Dell Precision 670 | WIN 64Bit OS Upgrade Possibilities?

djbis,

Thank you for contacting the Dell Community Forums.  Windows XP is the most recent Microsoft OS that Dell supports for the Precision 670.  That doesn't mean newer operating systems (like Vista and Windows 7) won't work on the 670, but it does mean that it may be difficult to find drivers for those operating systems if they're not natively provided.  You may be able to install Vista or 7 successfully on your 670, but because the system wasn't specifically tested for compatibility with those OSes, Dell can't guarantee that it will work.  If you want to try to install Windows 7 on this system, it's probably a good idea to run the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor and see what it says.  If it finds that the system is compatible with Windows 7, you will probably be able to install that OS, but you will likely need to rely on vendors like Intel for drivers.

Hi, Windows 7 does in fact run fine on a 670, well my 64bit Ultimate does anyway. Obviously the makers can't support the machine forever and you are your own.

My disc drives are a pair of SATAs running in Raid 0, I did try a few drivers for these during installation.

Once the driver issue was resolved I deleted the partitions created with past 64 bit XP install and then let Windows 7 do it's stuff.

Runs great despite only 2Gb currently fitted, machine has a pair of 3.06Ghz HT Xeons.

I was concerned that the machine would be sluggish but in fact it seems faster than it was previously.

OS is stable and Windows 7 seamlessly installed drivers for Video, Sound etc etc.

Not tried any SCSI devices yet but I am confident it will be fine.

I just ran across this post and thought I'd toss in a few cents worth of my experience.  My machine is running Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit which is basically the same as 7 Ultimate minus multimedia stuff.  The only drive I've noticed missing is something for RAID but I wasn't planning on using that anyways.  There are dual 2.8 Ghz Xeons and 2 Gbs of RAM but I've noticed the machine idles a bit high in RAM consumption.  Also, I have a SATA 250Gb primary, SATA 500Gb secondary, and a 73Gb SCSI that I was going to use as back up but I can't find the drive in the device manager.  Any have thoughts on that?

Yes win7 is not recommended for 670 system but its support win7 32 bit. the only thing to do is load scsi raid or sata raid drivers for win7. and you can find  these drivers from adaptec official website in support and download option. 670 contain adaptec u320 hostraid chips that control scsi drive. download it and extract zip files then load these files in win7 while instaling os.

I've been running Windows 7 64-bit on my Dell 670 for over a year now.  It runs fine and works with all the hardware -- stock hardware, at least.  I've upgraded my 2GB / 2.8 GHz dual CPU system to 6GB of RAM and dual 3.8 GHz Irwindale Xeons (fastest available).  And I put an Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS video card in it.  It's a much faster system now...

The only problem I've run into is when I put a 4-port SATA-2 PCI-X card in it, intending to run 3 internal SATA-2 hard drives and cable the 4th port to a rear e-SATA jack.  Ubuntu Linux 64-bit works with this card (and the rest of the 670) with no problems, but the card does not work in Win7, unfortunately... But I think it's just an issue with the manufacturer's drivers; it's not a Dell peripheral.  So no, XP is definitely not the end of the road for this machine. 

One other thing I did that helps was to get a 5-1/4" front bay device that cables the sound, FireWire, and USB ports from the rear of the unit through to the front bay.  I have to keep the bay door open all the time to be able to use it (but all the 670s we have where I work have had those doors removed years ago).

Dual-booted with 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04 and 64-bit Windows 7...  It's still a real work-horse of a machine.

However, I'm about to reconfigure it again -- which is what led me here.  I want to see if I can get Windows 7 to run with two SATA hard drives in RAID-1 mode.  That's going to be an interesting challenge...  Does anyone have any experience using the Adaptec Raid Controller capability in WIndows 7 64-bit with this model?  Any other method?  I know this was a feature option with WinXP, but Dell won't provide a Windows 7 version of the driver software for this platform, due to its age.  (I know that if I needed to do this in Linux it would be a 15-minute job...)

I too have been running Win7 x64 Ultimate on my Precision WS670 for over a year. Not a single problem to report. The only issue at installation was that the on-board SCSI controller was not supported under Win7, so I had to move to a SATA drive (which I had in stock). I have Ubuntu on the 10k 140Gb SCSI drive as an alternative system that I occasionally use for programming.

