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Labatyd

39 Posts

668625

October 25th, 2007 21:00

Question for a Precision 690 Quad-core owner...

If you're in possession of one of the above, I'd love to know what the part number is on your motherboard.
 
Thanks in advance.
 
 
 
 - Lab

tphillips63

2.6K Posts

October 28th, 2007 12:00

The part number and revision did not change in the transition from dual to quad cpu support. It was the manufacture time of the board that mattered. I originally had two dual cores and changes to dual quad cores but was evidently lucky that I had the board capable of doing quad support. Mine came with a creative labs x-fi sound card and until I took that card out it would not boot through so the BIOS could reconfigure itself for the new CPU's. Before that I kept getting an unsupported CPU error message. Let me know if this is why you are asking.

Labatyd

39 Posts

October 30th, 2007 07:00

That is why I'm asking, but your explanation didn't include the part number :)
 
 
 - Labatyd

Labatyd

39 Posts

November 5th, 2007 14:00

Following some poking around it would seem the following is true:
 
DT029    Earliest 690 motherboard revision, not quad capable. (confirmed - rejects Xeon E5310)
F9394     Revised 690 motherboard, not quad capable. (confirmed - rejects Xeon E5310)
MY171    Revised 690 motherboard, quad capable.
 
If anyone has anything to add or questions regarding this information, please contact me.

kawalkowski111

31 Posts

December 7th, 2007 16:00

I found a blog of a person with the older 690. I asked about which version He has and the person identified it as ODT029 (the old version that is not supposed to support Quads) And he is running it with dual Quads 5350s.
 
SO I want to say its possible to run quads with DT029 and probably with the F9394.
Here is the link to the blog

 

 Intel specs for 5000x says that it compatible even with the Penryn core but probably needs a Microcode update.
Link to intel 5000x spec:
 
 

 

 



Message Edited by kawalkowski111 on 12-07-2007 01:15 PM

Labatyd

39 Posts

December 7th, 2007 16:00

Yes, I am aware of the solutions you can use in order to get an incompatible motherboard working with a quad core, but at the end of the day they are only temporary. I don't have full data on what is different in terms of functionality between the different revisions of the x5000, but I think it is fair to assume that Dell hasn't put the restriction in place for fun.
 
For those of you that don't know, you can get a both a DT029 and F9394 motherboard 'working' with quad-core CPUs.
 
For F9394 motherboards: Any BIOS revision can be used, when you get the "incompatible processor detected!" message unplug the machine from the mains and remove the clock battery. Wait for at least 30 seconds before re-inserting the battery and then restore the power. The machine will operate normally up until the point where it is unplugged from the mains, at which point you will have to repeat the procedure.
 
For DT029 motherboards: The same as above except you must be running BIOS revision A01 (A02 is a possibility but untested) or lower. If you only have a quad-core chip you will need to find a dual-core CPU to downgrade the machine with, the battery removal trick will not work if you have upgraded the BIOS past A02.
 
Having said all the above, I have not tested every permutation, and am eager to hear your results.

kawalkowski111

31 Posts

December 7th, 2007 17:00

If you go to the Blog site you will see that the DT029 is running dual quads fine with BIOS A01 and the user used that battery trick to downgrade bios with the quads installed. He also mentioned that the battery solution was only needed with A06.
Dont you think that is strange. Seams Dell is crippling the boards.
 
 
More on DELL:
 
I think it is more of a Sell strategy. Dell wants us to upgrade to T7400 platform to get into the peryn quads. If the equipment works with just the battery trick  there is no reason for it not to work all the time ecept that Dell dosnt want it to work. All is needed is a BIOS upgrade to the latest Intel microcode and its done.
 
 
I cant believe such a company is doing such unapplealing thing to their customers.
 
Consumers have rights too and Dell needs to know about our dissappointment.


