Hi, anyone can help me with this topic. It seem to be difficult to have reliable information about the Dell MotherBoard of an old (2008) XPS 720 Black Dell Tower.

I currently have a E6700 Core 2 Duo running at 2,67 Ghz and I would like to upgrade it to a Core 2 Quad or even better to a Core 2 Extreme Quad but I am really in the dark about what CPU the motherboard will accept (not only the pinout) according to the Bios that is already in place.

Unfortunatelly, Dell doesn't support this model anymore and it seem to be pretty hard to find reliable information about it and I am pretty sure it will be even harder to change/modify my Bios if needed to make the change of CPU.

Anyone out there with real knowledge about this? What is the easiest upgrade I can make without having to spend too much time, money and effort?

I have heared that I could not go over a Q6700 (Quad at 2,67 Ghz instead of a Duo at the same frequency) and I have read that some other were able to upgrade it to a Quad Extreme with no problem!!! (depends what is the definition of NO PROBLEMS).

I hope to get info ASAP since I have to make a decision soon.

Redgie

 

PS I don't have the budget to change the motherboard or any other significant piece of material.

 

I run the XPS720 with a 3Ghz E6850 CPU, so you should be able to go at least that far. The big problem is Dell MB is locked so you can't overclock it. There is a way to do it though through software, but it's not to stable I hear. I believe it can take though the extreme E6800 CPU, which has unlocked multipliers. So you can over clock that way, but I think you will have to upgrade the cooling system. I believe the only you could get the the extreme E6800 at the ime was with the XPS720 H2C (Water cooled) version. and even then O/C was limited. 

I think the Q9x50 series is as far as you can go on that socket.  When I put this FS system together a few years ago I thought about getting the Core 2 quad, but in the end, opted for the 8400 for its' faster CPU speed and better over-clocking ability.  As I remember, the LGA 775 Quads would only get up to around 3.6 gHz for a stable OC, if you managed to get the right stepping..  Since I was building for FS9 though, I couldn't really justify the quad at the time as it was quite a bit pricier than the 8400 series, which I can comfortably clock to 4 gHz on air.  Where you are using a Dell system, I'd be leery of upgrading it if the BIOS is locked.

Hope this helps you.

Cheers,

Jeff

I've been running my current set-up for the last 3 years (or more ?), my sim runs beautifully with lots of add-ons including the PMDG 737NGX.

It's also been running @3.8 from the very beginning 24/7 on air.

The Intel Q9550 or 9560 would do you right but it would depend on your Operating System. Original factory installed will not allow you to over-clock the CPU, to do that you'd have to invest in a new OS like Windows 7 64 bit.

 

jime