I have a Core 2 Duo E7400 in a Dell Vostro 220 that I am turning into a gaming rig. I bought a super crazy overkill GPU, but it has a cheap CPU. I have water cooling and an open case, so I decided to OC it. The CPU, I discovered, was locked on the Vostro 220. I was left in the corner while other E7400 users could overclock just fine.

After doing research online, I discovered you can simply put a piece of tape (any kind will do) on one of the pins of the CPU, and it is automatically unlocked from 2.8GHz to 3.6GHz. This is a big discovery that might work on other similar processors.

With a jump of 800MHz, the CPU is perfoming at an amazing level, and my 650 XLR8 Gold Performance Edition is no longer bottlenecked!


I will test games and show a before and after for them.


So far:
GTA IV: First 20-40 fps, now 60+ on max settings
StarCraft II: First 60fps beginning, 30 battles, now always 60+
Counter-Strike Source: It was 300 before, it's 300 now.
Counter-Strike GO Non-Steam: 50 before, 60+ now.

For about 50 American Dollars on places like Newegg, the E7400 OC'd is the best buy I can see so far.