Dell optiplex 745 cpu compatibilty

[degreen521]

Is there a BIOS update for the Optiplex 745 to upgrade the motherboards FSB from 1066 to 1333 in order to make this unit compatible with an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU ?

 

[tecmo34]

Being a Dell OEM, I would not expect a BIOS update to provide support for "newer & better" CPU's. This would make their PC's upgradeable beyond what they want. Meaning, they want you to have to buy a new PC instead of upgrading

Also, I'm not aware of a BIOS update that will increase the FSB speeds. FSB is driven by the chipset not the BIOS, as far as I know. If anyone knows different, please feel free to correct me

 

[stealthrt]

Proof

David

 

[rkaneknight]

But you are still running 667Mhz RAM so would you really see a speed increase from this?

Just wanting to post here so that anyone stumbling on this will see this doesn't work for everyone.

In tried to do this as well after updating my BIOS to 2.6.4 and a Core 2 Duo 6750 (dual 2.66, 1333mhz bus) will not work.

Congrats on your quad core, if it's truly working for you.

 

[praveen7796]

theres a new bios update to version 2.6.6. i dont know if that added any new cpu's. and the quad core would work definitely u could upgrade to (known working) core 2 duo: e6700, x6800 or core 2 quad: q6600, q6700, qx6700.

 

[gto1970]

Is there a BIOS update for the Optiplex 745 to upgrade the motherboards FSB from 1066 to 1333 in order to make this unit compatible with an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU ?

Dell 745 only runs 1066 Max..will run a Q6700 no problem geeekbench test at 7500+

Dell Inc. OptiPlex 745




Geekbench 2 Score

7590

 

[asciiman]

This thread is a little stale, but I thought I would ask the question...

If the Q6700 and QX6700 Kentsfields are working, wouldn't the QX6800 Kentsfields also work? They are 65nm and 1066 fsb. My 745 is the Pent D 960 (dual 3.6ghz) which dissipates 130W of heat just like the QX6800, so the heat and PSU issue is covered. Has anyone tried this yet?

For those that have set up a Kensfield 1066 fsb in their 745's, is it possible to run dual channel 1066 SDRAM? Or is the chipset limited to 800mhz clock on the RAM?

Thanks for any clarification.

 

[Kisianik]

This thread is a little stale, but I thought I would ask the question...

If the Q6700 and QX6700 Kentsfields are working, wouldn't the QX6800 Kentsfields also work? They are 65nm and 1066 fsb. My 745 is the Pent D 960 (dual 3.6ghz) which dissipates 130W of heat just like the QX6800, so the heat and PSU issue is covered. Has anyone tried this yet?

For those that have set up a Kensfield 1066 fsb in their 745's, is it possible to run dual channel 1066 SDRAM? Or is the chipset limited to 800mhz clock on the RAM?

Thanks for any clarification.

I have a proof of Q6600 working, Q6700 probably will work as well.
Nothing stronger, but you can overclock Q6600 using BSEL tape mod to 3GHz!

How about this?

 

[asciiman]

I have a proof of Q6600 working, Q6700 probably will work as well.
Nothing stronger, but you can overclock Q6600 using BSEL tape mod to 3GHz!

How about this?

Have you actually tried a QX6800? Why do you say nothing faster than a Q6700?

 

[Kisianik]

I have a proof of Q6600 working, Q6700 probably will work as well.
Nothing stronger, but you can overclock Q6600 using BSEL tape mod to 3GHz!

How about this?

Have you actually tried a QX6800? Why do you say nothing faster than a Q6700?

Because I have a proof. Remember this is the Dell you are talking about - BIOS updates controlled by Dell. Officially Quads not supported by Optiplex 745 according to Dell, Q6600 and Q6700 were tested by users.
I actually just found a mentioning of QX6700 to be working http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/18227270.aspx

You can be the first one to try QX6800, are you willing to volunteer?

 

[asciiman]

You can be the first one to try QX6800, are you willing to volunteer?

Well, I may do just that! :-D

From what I can see, QX6800 is the same lithography (65nm), it dissipates the same heat (130W), operates at a FSB speed that is MB compatible (1066mHz). I can't find any reason not to try it. Can anyone give me one?

By the way Kisianik, your suggestion for the Q6600 BSEL tape mod is very cool, but I doubt it will work on a 745 because 745 is limited to 1066 FSB.

 

[jasonjrf]

Being a Dell OEM, I would not expect a BIOS update to provide support for "newer & better" CPU's. This would make their PC's upgradeable beyond what they want. Meaning, they want you to have to buy a new PC instead of upgrading

Also, I'm not aware of a BIOS update that will increase the FSB speeds. FSB is driven by the chipset not the BIOS, as far as I know. If anyone knows different, please feel free to correct me

This is really old thread but actually you are kinda wrong on both your statements. The FSB is controlled by the CPU so a core 2 duo 65nm's are 1066/4 = 266 which is your FSB however Intels FSB was quad pumped so it makes for a 1066 FSB. and your Ram is DDR = Double Data Rate

Basically at stock speeds a CPU with 1066 FSB quad pumped runs at 266Mhz x4 = the 1066. Now your Ram is DDR = Double Data Rate. This means on a CPU with 1066 FSB/4 = 266MHZ x2 will be your ram speed so your ram at a 1/1 ratio on a 1066 FBS CPU will default to 533MHZ you get that from your FSB x 2 so your FSB @ 266 x2 = 533 MHZ ram speed.

Now if you take the Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quads with the 1333 FSB on the CPU/4 = 333Mhz FSB Quad Pumped to get your 1333. So take the 333Mhz x 2 DDR ram to get your Ram speed at a 1/1 Ratio is 666Mhz ram speed. So if the Motherboard can support both 1333 CPUs and 1066 CPUs you can run any 775 socket cpu. Some Mobos started only supporting 1066 cpus and a bios update will make it able to support the newer 1333. However be careful because on such boards such as the EVGA 680i it supported 1066 dual and quad cores then they had a bios update to support 1333 cpus but only dual cores not quad core 1333 even though it will support quad cores at 1066. Shit this got pretty confusing but hopefully you got something out of this diatriabe.

 

[Holen1]

I know this is an old thread and I'm sorry and don't mean to hijack it. I just wonder what I'm missing? After reading about all you guys upgrading your Optiplex 745's to the Q6600 chip, I decided to do the same. I'm running 8gb of Kingston pc2 ddr2 5300 667mhz ram and the new 2.6.6 bios update. When I first installed my Q6600 GO SLACR chip it booted to windows just fine. Then said downloading updated software. Once it identified the new chip it said must restart now. I did so and it came up with: "warning rear fan inop" I don't have a rear fan. Said hit F1 to continue so I did. Now it just has a black screen and makes the CPU fan run at maximum speed. Does nothing. What happened? What did I miss?

 

[asciiman]

What version of Windows?

Can you get to the bios setup?

Can you get it to boot to a restore disk?

Let us know if you solved it!

 

[Holen1]

Thanks for your reply. I actually did solve it by uninstalling the CPU, memory and video card. All are recent upgrades. Waited 1/2 hr then reinstalled everything and it booted up with no problems at all. Runs very nice, great improvement over before. Running Windows Vista business but trying to upgrade to Windows 7. Can't get it to boot from a flash drive though.

 

[asciiman]

Are you 64 bit?

From the benchmarks I have seen, there is a huge performance jump running your setup in 64 bit.

How are the temps?

Did you run HWiNFO to see if it all looks good?