Dell Precision 490 with Harpertown

[Silex]

I can't find proof that this works anywhere. Mine came with a single Woodcrest 5120. I was planning to upgrade to two Clovertown 5320 as I know these work since the original system configuration maxed out with them. I've read that the Intel 5000x chipset is actually compatible with Harpertown so as long as you stick with the 1333MHz models and not get the 1600Mhz flavor. I was planning on going with a 5410 or 5420. A BIOS update might be needed to take advantage of the newer chips. Mine originally had A04 and Dell has since released A08 this part March. Any insight?

I want to avoid getting a new motherboard for now, but I've heard the Supermicro X7DWA-N can be directly swapped into the chassis. It also doubles as a great overclocking board alloing the 1333's to be pushed to 1600's with no sweat. The newer Intel 5400x chipsets support 1600MHz so it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Silex]

Nobody knows Dell to this degree? I admit that I probably know more than I'd like to.

 

[zachatak]

According to Dell, the P490 only supports up to the 5300 series. I find this hard to believe since I have a Poweredge 1900 with the 5000P chipset (almost identical to the 5000X in the P490) and I can upgrade it to 5400 series CPUs with a BIOS update. However, I did put an E5420 into the P490 with no luck. Just sits there - no POST. The last BIOS update for the P490 was released in May of 08 (version A08). Anyone know if Dell is going to release another update?