Westmere Xeon Upgrade/ project

[Shellls]

I currently have a AMD athlon X4 651k @3.4GHz that isn't cutting it anymore. I'm looking for a fun project to do that will also give some cpu performance gains on the cheap. So I was thinking of getting a x58 board off ebay and a 6 core xeon. I'm not sure about cpu compatibility though and was wondering if any forum member could help with finding a board/cpu combo that will work. Budget ~$200 Thanks in advance!

 

[davidthemaster3]

I found prices to be way higher on ebay than what you can find locally.

I bought a dual Intel Xeon E5620 4 core 2.66 Ghz Westmere HP ML350 last week for 280$ CAD (200$ USD with current exchange rates) with 24 GB of RAM and dual PSU. Just looking on ebay for future CPU upgrades might cost more than wait I paid for the whole box.

 

[CropDuster]

I currently have a AMD athlon X4 651k @3.4GHz that isn't cutting it anymore. I'm looking for a fun project to do that will also give some cpu performance gains on the cheap. So I was thinking of getting a x58 board off ebay and a 6 core xeon. I'm not sure about cpu compatibility though and was wondering if any forum member could help with finding a board/cpu combo that will work. Budget ~$200 Thanks in advance!

I think your issue is going to be finding a X58 board. The Westmere path has only made sense IMO for people already on the platform. You can get X5650s for $100, but good motherboards are expensive.

 

[sm625]

Why not just buy the entire workstation? T3500/T7500 are built like trucks. There are probably a quarter million X58 systems sitting around collecting dust.

 

[Burpo]

These factory refurb'd Dell XPS 730X are MSI boards, the same that go into the Area 51 Alienware series. They can be overclocked once flashed as Alienware. They're the best deal for X58 and probably the only way to hit your budget. They're $85 currently, but sometime drop to $80. Guy changes price every couple weeks. Evidently he has a good supply.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151586313094?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Xeon X5650's run around $80. Add a 212 Evo cooler & you've hit your $200 budget

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-Intel...841794?hash=item2a613a5f02:g:b9gAAOSwll1Wu4fy

After seeing bclk shut down on Skylake, I've decided to just keep my X58 rig. It's still a workhorse, especially overclocked..

 

[Shellls]

Well, that's certainly an interesting idea, but I also want to overclock. The complete current system I have is here https://pcpartpicker.com/b/TmMp99
I just wanted to replace the cpu and motherboard. This is the motherboard I'm considering: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-DX58SO-LGA-1366-Intel-X58-Bulk-OEM-No-accessories-/351145882028?hash=item51c1ecf1ac:g:Y0MAAOSweW5VFsZq
It seems that it will support xeons based on the forum posts I've found.

 

[Shellls]

that board looks pretty sweet. Do you think it will take xeons?

 

[Burpo]

Yes.. There's a few members here using that board with various Xeons. Trinamo has posted benchmarks above 5Ghz (X5650 @ 220 bclk) with same board. There's work involved flashing it, but worth the effort Hearty board & good VRM cooling.

 

[Shellls]

Would I need a normal lga 1366 cpu to do the flash with?

 

[Burpo]

The Xeon should work with stock bios..

Full guide, how to flash..
http://www.xpsuser.com/badges/instructions-for-flashing-the-alienware-a11b-bios

 

[Shellls]

Thanks a ton! Sorry one more question, will windows 10 work with this board? Pretty sure it will, but just want to confirm.

 

[Magic Carpet]

It will work fine, Shellls.

After seeing bclk shut down on Skylake, I've decided to just keep my X58 rig. It's still a workhorse, especially overclocked..

Yeah, those 6 core 95w Xeons are very sexy... Just add some more ram (3 x 8gb) and you are set.

 

[Shellls]

UPDATE: Received my CPU today, motherboard is coming tomorrow. Are there any XPS motherboard owners who can give some tips about updating the bios? I read the link from above, but the I'm not comfortable with the process yet. Thanks!

