XPS 710 Red Upgrade

I have pretty much the same computer and I am especially curious about the CPU-Z determination. That is part of my beef right now. I thought I was getting a 590i as well and it looks increasingly like I got a 570i instead. I will have to dig under the hood to be sure. That is definitely the first issue I think you should address. You paid too much to not get the motherboard your manual says you should have.

 

The RAM is a windows problem with addressing. A 64 bit system would allow you to "see" more RAM. That being said you could run into bussing problems with that older board if you truly wanted performance gains. I think again you should determine what you truly have under the hood before looking to upgrade.

 

BTW I bought mine around the same time frame so if there are motherboard issues I would be curious to here more about it.

 

Also, did you try the motherboard upgrade program?  I did and was told I did not meet the qualifications, which I find to be ludicrous if I am truly having the same motherboard issues you are. Even more so if you paid for a 590i board  (the XPS 710 documentation says you have it) and instead got a 570i.

 

All interesting stuff.

   There is no such thing as a 570 board. I'm not sure why it's reported like that, but it's a 590 in all actuallity.

here's a screenshot of my old XPS 700 board with CPUz

So how did missing out on the 'upgrade' opportunity limit me in actuality?  What can the 720 do in terms of upgrading/etc. that the 710 CANNOT do?

BTW, CPU-Z does say that I have a 570i and the model number listed directly above it is ALSO different than the model number for the pictur eof the 590i you have on the post I'm replying to.  If you could enlighten me how to post pics on these forums I'd show you (I'm really new).

But would switching to 64-bit Vista Ultimate (which I can get for free) and increasing the RAM provide a reasonable way to increase performance?  I've noticed a lot of positive talk about the QX6850 CPU.  Is that compatible with my stock 710 motherboard (570i or 590i or whatever it is)?  Or is upgrading that something else I missed out on when I missed the 'upgrade to a 720' memo?

 

BTW, I think Dell should have sent a memo...haha.  I mean I gave them my email when I bought it in August!

    I'm not sure if the QX6850 will run on your 710 board. One option is to buy the parts from Dell, or on ebay and switch the machine to the 680 board yourself. I did that when the kits first came out. I bought a case and power supply on ebay with the intention of putting the old XPS 700 parts in it for my entertainment center pc. I was browsing ebay one evening and saw an upgrade kit for bid, so I entered 275 bucks not thinking I would get it. The auction ended with me as the winner for 255 bucks, so I assembled another one.

   A few guys on here have bought the parts and switched them over. You need the board, some cables, and I'm not sure if the 710 needed the switch or not. I think it would cost between 3 and 4 hundred bucks. Is it worth it? I think so, my 700's did run good, but these 720's run very nice, I'm glad I did it. I currently have one running with one of the new Intel Penryn 45nm E8400 processors.

   To post pics, you need to have a site to host your images. try downloading the latest version of CPU-z from here: CPU-Z 1.43

Oh, and I noticed again that you run 64-bit OS.  Is it worth the performance gain?  Would upgrading to 64-bit OS & 8GB PC2-5300 RAM be worth $180?  I'm reasonably sure that all my hardware is 64-bit ready and I'm sure the software I really care about using is too.

 

What do you think?

       The problem being, Dell uses the btx form factor, so just any 680 or 780 board won't fit. We are at Dells mercy. As far as the Penryn 45nm processors go, the Wolfdale dual cores will work with bios A05, I have tested this myself. The Yorkfields are not supposed to run on an Nvidia referenced board, weather Dell used the Nvidia reference or not, I can't say. I am thinking about trying a QX9650, I know someone that would let me try it, but my gut tells me it won't operate on all 4 cores if it would run at all..

 

        As far as your 710 board compared to the 720, I can't answer that as mine were all 700's. So I can't really say what you would gain. The QX and X series processors were all overclockable in the bios, on the 7xx series boards. Someone else will maybe chime in on the advantage of the 720 board over the 710, as I can't honestly say. I do know the 720 board will run the 1333MHz processors, and 1066MHz memory if you use SLI/EPP memory, and I'm not sure that the 710 will

So the XPS 720 motherboard can handle 65nm OR 45nm CPU architecture?

