Yahooo! The 4GB Dimm worked. Here is a pict of my 32bit Win 7 Ent, hence the reason why only 3GB is usable. I used a Patriot PSD24G8002 4GB PC2-6400 800MHz CL6. Next, I am going to put in the Q8400. Zuxy did you used the stock Dell CPU heatsink and fan? By the way, I did buy the good Silver thermal compound.
Thanks for help comments. I have upgraded to the Q8400 and its running great. I haven't adjusted the voltage because I haven't had any issues yet. It is currently running at 1.1v. The temp at idol hovers around 36 to 36.5 Celsius. I rendered a movie at 98% to 100% for 5mins and the highest temp was 54.8 Celsius. All this using the stock Dell heatsink and fan. I am really happy so far, especially since the total upgrade cost me under $350, for Intel Q8400, Nvidia Quadro FX580, and 8GB of ram. Thanks...
Next step is to install another 4GB Dimm and load up Win 7 64bit Enterprise!!!
tkawika - thanks for the tip on the memory card source. Please let us know when you have the 8GB running with Win 7 64 bit.. I loaded Win 7 64 bit Home Premium without a hitch on my 330, but I don't know about the Enterprise Version.
For your Quadro FX540, it asks for a 350W power supply (330 MT is 305W). Are you finding it's doing ok so far?
For a video card I am considering the nVidia GT440 w/1GB RAM, either from Zotac with DDR5 for $94.99 (2 slots) or eVGA with DDR3 for $79.24 (1 slot). These have 96 cores and are Blu-Ray/3D ready. They should both support Adobe CS5 (full version for video is best with 1GB min, Photoshop CS5 needs 512MB min). They are both ok with a 300W power supply (they specify 18A on the 12V rail). Does anybody have any experience with the GT440 or even the GT240 1GB?
I was also wondering about looking for faster memory than 800MHz - like 1066 or 1333 MHz FSB and installing 8GB of that. I saw this message at another board which suggested that these faster FSB speeds were supported at BIOS rev. A06 (and presumably above)
"Ok I've got an Optiplex 330 MT with the Celeron 430 1.8 GHz and I'm looking to upgrade to a C2Q, or even a decent C2D. I started shopping around and the more I looked the more confused I got. From what I could find the motherboard, BIOS is updated to A06, can run 800, 1066 and 1333 FSB, 45nm and 65nm die and up to 6MB L2 Cache. However I can't find anything on whether it will take only 65W or if it can handle 95W and have no clue about the different core types. Some general performance/price suggestions would be nice too.
Hey guys I've been reading this thread for the last month and it's helped me find the info I've been looking for on upgrading my E7200 to a faster cpu speed and going to Quad Core. I've got the DT case and just dropped in Sparkle GT 430 512MB DDR3 low profile card for $59 and $20 mail-in rebate. Also dropped in 4GB DDR2 800Mhz ram. I was amazed that you got 5GB running, NICE! There is a CPU list in the PDF of the Optiplex 330 Tech Guide and it show 800-1066-1333 FSB cpus in that list. I'm running A07 BIOS and they just released A08 in April and it says cpu Microcode. I'm hoping they added support for more CPU speeds and CPU 95W? Maybe I'm about to install it shortly and just wondering what changes it makes.
I really don't think the cost of 1066Mhz or 1200mhz is worth the minimal speed increase. I can understand if you had a super fast motherboard or white box gaming machine, but since all of us here are constrained to the Dell E 330 Optiplex. I don't its worth it. I tried to find both these speeds on the internet and the fastest DD2 I could find was 1066 and it was almost twice the cost of 800 DDR2 which is too expensive in the first place. my 2 bits..
I am also running A07. I was held up posting this because I couldn't get Win 7 Ent 64bit, so I had to be like the other cattle and get 64bit Ultimate (lol, they are exactly the same version just different licensing). Also, my 2x4Gb Dimms haven't come in yet, but I have no doubt that my machine will recognize both Dimms. I finally got Win7-64Bit Ultimate and my 2x300Gb WD Velociraptor 10k Rpm drives installed. Still don't have the RAM but it now fully recognizes the 5Gb. The machine is much faster. Since I didn't do any benchmarks before I upgraded, I can only state from real world experiences. I will upload some screen shots when things are complete.
I also saw the A08 BIOS update and started wondering. Could this be a real upgrade, or could it be a downgrade to stop people running Quad Core processors. This is not based on anything I've seen, but just a feeling. If any of you have run the A08 BIOS successfully with a Quad Core processor please let us all know.
