Power Edge 1900 CPU Upgrade

You can use any of the 65nm Xeon 5000 series processors.

So this means you can use any of the Xeon 5100 or 5300 series, but not the 5200 or 5400 series.

Ok thanks. :emotion-2:

According to Intel - http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/products/server/processors/q5400/feature/index.htm 

“The Intel Xeon processor 5400 series is compatible with Intel® 5400, 5100, 5000P, 5000V and 5000X series of chipsets.”

The Poweredge 1900 uses motherboard OTW855 and includes the Intel 5000P chipset which supports both 1066 & 1333 FSB.  This begs the question, are we simply missing BIOS support from Dell for these newer processors?

The 5200 and 5400 series Xeons use a 45nm die size, which means they need/use a lower voltage. The 1900 was never offered with these processors, so I'd go out on a limb and say that the system doesn't have the ability to lower it's voltage (to the processor socket) to match the voltage requirements of the newer Xeons.

5300 series includes L version processors which are low voltage.  Normal 5300 series VID range is 1.0 - 1.5V, L Versions 0.9 - 1.25V.  5400 series go from 0.85V - 1.35V includng both normal and L versions.  0.05V difference is not enough to keep Harpertown from running on this board.  Dell would rather you spend money on new hardware rather than supporting this upgrade.

3i,

I just bought a PowerEdge 1900 and have been looking at options for CPU's upgrades. I did notice in BIOS 2.4.3 changelog below:

 Added support for Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor 5400 series E0 Stepping
* Added support for Dual-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor 5200 series E0 Stepping
* Updated Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor 5400 series C0 Stepping Microcode
* Updated Dual-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor 5200 series C0 Stepping Microcode

Doesn't that mean you can run a 5400 CPU or only for the later revisions of the PE 1900 ? I was hoping I might be able to run a Xeon X5470 1333FSB 3.3Ghz Quadcore .45NM E0 CPU.

Has anyone tried to use Xeon CPU not listed on the dell Poweredge(PE) 1900 compatibility  list ?

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfb/servers/pedge_1900/pd.aspx?refid=pedge_1900&cs=28&s=dfb

Im mostly curios if it is possibly to run the low voltage Xeon on the PE 1900, e.g. L5335, L5320, ...

I contacted Dell Support here is my email correspondence with them:

"The PowerEdge 1900's only support the 51xx series and 53xx series Xeon processors. PowerEdge 1950 however does support 54xx Xeon processors.

Here are a few processors that has been tested to work with the PowerEdge 1900:
X5355
L5310
E5345
E5335
E5320
E5310
5160
5150
5140
5130
5120
5050"

-----

"There is a newer motherboard revision to support this processor.

This PowerEdge server(ServiceTagRemoved) was purchased back in 2007 and it doesn't support Intel Xeon X5470 or Xeon E5450.

Also, if the front of your system chassis is labeled with a "II," your system is upgradeable to the Quad-Core
Intel® Xeon® Processor 5300 series.

-----

"It will not be able to support Intel Xeon X5365 unless it has a numeral "II" label on the front chassis."

Have now installed a Xeon Quad L5320 on my PE 1900 II (Replaced a Xeon Dual Core 5110). Works perfectly ! Server now draws less power but have twice the number of cores and higher frequenzy. Power consumption in "idle" on my ESXi server is ~166 Watt. Previously ~170 Watt.

It was a good upgrade for the money i paid. about 80$ on ebay.

I bought two Xeon 5405 2.0Ghz 1333MHz 12MB Cache, only the updated BIOS to version 2.7.0 but the E5405 by putting the following message appeared after all the tests POST "unsupported CPU combination. " Is that beyond the BIOS needs to update something else?

The release notes contain the following:

* Updated Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor 5400 series C0 Stepping Microcode (Patch ID=60F)
* Updated Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor 5400 series E0 Stepping Microcode (Patch ID=A0B)

So, from that I would assume there is some support now for certain 5400-series processors ... make sure yours meets the stepping requirements.

Also, did you also update your ESM/BMC when you updated the BIOS?

No, not yet updated the ESM / BMC. I will do it.

yes,there is no problem

many months ago, around BIOS 2.6 release. I also tried the I think E5405 or E5410? the quad cores one. I tried on three different PE1900 (I'm not sure if Canada has PE1900 II)  with several BIOS version from 1.X to 2.6, system boot up showing "unsupported CPU combination"

Since the system boot up fine, I would diagest that sentance as Dell don't like you doing that, therefore they block it. So, I'm stuck with a slow system and a brand new processor collecting dust.