 

It seems the prices for the 680i and 780i are not too much different.  I've read the only diff. is that the 780i has 2.0PCI capablities...but I'm NOT gonna be buying two NEW 9800GTX to take advantage of that.  So it would look like the 680i would be the choice for me.

 

But the question still remains...What exactly would I GAIN by upgrading my board?  I mean would I have easier BIOS-centered OC capcity?  Better upgrade capacity (CPU, RAM, etc.)?  I mean what EXACTLY would the 3-4hundred dollars be accomplishing?  Is the 680i board just 'better' than the 590i in the sense that it allows the other technology to 'run faster' together?

 

Excuse my ignorance, but I guess I don't really understand what makes the 680i worth 3-4hundred dollars...

CPU : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (*1)
CPU Arch : 4 Cores - 4 Threads
CPU PSN : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz
CPU EXT : MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 EM64T
CPU Cache : L1 : 4 x 32/4 x 32 KB - L2 : 2 x 4096 KB
Core : Kentsfield (65 nm) / Revision : B3
CPUID : 6.F.7 / Extended : 6.F
Freq : 1596.16 MHz (266.03 * 6)
----------------------------------
MB Brand : Dell Inc.
MB Model : 0UY253
NB : NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition rev C1
SB : NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI rev A2
----------------------------------
RAM Size : 4096 MB
RAM Freq : 332.5 MHz
RAM Type : DDR2-SDRAM Dual Channel
RAM Ratio : 4:5
RAM Timings : 5-5-5-15
----------------------------------
Slot 1 : 1024MB (PC2-5300)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : Qimonda
Slot 2 : 1024MB (PC2-5300)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : Qimonda
Slot 3 : 1024MB (PC2-5300)
Slot 3 Manufacturer : Qimonda
Slot 4 : 1024MB (PC2-5300)
Slot 4 Manufacturer : Qimonda

 

 

 

 

Okay, so this is what the CPU-Z web page loaded.  The pic wasn't of the motherboard tab in the CPU-Z program so I just pasted the text.  It says '570' for motherboard.  But when I run the NVIDIA driver autocheck software it calls it a '590.'  Who knows?

 

It looks like the 680i SLI utilizes PC2 800MHz RAM so I'd have to upgrade all of that if I get the new board.  The good news is that my stepdad wants 2GB of the RAM I'm currently using...so I'd have half of it sold already.

 

Still though, looking at the NVIDIA site, its speaks of lanes and links and whatnot and my simple ears dont' really understand what all that means.  Could one of you guys clear up why the 680i SLI is so much better than the 570/590?

Veridicus

Did you need a bios update to run the Q6600 cpu on the XPS 710  ?  Another member is now having issues getting his to work at all and unknown if he has the latest Bios Flash.   Any information that you can provide will be helpful

SR45

 

Yes you need to have the latest bios installed in the 710 to enable the quad support

The Q6600 CAME with my XPS 710 (I ordered it that way).  It fxned normally when I received it altough I do believe I have updated my BIOS to 1.4.1 since I purchased the computer.  Hope that helps.

64 bit OS...

For me using Vista 64 bit and 4 gigs of ram, the system and some games seem to run smoother and some benchmark programs agree that its slightly better.  Drivers for me were easy to upgrade to since my printer web site had the 64 bit driver and so was my sound card.  No issues for me.

Only sure way to address the full 4 gigs of memory is to get the 64 bit version of the operating system. Once you do, than you will have to download the Microsoft Hotfix and have it waiting some where on the desktop for later install.

You will than turn off the system, remove two sticks of memory, leaving you with 2 Gb total. Boot back up, install the Hotfix, than turn off the system and reinstall the other 2 gb of memory into the proper slots. Boot back up, now you are done.

Hotfix download link
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929777  

Links takes you to a site that has a good run down on addressing memory

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1035670
http://evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=85830
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa366778.aspx

If you want the 64 bit version of the operating system, than you can at anytime, purchase the OEM Vista 64 bit version from most retail computer stores or online, which does not cost as much as the Retail version, but it’s only good of one system, and no tech support either.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116204  has the OEM 64 bit Vista Premium for about $111.00

Message Edited by SR45 on 02-01-2008 11:30 AM