12 Posts

June 7th, 2006 19:00

I am in the exact situation. I have serveral 2550's with 1.13hmz chips. we are going to canablize 1 server and "beef-up" another with it's parts. I need to know which VRM to buy. A Dell parts rep told me i needed a p/n: 11gef. I researched this part and had to call back and get the proper part #. The new Dell parts rep told me that the p/n: 4n594 & the p/n: 4f522 are identical. Is this true?

Thanks

PHD

54 Posts

June 7th, 2006 20:00

That's the essence of my question - I thopught I could rely on - and should adhere to the specific part numbers in my Dell configuration report - in which case I bought the right parts - but maybe they are compatible, and Dell simply began substituting the parts before giving the new one a new part number? They are hard to compare for interchangeability - the pinning on the edge connectors seem very different, one one part several pins are commoned, on the other they are individual tracks on the connector - of course they could be commoned on the mainboard anyway - but hard to see without more information.
 
So let's hope a Dell certified moderator can give us a definitive answer on this.
 
For what it's worth, this is the info I have om 2550 mainboards -
 
9H068 - PIII 1GHz or 933MHz Coppermine board
for SL5QJ CPU (dpn 6E233)
with 370MP heatsink and 11GEF VRM
 
9G788 - PIII Tualatin mainboard
for SL5PU 1.13GHz (dpn 6F246) with 370MP heatsink and 4F522 VRM
or
SL6BY/SL5XL 1.4GHz (dpn 6T332) with 5E495 heatsink and 4N594 VRM
 
I also have noted an 11XCT 2550 mainboard, though I'm not sure of its spec.
 
So according to this info, as I have a 4N594 VRM, it should at least be running a 1.4GHz CPU, with another heatsink and possibly even another mainboard.
 
Let's hope for some quick technical info on this.... :)
 
 
 

Message Edited by channel6 on 06-07-200611:22 PM

54 Posts

June 13th, 2006 19:00

For the benefit of any other user with a similar problem/question, here's the result....

I was unable to find a definitive answer to this via this forum - but browsing the archives did show that the subject was under discussion a few years back - on both PE2550, 2500 and SC versions. Twice I found references to the fact that the 4F522 and 4N594 CPU VRM's are interchangeable. Though I also found postings with replies from Dell folks giving other part numbers for VRM's compatible with this bopard and CPU - which made me somewhat reluctant to test on a server in service.

In the end there was no other option but to try - the conclusion is that a PE2550 with this spec -

spec as follows -
TAG #96V4B0J
p/n 9G788 Rev A08 Motherboard
p/n 6F426 CPU 1.13GHz 512K Tualatin (SL5PU)

Can have an additional SL5PU CPU added, (including the 370MP heatsink) and using a 4F522 VRM - even though the primary CPU VRM is a 4N594.

And as I also discovered, upgrading an existing Windows 2000 Server installation from single to dual CPU is only a matter of updating the ACPI Uniprocessor driver to the ACPI Multiprocessor driver under "Computer Management>Devices>Computer".

In the end - it was no problem, but it would have been nice to be able to find a definitive answer first! I hope someone else can benefit from the above...
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