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May 11th, 2008 05:00

Q9450 not stable on my XPS 720

Just replaced my Q9450 in my XPS 710/720 with the previous occupant  Q6600. The system is not very stable with the Q9450. The system reboots automatically between 1 and 17 hours. No blue screen just a reboot. All performance options in the bios are disabled. I read on a website, don't know which one anymore, that the first xps 720 motherboards weren't able to run the yorkfields stable. Maybe I have one of those motherboards. It was running F@H smp client.

 

CPU-Z indentifies the motherboard as model 0CK520 Rev A2

 

Dell support in the Netherlands wasn't very helpful. They don't support a cpu on the system which the user has self installed.

 

I found out that their are 2 motherboards available for the XPS 720

 

[ChipSet] NVIDIA Unknown
[ North ] 10DE03A1:A2 : NVIDIA C55
[ South ] 10DE0360:A3 : NVIDIA MCP55

[ Mother ]
Vendor : Dell Inc.
Product : 0U723D
Version : A00

 

[ChipSet] NVIDIA Unknown
[ North ] 10DE03A1:A2 : NVIDIA Unknown
[ South ] 10DE0360:A2 : NVIDIA MCP55

[ Mother ]
Vendor : Dell Inc.
Product : 0CK520
Version : A01

 

The southbridge is a rev higher on the other motherboard.

 

Wikipedia info about the southbridge function

 

In Northbridge/Southbridge chipset architecture designs, the Southbridge is the chip that controls all of the computers I/O functions, such as USB, audio, serial, the system BIOS, the ISA bus, the interrupt controller and the IDE channels. In other words, all of the functions of a processor except memory, PCI and AGP.

3.3K Posts

May 11th, 2008 12:00

   A quick question, have you tried clearing the cmos? Maybe it's trying to use some of the 6600 instructions?

  Just a thought

66 Posts

May 11th, 2008 14:00

Hi gdwrnch3,

 

Yes I did. All the instructions for the Q6600 are included in the Q9450. The Q9450 has some new instructions regarding SSE 4.1.

I'am thinking myself about the FSB. Some new motherboards released with the i680 chipset include higher FSB. For example an asrock board which inclused 1600. It could be a new revision of the chipset.

244 Posts

May 12th, 2008 02:00

Have you updated to the newest BIOS.

I believe it has microcode for the 45nm processors for stability.

 

66 Posts

May 12th, 2008 08:00

Already installed it before changing the cpu. 

 

The system sees it ok it just isn't stable. The system reboots always between 1 and 17 hours of use. My Q6600 which is now back in the system is already running 29 hours stable.

52 Posts

May 12th, 2008 19:00

I just started noticing stability issues w/ my QX9650 as well :/... Although issues don't seem to occur under load but rather when system goes idle... E.g. if I let the system boot up into windows and not do anything for a few minutes, the system will just freeze :/!

Unlike you, I haven't tried running the system under full load for more than a few hours at a time though but it seems fairly stable otherwise...

21 Posts

May 13th, 2008 00:00

Falconxp,

 

I've been running the Q9450 for a few weeks now on A06 firmware.  My 720 motherboard is version A01 which came with my 700/710 upgrade kit.

 

For most part my system seems to be very stable.  I did notice once or twice that the system got stuck or rebooted, but that was in the first few days after installing the new chip.  I'm currently running Vista Ultimate 64-bit with SP1 and 4GB of mem.

 

The one thing I can't explain are the higher core temperatures though, it definetly seems that the system is hotter than before.

 

66 Posts

May 13th, 2008 03:00

Hi Quivver,

 

Intel changed some things regarding temperature reading on the new Wolfdales (E8xxx) and Yorkfields (Q9xxx) so most programs are reading the temps to high. You can use Realtemp which is the best at the moment.

 

Intel doesn't give information free regarding temperature reading so with all the programs it's based on best guess how to measure the temps. Realtemp is the best at the moment for the new 45NM cores.

21 Posts

May 13th, 2008 03:00

I have been using RealTemp for a while and noticed that the Temps on idle are anywhere from 35-42C depending on the core. This is much higher than the 27C that I was getting at idle on E6600 before upgrading. What kind of idle temps are you getting?

66 Posts

May 13th, 2008 06:00

Both my Q6600 and Q9450 were idle around the 35 degrees.

21 Posts

May 20th, 2008 02:00

I just had my first random reboot in a long time!  I was working after having the system on for 3 hours and all the sudden it restarted!

 

Very strange!  There better be a A07 on its way to fix all the issues that A06 enables for Yorkfields.

3.3K Posts

May 20th, 2008 09:00

   Not to be a wise guy, but I've had the 9450 running on my red xps720 from around april 22nd and haven't experienced any issues at all.

 


@quivver wrote:

I just had my first random reboot in a long time!  I was working after having the system on for 3 hours and all the sudden it restarted!

 

Very strange!  There better be a A07 on its way to fix all the issues that A06 enables for Yorkfields.


 

     

 

 

 

21 Posts

May 20th, 2008 16:00

That's the strange part, I haven't seen this happened in a few weeks... I'm going to keep an eye on it.

Message Edited by quivver on 05-20-2008 10:17 AM

3.3K Posts

May 21st, 2008 14:00

   Keep us posted

1 Message

July 15th, 2008 17:00

Has anyone ever managed to find a resolution to this? I'm having the exact same issues with my XPS720 and Q9450. My system just completely freezes, requiring physically pulling out the power cord to shut it off. It seems to occur anywhere from during the boot-up process to several hours after running. It will freeze while under high load, or just sitting idle.

 

Before finding this forum, I'd tried switching out memory, hard drives, and GPU, but nothing made a difference.

 

It's extremely frustrating, and I'm at the point where I'm looking at downgrading to a Q6700.

14.4K Posts

July 15th, 2008 17:00

check the revision number on your motherboard. CPU-z will report this.

 

Also see this thread on Rampant Speculation.com  Q9450 0n a 720

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