Throttlestop overclocking Desktop PCs

[lexluthermiester]

Always wanted to run a T5500 board. received one (bottom image) from same source as these T3500 boxes. Could not get it to post, sadly. Probably why it was headed for the dumpster.

Fits in the T3500 box perfectly. Besides slot sizes and CPU riser they are quite similar, with one key difference. Instead of X58 the T5500 is based on the Intel 5520 chipset. And unlike the T3500, they will accept buffered/registered ECC RAM which are cheap and plentiful. 48gb would be nice for video editing.

Thank for sharing that. If I ever need a replacement for one of mine I know there are alternatives.

 

[Retrorockit]

In fact they did:
"Westmere-EP" (32 nm) Efficient Performance

Thanks for that info. Next question would be are any of them unlocked? The dual core X5698 @ 4.4Ghz looks interesting for a T5500 project.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-2-Inte...re-12M-Processor-CPU-/172882079734?rmvSB=true
I may have confused E5xxx with E5-xxxx series and overlooked them.

I suppose being dual CPU unlocked is unlikely. The X56xx versions look like 6 cores at first glance. Probably not much there for TS overclocking. But should produce good results in an fsb situation.
I found this list of mostly ES CPUs
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/intel-ships-a-4-4ghz-xeon-x5698.html

 

[lexluthermiester]

Thanks for that info. Next question would be are any of them unlocked? The dual core X5698 @ 4.4Ghz looks interesting for a T5500 project.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-2-Inte...re-12M-Processor-CPU-/172882079734?rmvSB=true
I may have confused E5xxx with E5-xxxx series and overlooked them.

I suppose being dual CPU unlocked is unlikely. The X56xx versions look like 6 cores at first glance. Probably not much there for TS overclocking. But should produce good results in an fsb situation.
I found this list of mostly ES CPUs
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/intel-ships-a-4-4ghz-xeon-x5698.html

I don't know. If we look at the raw numbers, a 6 core at 3.33 or 3.46 seems like it would be the better choice in most situations than a dual core at 4.4. The only scenario I see for that CPU doing better is in progams that don't/can't use more than 2 cores, like much older software and games.

 

[Susquehannock]

As expected, both the W3565 that I tried were locked. As with the W5590, TS did allow for one extra multiplier - from 24 to 25T.

So to summarize, I have tried five Xeon 1366 in these Dell T3500 thus far. (Windows 10, A17 BIOS, board revision '09KPNV')
Two W3565, one W5590, and two X5687.

- - W3565 = locked. TS allows multi change from 24 to 25T. TS bench (32M) = 14.106 @25T - 3.33ghz
- - W5590 = locked. TS allows multi change from 25 to 26T. TS bench (32M) = 13.055 @26T - 3.42ghz
- - X5687 = locked. Max multi = 28T. TS allows no higher setting than normal. TS bench (32M) = 12.019 @28T - 3.72ghz

 

[lexluthermiester]

As expected, both the W3565 that I tried were locked. As with the W5590, TS did allow for one extra multiplier - from 24 to 25T.

So to summarize, I have tried five Xeon 1366 in these Dell T3500 thus far. (Windows 10, A17 BIOS, board revision '09KPNV')
Two W3565, one W5590, and two X5687.

- - W3565 = locked. TS allows multi change from 24 to 25T. TS bench (32M) = 14.106 @25T - 3.33ghz
- - W5590 = locked. TS allows multi change from 25 to 26T. TS bench (32M) = 13.055 @ 26T - 3.42ghz
- - X5687 = locked. Max multi = 28T. TS allows no higher setting than normal. TS bench (33M) = 12.019 @ 28T - 3.72ghz

Still those are decent boosts for locked down chipsets and CPU's.

Got curious after reading through some of these posts and based on the information found through official sources, I don't think any of the retail/oem Xeon 771 or 1366 CPU's were unlocked. The only references I could find to unlocked Xeons were engineering samples. The only officially released unlocked CPU's I could verify exist for those two sockets are the the extreme edition CPU's in the consumer lines. It seems that unlocked Xeons didn't officially exist until socket 2011. While this kinda makes sense, it is still a bit surprising. Someone do correct me if I've missed something somewhere..

