Yet Another... Precision 390 CPU Upgrade Question

All the 1066MHz FSB CPU's are fine with the 390. Dells sells most of the ones you listed.

I have a Precision Workstation 390 with the Core 2 Duo 6300 processor. I'm looking to upgrade the processor and I have a few questions:

1. Is the Core 2 Duo 6750 compatible with my system? I know the 6750 has a 1333 FSB, and my computer only runs at 1066, but will the 6750 at least run at 1066, or is it in fact completely incompatible with my system?

2. Will the Core 2 Quad Q6600 be compatible with my system? Would I have to reinstall Win XP Pro in order for all 4 cores to be recognized? In your opinion, would the Q6600 be a better upgrade than the 6750? (I do a lot of HD video editing with Sony Vegas).

3. Does changing the proc myself void the warranty?


Thanks in advance!

Message Edited by metrolens on 09-09-2007 09:49 AM

Message Edited by GoHack on 09-09-2007 10:03 PM

Message Edited by GoHack on 09-09-2007 10:39 PM

I went ahead and bought the q6600. I've never installed a CPU and have a few more questions:

-Is there any reason the stock Precision 390 heatsink won't be good enough? My current system has the Core 2 Duo e6300, and I was planning to continue using the same heatsink with the q6600. Would this be a mistake? (I don't play video games, but do work with HD video).

-Do I need to use thermal paste to install the q6600? Any other considerations to keep in mind for the installation? (I know to be static free, not to touch the cpu pins or socket, and keep everything clean).

-How exactly do people find out how hot their processors are running?

Excellent, thanks for the advice GoHack. I do not plan on overclocking the chip at all (which may be obvious with the Dell BIOS). So hopefully the current heatsink will suffice. A few more questions:

-I will pick up some Arctic Silver. Do I also need to get Arctic Clean (their cleaning fluid)? The instructions recommend cleaning the CPU surface with Arctic Clean before applying Arctic Silver - is this step necessary?

-Is there any possibility that my heatsink isn't designed to accept thermal paste (this may be a dumb question, apologies in advance)?

-In the Arctic Silver instructions it says: "If your heatsink has a thermal pad mounted on it, this pad must be removed before using Arctic Silver 5. If your heatsink has thermal interface material applied to it, it must be removed first. After the pad or thermal interface material is removed, ONLY Arctic Silver 5 will be between the CPU heatspreader and the heatsink." Will my heatsink have one of these? If it does, should I just leave it alone and not use Arctic Silver at all? I'm getting a little nervous.

-I downloaded and installed Core 0.95, my computer with the e6300 is currently running at 41 and 42 degrees C, with only a browser and a text editing program open. Is this ok?

Message Edited by GoHack on 09-11-2007 04:59 PM

Thanks again GoHack, you are extremely helpful. More please!

-I just bought some Arctic Silver 5 from Radio Shack. So you think with the stock heatsink, the Arctic Silver 5 will give better cooling than just leaving the thermal pad in place?

-When you install the q6600, are there any jumpers or anything else that needs to be modified?

-Did you use a q-tip and some isopropyl 90% to gently clean off the surface of the cpu, then wait for it to dry, and then apply the Arctic Silver?

-I'm very interested to know what happens with your p8016 heatsink, as I may be following in your footsteps on that! Is it difficult to install a heatsink, or does it just basically snap right in?

-My ambient room temperature is always around 75-80 F. It's pretty hot in here. So on my B2 e6300 I'm seeing temps of 40-42 C at idle (or with a few light programs running). When the cpu is loaded, the temps spike almost immediately to a 47-49 degree range. Does this sound like normal behavior?

-I haven't measured my 6300 temps when rendering video (which is really the most intensive thing my cpu will be doing). I am a bit concerned that video editing or rendering on the q6600, which may indeed load all 4 cores simultaneously for hours at a time (in a program like Sony Vegas), could pose a problem. Am I right, and should I actually think about getting the p8016 heatsink?

Great, thanks so much yet again! My responses to your responses below...

1. "The silver in the Arctic Silver is a better conductor of heat that the silicon used in the thermal pad. The pad also has a measurable thickness, which also hurts in the transfer of heat.

With the thermal compound, you want the very minimum of compound. Again follow the Arctic Silver website directions."
-------Gotcha. I downloaded the PDF from Arctic, and see how it's done.-------


2. "There are no jumpers. I would again recommend updating your BIOS w/the latest one, using your present setup, before installing the Q6600."
-------Great. And I already updated the BIOS. Currently running 2.4.0.-------


4. "Do you see what appears to be tubes on your heatsink, w/a copper base, or is it all aluminum? You should be able to see, w/o removing the heatsink. Again, my heatsink is all aluminum.

The P8016 mounts exactly like the stock heatsink. My P8016 was suppose to arrive today, but didn't. "
-------Checked my heatsink, it's all aluminum. No trace of tubes or copper. So we're in the same boat. And I can't wait to hear your p8016 results either!-------


6. "Does your software utilize multi-processing? In other words, is it designed to run on all available processors? If not, it's only going to run on just one of the cores. What graphics card do you have? If the software is designed to utilize that video card, that will take a load off the processors."

-------I have an nVidia Quadro NVS 285 video card, 128 MB Ram. But AFAIK the video editing program I use (Sony Vegas 7) actually doesn't use the Video RAM at all. (I think After Effects does make use of it, but I don't use AE much).

I'm running Windows XP Pro, which will use all 4 cores. I know Sony Vegas 7 is multithreaded, and I think it takes advantage of as many cores as you have (that is to say, at least two cores and possibly even 4).

I wanted to get the q6600 because editing in HD and authoring HD-DVDs and BluRays requires lots of rendering, and involves large files (footage) that you want to be able to manipulate effortlessly. The e6300 was actually sufficient even with its measly 2mb L2, but I'm hoping the q6600 will blow it away, along with every task I throw at it.-------

Message Edited by GoHack on 09-12-2007 08:53 AM

Thanks again GoHack.

For the moment the 285 is fine for my purposes. But I may want to upgrade at some point in the future and those cards look like worthy candidates.

I think my processor is arriving today. I can just install the q6600 and use it with the current stock heatsink for the moment, correct? And then switch to the p8016 if that turns out to be necessary/beneficial?

Could I even just leave the thermal pad in place, or do I really need to make the switch to Arctic Silver from now on? How often do you need to reapply Arctic Silver?