Which Intel CPU For Poweredge 2650???

Question

I presently have a Poweredge 2650 at home running Windows Home Server. Its has dual 2.4ghz CPU's in it and 400fsb and 4gb of PC 1600 ram. I believe I can upgrade to 2.8ghz or 3.02 ghz cpus without doing many major revisions including motherboard swap out and so on but which 2.8 or 3.02 ghz Xeon cpu do I look for??? There are several variant stepping codes on them... SL6M7, SL6YL, etc. The CPU's are inexpensive on E-Bay and available in matched pairs... probably Poweredge pulls. I'm just not sure which CPU version to get? Also can I keep the present voltage regulators I have or do I need to swap those out with the CPU's?

Dev Mgr · Answer

Not all 2650's can do 533MHz fsb, so if you want to play it safe, get Xeons that have the 400MHz fsb. Though you probably won't even notice the difference in performance at all.

Mark Allen · Answer

So are you saying that any 2.8 400 mhz Xeon will work or do I need a specific stepping code on the new 2.8 so it'll work in the 2650? Also, what about the voltage regulators? BTW: I admit I may not gain much but I always have all my older servers upgraded as far as they can go. Its always possible to squeeze a little bit more performance out of them!!

Thanks!

Mark

Dev Mgr · Answer

I'm not sure about 'all' steppings, but Dell never has published exactly which steppings are supported on which system from what I've seen.

umtech · Answer

The steppings on the processors that you buy need to be the same in order to be able to use dual processors on the server. You can't just buy (1) 2.8ghz processor of stepping sl687 (made up stepping for the sake of the example) and (1) 2.8ghz processor of stepping sh754 (also made up stepping) and put them in the server together and expect them to work. When you buy the processors they need to be 'matched pairs' of the same stepping to be able to run in dual-processor mode. I'd say play it safe and go with either 2.8ghz or 3.02ghz  processors with a front side bus of 400mhz.

Mark Allen · Answer

So what you're saying is that either a pair of    2.8 GHz 2800DP/512L2/400/1.5V SL6WA's will work OR a pair of 2800DP/512L2/400/1.50V SL6M7's will also work. Needless to say... I just want to order the correct thing. It kind f strikes me funny that Dell won't even assist with a question like this on older machines that they no longer even stock CPU's for.

umtech · Answer

Yeap, that's correct. As long as both processors are of the same stepping, either (2) SL6WA's or (2) SL6M7's, they'll work. Just remember, DON'T buy (1) SL6WA and (1) SL6M7 and stick them in the server together and expect it to work. So a pair from either stepping will work just fine for you. On a side note, you think thats bad? Try getting any support or answers when they pertain to a server thats almost 8 years old. The only good thing about them is that the parts for them are really cheap on ebay. By the way, any idea what the stepping is on the 2.4ghz processor of yours? Turns out that the SL687 stepping was an actual stepping. One of my dual-processor systems has (1) 2.4ghz and i believe it's an sl687 and thats why I remembered that particular one.

Mark Allen · Answer

Thanks for the help umtech. Its much appreciated. I am playing with a home server and network and I don't do this for a living except in the Cinema world and D-Cinema equipment which I install. Its all networked more or less the same except there are more and more fibre networks going into movie theaters because of the huge data rate the D-Cinema projectors run at. In many companies with equipmment out there past 8 or 9 years old most of the employees have left and no one really does know in may cases. At least this has been my experience. These companies like Intel don't keep poor producing employees very long! I was actually looking on E-bay for the CPU's. So I'll go ahead and get a pair on the way. Will report back after I do the switch out. Will also let you know what the stepping code is on my pair of CPU's when I do the swap.

Mark Allen · Answer

I received my 2.8 gig SL6WA cpu's tonight and installed them after carefully cleaning the old goop off, straightning two bent pins and applying new heatsink compound! The server booted right up and showed the two 2800 mhz cpu's. All in all things seem to pop a little quicker than they did but I'd say not more then 10 or 15% quicker. I believe this is as fast as one can take the 400mhz buss on the 2650. I looked all over but couldn't find any 3.06ghz 400 mhz buss cpu's. Everything I could locate was for the 533 buss.

My old 2.4ghz cpus were SL65T's.

Message Edited by Mark Allen on 05-21-2008 09:49 PM

PowerEdge Hardware General

Which Intel CPU For Poweredge 2650???

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