I can't even remember when I signed up for these forums, but I'd like to be alot more active here, so this is NOT a hit n run question, I simply forgot this place existed. With that said, I have a Dell Precision 490 that I would like to upgrade, right now it has (x1) Xeon 5140 (2.33GHz). I'd like to put an L5335 or E5345 inside. I've heard from various places that the early 490 motherboards did not support quad core, but later revisions supported the 53xx series before the T5400/T7400 was released. My motherboard was manufactured in Sept. 2006 according to the serial number. I already tried to put a Harpertown inside, but it did not work (obviously). How do I know if this board will support a 53xx series quad core Xeon before purchasing one? BTW, computer is out of warranty, so Dell support is not an option unless I can find a 490 at work that is still under warranty. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
I would start by finding out which revision started supporting the CPU you want to run. Once you have that tacked down, you can determine if you need a newer revision motherboard or just a BIOS flash.
Well, my motherboard has the latest BIOS (A08). As far as motherboard revision goes, I've already attempted to research that, but I can't find much info about it. I think it's partly due to the fact that most home users use custom-built gaming rigs or standard home desktop PC's and not workstations.
I don't know if Anti-Trend might poke his head in or not, but he might know something I don't as he does computer work for a living. The other resource that might help is in the 2CPU.com forums. I'm sure there is at least two revisions, unless people are physically modifying the 490 motherboard...which I don't see happening much due to it's target market versus enthusiast "I'll even physically alter it" one. I don't know the full differences between the Xeons, but it might come down to certain electrical requirements that the original revision lacked. Now, when you say the Harperstown didn't work, specifically what's happening? Are you trying it with your current Xeon or by itself? Are you putting it in the first CPU socket or the second? Depending on the situation, I've read about some multi-CPU configurations requiring the CPU's to be installed into the sockets in a certain order. I think it's the older CPU in the first socket, but I don't remember since I don't post like I used to.
The Harpertown was tried in both Socket 0 and Socket 1, by itself. The computer would not post, and showed lights 3 and 4 in the quad-pack. Either way, it doesn't matter, as I found someone who is willing to trade me a Clovertown E5345 with a TDP of 80w for the E5420 I bought. Seems like a fair trade to me, and if my motherboard ends up not supporting the clovertown, I'll just ebay it and stick with dual core or sell this one and get a Precision T5400. Thank you for your help!
