PE 2850 PERC cards

The 2850 was available with 2 different risers; a PCI-X riser (older architecture) and a PCIe riser (newer architecture and I think some of the older motherboards (earliest 2850's) don't support this riser). You have to have the PCIe riser to be able to use a PERC5E (or PERC6E) and it sounds like you have a PCI-X riser. You should be able to find some information on the 2850 here.

Can the riser be upgraded or does the system board also need to be upgraded along with it?

Later motherboards could be configured with either the PCI-X or PCI-e riser, but the earlier motherboard(s) only supported the PCI-X riser.  So, if yours was the first revision, then you would also have to upgrade the motherboard to be able to upgrade the riser.  What is the part number of your current motherboard?  Since it is against TOS to post your Service Tag, go to support.dell.com, click on Drivers and Downloads, enter your Service Tag, then on the left-hand side, go to Warranty Status.  What is the original "ship date"?  Switch the tab to Original Configuration, search the page for "planar" and paste that line here. 

If you are having problems doing this, you might be tempted to post your Service Tag ... just know that as it is against the TOS, that one post will be edited or deleted by the moderators, after the post is emailed to all those that are subscribed to the thread.

If you are in the States/Canada, you can call Tech Support for free (even if out of warranty) for advice on which one you have and what your options are.

Ship date was: 4/29/06

XC320
Assembly, Printed Wiring Assy Planar, Server, Server Chassis Fox Electronics, PE2850, V4

If memory serves the updated motherboards (with PCIe riser support) came out late 2004 or early 2005. So, as your system was sold/built in April 2006, I'm pretty sure it should support the PCIe riser just fine. So you'll just need to get a PCIe riser for your 2850. You can get it from Dell, or just Google KJ880.

Agreed ... should have been late 2004.  All of my 2850's were built between 1/2006 and 4/2006 and nearly all have XC320 and all but one has a PCI-e riser (X8157).

1 XC320 Assembly, Printed Wiring Assy Planar, Server, Server Chassis Fox Electronics, PE2850, V4
1 X8157 Printed Wiring Assy, Riser Option, PE2850, V3

It is usually best to start at the beginning.  What is your issue?  If the information in the thread didn't help you resolve your issue or answer your question, then you need to supply some specific details about your particular issue.

I know this is an old post but I'm looking to change the back plane in a 2850 to the KJ880. The build date is listed as 12/5/2005 and the planar part number is T7971. How can I check it's compatible?

Thank you