Also, if anybody has further insight into what "CPU Microcode" means I'd be interested too.
I have my Optiplex in Dual-Boot mode - and I update the BIOS from Win XP 32 bit drive. I doubt that you can directly do it from the Win 7 64-bit drive unless you create a boot disc first.
I think the 330 is specified for 18A on the 12V rail. Is your GT 430 (22A on the 12V rail) giving any compatibility issues?
Again, any other feedback or experience gratefully received.
I can say your friend is right. As stated in earlier post Zuxy and I are both running 95W Quad Core Processor's (Intel Q8400). I know Zuxy had to adjust his voltage, but I didn't. After an hour of rendering a movie, running between 95%-100% load, the highest temp was 59 degrees C. I thought about getting the Intel Q9550, but the cost was a little steep, and I wasn't completely sure the board could handle the 12Mb of cache. I am pretty sure the max ram this board can take is 8Gb. After researching other after market boards with the same chipset, none of them could handle more than 8Gb's. The Technical PDF by Dell is definitely Old data. The 305W power supply in my MT330 is doing great. Below is my current setup. All cooling is stock with really good Arctic Silver Thermal paste..
Dell Optiplex E330 MT Bios A07 Win 7 Ultimate 64Bit Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8400 2.66Ghz 4Mb cache 5Gb of DDR2 800Mhz Ram (Will be 8Gb by Thurs) 2 x 300Gb WD Velociraptor HDD 10K Rpm RAID 0 Nvidia Quadro FX580 w/512Mb PCIE
Not sure I got the Sparkle GT430 because it's low profile and because I run BOINC with Seti@home and Einstein@Homeand Collatz Conjecture and Rosetta@home.. I had a Asus 8500GT and dont like having the side cover off to run that card plus it was over 3yrs old. And was able to get the GT430 for 49$ go from 16 Cuda cores to 96 and double my speed on the graphics and not use the onboard Intel graphics chipset. And from what I have read about CPU Microcode thru Google it's suppose to update the CPU's that can be used. I also talked to a friend of mine we got 2 Optiplex 330's from and he said that the Optiplex 330's can handle Quad-Cores and more memory. Here is where I found Tech Specs for Optiplex 330 <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
I have the Desktop or Slim tower I call it lol. And I'm showing 16A on 12V rail per the Tech Specs PDF. Only Have 1-160GB Sata HD which I had 2 other 80GB's with no problems but took them out because I'm waiting on getting a Hitachi 2TB 3G HD next week. I play a few games and I have Age of Empires running High or Max graphic Settings without any problems. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187132 And I just noticed where you got the 22A on 12V.. I have no problems even using BOINC which I have set for 100% dual core and 90% RAM and still able to watch AVI's while crunching numbers. I'm taxing the *** out of this PC and working without any problems.
Not to mention that the bandwidth of either 800MHz or 1066MHz dual channel DDR2 exceeds the CPU's FSB so you'd expect diminishing returns, especially if the 1066MHz version's latency is virtually the same as the 800MHz's.
Well I think last weekend I tried doing the A08 bios and something didn't go or I chickened out at the last minute. But what's the Q8400 running now a days? And I just maxed out BOINC full 100% on all cores and 99% RAM and pushing 44c ..
Yeah those Raptor HD's are sweet I've drooled over them since the 75GB's came out a few yrs ago. I was looking at a magazine online from the UK PC Pro I think and they had a PC in there with 2 of those same drives and it was fast. I also saw the Samsung HD's might be better than the Hitachi I don't know. I've just read that WD and Seagate have alot of problems and I've had a 500GB Hitachi USB Portable drive since Xmas and no problems what so ever. And some of the features the new Hitachi drives have are really nice. Well off to work hopefully I dont get shocked lol. Electrican here cya guys
tkawika
18 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2011 16:00
Yahooo! The 4GB Dimm worked. Here is a pict of my 32bit Win 7 Ent, hence the reason why only 3GB is usable. I used a Patriot PSD24G8002 4GB PC2-6400 800MHz CL6. Next, I am going to put in the Q8400. Zuxy did you used the stock Dell CPU heatsink and fan? By the way, I did buy the good Silver thermal compound.
.
tkawika
18 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2011 18:00
Zuxy,
Thanks for help comments. I have upgraded to the Q8400 and its running great. I haven't adjusted the voltage because I haven't had any issues yet. It is currently running at 1.1v. The temp at idol hovers around 36 to 36.5 Celsius. I rendered a movie at 98% to 100% for 5mins and the highest temp was 54.8 Celsius. All this using the stock Dell heatsink and fan. I am really happy so far, especially since the total upgrade cost me under $350, for Intel Q8400, Nvidia Quadro FX580, and 8GB of ram. Thanks...
