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Poweredge 2900 (Series 1) CPU Upgrade
Hi,
We currently have a Poweredge 2900 (Series 1) running with a single Xeon 5110 CPU and we are looking to upgrade it to a dual CPU setup.
The bits I think we need are:
- A second heatsink (I think this is Dell part number KC038)
- A bit of thermal paste for replacing the current heatsink on the new CPU
- A pair of matched Xeons
I've been trying to track down some knowledge on CPU compatibility for Series 1 Poweredge 2900s but I haven't yet found anything concrete so wondered if anyone had any experience or knowledge.
With the machine currently running a Xeon 5110 I'm figuring that the motherboard should be compatible with the Xeon 51xx range. Does anyone have any concrete knowledge for CPU compatibility with the older Poweredge 2900s?
Assuming we are compatible with the Xeon 51xx series, the CPUs I have in mind are the Xeon 5150 (2.55Ghz) or 5160 (3.0 Ghz). Neither of these seem to cost an awful lot these days. The great source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, shows the TDP of the 5150 as being the same as the current 5110, 65W, whereas the 5160 gets a bit warmer at 80W. Am I being a bit too cagey if I look for the 5150s just to keep the thermal dissipation the same, or are the heatsinks and cooling happy with the slightly more power hungry 5160?
I also worry about the CPUs stepping. I know that we'll need a matched pair of CPUs, which shouldn't be a problem to source, but will I need to worry about the motherboard's compatibility with different CPU editions/steppings and/or will I need to worry about the machine's BIOS or any other firmware in terms of compatibilty with the different editions/steppings of the Xeons. I wish I could tell you what current BIOS the machine is running but that would require a reboot and with it being a live server I'd sooner avoid that if at all possible. To be honest, I'd sooner avoid flashing any firmware if at all possible as it gives me the heeby jeebies.
Thanks in advance for any knowledge,
Steve.
DELL-Willy M
802 Posts
1
September 22nd, 2011 13:00
Steve,
You are correct about the PE 2900 processor. Since you have a current 51xx processor you would be able to upgrade to any of the 51xx processors. I would advise updating the server BIOS to the most current version. 2.7 is the current version available. Here is a link to the BIOS update page. If you are several versions behind you may want to update one version at a time to ensure that you have no issues getting the BIOS updated properly.
If you are planning on going from one processor to two, then I would suggest buying 2 identical processors to upgrade or buy another 5110 in order to keep the stepping compatible on the processors.
Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.
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SteveHa
3 Posts
1
October 6th, 2011 04:00
So I thought I would come back to tell you how it went. So often these kinds of threads get an answer but the original poster doesn't come back to confirm anything.
The good news is that our Poweredge 2900 (Series 1) is now running 2 x Xeon 5150s. I did the upgrade yesterday. Everything went really well and the machine has been stable ever since (touch wood ... lot's of wood!!)
Here's the story, and perhaps a couple of other useful reference sources for anyone about to undertake the same.
Probably the main point of reference I used was the Wikipedia page for Intel Xeons:
en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_Intel_Xeon_microprocessors
The 51xx series is the Woodcrest core:
en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_Intel_Xeon_microprocessors
And just for reference, here's a link to more details about the stepping differences in these Xeons:
en.wikipedia.org/.../Intel_Core_(microarchitecture)
I was hoping not to have to flash the server's BIOS or BMC or the firmware in the Perc5/i or any other software/firmware. (Willy - thanks for the info however - greatly appreciated!). Given this, I decided to go for what I believe are the older steppings of these Xeons, my theory being that there would be more chance of the older CPUs being compatible with an older BIOS / older motherboard / older machine in general. So I settled on either a pair of Xeon 5150 SL9RU (B2) or a pair of Xeon 5160 SL9RT (B2). Basically, whichever came up first on eBay. I ended up with a pair of the 5150s.
At the same time I sourced a second heatsink, and some thermal paste. The Dell part number for the heatsink is KC038. The thermal paste I used is Thermalright Chillfactor 3 (CFIII). I also had some solution for cleaning the old thermal paste off the old heatsink before reusing this heatsink with the new CPU. I was impressed with the CF3 thermal paste. It's quite gloopy, and while this stuff is never easy to apply, it wasn't the huge chore that it might have been.
Working on the PE2900 was a bit of a dream really, so full marks to Dell for desigining this piece of kit the way they did.
Other bits of reference from the machine:
BIOS Version: 1.3.7
BMC Firmware Version: 1.33
I also added 8Gb of RAM and a DRAC5 card to the server while I had the chance.
The next job is to upgrade the OS from W2003SBS to W2008R2.