotNdude:

Originally posted by Icedwhisper:

Well, How much time does it take if you have already know the code and know how to bypass the security? I mean those people could earn more by unlocking those cores and then selling them for a much higher price..

All of this talk is not worth your time.

Right now, It might now be, But in the future, Who knows? :D

[Icedwhisper]

Originally posted by SyPTo:

Originally posted by rotNdude:

All of this talk is not worth your time.

not only that , you pshysically have to disect the cpu and use some very high $$$ lab equipment to even have a chance of getting into the microcode.

it's been done before on another industry and it took 100's thousands of dollars to break into a chip.

So they did it? What did Intel do to them? Is there any article online about the whole story?

[Wampum Biskit]

Originally posted by Icedwhisper:

Originally posted by SyPTo:

not only that , you pshysically have to disect the cpu and use some very high $$$ lab equipment to even have a chance of getting into the microcode.

it's been done before on another industry and it took 100's thousands of dollars to break into a chip.

So they did it? What did Intel do to them? Is there any article online about the whole story?

it wasn't done in the PC industry , let's just say the guy made millions and got caught and is now serving 35 years in a box....

[Icedwhisper]

Originally posted by SyPTo:

Originally posted by Icedwhisper:

So they did it? What did Intel do to them? Is there any article online about the whole story?

it wasn't done in the PC industry , let's just say the guy made millions and got caught and is now serving 35 years in a box....

Wow.. 35 years? That seems short tbh.. Anyways, I can't believe there is/was no article.. Things like this usually go viral within a few hours.