Next step is to install another 4GB Dimm and load up Win 7 64bit Enterprise!!!
tkawika
18 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2011 19:00
6.4 Score. I choose the card for the price ($120) and for video editing.
JRBC1
18 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2011 19:00
Hi tkawika. That sounds great.
Please let us know if it recognises the 8GB RAM in Win 7 64 bit.
Also, where did the buy the 8GB RAM and what did you pay?
What Windows Index rating does your new FX580 video card give?
JRBC1
18 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2011 20:00
tkawika - thanks for the tip on the memory card source. Please let us know when you have the 8GB running with Win 7 64 bit.. I loaded Win 7 64 bit Home Premium without a hitch on my 330, but I don't know about the Enterprise Version.
For your Quadro FX540, it asks for a 350W power supply (330 MT is 305W). Are you finding it's doing ok so far?
For a video card I am considering the nVidia GT440 w/1GB RAM, either from Zotac with DDR5 for $94.99 (2 slots) or eVGA with DDR3 for $79.24 (1 slot). These have 96 cores and are Blu-Ray/3D ready. They should both support Adobe CS5 (full version for video is best with 1GB min, Photoshop CS5 needs 512MB min). They are both ok with a 300W power supply (they specify 18A on the 12V rail). Does anybody have any experience with the GT440 or even the GT240 1GB?
JRBC1
18 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2011 21:00
I was also wondering about looking for faster memory than 800MHz - like 1066 or 1333 MHz FSB and installing 8GB of that. I saw this message at another board which suggested that these faster FSB speeds were supported at BIOS rev. A06 (and presumably above)
"Ok I've got an Optiplex 330 MT with the Celeron 430 1.8 GHz and I'm looking to upgrade to a C2Q, or even a decent C2D. I started shopping around and the more I looked the more confused I got. From what I could find the motherboard, BIOS is updated to A06, can run 800, 1066 and 1333 FSB, 45nm and 65nm die and up to 6MB L2 Cache. However I can't find anything on whether it will take only 65W or if it can handle 95W and have no clue about the different core types. Some general performance/price suggestions would be nice too.
(seen at: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/278321-28-optiplex-upgrade )
Liverocket
8 Posts
0
May 1st, 2011 02:00
Hey guys I've been reading this thread for the last month and it's helped me find the info I've been looking for on upgrading my E7200 to a faster cpu speed and going to Quad Core. I've got the DT case and just dropped in Sparkle GT 430 512MB DDR3 low profile card for $59 and $20 mail-in rebate. Also dropped in 4GB DDR2 800Mhz ram. I was amazed that you got 5GB running, NICE! There is a CPU list in the PDF of the Optiplex 330 Tech Guide and it show 800-1066-1333 FSB cpus in that list. I'm running A07 BIOS and they just released A08 in April and it says cpu Microcode. I'm hoping they added support for more CPU speeds and CPU 95W? Maybe I'm about to install it shortly and just wondering what changes it makes.
Liverocket:emotion-15:
tkawika
18 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 15:00
JRBC,
I really don't think the cost of 1066Mhz or 1200mhz is worth the minimal speed increase. I can understand if you had a super fast motherboard or white box gaming machine, but since all of us here are constrained to the Dell E 330 Optiplex. I don't its worth it. I tried to find both these speeds on the internet and the fastest DD2 I could find was 1066 and it was almost twice the cost of 800 DDR2 which is too expensive in the first place. my 2 bits..
Thanks..
tkawika
18 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 15:00
Hey Liverocket,
I am also running A07. I was held up posting this because I couldn't get Win 7 Ent 64bit, so I had to be like the other cattle and get 64bit Ultimate (lol, they are exactly the same version just different licensing). Also, my 2x4Gb Dimms haven't come in yet, but I have no doubt that my machine will recognize both Dimms. I finally got Win7-64Bit Ultimate and my 2x300Gb WD Velociraptor 10k Rpm drives installed. Still don't have the RAM but it now fully recognizes the 5Gb. The machine is much faster. Since I didn't do any benchmarks before I upgraded, I can only state from real world experiences. I will upload some screen shots when things are complete.
Thanks
JRBC1
18 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 15:00
Hi Liverocket and Other 330 Owners
I also saw the A08 BIOS update and started wondering. Could this be a real upgrade, or could it be a downgrade to stop people running Quad Core processors. This is not based on anything I've seen, but just a feeling. If any of you have run the A08 BIOS successfully with a Quad Core processor please let us all know.