 

[Retrorockit]

The W3680,W3690 (aka i7-990X,i7-980X) are unlocked. The W3570, W3580 (aka i7-965 I7-975) are supposed to be also. Official sources don't list them. OCN X58 Xeon club and others mention them. The 2x cpu W5580,W5590 was a false report, and a W5580 CPUZ 42x133 that was probably an ES chip. I haven't found any 32nm Quads that are unlocked, or 2x cpu except some ES reports.
Here's Unclewebbs t3500 W3680 at 32x133

I think you previously mentioned the UserBenchmark so I bumped the multi in my T3500 - W3680 up to 32 for a balls to the wall run at 4266 MHz. The UserBenchmark is mostly a light duty bench for a hyper threaded 6 core CPU so it had no problem completing it. The UserBenchmark seems to like my W3680.

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/7540614

I've just about got the metal work done on my T3500. The 10 chrome heat pipes sticking out through holes in the the cover look pretty cool! The 150x50mm fan housing just needed a 6-32 nut superglued to the bottom of the case to mount it. The chipset finsink got chopped up and is now on the VRMs, the Dell CPU cooler is now on the chipset. i don't know if the T3500 has the Dell BIOS issue the T3400 has that keeps AMD GPUs from running. My choices are Dell HD6990 ( +HD6970 later!), 2x R9-285, R9-Fury Nano, or GTX760, . So Unclewebb got 4.266GHz with a stock cooler. I guess it's time to find out how fast Intel will let a lapped W3690 run with a big air cooler.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The W3680, W3690 (aka i7-990X,i7-980X) are unlocked.

It seems likely Intel didn't intentionally unlock them. May have just been an overlooked detail that was never adjusted.

Official sources don't list them.

Documentation is surprising sparse on the matter of unlocked Xeons, from official sources. There is a wide variety of opinions elsewhere.

I've just about got the metal work done on my T3500. The 10 chrome heat pipes sticking out through holes in the the cover look pretty cool! The 150x50mm fan housing just needed a 6-32 nut superglued to the bottom of the case to mount it. The chipset finsink got chopped up and is now on the VRMs, the Dell CPU cooler is now on the chipset.

Wow. Pictures?

 

[Retrorockit]

I guess it's time for a clarification about TS overclocking. It's a byproduct of laptop undervolting. It's 100% dependent on unlocked CPUs. So it's important to discover them. We're all learning as we go.
Unclewebb wrote the Throttlestop program. I've made a hobby of overclocking Dells but mostly LGA775 BTX computers so far, and Susqehannock has been modding the Dell T3500s for a while.
The i7 Extremes are a given. ASFAIK if it boots it will TS overclock. There are no official unlocked Xeons. I suspect that they were relying on the locked BIOS on workstations to prevent overclocking. The unlocked 1366 Xeons all support 3x1333 RAM, the i7s are 3x1066.
The Dell T3500 has become the common ground for this. Cheap, easy to find, almost impossible to overclock otherwise, and capable of producing a worthwhile result.
The bottom line is a Dell T3500, a W3680 Xeon, and an 80mm fan on the CPU cooler, with Throttlestop software can produce a 4.266Ghz 6 core 12 thread computer in about a 1/2 hour.<$150.
The unlocked Nehalem Xeons are little known and a bit of a mystery. Will an overclocked W3570 45nm 4 core improve on the X5687 32nm locked 4 coreCPU?
The question of the W5580 was worth looking into because it would be only the 2nd unlocked SMP processor ever. It looks like it isn't going to work out.

Wow. Pictures?

The last time I took photos I got my camera and tripod, set up decent lighting etc. and the files were too big to post here. I need to adjust the heatpipe holes a little and touch up some bare metal in a few spots. But I'll get some pics. up. At OCN I have an album. What's the best way to get photos up in here?

 

[lexluthermiester]

What's the best way to get photos up in here?

Just attach them straight into the comment. If you use jpg as a container and use 90% all pics should stay under the file size limit.

 

[Susquehannock]

You can also open the image in 'Paint' and change pixel size. I usually go for 1280.

