Trouble upgrading CPU in Dell T3600

[IvantheDugtrio]

So I have a T3600 at work which has an E5-1607. I bought an E5-2650 ES off of ebay and found out the system won't POST with the new CPU in it.

I checked on Dell's website regarding compatibility and they should be completely compatible.
Any suggestions on how I can make them work?

I already did a BIOS update so I'm not sure where to go from here.

The seller for the E5-2650 ES said that it was pulled from a working system. No other details.

 

[95Viper]

The seller for the E5-2650 ES said that it was pulled from a working system. No other details.

Don't take the seller's word as gospel... plug that processor in another compatible WS and see if it works.

If it don't... send it back and get a refund. Then find another.

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

There's another T5600 in the company that no one's really using at the moment. I'll swap processors with that one (it has an E5-2650 also) and see if it works.

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

Here's a shot of the E5-2650 ES

 

[zsolt_93]

maybe it doesnt support the fact that it is ES and will work with the normal Retail CPU

 

[The Von Matrices]

maybe it doesnt support the fact that it is ES and will work with the normal Retail CPU

That's certainly possible. OEMs can get huge fines and sanctions if they send out ES CPUs to customers. It would makes sense that they would design their BIOSes to only work with retail CPUs. This would be so that if an ES CPU was accidentally inserted the computer during assembly, the computer wouldn't boot and thus the mistake would get detected in QA.

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

If that's the case then I wonder if there's a work-around to enable ES CPUs

 

[The Von Matrices]

After looking, I'm pretty sure that no Dell BIOS supports ES CPUs. Even a report in the Dell forums says so.

If that's the case then I wonder if there's a work-around to enable ES CPUs

You would have to modify the machine code in the BIOS, which is probably an insurmountable task. It's a lot easier to just buy a legitimate CPU. I know that E5 CPUs are very expensive, so, if you're really adventurous, replacing the motherboard for one of the enthusiast X79 boards that does support ES CPUs may be cheaper.

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

After looking, I'm pretty sure that no Dell BIOS supports ES CPUs. Even a report in the Dell forums says so.

You would have to modify the machine code in the BIOS, which is probably an insurmountable task. It's a lot easier to just buy a legitimate CPU. I know that E5 CPUs are very expensive, so, if you're really adventurous, replacing the motherboard for one of the enthusiast X79 boards that does support ES CPUs may be cheaper.

In that case I guess I'll just do a new build with the CPU. Probably a SFF build. It's too bad Dell has to discriminate ES CPUs from others.

I got the E5-2650 ES for fairly cheap ($180) since ebay seems to be flooded with these processors now. There are E5-2650 non-ES CPUs for $240 so I might try to return mine since I don't want to do another build around this CPU.

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

Also is there any info on what typically happens when an ES processor is installed in one of these computers? I get the feeling that I should see an error message on the screen but it doesn't even get to that.

 

[The Von Matrices]

Also is there any info on what typically happens when an ES processor is installed in one of these computers? I get the feeling that I should see an error message on the screen but it doesn't even get to that.

The BIOS cannot perform the computations to display the message on screen. It needs the CPU to perform the computations; without a working the CPU, you get no message.

The only way that it would show information on screen would be if the BIOS recognized the processor but had code that told the system to refuse to boot with that processor installed. The only time I've seen this occur is on processors that have higher TDPs than the board supports. The BIOS displays an error to ensure that the CPU doesn't cause the VRMs to melt.

If the BIOS has no information of that processor, then it will not show anything on screen. All BIOSes have CPU micro code information that instructs the system how to initialize the CPU's features, optimize the system (e.g. set clock speeds), and sometimes how to correct for errata. This information is not encoded in the CPU. All the CPU does is present a processor ID (and maybe a little more); the BIOS is expected to read this and set everything else. Without any information as to how to utilize the CPU, the BIOS can't even boot to an error message.

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

So I guess I'll be doing an X79 build for this CPU since I can't return it.

Would you guys be so kind as to show me the cheapest SFF build I can do with this?

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

So I'm looking at some ASUS P9X79 boards on ebay (with return policies). These should support the CPU with no need for a BIOS update correct?

Update: So I checked the ASUS website and only the E5 v2 processors are listed as supported. Any chance it'll work with my CPU?

 

[Jetster]

Dell BIOS's have little support for any CPU other then what was intended to sell with. If it doesn't work your out of luck

 

[IvantheDugtrio]

Dell BIOS's have little support for any CPU other then what was intended to sell with. If it doesn't work your out of luck

Yeah I gave up on trying to get it work with the dells. Now I want to make sure I get a motherboard that this CPU will work with.