I upgraded from dual Xeon Nocona 2.8Ghz (1M cache) to dual Xeon Irwindale 3.8Ghz (2M cache) and 4Gb of RAM. I find the system really fast for general purpose stuff and gaming but I did notice that it's completed left behind by my Core 2 Duo E8600-based Vostro 200S when I do a bit of Video encoding. All in all, it makes a nice machine for my teenage son, especially with the dual 19" flat screens.

I've kept the original nVidia Quadro FX1400 and have been wondering about upgrading to a more powerful FX3450 (I'd go for a cheap ebay buy) but it's probably not worth it or not the right upgrade for games. I bought the station from work a couple of years ago where it was used for AutoCad purposes.

Interesting to read about the SCSI driver, I've tried with both XP 32bit driver + IBM driver and it worked! I now have access to my SCSI drive. I think I'll re-install the OS on it.

djbis, Thank you for contacting the Dell Community Forums.  Windows XP is the most recent Microsoft OS that Dell supports for the Precision 670.  That doesn't mean newer operating systems (like Vista and Windows 7) won't work on the 670, but it does mean that it may be difficult to find drivers for those operating systems if they're not natively provided.  You may be able to install Vista or 7 successfully on your 670, but because the system wasn't specifically tested for compatibility with those OSes, Dell can't guarantee that it will work.  If you want to try to install Windows 7 on this system, it's probably a good idea to run the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor and see what it says.  If it finds that the system is compatible with Windows 7, you will probably be able to install that OS, but you will likely need to rely on vendors like Intel for drivers.

Can anyone tell me which IDE driver they are using for Windows 7 x64 on a Precision 670? I'm trying to install Ultimate and keep getting the error message that I need a driver for the CD/DVD ROM drive. I've been presuming that it is asking for an IDE driver since the drive itself shouldn't really have one. If anyone could help out it would be greatly appreciated. I have Windows 7 Pro x86 running on another Precision 670 and that one is running great.

What media are you trying to install Win7 x64 from? This error message is usually encountered if you try to install from a USB device or if you have a "not-so-valid" OS installation kit (if you see what I mean)...

I'm trying to install from a copy of the media so I guess it's conceivable that there's something funny with it but there shouldn't be. I've used it to install Windows 7 on a Precision T3500. The company I work for doesn't by very many hard copies of the software. We are given copies while the originals are kept in storage and we use the copies with the CALs that are purchased separately.

I was hoping someone could just tell me which driver they had had success with.

If you're trying to install from a DVD and from a "standard" SATA CD/DVD-ROM drive, there is no driver to load.

I have encountered that issue on 1 occasion and it was a duff copy of Win7. It worked perfectly with a proper copy on DVD.

I know this is an old post - however - I'm trying to install Win7 64bit on a Precision 670.  XP pro still on but want the upgrade.  I hear on the net it is possible. But the HD is not recognized during the install process.  I have heard there is a specific scsi HD driver for the AIC-7901 adaptec scsi interface built onto the motherboard.  Everyone says get the driver, but I've been trying driver after driver with no success.  

What is it I'm missing?  

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

thanks

Well, let's determine for sure which storage controller you have.

Do you have SCSI drives or SATA drives?

If SATA, are they connected directly to the motherboard or to a card?

If SCSI, are they connected to the motherboard or to a card?  If a card, which one (PERC or non-PERC)?

It could be variations of the motherboard.  They made four different mobos so it may depend on that but don't quote me on that.  Considering even if you got the SCSI to pick up, I would just recommend going to a SATA.  In a future upgrade to Windows 8 or beyond, my guess is the SCSI won't work.  Just food for thought, my original mobo blew 14 capacitors so I acquired the "high end" parts and am now running the XC387 Mobo with 2x Paxville DP 2.8 Ghz.  Let's say that even with 4GB of RAM that the 8 logical cores makes it rather competitive with a Quad Core.

Agreed: Since I posted I made the SATA choice.  For what it will do, that will do!  

thanks for getting back to me.  A little surgery and the old thing will hum nicely.