Precision Workstation 390 processor upgrade in 2010

OK, I upgraded with a eBay $100 Q6600 Quad Core and I am quite happy with it. CPU is faster than the E6300 and the cpu temperature is actually lower (maybe due to the Speedstepping technology). The core is running most of the time under 40 C with the P8016 heatsink from txcesssurplus (using OCZ Freeze thermal compound ... Arctic Silver 5 didn't reach in time), while with the E6300 it was always over 40 C (43-53 C). After a reboot and in idle mode, the temperature is even below 30C (Cool Temp 0.99.6, Real Temp 3.40). Core speed is switching between 1,600 MHz to 2,400 MHz (CPU-Z) depending on the load.
Using a different CPU with FSB 1333 seems not possible as there seems to be no way of changing the FSB speed with the onboard PLL circuit from ICS (954-101).

Anyhow, this should work for a while.

How was the quad core working for you?

Which was the Motherboard model you had?

Thanks

Wechslerl

I am still using the 390 as my main horse with several VMware guest systems and a recent upgrade to Windows 7 (needed support for a new video card with 3 monitors).

HWinfo64: Motherboard Model: Dell 0DN075, Chipset: Intel 975X (Glenwood-DG) + ICH7R.

BIOS: 2.6.0 (05/19/08)

Q6600 SLACR G0

(added also a PERC 5/i RAID controller with extra fan as that thing is hot! The original SAS 5/i controller is extremely slow). The latest boost was the upgrade to a 1GB video card (FireGL Pro v4900 from a v3400) ... no more video 'stuttering' and 'repainting' browser windows. Using right now 810MB video memory (GPU-Z)  with mainly browser windows open and no fancy graphics software running. Got 2 Dell monitors and Samsung HDTV connected at the same time.

Thank you very much for the reply.

I just upgraded the MB to the 390 same as yours and I am very happy to see that your MB is the same.

The firs CPU I placed on it is X6800, which works fine but Dell will not tell me which MB will take the Quad, so I am very pleased to know yours is still working with Q6600.

Two weeks previously I installed A Gateway XBG Big Arm which was supposed to be even better, but it does not come with the front panel connectors so I had problems using it.

That MB will go up to QX6800 but could not make it work correctly.

What are you using the third monitor for and how does it work.

You have two video cards?

Thanks again,

Leon Wechsler

P.S. According to my latest research, our board is the equivalent of Intel 975XBX2

The Intel board can take also Quad Core Xeon X3230 2.66 MHz with 8MB L2 cashe !

Its about 20% faster then the Q6600 !!

With now over 5 years in use my 390 has to do a bit more time before a major upgrade.

I've got one video card AMD FirePro V4900 with 3 ports. Two ports used for normal DVI monitors and one for a 52" Samsung TV set using a 25 ft HDMI cable upstairs to the TV. So my 390 workstation has to work as a Home Theater PC too.

Unfortunately my Creative SB0460 (XtremeMusic) gave up immediately after the extended 3 year warranty. It started with distorted sound for certain audio via the main connectors (headset connector had no distortion) until it died with no sound and a BSOD (NMI ...) a week ago.

I am now using the onboard audio circuits, but cannot yet get the microphone back to work.

Might need to get a replacement SB0460 with the special Creative connector to connect the 390 front connectors.

A used dell Mo-Bo like we have, costs between $65 to $90 on eBay.

A new one is slightly higher, and the audio sounds good. I never used the computer for audio like a good amplifier, because I listen to music on one of the many tuners I have around.

However the QX 6800 or the Quad Xeon that are supposed to work with our Mo-Bo are still expensive around $285 used and over $400 boxed!

With this in mind our computers can still be upgraded for two years or more!

The video-card you are using sounds very nice, does it requires a separate power chord connection?

The Dell that I bought last month requires 140 Watts, so I needed a new power supply to go with it !

Do you remember if the cage fan you have has a 5 pins connector?

My old fan has only 3 so it does not detect the airflow sensor at bios start.

I ordered one with 5 pins so I do not have to press F1 each start-up.

Mine is 6 years old, but by now only the Box the CPU Tower/Fan and CD/floppy are originals, everything else was replaced very recently.

My MB works fine. Just had to replace two or four of swollen/busted capacitors last year (Rubycon MCZ 1800uF, 6.3V; C347 ....) causing BSOD at times.

No, the FirePro V4900 consumes the same as the original v3400 and does not need the extra power connection.

I use the original cage fan, no clue how many pins right now.

Hi,

since it worked for you, can I ask you a quick question? I had no luck. I have a dell precision 390 with a Base Board 0DN075 and bought a Q6600 - ah I see one error I made just now but I will continue this e-mail. I think I had planned to buy the Q6600 but for some reason bought Q8400. This processor did not work. I was able to revert to the previous processor E6400 2.13MHz no problem. So my faux pas is that I got the 8400 instead of 6600? Was this to be expected?

How likely is any damage to the processor? I hope none as it is the same LGA775 - so there should be no physical damage but you never know?

I have a T3400 with an older processor, perhaps I can use it in there.

Comments are welcome.

Thanks,

  Lothar

Hi,

I just recently purchased a second hand P390 with Core 2 Duo E6320. I am planning to upgrade the E6320 processor to Q6600. Do I need to upgrade the memory? Currently it has two 1GB stick PC2-5300 installed.

Another question is what modern video card for gaming can be installed on this mobo? Do I need to upgrade the PSU? (stock PSU rating is 375W) Stock video card installed is quadro fx3450 which is not designed for gaming? Any suggestions? 

Thanks,

Paul

Hi,

I saw that no one had answered your message so here are my thoughts. I doubt that you need to upgrade your memory to get it to work but you sure would want to. I bought 3x 2GB memory upgrades to the 2 GB I had. A total of 8 GB is nice to have and memory is not that expensive any more.

About the graphics, I am not a gamer so I can't tell for sure but I can tell you what worked for my applications. I installed an Nvidia Quadro FX 4600 that I bought for $240 (new, amazon). I did not have to upgrade the PSU and I have not seen any side effects (overheating or noise). However I do think about getting a more powerful PSU eventually. I use this card for quad buffered stereo under Linux and it is amazingly fast. The FX4600 should also perform well when used with Games - after all it is a high-end graphics card. I think this card is the best deal (that I could find) for the price/performance ratio. The FX 3800 costs almost the same as the FX 4600 so the lower end is not worth it and the next step beyond is already in the ~> $800 range (FX 5600).

Okay some corrections - I dealt with 2 upgrades that I confused a bit so here it comes ....

The current system: Precision 390, Intel Core2 6400 2,13 MHz, 4 GB Ram (sorry the other machine was upgraded!), Nvida Quadro FX4600, Nvidia 3D Vision 2 kit, Monitor SamSung 2233Rz, 1.5 TB system disk, original PSU, motherboard.

OS: CentOS 6.2

Hope this helps.

Lothar

Just in case anyone else wanders to this thread in the same way I did.

LesserTX - I know I'm a little late here, but the answer is yes, it was to be expected.

The Dell 0DN075 motherboard does NOT support the 'x8xxx' range of socket 775 processors. I learned this in the very same way that LesserTX did - I currently have an E8500 sat on my desk, and once installed, the Precision 390 does a full, constant, initial power ON (All fans, inc GPU fan at FULL, all indicator lights ON).

So there we have it. Back to the drawing board, and back to my E6600. And if anyone's in the market for an Intel E8500 3.16GhZ C2D chip, there's about to be one on eBay UK!