Dell Dimension E520 CPU Upgrade

I'm aware this is an old thread, but it's been very valuable to me, having just acquired a 4Gb RAM, P4D-2.80gHz E520.  Thanks to all.

My usage is non-gaming but I multi-task.

I am shopping for a 'Q' or 'QX' cpu in one of the flavors Neil posted, after installing a single slot Radeon HD6450, running the stock PSU w/o trouble.  The BIOS is now 2.4 plus Sammy SSD830 + Win7 Pro/32 bit.

Q:  Will reinstalling Win7 as a 64 bit O/S show much speed improvement, with access to the 'extra memory?

Q:  will the 'X' version, with the quad cores show much speed improvement, given non-gaming use?

Thanks in advance.

Installing a 64 bit OS will result in a slight but noticeable improvement in performance due to access to the full 4Gb of RAM. however, the real advantage is that you can install higher capacity RAM modules; up to 2Gb per slot, and get the full benefit of the upgrade. Regarding the CPU, I did notice a slight improvement when upgrading from the Q6700 @ 2.66GHz to the QX6800 @ 2.93GHz but it wasn't dramatic. One of the advantages of the Extreme series CPUs is a fully unlocked multiplier, which is designed to allow extreme overclocking. The trouble is the Dell BIOS does not permit hardware-based overclocking at all so you are stuck with the stock speed. It may be possible to oveclock the CPU using software such as ClockGen but I haven't felt the need to try it. Nonetheless, I am more than happy with the QX6800 which, coupled with 8Gb of RAM, delivers awesome performance. For your purposes a Q6700 or even a Q6600 @ 2.4GHz would be adequate and would deliver a huge performance jump over your Pentium. They are also somewhat cheaper to buy second hand than the QX series.

thanks Neil.

Pretty much as I figured on the speed, having seen nice improvements with memory adds.  I am not, at the moment, willing to reinstall everything for the 64 bit OS.

I  shopped long enough and bought a Q6700 at 1/5 the cost of any QX6800 I could find.  While I already have the same cooling system you mentioned, I will wait to install and decided the slight increase was not worth the possible heat issues, either.

I overclocked the prior Intel P4 system with good result, for a while, then had problems, so I won't mess with the system which is too essential for failure, so the Dell restriction is not a big deal.... for now.

Thanks again for hanging out here and helping newbies to this machine.  Ahhh.. just recalled that I need to check my heat sink compound supply.

Nice improvement with the Q6700, though I cannot claim to tax it much.

While I am not a big fan of Samsung, having gotten no support for an 830 SSD I bought, I was able to get it setup as the boot drive.  The slow boot a minute or so, at the RAID message was irritating.

Not sure why it worked, but I changed it to non-RAID, as the drives are; no boot, as it warned.  Then returned to RAID as the machine likes and the hang is minimal, tho it still takes 30 seconds to boot to WIN7Pro 32.

Seems like you are making good progress. For my money, the 64 bit OS is worth the effort of re-installing everything for the performance kick you get with the extra RAM. With respect to RAID, I have my OS installed on a 128Gb OCZ Vertex SSD non-RAID but I store all of my data, including games, on a pair of Western Digital 500Gb  HDDs in a RAID 1 array. This works perfectly for me. I like the security of the built in redundancy of RAID 1 for my data. Very quick response times for data retrieval and super quick boot. Having said that, 30 second boot for Win 7 32 bit is not too shabby. Enjoy your E520.

thanks, Neil

My issue with a reinstall is that I do not have disks for that and don't know how to backup/move or another way to transfer all the programs.  This machine was part of a large network, with remote admin.

For clarification, that 30 sec. boot was just for the RAID process, part the entire boot process and roughly doubling the total time.  I use a personal cloud or network drive or backup, that desktop being, obviously, always attached, in addition to a quick large internal HD.

The situation would change significantly, were it possible to change to 64 easily.

Backup to a 2.5 INCH laptop drive using a SATA Wire and software to Clone Drive to drive.

An ICY Dock allows you to mount the laptop drive as a standard drive.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/314223/SATAWire_Kit__-_25_SATA_Drive_to_USB_Adapter_Cable

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994083

OK, by way of comparison, the RAID component of my boot process takes between 12 and 15 seconds. Total boot from cold to full desk top is between 25 and 35 seconds.

As for the reinstall issue, the problem with cloning, or re-imaging, as proposed by the other respondent to this thread, is that this copies the OS as well, which you don't want if you are upgrading the OS to 64 bit. It has never been an issue for me as I have installation disks and/or download keys for all of the other purchased software, such as MS Office, Norton Internet Security etc. Everything else I can download fresh from the web. For most software, including Microsoft products, you can download the install files from the web provided you have valid product keys. If you compile a list of product keys prior to upgrading the OS, that might be a solution.

I see a bit of a conflict I am trying to resolve. the person who tried the Q6700 said it worked fine with 2.4.0, but someone else has said the chipset doesn't go beyond 1066MHz.

