Dell Precision T7920 Help Wanted

Question

I currently have a Dell Precision T7910 running a couple of Xeons E5-2697 V4 CPU's, 3x 3.5" 16GB SAS Drives and a 400GB SAS SSD for OS boot, being high-end CPU's the system can get very hot with high fan noise.

I would like to upgrade to the Precision T7920 and use the newer Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors.

I see the system can take to following CPU's

Bronze 3xxx

Silver 4xxx

Gold 5xxx and 6xxx

Current memory in mine is 128GB DDR4-2400MHz and can upgrade to DDR4-2666MHz

I have noticed the T7920 has a SATA controller and T7910 has a SAS controller so drives will not be compatible?

The T7910 parts will be used or refurbished as some people say to get that extra dollar!!

CPU release dates

T7910 - Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v4 Family (Q1'16)

T7920 - Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors (Q3'17)

So, if I am going to throw a couple of thousand dollars at it what would a decent CPU that doesn't run too hot be? I suppose the lower the cores and speed would help with heat but there must be one CPU out there that will cut the mustard, Gold CPU preferred!!

These CPUs are my only options

2x (1.7 GHz) 6-Core Intel Xeon Bronze 3104 Processor
2x (1.7 GHz) 8-Core Intel Xeon Bronze 3106 Processor
2x (1.9 GHz) 6-Core Intel Xeon Bronze 3204 Processor
2x (1.8 GHz) 8-Core Intel Xeon Silver 4108 Processor
2x (2.4 GHz) 8-Core Intel Xeon Silver 4110 Processor
2x (2.1 GHz) 8-Core Intel Xeon Silver 4114 Processor
2x (2.1 GHz) 8-Core Intel Xeon Silver 4208 Processor
2x (2.2 GHz) 12-Core Intel Xeon Silver 4214 Processor
2x (2.3 GHz) 12-Core Intel Xeon Gold 5118 Processor
2x (3.6 GHz) 4-Core Intel Xeon Gold 5122 Processor
2x (2.6 GHz) 12-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6126 Processor
2x (3.4 GHz) 6-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6128 Processor
2x (2.1 GHz) 16-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6130 Processor
2x (2.6 GHz) 14-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6132 Processor
2x (3.2 GHz) 8-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6134 Processor
2x (3.0 GHz) 12-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6136 Processor
2x (2.8 GHz) 16-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6143 Processor
2x (2.1 GHz) 22-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6152 Processor
2x (2.5 GHz) 20-Core Intel Xeon Gold 6248 Processor

Thanks for any input and suggestions...

claytonb · Answer

Correction, don't know why I cannot edit post The T7920 parts will be used or refurbished as some people say to get that extra dollar!! I see the system can take to following CPU's Platinum 8xxx

mazzinia_ · Answer

Hello,

I think it boils down to how many cores you need to have for your daily tasks, because if the ones you have now are hitting the sweet spot for your tasks, the obvious answer ( from that list ) would be a Gen 2 Gold 6248, that would have practically the same wattage and even a few more cores

Gen 2 xeons are 2 years newer than Gen 1. But they're a bit expensive, too

As for the drives, you need a separate controller if you want to keep the SAS. Separate controller and transform the flexbays to accept sas with a conversion kit

claytonb · Answer

Great, so I can also use Gen 2 CPU's? Do you have a part number for the SAS controller and conversion kit?

mazzinia_ · Answer

You can also use Gen2 ( systems sold right now have only gen2 as option ), but ideally you should get a later motherboard revision to play safe, if the idea is sourcing a barebone.

For the sas controller... there are 2 models that dell markets for this workstation :

Broadcom MegaRAID® SAS 9440-8i 12Gb/s SAS (6Gb/s SATA) PCIe controller, 8 ports,
Software RAID 0,1,5,10.
Broadcom MegaRAID® SAS 9460-16i 12Gb/s SAS (6Gb/s SATA) ) PCIe controller (4GB cache with Flash
module/Super Cap backup) Hardware RAID 0,1,5,10

This is the video showing how to convert the standard flexbays

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2iGi0FEAgs

But as for the part number of the cable, you can take it from here

https://www.itcreations.com/product/113231