Also, if anybody has further insight into what "CPU Microcode" means I'd be interested too.
I have my Optiplex in Dual-Boot mode - and I update the BIOS from Win XP 32 bit drive. I doubt that you can directly do it from the Win 7 64-bit drive unless you create a boot disc first.
I think the 330 is specified for 18A on the 12V rail. Is your GT 430 (22A on the 12V rail) giving any compatibility issues?
Again, any other feedback or experience gratefully received.
John
tkawika
18 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 21:00
Liverocket,
I can say your friend is right. As stated in earlier post Zuxy and I are both running 95W Quad Core Processor's (Intel Q8400). I know Zuxy had to adjust his voltage, but I didn't. After an hour of rendering a movie, running between 95%-100% load, the highest temp was 59 degrees C. I thought about getting the Intel Q9550, but the cost was a little steep, and I wasn't completely sure the board could handle the 12Mb of cache. I am pretty sure the max ram this board can take is 8Gb. After researching other after market boards with the same chipset, none of them could handle more than 8Gb's. The Technical PDF by Dell is definitely Old data. The 305W power supply in my MT330 is doing great. Below is my current setup. All cooling is stock with really good Arctic Silver Thermal paste..
Dell Optiplex E330 MT
Bios A07
Win 7 Ultimate 64Bit
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8400 2.66Ghz 4Mb cache
5Gb of DDR2 800Mhz Ram (Will be 8Gb by Thurs)
2 x 300Gb WD Velociraptor HDD 10K Rpm RAID 0
Nvidia Quadro FX580 w/512Mb PCIE
Anyway hope this helps,
T
Liverocket
8 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 21:00
John
Not sure I got the Sparkle GT430 because it's low profile and because I run BOINC with Seti@home and Einstein@Homeand Collatz Conjecture and Rosetta@home.. I had a Asus 8500GT and dont like having the side cover off to run that card plus it was over 3yrs old. And was able to get the GT430 for 49$ go from 16 Cuda cores to 96 and double my speed on the graphics and not use the onboard Intel graphics chipset. And from what I have read about CPU Microcode thru Google it's suppose to update the CPU's that can be used. I also talked to a friend of mine we got 2 Optiplex 330's from and he said that the Optiplex 330's can handle Quad-Cores and more memory. Here is where I found Tech Specs for Optiplex 330 <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
I have the Desktop or Slim tower I call it lol. And I'm showing 16A on 12V rail per the Tech Specs PDF. Only Have 1-160GB Sata HD which I had 2 other 80GB's with no problems but took them out because I'm waiting on getting a Hitachi 2TB 3G HD next week. I play a few games and I have Age of Empires running High or Max graphic Settings without any problems. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187132 And I just noticed where you got the 22A on 12V.. I have no problems even using BOINC which I have set for 100% dual core and 90% RAM and still able to watch AVI's while crunching numbers. I'm taxing the *** out of this PC and working without any problems.
Here is the RAM I'm using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161183 Went from 667Mhz to 800Mhz and only saw a little difference I have the Pics of 2GB vs 4GB
CPU Microcode http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode
Well Enough of my writing. I have a few questions about the way you guys run or handle dual booting. But that's another txt.
Liverocket
Zuxy
9 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 22:00
Not to mention that the bandwidth of either 800MHz or 1066MHz dual channel DDR2 exceeds the CPU's FSB so you'd expect diminishing returns, especially if the 1066MHz version's latency is virtually the same as the 800MHz's.
Liverocket
8 Posts
0
May 4th, 2011 22:00
Well I think last weekend I tried doing the A08 bios and something didn't go or I chickened out at the last minute. But what's the Q8400 running now a days? And I just maxed out BOINC full 100% on all cores and 99% RAM and pushing 44c ..
Liverocket
8 Posts
0
May 5th, 2011 04:00
Yeah those Raptor HD's are sweet I've drooled over them since the 75GB's came out a few yrs ago. I was looking at a magazine online from the UK PC Pro I think and they had a PC in there with 2 of those same drives and it was fast. I also saw the Samsung HD's might be better than the Hitachi I don't know. I've just read that WD and Seagate have alot of problems and I've had a 500GB Hitachi USB Portable drive since Xmas and no problems what so ever. And some of the features the new Hitachi drives have are really nice. Well off to work hopefully I dont get shocked lol. Electrican here cya guys
Live