[SOLVED] Dell T3500 CPU upgrade

[davephoto70]

I've got a Dell T3500 with a Xeon E5630 CPU in it t the moment and wondering what upgrade options there are (without breaking the bank! lol). Would I need to change the heatsink with a different chip, there's no fan on the one in it, just a passive one?

 

[william p]

The T3500 can run all the 3600,5600 series and 3500,5500 series Xeons. If you have the aluminum heatsink you will need the heatpipe cooler. The fan is mouted to the case in front of the heatsink. With the HDD tray and the blue plastic RAM cover in place there is a duct formed around the heatsink. It's simple to add a 92mm fan if you want to. The popular CPUs are the 4 core X5687 3.6GHz, or the X5680/X5690 6 core Xeons.
Here are the builds for that.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-Precision-WorkStation-T3500--/2522
Anything scoring in the 70% and up with a W3680,W3690 CPU is probably an overclock. Otherwise they would score the same as an X5680/X5690.

 

[davephoto70]

The T3500 can run all the 3600,5600 series and 3500,5500 series Xeons. If you have the aluminum heatsink you will need the heatpipe cooler. The fan is mouted to the case in front of the heatsink. With the HDD tray and the blue plastic RAM cover in place there is a duct formed around the heatsink. It's simple to add a 92mm fan if you want to. The popular CPUs are the 4 core X5687 3.6GHz, or the X5680/X5690 6 core Xeons.
Here are the builds for that.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-Precision-WorkStation-T3500--/2522
Anything scoring in the 70% and up with a W3680,W3690 CPU is probably an overclock. Otherwise they would score the same as an X5680/X5690.

That's great info, thank you. I'm upgrading because I'm doing more video editing now. Am I right in thinking more cores are better for that sort of thing?

 

[william p]

I don't know much about video editing. That would depend on your software and whether it uses them. But those CPUs all support hyperthreading so 8-12 threads are available. Be sure you have a 3 channel RAM setup. Sets of 3 modules, not 3 pairs. It can also support 48GB RAM which probably would be useful for large files.

 

[cscotty]

I upgraded the CPU in my T3500 to the W3680. I chose this over the X5 series because the multiplier on the W3680 and W3690 is unlocked and can be overclocked using intel Extreme Tuning Utility.

-Scott