 

[Burpo]

I would assemble it first with factory bios and make sure it runs, do some benchmarks, etc. Then when you're ready.. The files from that link are all you need. Starting with the AMI Bios Utility AFUWIN, which includes a PDF file that explains everything. It & the Alienware Area 51 bios A10 bin is mainly what you need. The other zip file has a few flashes, mostly XPS factory updates & some drivers for updating the RAID etc. that probably aren't needed. Seems simple & straight forward to me.. Small Windows GUI that allows you to browse for the flash bin, and flash from with in Windows..

There's more info here & confirms the A11b flash is to restore some XPS functionality (after the A10 flash) for lights & fans, (not needed unless you have a Dell XPS 730X). Hopefully Trinamo will chime in, since he's running that board..

http://www.avsim.com/topic/405489-a-boost-to-fsx-and-system-wide-performance-with-bios-update/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_XPS_730x#Cross-flashing_to_the_Alienware_A10_BIOS

 

[Shellls]

Assembled the system on my desk, fans spun, but no POST. Tried memory in different slots and whatnot, but to no avail. I'm going to take the cooler off and see if i damaged the socket pins or something like that. Maybe I got a defective CPU.

 

[Shellls]

Dug through some documentation, and it seems that the i7 980x and by extension the xeon cpus are not supported on this board until the alienware bios has been flashed. So looks like I'm going to have to grab an i7 920 off ebay, unless any forum members have one to sell.

 

[Trinamo]

Hey there. I've been using this above dell/AW board for a while. I tried something different for a few months and it just didn't yield the simplicity and results that the dell board did. The first thing that HAS to be done for it to recognize the Xeon is that it has be have the BIOS upgraded to A10. It will not boot or do anything without that update. From there, boot stock, do your OS and driver installs and run diags to make sure all is well. From there you can easily smack 190-200 blck with turbo on and do it with an offset that gives below 1.5Vcore, although this board and chip has let me play with up to 1.6 (it was hot and it was just to see if I could do it.) I'm running a corsair water cooler and before that, the small alienware stock watercooler did fine.

 

[Trinamo]

Thanks a ton! Sorry one more question, will windows 10 work with this board? Pretty sure it will, but just want to confirm.

I've been running Windows 10 since it was in testing on this board.

 

[Shellls]

Thanks for the advice. Got my i7 920 today, going to do the flash soon, ill post results. Did you have the dell board or the alienware version?

 

[Parether32]

Wao.You got your i7 920.Congrates For this .Tell me one Thing For just an advise that Is It Best Or Not to buy ..Becasue i am also thinking to Buy.And I am also running windows 10 and using The Quadro Nvidia Graphic Card Also.

How much cores are In i7 920 And What Type of It ???()

And one more thing is Does It get Slow or Heat ??

 

[rchunter]

I've had nothing but trouble running Win 10 (clean install) on my X5660, Asus p6x58d premium. Constant BSD, even just sitting on the desktop. Win 7 runs great on that machine while win 10 crashes and burns.
It's funny because i've been running a vm of win 10 on my E3 server and it's been really good and stable.

 

[Trinamo]

Thanks for the advice. Got my i7 920 today, going to do the flash soon, ill post results. Did you have the dell board or the alienware version?

It came in an alienware but is branded dell. I do not believe that there is a difference. My board had an i7 9*0 extreme and I went to the Xeon 5650, its a beast.

 

[Shellls]

Finally got the time to flash the motherboard. Now running A10 bios with the xeon successfully installed. Got a 650 cinebench score at stock. Temps are really cool. Will post some bench results and screenshots later. Overclocking next. Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[Shellls]

I did a quick any dirty overclock, just raised bck to 166 MHz. Got a lower cinebench score and only cpuz recognized the higher clocks. Any ideas?

 

[Trinamo]

I did a quick any dirty overclock, just raised bck to 166 MHz. Got a lower cinebench score and only cpuz recognized the higher clocks. Any ideas?

You can shoot for an easy 180blck. EASY. Spread spectrum off, change the memory multiplier to keep memory to stock speeds for now. Change the coltage from auto to +240ish to start. I can't remember everything starting quite that low. Give me a few and I'll give you some screenies of my setup.