Message Edited by kawalkowski111 on 12-07-2007 03:23 PM

Labatyd

39 Posts

December 7th, 2007 18:00

As I said in my previous reply, we have very different definitions of the word 'working'. To assume that Dell disables certain motherboards capabilities just for profit is puerile, especially considering the line in question (P690) is not explicitly denied more recent CPUs in its most recent incarnations.
 
However, I will agree that Dell are extremely poor when it comes to making these compatibility details known to their customers. It really shouldn't be our job.

kawalkowski111

31 Posts

December 8th, 2007 10:00

Ok so I might be overreacting a little.
 
Bottom line is that Dell outsources the manufacuring of its components to other companies
(the competition has the same procedure) and looking at other 5000x solutions I have seen BIOS updates that enable even penryn family compatibility.
Definately support is not Dells strong side - and its a shame on DELL that one has to come to a Forum to learn which equipment works with what. I dont understand why that should be a secret?
 
Thanks for your reply and sorry for Hyjacking the thread.

Labatyd

39 Posts

December 8th, 2007 17:00

I didn't consider your post to be hijacking the thread, it is certainly on-topic.
 
I would be interested if you have any links to back up what you're claiming though; that x5000 based multi-processor solutions (that have been available for as long as the 690) by other manufacturers have no compatibility issues with 53xx and 54xx series CPUs. Simply stating that other manufacturers current x5000 based solutions support quad-core CPUs is inadequate.

kawalkowski111

31 Posts

December 8th, 2007 22:00

The Tyan boards have been around since July 2006 and support Quads:
 


Message Edited by kawalkowski111 on 12-08-2007 07:18 PM

Labatyd

39 Posts

December 9th, 2007 07:00

Yes, that (and a quick search about the board on Google) would seem to support what you claim.
 
I would add that I don't trust manufacturers like Tyan (or any performance oriented manufacturer) to obey compatibility advisories. I guess the only way we would ever find out exactly what is going on is if a poster comes along who is familiar with the stepping revision changes in the x5000 chipset.
 
Having said the above, the one useful fact we can take out of this is that there seem to no serious side-effects to running a quad-core CPU on an early revision x5000, aside of the workaround you need to perform should the power go out. The caveat to that is if we're 'barking up the wrong tree' here, and the actual reason that the 690 shows incompatible processor messages isn't related to the chipset at all.

kawalkowski111

31 Posts

December 9th, 2007 20:00

When I did research on the differences between the 5300 and 5400 series the only thing I saw was the fact of the 5400 having a slightly lower voltage range. This might be indeed the issue with the boards. But I am not totally convinced that this would be the case.
 
Sorry to say I have no clue in what the differences were in all revisions of 5000x
 
P.S.
 
Has anyone tried the 5400 series on the 690 ?


Message Edited by kawalkowski111 on 12-09-2007 05:20 PM

Labatyd

39 Posts

December 10th, 2007 07:00

The 54xx range uses a faster FSB clock, I'm pretty sure the 5000x chipset tops out at 1333MHz. Still, the 54xx line of CPUs might be backwards compatible, which I guess is what you're asking :)

Labatyd

39 Posts

December 10th, 2007 11:00

You're not kidding about those prices, they are very tempting indeed!

kawalkowski111

31 Posts

December 10th, 2007 11:00

A lot of the ne penryns are 1333Mhz FSB and thats the reason for asking
 
Source Intel :
 
Series      Chache      Speed          FSB             Power  Strreet price
 
X5460      12MB          3.16 GHz    1333 MHz     120W
 
X5450      12MB          3.00 GHz    1333 MHz     120W  

E5450      12MB          3.00 GHz    1333 MHz      80W  

E5440      12MB           2.83 GHz   1333 MHz      80W     770

E5430      12MB           2.66 GHz    1333 MHz     80W    

E5420      12MB           2.50 GHz    1333 MHz     80W     380

E5410      12MB          2.33 GHz     1333 MHz     80W     310

E5405      12MB          2.00 GHz     1333 MHz     80W     260


At these prices people will start wondering


Message Edited by kawalkowski111 on 12-10-2007 08:23 AM

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