Need help about MoBo support

[matijamaconi]

My MoBo is MSI MS 73-66, is it supporting the Q9650 or the Xeon 5460

 

[jojesa]

My MoBo is MSI MS 73-66, is it supporting the Q9650 or the Xeon 5460

The MSI MS 7366 supports the Core 2 Quad Q9650...
Xeon CPUs are not officially supported.

 

[matijamaconi]

Oh, and the Xeon 5460 is a bit better than the Q9650, right?

 

[jojesa]

Oh, and the Xeon 5460 is a bit better than the Q9650, right?

They both perform about the same, so the difference is not noticeable.
By the way the Q9650 goes on LGA775, the socket on the MSI MS 7366, but the Xeon 5460 goes on a LGA771 , which is a different socket.

 

[william p]

Running an LGA771 Xeon on an LGA775 motherboard is a fairly complex modification. Many motherboards don't support it at all.
https://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/
1- You need a compatible chipset on the motherboard, and then there may be other issues anyway.
2- The LGA775 socket needs to be modified to fit, or the CPU notched to match the socket.
3- There is an elctrical tape adapter that's required to convert the dual CPU back to single CPU configuration.
4- Then the BIOS usually needs to have the Xeon microcode installed so it can recognize the CPU correctly.
Some of the Xeons are clocked slightly faster than the Q9650 3GHz, X5460 3.16GHz, X5470 3.33Ghz.
But any unlocked MB, or MB that supports an unlocked CPU (QX9650) can easily exceed those speeds.

 

[matijamaconi]

Right now I am usnig a C2Q Q8300 at stock, is it worth upgrading to a Q9650?

 

[jojesa]

Right now I am usnig a C2Q Q8300 at stock, is it worth upgrading to a Q9650?

On everyday tasks (web browsing, word processing, etc) you won't see a difference in performance.
If you could get the Q9650 for $20 or less go for it.
Depending on the cooler you have you might need to upgrade it, since the Q9650 produce more heat.

 

[william p]

I couldn't find your MB so here are the builds for a Dell Optiplex that uses those CPUs. You can see the difference in the CPU scores.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-780/3883
Q9550 and Q9650 are just about the minimum CPUs for light 1080P gaming with a GTX1050 series card. The Q9550 is very popular for budget builds.