XPS 730 New Bios

bubunator,

That is incorrect. We do validate the E8600 on the XPS 730. The part number is N654J.

XPS 730 Processors
Yorkfield Quad Core =
QX9300, 2.50G, 6MB, 1333FSB, M1
Q9400, 2.66G, 6MB, 1333FSB, R0
Q9450, 2.66G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1
Q9550, 2.83G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1
Q9650, 3.00G, 12MB, 1333FSB, E0
QX9650, 3.00G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1
QX9770, 3.20G, 12MB, 1333FSB, C1

Kentsfield Quad Core =
Q6600, 2.40G, 8MB, 1066FSB, G0
QX6850, 3.00G, 8MB, 1333FSB, G0

Wolfdale Dual Core =
E8400, 3.00G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0
E8400, 3.00G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, E0
E8500, 3.16G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, C0
E8500, 3.16G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, E0
E8600, 3.33G, 6MB, 1333FSB, 65W, E0

Conroe =
E6750, 2.66G, 4MB, 1333FSB, G0
E6850, 3.00G, 4MB, 1333FSB, G0

...I stand corrected Chris_M.

 

I guess I'm in need of ol' fashioned technical support. When I try to use an E8600 cpu in my XPS 730 bios version 1.0.2 or 1.0.3 the CPU multiplier is picked up as 6 with no ability to change the multiplier value in the bios.

 

Has anyone else run across this?

 

-bubu

When is the E8600 going to be validated in the XPS 720 or has Dell forgotten about it's obsolescent products? I would like to improve upon my dual core conroe 6700 I am having a problem with CRYSIS and MS FLIGHT SIM and I don't want to buy the ultra overpriced "conroe extreme CPU's" and the E8600 is the answer.

Also I would like to buy an Nvidia GTX280 card, I have seen these for sale on the newer 730 models, do these newer models have a PSU with the 8 pin plug or has Dell found another solution to the connection of this card "an adapter" and is it possible to buy and fit one of these cards to my XPS720?

bubunator,

Make sure C1E and SpeedStep are disabled in the Bios Setup. Once done, is the multiplier still locked at 6x?

K.Cobley,

 

Speaking from my personal experience, the retail boxed Geforce 280's come with a 6pin to 8pin power adapter...your 720 power supply has 2 6pin pci-e plugs so you are covered as long as you are only using a single card. If you want to run 2 of these in SLI, there are 4-pin molex to 6-pin pci-e adapters...but not all retail boxes include those. There are also 1-into-2 pci-e spliters. You should be able to run 2 of these cards in SLI with the 1000watt ps...the 750watt powersupply rails are unfortunetly not beefy enough...you might be able to get away with it, but it'd be border line.

 

I feel your pain on the lack of new CPU support in the 720's (its one of the reasons I ebay-d my 720 and upgraded to the 730). On a personal pointer, you can find an qx6850 retail box on ebay for as little as $400...and OEM (no retail box, heatsink/fan which you don't need anyway) in the low $300's which is within $50 of the current e8600 retail box pricing. You are almost guaranteed a simple multiplier based overclock of 3.67ghz in your 720 on air cooling if you run a qx6850 as long as your room temperatures are resonable.

 

hope the above helps 

Chris_M, thank you for your reply.

 

Both C1E and SpeedStep are disabled in the bios...

 

The option to change the multiplier does not show up under the CPU configuration menu (as opposed being grayed out)...I do have the ability to enable/disable the N/1 (for the .5 multiplier) option thorough the menu, but thats it.

The multiplier change option does show up when a qx9650 or qx9770 is installed. I tried flashing the bios back and forth between 1.0.2 and 1.0.3 a couple of times with no effect.

 

I can confirm the 6x multiplier lock behavior on 2 different xps 730's. The E8600 is properly detected in an XFX 790i board with a bios dating from june/july. I don't have the E8600 box in front of me so I can't list the stepping right now, but its a retail box that was packaged on July 24th...

 

I noticed the 730's are not sold with anything other than a quadcore or an E8400...could there be an unpublished issue with the E8500 & E8600? Any news on the 1.0.4 bios, maybe it will address what I'm seeing?

could there be an unpublished issue with the E8500 & E8600?
* We never tested them. There is no way of knowing.

...can you tell when the E8xxx series of CPU's was validated? It might signal an impending BIOS update to support them.

bubunator,

Apologies. We validated the Dell versions of the E8500 and E8600. Is that our E8600?

...Chris_M, I'm confused. In your earlier post you stated

 

"...We do validate the E8600 on the XPS 730. The part number is N654J"

 

isin't validation a result of testing? 

 

Any chance I can get my paws on the 1.0.4 beta bios? Any idea when we might see the 1.0.4 bios released? 

 

The CPU I am using is a retail box E8600.

 

There is no difference between "Dell's Version" of the E8600 and what's found in retail or from other OEM's. Excluding the stepping, all E8600 cpu's are electrically identical.

 

What bios version was the CPU validated on, is it possible a beta/unreleased bios was used in the validation process?

 

 

Hello bubunator,

 

I ran into the same problem when I tried the E8600 in my 730. As you have said the Bios does not properly

recognize the CPU. I PM'ed Chirs_M and this was my reply: I do not see that on the road map for those system types. I ask about support for XPS 630 and 730.

Sounds to me like if Dell does not sell it they are not going to support it!

...Gunner36190, its good to know I'm not out on the limb here with the issue. I hope a future bios update will address the issue.

 

I went to some extreme lenghts and even force-flashed an XFX 790i bios...with no luck.

 

What I find curious is that Chris_M provided a part # for the E8600 along with a statement that the CPU had been validated. Seems like there is quite a bit of confusion on Dell's end...cpu was validated (but not tested?), its not on a roadmap...a dell e8600 vs an e8600 obtained directly from intel....

 

I suppouse its possible they validated with engineering samples of the 8600 and something changed on the electrical level between the engineering samples and what got shipped as the end product. 

First: you can only change the multiplier on an extreme CPU - aka the $1000 ones, such as QX9650 or QX9770.  Intel locks the multiplier on regular - aka cheap - CPUs to force you to buy the more expensive ones for your OC hobby.

 

Second:  most new CPUs require new microcodes, so yes, you will need to upgrade to a newer BIOS with the new microcode implemented for your CPUs to work correctly.  DELL probably qualifies the E8600 with their testing BIOS (with the new mirocode), which hasn't been released (yet) to the public until they officially sell these processors on their site.

bubunator,

Emailed the engineers.