Intel CPU Question

_Kaiser_

Hey all,

(belated) Merry Xmas first off

I've recently gotten a DELL Precision 690 that came with a 3GHz Dual Core Xeon 5160 processor with room for a 2nd.

Looking on eBay, a Xeon 5060 (is that right? the faster CPU has a lower "series" number?) is very cheap, rated at 3.2Ghz and a general Google shows that the 690 should support these - but, does the code at the end matter (eg: SL92A, SL96A etc), and in fact what's the difference between them?

Cheers for any help!

zilog_jones

There are more to CPUs than clock speeds.

The 5060 is based on Intel NetBurst architecture, the same as the Pentium 4. This is old hat and not very efficient (130W compared 90W TDP of the 5160, among many other things).

The 5160 is based on Intel Core architecture, which was brand new in 2006. This would be a high-end equivalent of the first-generation Core 2 Duo. Core-based CPUs do a lot more executions per clock cycle compared to old NetBurst stuff, so clock speeds are not comparable.

So the Xeon 5160 is a higher number because it is better, and the 5060 is very cheap for a reason I would not waste your money on a 5060 - the one 5160 is probably better than two of them!

The Wikipedia lists of CPUs are very handy for comparing architectures and features (they're not always completely accurate though): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Xeon_microprocessors

SickBoy

Great system the Precision 690. So sturdy and well built.
I have one for a long time now with 16gb RAM running multiple OS through VMWare. Absolute workhorse and never gave me trouble(touch wood!)
If you're going to populate the 2nd CPU socket you might as well get 2 53xx series quad core CPUs as your at it and replace the 5160 altogether.
Remember you may need to get a compatible heatsink for the 2nd socket if one didn't come with the system.

_Kaiser_

SickBoy wrote: »

Great system the Precision 690. So sturdy and well built.
I have one for a long time now with 16gb RAM running multiple OS through VMWare. Absolute workhorse and never gave me trouble(touch wood!)
If you're going to populate the 2nd CPU socket you might as well get 2 53xx series quad core CPUs as your at it and replace the 5160 altogether.
Remember you may need to get a compatible heatsink for the 2nd socket if one didn't come with the system.

Yea have one of those in the eBay watchlist too

I have a 5345 that I bought for a Poweredge 1900 only to discover that it was a first-gen model that doesn't support Quad CPUs

I tried it in the 690 and got an "unsupported CPU" error.
Seems the motherboard revision makes a difference (and typically I have one of the older ones) and while there is supposedly a workaround that involves flashing the BIOS down to version A01 and then installing the processors, it seems like a lot of hassle and might not work (or could cause other issues presumably with an old BIOS) so I was going to try and get the best dual-core CPUs (x2) I could afford for it.

What CPUs have you in yours as a matter of interest? If you geta chance could you open the case and near the top edge of the board (if you're looking straight in at it) you should see a barcode with a CN number.. first 5 of these are the model as far as I've read.

zilog_jones

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

If you geta chance could you open the case and near the top edge of the board (if you're looking straight in at it) you should see a barcode with a CN number.. first 5 of these are the model as far as I've read.

This is the Dell standard serial number, it doesn't necessarily always start with "CN" as that just means it's made in China. The second section (currently 6 characters) is the Dell part number (or "DP/N") - the leading '0' is often omitted though when talking about the part number on its own though.

Please note that they often have more than one manufacturer making the same parts, and these will have different part numbers. Not sure if this happens with motherboards though.

SickBoy

I have 2 x 5345 and I had to run with BIOS A01 like you mentioned. There's no problems though, one minor thing is the BIOS reads the CPUs as 2 x Dual Core CPUs but Windows device manager and task manager recognise all 8 cores and the system scores 7.5 in Windows 7 processor index score which confirms all is well.