Dell Workstation Owners Club

[Retrorockit]

Newegg had some GTX1060 6GB refurbs for $214.

 

[DarthBubba]

Due to the multi rail nature of the Dell PSUs I don't think the extra power will be available if you use the T3500 harness. When Dell makes bigger PSUs the usually do it by adding more 12V. 18A. rails. Each rail will have it's own color coded wiring. The extra power is only available on the extra connectors on the bigger harness. You could use adaptors to switch the 2nd CPU connector to an 8 pin PCIe on the T5500 harness. Aftermarket single rail modular PSUs it doesn't matter.

My original plan was to install a GTX 980Ti vid card, and use 6-pin to 8-pin adapters for the PCI-E power lines. At 250W the 980Ti is a space heater and thus I chose the T5500 power supply. The 970 is about 30% less powerful (according to TechPowerUp's GPU data base), uses 148W, and has two 6-pin auxiliary power sockets, which would mate nicely with the T5500 power supply's two 6-pin PCI-E cables. IDK if the 30% power difference would show up in any games I would play, but 102 fewer watts might be noticeable here in Georgia's summertime.

Yes it will fit, and yes it will work. But without the extra connectors to use the extra power what's the point?

Well, it was something I (just) learned after purchasing the T5500 power supply. Of course, it does give me more power lines for all those extra CPU cooling fans, North and South Bridge chip fans, and so on.

"Who new cheap thrills could be a team sport?" - Some famous guy in the Throttlestop Overclocking Forum

-DB

 

[lexluthermiester]

Due to the multi rail nature of the Dell PSUs I don't think the extra power will be available if you use the T3500 harness.

Not exactly correct. The wiring for the harness's are identical across models to maintain compatibility. The PSU's full power will still be available even if there are fewer wires coming out of the harness.

im looking for a cheap GPU for the T3500. AMD particularly. Any suggestions?

That depends on your budget. RX470/480 maybe?

 

[sepheronx]

budget is like borderline begging change.

 

[lexluthermiester]

budget is like borderline begging change.

Ooo, that's interesting. Extreme low budget. What performance do you need/would you like?

 

[ManGupta]

Due to the multi rail nature of the Dell PSUs I don't think the extra power will be available if you use the T3500 harness. When Dell makes bigger PSUs the usually do it by adding more 12V. 18A. rails. Each rail will have it's own color coded wiring. The extra power is only available on the extra connectors on the bigger harness. You could use adaptors to switch the 2nd CPU connector to an 8 pin PCIe on the T5500 harness. Aftermarket single rail modular PSUs it doesn't matter. Yes it will fit, and yes it will work. But without the extra connectors to use the extra power what's the point?

I am using an aftermarket 700 watt Bronze certified Single rail semi modular PSU, its working fine. The dell T3500's 525 watt PSU couldn't take all the load (130 watt Processor, 6 RAM sticks, 3 3.5 inch HDDs+ 1 SSD, 1 Optical Drive, 6 additional Case Fans (in addition to 2 Dell's 120 cm fans), extra power for USB3 PCIE Adaptor + 4 Port USB3 Front HUB &GTX 1060 6 Gb). After I upgraded GPU PC started having random reboots with 525 watt Dell PSU.

 

[Retrorockit]

Here's a shopping tip for Dell users only. There was an OEM only series of AMD cards called HD8xxx. They were "sort of" the same as HD7xxx cards. Check clocking spec. closely. But they had Dell part numbers. They were used in Alienware, XPS and as high end options on workstations. By using HD8xxx, or Dell P/N #s in your search you can sometimes find deals hidden in the corners somewhere. The HD6990 I found was a Dell part#. There are HD8xxxx versions of HD7990,HD7970,HD7850 (which pair up nicely). I wouldn't be surprised if there were HP, and Lenovo parts also.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Here's a shopping tip for Dell users only. There was an OEM only series of AMD cards called HD8xxx. They were "sort of" the same as HD7xxx cards. Check clocking spec. closely. But they had Dell part numbers. They were used in Alienware, XPS and as high end options on workstations. By using HD8xxx, or Dell P/N #s in your search you can sometimes find deals hidden in the corners somewhere. The HD6990 I found was a Dell part#. There are HD8xxxx versions of HD7990,HD7970,HD7850 (which pair up nicely). I wouldn't be surprised if there were HP, and Lenovo parts also.

Looked up prices on many of those, just for giggles, and they're very reasonable, sub-$100. Want some links?

 

[Retrorockit]

I intentionally didn't publish links. I think people should learn to do this themselves. If you put these items up in the open they won't available for long. It also puts you in touch with the right people for other Dell parts. The Botcoin miners have screwed things up for everybody already. I don't want to help them if I can avoid it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I intentionally didn't publish links. I think people should learn to do this themselves. If you put these items up in the open they won't available for long. It also puts you in touch with the right people for other Dell parts. The Botcoin miners have screwed things up for everybody already. I don't want to help them if I can avoid it.

To each there own. They were all on eBay. Go have a look.

 

[sepheronx]

STILL don't have the T3500 running. I finally could afford a GPU (GTX 970 3.5gb) but of course...... No proper connections and don't want to risk overloading PSU with adapters. So I was gonna install the 600W Silverstone PSU I have lying around. Issue is, cant take the machine apart now cause of a screw holding the front fans in, is too deep and my screwdriver can't fit.

This thing sat idle for months. I want to get it running so my daughter can do her games, learning, artwork, wife gets to use for her documents and or watching movies, and also so I have something to keep testing with....

