It's nice to know they're working for you. I haven't run my T3500 yet. The issue began with GCN3 cards. R9-3xx (and 285 which is 380). Dell won't update the BIOS, and AMD says GCN3 and up doesn't support VESA modes. If you search error 43, or Vesa mode 103 at Dell forums you'll find reports. Maybe Dell patched the BIOS for their workstation customers. Dells usual response is you need a new computer. I know T3400 has the issue and all the other BTX I've seen. I look at userbenchmark and if I see almost 100% Nvidia cards I assume the worst. AMD and Dell both have never discussed a solution. I complained about it in AMDs user forum pointing out the 10,000s of sales they were losing. Maybe somebody listened. I own 2 R9-285s and a Fury Nano. I just want to be prepared. I've seen a couple RX470s in T3500 at userbench and they have the same driver listed. Maybe you found a sweet spot? Or maybe the newest stuff works. No idea if Dell fixed the BIOS or AMD fixed the drivers. It's definitely good news though. But with prices the way they are I won't be testing it soon. I might grab an HD7990 to play with. Fastest GCN 2 card. If the T3500 can run the 2x 285s, or Fury I'll put it in the T3400. A big plus for the T3500 if it can run anything.
I had the MB out so I cut the 8x slots anyway. I have 4-16x GPUs stuck in there now. I found some more metal I don't need. I'll take some pics. when I put it back together. The T5500 board would be nice. I might get one to play with. Maybe a whole system.
Which newer cards are you referring to? 500 series? So far I put three AMD graphics cards in T3500 without issues. One RX 480, and two RX 460. Never had to do any multiple card swaps. Perhaps installing the updated Intel chipset driver does the trick, I don't know. That and BIOS are first thing I do to these.
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Going to a try couple new things with the T5500 board and see if I can get farther this time.
I thought of something about the GPU situation. It could be that someone at one of the aftermarket video card makers decided to do their job and solved the VESA 103 issue. Maybe AMD, and Dell had nothing to do with it. It could be that some specific brands of video card work, and others don't. I've seen this with EUFI support. Could you post what brand of GPU you had success with, and what drivers worked for you. I've also heard rumors that MSI afterburner provided a cure. Are you running any Video utilities?
Vesa mode 103h is dirt simple 800x600, 256 colors. There's no reason any GPU can't run it. I think it's more of a not wanting to bother with it issue.
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I'll probably get yelled at for the huge file size. But here's the mod to install the 150x50mm fan from the Precision 490 dual CPU machine into the T3500. MC527 is the fan + housing.
It slides into the slot in the bottom of the case. The red X is a tab that needs to be folded down, and the red 6-32 square nut is glued down over a 1/8" hole (that you drilled). basically you're moving the mounting screw about an inch. I used Super Glue Gel so I could glue around the sides of the nut. For any viewers unfamiliar with the T3500 the original setup was 2x 120mm Foxconn .9A. fans with an HDD tray over the top of them. This resulted in a smaller CPU cooler also.
Heres the AFC1512DG 1.8A. fan installed. The 92mm cage fan slides in next to it and latches to the main fan. JD850 is the 2nd fan, but you can find them together as Precision 490 fan assy.
You may also notice in the last photo I've run the CPU wiring around the MB instead of under it, and the 2nd FDD bay has been trimmed square. The 256cfm fan was used to cool 2x 120W Pentium 4 based Xeons. I need to add a 2nd pigtail to the fan so I can use both fan headers fir it. PWM from CPU socket only. The 2nd fan wire has been rerouted and uncurled so it can reach the HDD fan header.
I apologize for the double photos. I tried to edit it down to thumbnails and it added them again.
Ok I finally got it to take a thumbnail. Macho 120, heatsinked VRMs, and original CPU cooler on the chipset.
Brass knuckles are a bonus of the Thermalright Macho 120 mod. The layout work at the top is for some air intake scoops over the GPU area. I'm hoping the 140mm PSU fan will draw some cold air in there.
The HD6990 could probably use some help in the noise and cooling dept. This is the reason for the FDD bay trim, and the air scoops. Just a mockup, no idea if this will fit or not.
A couple of random GPUs in the opened up 8x PCIe slots. The T5500 board has 4 PCIe 16x slots so even if it doesn't run on this it allows me to model for the MB swap.
And here's the Dell OEM HD6990, notice the bracket that slides into the fan housing to support it. Crossfired with an HD6970 for Trifire GPU setup. If slot 1 turns out to be 8x I can put Arctic coolers on both cards. Best guess is swap the cards and run a single fan cooler on the 6970, and the 6990 in the first slot. Trifire fills in the gaps that cause micro stutter. It's a problem with 2x GPUs, and non existent with 3 of them. The Macho 120 is enclosed on 3 sides already. I've made a panel to duct the fan to it on all 4 sides. Passive/ Agressive cooling.
Well it seems to have stopped taking my photos. Can't blame them really. The only other I wanted to show was the VRM heatsink needs holes in the back to clear some taller compnents between some of the MOSFETs, or individual heatsinks. Be aware that you can't just slap something down there.
