[Immortalarena]

I would like to upgrade my computer a little, but before I spend Big $$ on hardware that might not be compatible, I would like to double check that I have done my research and that the components will all work well in my system.

Right now I am running an XPS 710 system with the 750 Watt Power Supply.

The Processor is a Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86 GHz Processor, 1066 MHz FSB
I would like to upgrade this to the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66 GHz Processor, 1066 MHz FSB

I think that will work, please let me know if I have something confused and need to look further into it.

I will be getting a thermal Grease to use on the new processor, and feel that the current fan and heat sink will work well. Do I need to do anything to the BIOS before or after I install the Processor? I will be re-installing Windows.

Any help that you can give would be great! Thanks in advance!

Edited by Immortalarena, 20 November 2008 - 04:44 PM.

[Advertisements]

Hi Immortalarena,

This particular processor upgrade will work. You have a NVIDIA nForce® 590 SLI MCP chipset with an LGA 775 socket. I have verified that this processor is compatible with this chipset - in fact the Q6700 was later added to the list of upgrades when purchasing the XPS 710. You will not expressly need to update the BIOS to facilitate the processor upgrade, however I recommend that you do so after you reinstall Windows.

From what I hear, a Q6700 is very over-clock friendly. Remember that if you do so, you will want to look at after-market cooling. However, if you choose not to OC your processor, the stock cooling will be sufficient.

Good luck, and don't forget to post here with any other questions you might have!

[The Admiral]

Hi Immortalarena,

This particular processor upgrade will work. You have a NVIDIA nForce® 590 SLI MCP chipset with an LGA 775 socket. I have verified that this processor is compatible with this chipset - in fact the Q6700 was later added to the list of upgrades when purchasing the XPS 710. You will not expressly need to update the BIOS to facilitate the processor upgrade, however I recommend that you do so after you reinstall Windows.

From what I hear, a Q6700 is very over-clock friendly. Remember that if you do so, you will want to look at after-market cooling. However, if you choose not to OC your processor, the stock cooling will be sufficient.

Good luck, and don't forget to post here with any other questions you might have!

[Immortalarena]

Thanks a lot, that was great advice, I look forward to getting the device and posting the results. Thanks a lot for helping!

[The Admiral]

We look forward to hearing back! You'll definitely see some speed improvements!

Good luck!

[Immortalarena]

I installed the processor late last night and installed Vista Ultimate again. I then flashed the bios.

I did have a little problem where it wouldn't play audio right, I had a bad Crackling noise whenever audio played. I flashed the BIOS a second time, and it seems to have fixed the problem, but should I be worried about anything else?

Is there such a thing as too much thermal grease on the processor, just wanted to check as well, I just put a thin layer on it, but wasn't sure if I should add more.

Thanks again for all the help, let me know if you think anything would be wrong and if I should consider upgrading my audio card now. Thanks!

-Matt

[The Admiral]

I'm not exactly sure what could have caused that crackling, but it looks like you got it resolved at any rate.

As far as thermal grease, there isn't really such thing as too much, because when you secure the heatsink, it will squeeze the thermal grease down to where it should be, right? You should be fine with what you have now, it really is a thin layer between the two components because they are so close together.

I can't think of anything else that you really need to do after this processor upgrade, except for popping in your favorite game and checking for any improvements!

[Immortalarena]

I've re-installed the OS about 3 times now, and it keeps freezing up on me, the updates can't be installed and I fear something is wrong.

I've been running the Windows update, and it's been checking for about 45 minutes now, not normal at all, should I re-install windows again? Thanks,

-Matt

[The Admiral]

Have you installed the drivers, whether from support.dell.com or the Drivers and Utilities CD? You'll need to install drivers for things to work. Here is a page explaining drivers, and pay special attention to this page that explains the order in which drivers should be installed.

[Immortalarena]

I guess i can explain it somewhat... I did add some more memory to the machine as well, and the system rating went down, I removed this memory, and things seem to be working a lot better now. I'm hoping that the memory itself was just bad, and that everything keeps working. It's still a little sluggish at times, but I think it will work itself into a good groove soon. I think things are solved at the moment. Next I will challenge the Graphics card replacement. I hope that one goes a little more smoothly. Thanks again for all the help Admiral, and I like that site on the order to install the drivers. Unfortunately the problem was not driver related, I made sure they were all the latest from the Dell Website. Thanks again! Have a great Thanksgiving!

-Matt


**Just a thought occured to me, if I have Dual Channel DDR2 Memory in my system, and it doesn't support this, will that cause conflict or is it backwards compatible like PCIe 2.0? Thanks.

Edited by Immortalarena, 26 November 2008 - 09:44 PM.

[The Admiral]

Good to hear you got all the drivers installed and what not.

What was the previous memory configuration (factory-installed) and what did you try and change it to? Are you running the 32-bit or 64-bit flavor of Windows Vista Ultimate?

Your computer supports up to 8 GB of 533MHz or 667MHz DDR2 unbuffered SDRAM. If you use a higher clocked RAM, it should clock down since it is backward-compatible. Also, matched pairs are required, so you need to have the exact same sticks of RAM in slots 1 and 2 (which are actually the first and third slots), and the exact same sticks of RAM in slots 3 and 4 (which are of course the second and fourth slots). You can see a more detailed explanation (with pictures!) here.

[Immortalarena]

I have 1 GB factory installed, and 2 GB that I installed at a later time. Currently 3 sticks of 1024. I've ben trying to take the factory installed one out for a while now, but haven't had the money to do so, so I purchased 2 more of the type I installed before.

I got Ultra DDR2 PC2-5300 667 MHz memory, just like the type that the factory set card was, but got DDR2-Dual Channel, which I presumed to be better. I am running Vista Ultimate 64 Bit with SP1.

Thanks,
-Matt

[The Admiral]

So it is running right now on three sticks? It should be freaking out. >.<

Dual channel should be fine. What sticks are in what slots right now, and what did you try to change to?

[Immortalarena]

I am running with them in 1,2,3

The 2 Ultra DDR2 Dual Channels are in spots 1 and 3, and the Other that was factory installed is set in spot 2, I tried to put the new memory into spots 2 and 4, removing the Factory installed. Problems happened, and I ended up taking them both back out. I don't know, I'm using the Western Digital Scanner to see if something is dying on one of the Hard Drives now, I think I heard light clicking this morning... Hoping it was my imagination. Thanks again!

-Matt

[The Admiral]

Did you by chance repartition the hard drive when you installed Vista, or is there still a 64MB EISA partition, like in this picture? You can find the partitions by going to the Start menu, right-clicking Computer and selecting Manage. Then select Disk Management in the left pane, and you should get to a screen that looks like that picture.

I'd also recommend that you install the new RAM in slots 2 and 4, then enter the BIOS by tapping <F2>. Make sure that all of the memory is correctly detected. You may also want to consider testing the new RAM using memtest86. You can also do a full system diagnostic by using Dell's Utility Partition, which is what I want to make sure you have.

Edited by The Admiral, 27 November 2008 - 04:46 PM.

[Immortalarena]

I do not have the partition, no. I will try that a little later. Can't do it just now, family being over. Thanks again.

-Matt