 

[Retrorockit]

I don't know. If we look at the raw numbers, a 6 core at 3.33 or 3.46 seems like it would be the better choice in most situations than a dual core at 4.4. The only scenario I see for that CPU doing better is in progams that don't/can't use more than 2 cores, like much older software and games.

I missed your reply on the 2 core Xeon. It's not very interesting by itself, but it is an SMP processor, so 2 of them on a T5500 would produce a 4.4GHz 4 core 8 thread machine. But $850 for 2 damaged ES chips is ridiculous. It's just interesting that Intel was looking at 4.4-4.6 GHz speeds for these, and actually offered one for sale (OEM only).

 

[Morph96070]

So, I've been using TS for a while due to a bugged BD Prochot sensor. I rebooted today, and can't launch TS (winring0.dll won't load). Stuck at 1600Mhz.. event viewer shows that "

The WinRing0_1_2_0 service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the path specified.

 

[unclewebb]

The WinRing0_1_2_0 service failed to start

Has anything changed recently? A Windows 10 update or maybe an update to an antivirus program you are running. What operating system and version are you using? What antivirus program?

Some users have got around problems like this by running Open Hardware Monitor first, before starting ThrottleStop.

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

It uses the same WinRing0 driver but it is hidden within a file in that program which seems to trick Windows into letting it run.

I am using Windows 10 and Windows 7 and Avast antivirus and ThrottleStop is still starting up for me.

Sometimes if your computer crashes (BSOD) while the WinRing0 driver is open, Windows will block this driver so it no longer works.

 

[Morph96070]

Has anything changed recently? A Windows 10 update or maybe an update to an antivirus program you are running. What operating system and version are you using? What antivirus program?

Some users have got around problems like this by running Open Hardware Monitor first, before starting ThrottleStop.

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

It uses the same WinRing0 driver but it is hidden within a file in that program which seems to trick Windows into letting it run.

I am using Windows 10 and Windows 7 and Avast antivirus and ThrottleStop is still starting up for me.

Sometimes if your computer crashes (BSOD) while the WinRing0 driver is open, Windows will block this driver so it no longer works.

Using Windows 10, and only running the Built in Security. Didn't run into a BSOD, but was getting some stuttering, nothing else shows up in event viewer, only using TS to disable BD prochot (bad sensor on the mobo).

THANK YOU SO MUCH.. OHM took care of the issue, got TS set up

 

[m&m's]

Well guys I have bad news about my T3500, I over tightened the CPU cooler and broke one of the screws. I can still use it but when it broke it also left a mark on the motherboard (some of the tracings on the board around the screw is gone to say the least) and it seems like the tracings in question were used by the DIMM slot 3 because it's dead now. So I'm running 8GB on dual channel now...

I highly doubt I'll buy a W3680 now so I wont be using Throttlestop soon.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Well guys I have bad news about my T3500, I over tightened the CPU cooler and broke one of the screws. I can still use it but when it broke it also left a mark on the motherboard (some of the tracings on the board around the screw is gone to say the least) and it seems like the tracings in question were used by the DIMM slot 3 because it's dead now. So I'm running 8GB on dual channel now...

I highly doubt I'll buy a W3680 now so I wont be using Throttlestop soon.

Take the board out and use thin strand copper wire to rejoin the traces. You need a thin tip soldering iron and a bit of 3% silver solder(with flux of course), but you should be able to make repairs if you take it carefully. After you're done get some modeling enamel paint and paint over the exposed wires, after a test boot of course. It takes careful work but it can be done. Have at it!

 

[Susquehannock]

Well guys I have bad news about my T3500, I over tightened the CPU cooler and broke one of the screws. I can still use it but when it broke it also left a mark on the motherboard (some of the tracings on the board around the screw is gone to say the least) and it seems like the tracings in question were used by the DIMM slot 3 because it's dead now. So I'm running 8GB on dual channel now...

I highly doubt I'll buy a W3680 now so I wont be using Throttlestop soon.

Ouch! Sorry for your luck. Fortunately used boards are cheap on eBay. About $30. I would recommend the latest revision = '9KPNV'. Seems to be most durable and use better capacitors than the early ones.

If you don't have it already, the T3500 service manual is a great resource for working with these. Board replacement is near bottom of the document.