I have an E520. I was thinking of upgrading at some point to a quad core, but I see those have a 1333MHz bus speed.

in fact, nothing above a core 2 duo E4500 that I have seems to have a bus speed that is under or meets 1066MHz. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Duo%20E4500%20HH80557PG0492M%20%28BX80557E4500%29.html

I would like to find out

• would the clock speed that's in the E520 make any difference in the bus speed (I know there's an internal clock multiplier), in order to make a 1333MHz work with that chipset that's in the E520?
• should I really try to push it that far, or leave it the way it is? I want stability. my guess is no.

thanks.

it would be nice if it were the Q6700. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Quad%20Q6700%20HH80562PH0678MK%20%28BX80562Q6700%29.html

even better if it were the Q9650 or Q9770. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Quad%20Q9650%20AT80569PJ080N%20%28BX80569Q9650%20-%20BXC80569Q9650%29.html

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core%202%20Extreme%20QX9770%20EU80569XL088NL%20%28BX80569QX9770%29.html

I don't understand how die size makes a difference with whether or not a chipset can interface with it. it's speed and timing that makes all the difference as best I understood in digital electronics classes.

there are some aspects I don't know about a proc, like it's internal clock multiplier, but I suppose that can be figured out. hmm. 2.2GHz/what clock speed?=2.2e9/clock speed=????

isn't the clock speed something like 100MHz or 200MHz?

if that's the case, then
2.2e9/100e6=22 (E4500) 2.2GHz proc 800e6/100e6=8 (E4500) 800MHz FSB
3.2GHz/100e6=32 (QX9770) 1600e6/100e6=16 (QX9770?) 1600MHz FSB

2.2GHz/100MHz=22, 1333MHz/100MHz=13.33 (Q6700?) 1333MHz FSB

hmm...

I don't know the internals of procs and I haven't examined the internals of the mobo yet, this is just a guess... and I am probably not about to take it the cpu off just yet to find out...

All I know is what I did and what works: Q6700 quad core, etc.  I'd seen that others did it and for the seemingly smallish increases from faster, higher numbered CPUs or the (untested?) E series, I stayed 'safe'.

The Dimension E520 motherboard has an Intel P965/G965 chipset. The two chipsets are identical except for the presence or absence of on-board video (which the E520 has). If you go to the Intel Ark page for the P965 chipset and click on the Compatible Products link to the left of that page, you will see a list of compatible CPUs. The Q6600, Q6700 and QX6800 are listed there. There are also Core 2 Duos up to  the E6420. The key here is that they all have an FSB of 1066MHz. The later quad cores mentioned above (QX9770) will not work as they have a higher FSB (1600MHz) than the chipset will support. I am 100% confident that the Q6700 and QX6800 will work in the E520 because I have used both of them in my machine. It is currently running the QX6800 and has been doing so faultlessly for more than three years. The only caveat is that you must have the latest BIOS installed: 2.4.0 before upgrading to these CPUs. You can download that from the Dell support page for the E520 as a Windows executable file that works without a hitch. If you want to try a later CPU that is not on the Compatible Products list for the chipset, I believe you will burn your money.

Neil is such a font of knowledge; the oracle at Dellmension.  LOL

I should correct my prior by saying the 'higher' CPUs had a price point that I was unwilling to cross for the performance boost.  I just bought two additional memory sticks to go to 8gB, as I ready for 64bit Win7 (from 32bit).  I practiced that process on my son's thinkpad, including making a bootable USB install/repair stick.

I am unhappy with Samsung's lack of support for an SSD I have, them denying it was their product despite it being silk screened by them as Samsung and two computers' BIOS' seeig it as such.  Their Wixard software will not work with it, which is why I wrote their 'customer support'...NOT.  that SSD went to the Thinkpad after I bought/installed an Intel SSD for the Dell.  The other SSDs just don't seem to have the trouble-free operation of an Intel.

I will again thank Neil for the help that made it possible to really enjoy the free-to-me E520; my first Dell machine.

I do see one issue with my E520.  It briefly freezes while I play a solitaire game, which I see during no other ops.

 I share your pain with SSDs. My OCZ Vertex II SSD died completely without warning a week ago, just out of warranty. I have since replaced it with an Intel 530 series SSD that comes with a 5 year warranty. Intel also have software to monitor the health of your SSD. the freeze during Solitaire is a mystery. Try checking your event log in control panel and see if anything shows up.

The fragility of SSDs has me thinking that the only way to employ them, on machines with important info is to use a RAID array, doubling the already high cost. More disturbing is that they are not recoverable and fail, as yours did, suddenly..

A friend in the biz recommended hybrid drives, largely due to these reasons.  I am looking into 10,000 rpm drives as a speed-similar option.

Yes, for precisely those reasons I only use the SSD for the operating system and software installations. All data, including documents, pictures, music, videos, favourites, contacts, downloads and other user libraries, is stored on a pair of conventional HDDs in a RAID 1 array. My rebuild last week took less than an hour after installing the new SSD. Still inconvenient but not disastrous. Applications still open very quickly but my data is secure. As you say, using an SSD RAID array for everything would be hugely expensive, as you would need two of the largest capacity SSDs available.