Definitive Processor List for Vanilla XPS 700

Question

Hi,

I've had my XPS 700 since December 2006 and overall have been pretty pleased with it. I'm now, however, looking to upgrade a few of the components on it and am wondering if there's a definitive list, preferably from Dell, of the supported processors.

I've done some searching on the forums and have yet to find this list, hence this post, but here's the information I've gleaned so far:

I know that it supports an E6600, as that's what mine's got at the moment. :smileyhappy:
The patch notes for BIOS update 1.4.1 state 'Added support for new processors,' but don't specify which ones. I'm hoping that somebody, somewhere in the Dell organisation has this list.
NVIDIA produces a list of supported processors (PDF) for the nForce 5 Series chipsets, which states support for: QX6850, QX6800, QX6700, Q6600, X6800, E6700, E6600, E6400 and the E6300. However, I'm also lead to believe that the implementation of the 590 chipset is non-standard, and has some features have been disabled. Therefore, I'm wary of basing any purchasing decisions on this list.
A forum poster, Maxlore, has successfully installed a Q6600.
Another forum poster, descendant7, states that they got their 700 with a QX6700 installed.
Specifications on the Intel site suggest that all of the processors mentioned above are still in production (?).
The forum poster steve_89 suggests that Quad cores don't work on the 700 motherboard, and the best supported processor is the X6800.
methodius confirms that a Q6600 works with no problems.
A call to XPS technical support (reference 608983580) informed me that Extreme processors were not supported by this motherboard. I actually asked about the Q6600 but they didn't give me any information on quad cores.
The forum poster CESARG reports that the Q6600 works with no problems.
I took the plunge and bought a Q6700... and it works! :-)

Ideally, given that some of the processors mentioned above are selling for around £600 which is an expensive mistake to make if it's not supported, it would be lovely to have an official response from Dell on the list of supported processors - particularly the new ones supported by the BIOS update - but in absence of that, it would also be useful for anybody who has an XPS 700 and has successfully installed any of the above to state that.

Please remember that I'm talking about a vanilla XPS 700 here - not a hybrid 700/720.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Message Edited by saw-lau on 09-05-2008 08:58 PM

descendant7 · Answer

Good call on being wary, you just never know with Dell. Anyways, yeah I can confirm a QX6700 works with the XPS 700 board. If I might, I'd like to say you really ought to go with a QX chip, they're fantastic. They run real cool and are a cinch to overlock. I can't imagine how you'd go about overlocking a chip with no unlocked multipliers with the Dell BIOS (ugh), or nTune (ugh), but I highly recommend the QX's.

Beyond that I can't say anything else, as I don't know what kind of socket that board has, etc. and I have no time to research, but I hope someone smarter than me can answer.

Message Edited by descendant7 on 05-05-2008 06:18 PM

Davet50 · Answer

since Oc is not that much of an option on a 700 board i am not even sure if the "X"'s would be any better than a plain old vanilla chip...as i don't believe you can change the multiplier like you can on a 720 board..so

To me a Q6600 is the best chip for the system ..it is inexpensive and will handle anything you throw at it..It is the best bang for the buck..

descendant7 · Answer

@Davet50 wrote:

...since Oc is not that much of an option on a 700 board i am not even sure if the "X"'s would be any better than a plain old vanilla chip...as i don't believe you can change the multiplier like you can on a 720 board...

Oh really? Dang, I never tried overclocking till I got my 720 board. Heh, ignore me saw-lau!

I was wondering though, programs that don't use multiple cores might have performance issues with the lower 2.4GHz speed of the Q6600? I always wondered about that.

Davet50 · Answer

Remember the OP has a 700 board completly different than the 720 board... I see no performance issues with anything i run..programs games..runs great..

saw-lau · Answer

@descendant7 wrote:

Good call on being wary, you just never know with Dell. Anyways, yeah I can confirm a QX6700 works with the XPS 7200 board.

Thanks for the info, descendant7. Can you confirm whether or not you ever had the QX6700 working on the XPS 700, though? (Assuming you originally got the 700 and upgraded to the 720 motherboard?)