 

[lexluthermiester]

Issue is, cant take the machine apart now cause of a screw holding the front fans in, is too deep and my screwdriver can't fit.

Can you cut it loose?

 

[sepheronx]

Can you cut it loose?

Cut the case loose? What? No. Im not gonna do some hack job.

 

[Retrorockit]

The GTX970 has a 148W TDP according to this.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gtx-970.c2620
So the 75W 6 pin PCIe cable, and the 75W PCIe slot have nough power even if it takes an 8 pin cable. The 6 pin has all the 12V. power leads that an 8 pin does (3), I would get a 6 to 8 adapter and run it with the Dell PSU. Overclocking won't be on the menu, but it should run OK.

 

[DarthBubba]

Cut the case loose? What? No. Im not gonna do some hack job.

Head down to the cheapest hardware store in town (Harbor Freight here in the States) and get a longer screwdriver. It only has to last for this one job.

I "stacked" a second magnetic hex-collar into the end of my magnetic screwdriver that takes interchangeable bits.

Watch the first video I put in message #540 above, starting about one minute thirty seconds in.

Easy as π.

-DB

 

[sepheronx]

The GTX970 has a 148W TDP according to this.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gtx-970.c2620
So the 75W 6 pin PCIe cable, and the 75W PCIe slot have nough power even if it takes an 8 pin cable. The 6 pin has all the 12V. power leads that an 8 pin does (3), I would get a 6 to 8 adapter and run it with the Dell PSU. Overclocking won't be on the menu, but it should run OK.

What about adding a sata to 6pin adapter? Cause my GTX 970 has a 6pin plus 8 pin.

Crap. I bent a capacitor then bent it back into place. Hopefully it still works.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Cut the case loose? What? No. Im not gonna do some hack job.

No, cut the screw loose. Or like DarthBubba said, get an extender.

 

[Retrorockit]

What about adding a sata to 6pin adapter? Cause my GTX 970 has a 6pin plus 8 pin.

If it's a 148W card you should be able to run it with a splitter off of the 6 pin PCIe.. 150W should be available (75w+75W) there.
If you want to take power from somewhere else map out the 3x 12V. rails by color code. White,Yellow, and Blue/White on mine. If the SATA is on the same color wiring then it's the same as using a splitter. If you want power from another rail then use an SATA with a different colored wire. By seeing what is running off of each rail you can get a good idea of which one may have some extra power available. But by the spec. that card should run off of the 6 pin PCIe. No matter how many connectors it has a 150W card will only draw 150W, welll within spec. for a single 6 pin PCIe setup.

 

[ManGupta]

If it's a 148W card you should be able to run it with a splitter off of the 6 pin PCIe.. 150W should be available (75w+75W) there.
If you want to take power from somewhere else map out the 3x 12V. rails by color code. White,Yellow, and Blue/White on mine. If the SATA is on the same color wiring then it's the same as using a splitter. If you want power from another rail then use an SATA with a different colored wire. By seeing what is running off of each rail you can get a good idea of which one may have some extra power available. But by the spec. that card should run off of the 6 pin PCIe. No matter how many connectors it has a 150W card will only draw 150W, welll within spec. for a single 6 pin PCIe setup.

In my case I had to upgrade my Dell 525W PSU after installing GTX 1060 6gb (120 W only). After installing New GPU my system had frequent reboots. Only after PSU upgrade system was stable.

 

[Retrorockit]

In my case I had to upgrade my Dell 525W PSU after installing GTX 1060 6gb (120 W only). After installing New GPU my system had frequent reboots. Only after PSU upgrade system was stable.

I'm running a 120W X5470 Xeon and a 120W GTX1060 off of an old Dimension 9150 (Pentium4) 375W. PSU. Luck of the draw I guess. But your high ambient temperatures may be harder on parts than my situation. A large single rail aftermarket PSU does simplify things. I would try the adapter first.

 

[sepheronx]

Alright, finally up and running with it. Got a seasonic 600W 80+ PSU installed. Old PSU but solid.

Setup:
Dell T3500 Case (Duh)
Seasonic 600W 80+ Modular PSU (Forgot to write down the model)
12GB of RAM Triple Channel
MSI GTX 970 4 (3.5) GB GPU
Crucial 500GB SSD (Sucks its SATA2)
HT Omega Striker 7.1 Sound Card (Got it from a friends machine. PCI. So why not eh?)
USB 3 PCIe Card
Disk Drives not being used currently
SD Card Reader

Surprisingly enough, there was no needed for any kind of modification of the case for the PSU. The PSU actually fit perfectly even with its proprietary brackets. Also, I was comparing the Heaven benchmarks of comparison systems and I was surprised mine did well.

 

[Retrorockit]

Normal PSUs fit just fine, and you have enough of everything for a solid gaming rig. The fact that it's an old PSU probably helps with the 5V. rail.
Are you running DDR3 1066 modules or are they 1333 modules running at 1066?

 

[sepheronx]

1066. It is what came with the system.

Now I got a new issue. I installed applications on disk 2 which I removed because I had to fit the GTX 970 in it. I cant seem to remove the items as Windows 10 still sees it installed.

 

[Retrorockit]

Can you stick drive 2 in one of the floppy bays? they're the same size as an HDD.

 

[sepheronx]

I was thinking of buying an adapter for the 5.25 simply because I would like to add a second drive plus one with front USB 3 ports.

Before heading for bed.

Tested Resident Evil 2 Remake and it ran very well. Of course not max everything due to GTX970 but man does it run well on this dell. But I cant get Throttlestop to work. I set it to 31 multiplyer but saving does nothing. It still goes to max 3.4ghz while in game.