Dell Precision 390 Maximum Processor support

[greatazfar]

I Have Dell Precision 390 with Core 2 Duo 2.4 4MB, I am finding best and Maximum Processor support.Help me

 

[ulysses35]

donwload CPUz and find out what motherboard has been used to build you PC - head to the manufacturers website and check the CPU compatability list..

 

[saaiello]

From what I have found the best that can be run in it is a Q6600 it has a 975 chipset and will not run anything better then that. I have found on a Dell forum people have Q6600 in them and they work fine. You can find them on ebay for around $100 you will not be able to find that processor new Intel stop makeing them some time ago.

 

[plexz1832]

I Googled for Precision 390 and found Dell shipped these machines with Q6600, Q6700, QX6600 and QX6600 processors.

My guess you could use any core 2 duo or core 2 quad 65nm CPU with a 1066 FB.

Check out the sites below

http://www.acltd.demon.co.uk/Dell-Desktop-Reviews-Dell-Precision-390-Computer-Desktop-PC.html

http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?series=22818

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2quad/specifications.htm

There are 2 revisions of the board A00 and A01. The revs had nothing to do with CPU support though. The 975x chipset although not clearly documented supports some Quad CPU's. Tough to read through all the 975x technical specs on Intel's site.

Dell is not about upgrading old machines they are about selling you a new one so they are no help.
Honestly, as long they keep providing the specs of the older machines I am good with that.

Upgrade your BIOS to the latest version and pickup a Q6600, Q6700, QX6600 or QX6600 CPU.

I added 2 GB of RAM for a total of 4 GB (XP sees only about 3.5GB of it), a Q6600 and 1 TB Drive for 250.00. Small investment without having to mod a thing. The only thing I can't squeeze any more performance out of is the on board disk SATA controller.

The only concern I had is the Q66xx CPU's can use up to 105 watts. The e6320 that was originally installed was a 65 watt processor. I used Intel's TAT (Intel Thermal Analysis Tool) Google to find and I maxed the Q6600 CPU to 100%. It ran warm with the stock Dell cooler but not HOT.

I optimized the machine for Pro Tools 8.04 with a Mbox Pro II Firewire interface and it rips right along.

I hope this helps,

Plexz

 

[greatazfar]

thank you very much Plexz I am going to buy a Q6600 I already have 4 GB of Ram and Gforce 8800 GTX and A 1TB or Harddisk dirve.
Thank you for Advise me.
Regards,
Azfar

 

[berlinerbolle]

i know this post is old but I wanted to share that I successfully upgraded a Dell precision 390 CPU from a dual core 2.4ghz E6600 to a quad core 2.66 Q6700 today. It works well though running a bit hot with the stock cooler. (up to and over 70 degC at 100% load. I will replace the cooler). I also had to reset the Password and CMOS dip switches on the motherboard to get it to work. The PC had the latest bios 2.6.0. If anyone is thinking about giving a precision 390 a prolonged life then get a Q6700 off ebay.

 

[berlinerbolle]

i know this post is old but I wanted to share that I successfully upgraded a Dell precision 390 CPU from a dual core 2.4ghz E6600 to a quad core 2.66 Q6700 today. It works well though running a bit hot with the stock cooler. (up to and over 70 degC at 100% load. I will replace the cooler). I also had to reset the Password and CMOS dip switches on the motherboard to get it to work. The PC had the latest bios 2.6.0. If anyone is thinking about giving a precision 390 a prolonged life then get a Q6700 off ebay.

Our Dell Precision 390 now runs at 35-55 deg C (min max, ambient 24)
with the new Q6700 installed (SLACQ / G0) - after upgrading the heatsink. Here´s a ebay search for you.
This upgraded heatsink has many different dell part numbers for many different dell builds, but they are effectively all the same and should all fit.
If you get stray hits then ignore the aluminum heatsink - the one you want is the one with the copper base, pipes and horisontal fins.

I´ve also added a new 128GB samsung SSD boot and system drive (replacing a 7200rpm seagate) This alltogether 220 EUR upgrade (q6700 100EUR ebay, SSD 100EUR amazon, heatsink 20EUR ebay) made it lightening fast-ish´ and superb for anything else than heavy rendering, converting video formats etc.

so, it seems this work horse will last us another 5 years. Ie this was
a higly recommended upgrade compared to going through the hazzle of buying a new workstation (read: days of research, transferring software licences, loading software and codecs, setting up network printers, automatic backup, testing.. days and days of work before it works 100%)

For the record. the original question was which is the fastest CPU you can
put into a dell precision 390. My answer is a Q6700 (SLACQ / G0) pulling 95 W max, next one up (and fastest possible option) is the QX6800 (all revisions) which pulls up to 130W which may be a bit risky as it is unlikely the motherboard and possibly the power supply will handle the wattage. Also the QX6800 is far more expensive than then q6700 (on ebay) and for the marginal gain in speed I´d say its not worh trying. Correct me if anyone actually got a QX6800 working. (we do have a 390 with a X6800, but this is a dual not quad core CPU which pulls max 75W)
.. If you dont do any rendering or video editing then a X6800 would maybe be the best option.. (but you still need the better heatsink, and a SSD would be wise to actually make use of the CPU..)

For the record (II). I dont think we will buy another dell though. They wont help you upgrading and you can find No info about the mainboard etc.

sorry for the long post and hope it helps someone.

cheers
STIAN