Message Edited by saw-lau on 05-01-2008 01:37 PM

saw-lau · Answer

@Davet50 wrote:

To me a Q6600 is the best chip for the system ..it is inexpensive and will handle anything you throw at it..It is the best bang for the buck..

Thanks for the info, Davet50.

Message Edited by saw-lau on 05-01-2008 01:38 PM

methodius · Answer

I ran a Q6600 on the XPS700 motherboard for a few months and it ran fine. I had the latest BIOS update 1.4.1 and didnt have any problems. Not sure why others are saying it wont run. Maybe they didnt have the latest update.

saw-lau · Answer

@methodius wrote:

I ran a Q6600 on the XPS700 motherboard for a few months and it ran fine. I had the latest BIOS update 1.4.1 and didnt have any problems.

Many thanks for the clarification, methodius.

saw-lau · Answer

Update (but not a very useful one, unfortunately).

I tried to send e-mails to technical support via the website a couple of times, but the system was down. Also tried to chat online to tech support but everybody was busy. I'll try these again later, and update people with the results of that.

I managed to get through to XPS support on the phone (call reference 608983580 if anybody wants to follow up), but was told that they 'don't recommend upgrading the processor on its own, as you'd need to upgrade the motherboard as well. The XPS 700 motherboard doesn't support Extreme processors.' I don't really buy that, to be honest, but thought I'd report it here.

Matt

CESARG · Answer

Hello guys,   XPS 700 with Q6600 G0 running flowless for about 8 months.  I do have the latest BIOS 1.4.1.   I'm planning to upgrade to a QX6800 using the same MOBO.   I'll let U know if it works. lol

saw-lau · Answer

@CESARG wrote:

Hello guys,

XPS 700 with Q6600 G0 running flowless for about 8 months. I do have the latest BIOS 1.4.1.

I'm planning to upgrade to a QX6800 using the same MOBO.

I'll let U know if it works. lol

Thanks for the info, CESARG!

saw-lau · Answer

OK - I can confirm that a Q6700 works because... I took the plunge, bought one, and installed it this evening! No problems so far... :-)

tony8gj · Answer

Hi:

I also have a two-year old Dell XPS 700 and looking to upgrade proc, video. The current video card I have causes the SB X-Fi to crackle if I use Vista 64-bit [SB audio works fine on Vista 32-bit]. Here's my current specs - looking for advice on what to upgrade:

System Model Dell DXG061
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6700 @ 2.66GHz, 2660 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.4.1, 5/7/2007
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
Creative SB X-Fi
Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II (23xxx)
Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller\
PHILIPS DVD-ROM DROM6316 SCSI CdRom Device
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H553A SCSI CdRom Device

saw-lau · Answer

@tony8gj wrote:

Hi:

I also have a two-year old Dell XPS 700 and looking to upgrade proc, video. The current video card I have causes the SB X-Fi to crackle if I use Vista 64-bit [SB audio works fine on Vista 32-bit]. Here's my current specs - looking for advice on what to upgrade:

Creative SB X-Fi

The first thing I'd suggest is removing the Creative card. I had terrible problems with crackling sound, which was solved by getting rid of it and just using the onboard sound... One of the best moves I ever made!

invex · Answer

OK, hugely stupid question here.

I have the "vanilla" XPS 700 board also. I've read in this thread that you can add at least up to a Q6700 processor and it works with the 1.4.1 BIOS upgrade, which I have.

My question is this: I have the E6700 processor now and when I compare it to the Q6700 on the Intel chip comparison chart at

http://compare.intel.com/pcc/showchart.aspx?mmID=891046,884351&familyID=1&culture=en-US

the only difference I see between the chips is a 4MB increase in the L2 Cache. Now I know that the Q6700 has four(4) processors on it vs. two(2) on the E6700 but would I really see that much of a difference in performance?

For the most part, I'm not an "intense" gamer and I do have 4GB of RAM. My biggest resource hog is when I run Second Life, but my machine seems to handle it pretty well.

I'm at work so I don't have my full system specs with me. I do know that I have the E6700 chip, dual nVidia 7950 GX2 video cards using SLI, the aforementioned 4GB of memory and the Creative Labs Extreme Music sound card.

Thanks

Invex

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Definitive Processor List for Vanilla XPS 700

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