> http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/precision-t3500/manuals

 

[lexluthermiester]

Fortunately used boards are cheap on eBay. About $30.

This is also a good option if you don't want to dive into a soldering job.

 

[Retrorockit]

Well guys I have bad news about my T3500, I over tightened the CPU cooler and broke one of the screws. I can still use it but when it broke it also left a mark on the motherboard (some of the tracings on the board around the screw is gone to say the least) and it seems like the tracings in question were used by the DIMM slot 3 because it's dead now. So I'm running 8GB on dual channel now...

I highly doubt I'll buy a W3680 now so I wont be using Throttlestop soon.

If you want to do a PSU swap the time to do it is while the MB is out. The 8 pin CPU cable runs underneath the MB. There were Dell 2 PSUs for these. One for single GPU and another for dual GPU machines. But you'll need to get the correct harness or you won't have the extra connectors. Dell PSUs are seriously multi rail, and they pretty much support configurations that Dell sold and that's it. If you go aftermarket make sure there's a enough power on the 5V. and 3.3V. rails. EVGA is pretty good about this. I have an EVGA B2-850 in mine. It's not 100% modular the 8 pin still runs under the board. The Dell PSUs are good, and you can find deals but aftermarket is more flexible with adding parts.

 

[Retrorockit]

I came across a newer T3500 MB 9V99W
https://www.serversupply.com/produc...MIlsWnyr6U2gIVVTyBCh27XQnkEAQYAiABEgKzYfD_BwE
Absolutely no idea what's different about it.

 

[Susquehannock]

I came across a newer T3500 MB 9V99W
https://www.serversupply.com/produc...MIlsWnyr6U2gIVVTyBCh27XQnkEAQYAiABEgKzYfD_BwE
Absolutely no idea what's different about it.

Not certain of this, I believe the 9V99W are factory refurb replacement boards. Also go by part number JCGCY depending on the original release. Basically older ones with better capacitors installed like on the 9KPNV revision.

From what I can tell, there were three releases originally.

 

[Retrorockit]

I have no idea, I just came across the later number. I saw that post in Delll Community Forum about those 3 versions. But they were asking if there were any others.
I see you have an RX480 running on a T3500. Here's a thread about what someone had to go through to get one running on a T5500.
https://community.amd.com/thread/202370
The T5500 MB is looking interesting for a single CPU setup because the 4x PCIe 16x slots make GPU arrangements more flexible. 16+16+4 is what the chipset supports. Thanks for the info that it fits the T3500 case. I have some Arctic GPU coolers that make my cards 3 slots wide for both the HD6970, and the HD6990.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I came across a newer T3500 MB 9V99W
https://www.serversupply.com/produc...MIlsWnyr6U2gIVVTyBCh27XQnkEAQYAiABEgKzYfD_BwE
Absolutely no idea what's different about it.

That board is identical to the 9KPNV except for the fan controller chip, which was updated/replaced to be more reliable.

 

[Retrorockit]

I came across this heatsink/ fan assy. W715F or W567F . It's for the 2nd CPU in a T5500. But it looks like it's the same as the T3500 LGA1366 cooler with a fan and shroud attached.
https://www.freelanddigital.com/Dell-W715F-PrecisionT5500-Heatsink-and-Cooling-Fan-p/w715f.htm

Does anyone know if the cage fan runs off of the same PWM signal as the CPU fan? Or is there another sensor for it? I've replaced the .9A. CPU fan with a 1.8A AFC1512DG. I was thinking of putting 2x connectors on it so the MB won't detect the change. Basically I've removed the 2x 120mm fans and gone back to the Precision 490 150mm+92mm setup.

 

[lexluthermiester]

But it looks like it's the same as the T3500 LGA1366 cooler with a fan and shroud attached.

It is.

Does anyone know if the cage fan runs off of the same PWM signal as the CPU fan?

In the T3500, they are independently controlled. The lower fan is controlled by the CPU temp sensor and the upper fan is controlled by the ram temp sensors, which is why the upper fan has an air channeling shroud that runs over the ram.

I was thinking of putting 2x connectors on it so the MB won't detect the change.

That would work if you're using a y-spitter cable.