Dell Workstation Owners Club

[Wadadli]

2. I was unable to install the Noctua NH-U9S on the 2nd cpu location. This is because Dell uses a special kind of CPU Socket. In short the Noctua doesn't fit and contacting them did not help. They just mention it is special and they do not support it. You can replace the socket screws, but this requires disassembling the board a bit. Disassembly of the pc is fine for me, but I don't touch the board. So this was a no go. In the end I bought what everyone does and just got the 2nd CPU/FAN Heatsink from Dell.

Isn't the socket the slim LGA2011-3? Then the NH-D9DX i4 3U might be more useful.

CPU SOCKET LGA2011-3 Narrow ILM | 3D CAD Model Library | GrabCAD

This guy used it here : Investigation – T3600 Fan Blog (wordpress.com)


Having checked the motherboard, the above blog and compared the two fans, I'm fairly certain it would be the better option, albeit perhaps a bit too late now?

 

[bgguy]

So I've still been having issue with my T3600 randomly shutting off. This is even after power limiting my GPU so I am at a complete loss of why my desktop keeps shutting off during certain games that are both CPU and GPU intensive. I've thought of buying a new 635W or 825W PSU, but there is no guarantees I could overcome the 18A limit for the 12V rail. (Honestly, I'm not even sure this is an issue right now.)

But I just had a crazy and horrible and genius idea though.......

When you look at the 635W power supply, it looks like there are many pins and also 2 blank spots. When you compare it to the 825W power supply, you see that it's actually grouped together and presumably because the 825W adds 2 additional 12V rails, thats what the blank spots are.

The problem is that even though you're adding additional rails, the T3600 power distribution board doesn't have any outputs for it so they are essentially unused.
However, what if you were to connect 2 of the 12V buses together by soldering them together. You essentially get a 12V rail with now a 36A limit. I guess the remaining problem is there is no way to know which pin is which voltage. Nothing seems to be marked and the PCB traces seem to be internal to the board. Anyone have any ideas which are the 12V rails?


Any thoughts?

Disclaimer: Do not do anything I just mentioned above, this was purely a thought experiment and no one will be responsible if you accidentally burn down your house or destroy your desktop.

 

[c12038]

Dell Precision M6300 Workstation series laptop
2.5Ghz T9300
4GB DDR2 667Mhz
500GB HDD
Ralink N wifi card replaced the rubbish Anatel 54mbps one

 

[silie96630]

Windows 10 has most of the needed drivers built in. Those that are not built in, the Windows 7 drivers from the Dell support page will work fine in Windows 10. No worries. Install Windows 10 with confidence.

Support for Precision T3500 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US

Hey thanks! Could you let me know what drivers you installed on your machine? I mean the ones from windows 7? Like was it just chipset or just audio?

 

[Wadadli]

So I've still been having issue with my T3600 randomly shutting off. This is even after power limiting my GPU so I am at a complete loss of why my desktop keeps shutting off during certain games that are both CPU and GPU intensive. I've thought of buying a new 635W or 825W PSU, but there is no guarantees I could overcome the 18A limit for the 12V rail. (Honestly, I'm not even sure this is an issue right now.)

But I just had a crazy and horrible and genius idea though.......

When you look at the 635W power supply, it looks like there are many pins and also 2 blank spots. When you compare it to the 825W power supply, you see that it's actually grouped together and presumably because the 825W adds 2 additional 12V rails, thats what the blank spots are.

The problem is that even though you're adding additional rails, the T3600 power distribution board doesn't have any outputs for it so they are essentially unused.
However, what if you were to connect 2 of the 12V buses together by soldering them together. You essentially get a 12V rail with now a 36A limit. I guess the remaining problem is there is no way to know which pin is which voltage. Nothing seems to be marked and the PCB traces seem to be internal to the board. Anyone have any ideas which are the 12V rails?


Any thoughts?

Disclaimer: Do not do anything I just mentioned above, this was purely a thought experiment and no one will be responsible if you accidentally burn down your house or destroy your desktop.

Might work

But this might be better. I remembered an old post in a different forum. This solution might be better using SATA power to the GPU:

Link to the above:

#RabbitHole


Something like this should give you 2x54W=108W plus the 150W from VGA_1. So 258W plus the 75W from the PCIe slot should be sufficient.

Dual 15Pin SATA Male To PCIe 8Pin (6+2) Male Video Card Power Cable

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hey thanks! Could you let me know what drivers you installed on your machine? I mean the ones from windows 7? Like was it just chipset or just audio?

Chipset. I never use the onboard sound. However the one time I enabled it Windows had drivers that worked straight away.

 

[firesnake]

Hello I'm new here. I have T3600 E5 -2658 / 28GB ram / Quadro 2000 etc. Can send anyone picture to me power supply baffle? (balck part end of power supply) Thank you. I bought used wokstation and this part is missing. I have 3D printer I would like to print similar one.

 

[rtenor]

Hi.
Does anyone know if T5810 is compatible with E5-16xxL and E5-26xxL processors?

 

[Cheese Burger Eddy]

I just joined the "Why did I think buying a 10+ year old Dual CPU machine was smart" club! I picked up a T7500 with Dual X5550's, 12gb of ram (6x2gb) with basically everything stock and 2, 1.5tb HDD in it. The thing was absolutely filthy inside. The Northbridge active fan (I think), front fans, HDD fan and rear fans where all, completely coated in a thick layer of grime/dust. I have blown through 3 cans of compressed air cleaning to thing out and still not done.

On order is 2, X5675's to replace the X5550s. After that I am getting a U402f heatsink (unless there is a better aftermarket in the $50 range), a ram upgrade, Sata card for running an SSD and the 2 HDDs. Other than that, the machine makes me super happy. It is confirmed working with the X5550's and I only paid $80 for the entire thing!

My plan is to swap out the current CPUs and sell them super cheap and hopefully get a good deal on some ram. I was lookin at 12x4gb or 6x8gb and honestly I would prefer the 8gb sticks since I could go to 12x8gb later instead of trying to offload the 4gb sticks first. The current 6gb of ram per CPU just won't cut it for me. Once I secure the ram, the CPUs show up and the cooler is installed, I will be switching to this system as my primary workstation, stripping my current i5-6600k build and selling the parts, then buying the upgrades for the i5 build I want (new CPU, Mobo, Ram, Maybe PSU and hopefully GPU). Once done, the T7500 becomes my gaming/media/home server.


So my question is regarding ram. The manual says PC3-8500R or PC3-10600R, but I have seen intermittent posts saying PC3-12800R also works. I know the performance difference between them is virtually nothing except in benchmarks. Honestly, I am just trying to get the cheapest upgrade to my ram possible. Everybody appears to be selling old tech for insane prices these days. The prices for 10600 are fairly high in the 6 sticks range, 8500 is the cheapest and 12800 seems to bounce around. Obviously the "higher" speed is preferable for me, but I would rathe get 6x16gb of 8500 than 6x4gb of 10600. Does 12800 work? I am looking at the manual and it appears 16gb sticks only work in 128gb or 192gb configs? Is that table just a guide?

Anyways, happy to be here and excited to dig into the dark secrets of my T7500.

 

[lexluthermiester]

On order is 2, X5675's to replace the X5550s.

Excellent choice of CPU to pair up with each other and that system. They are 3GHZ but only 95W TDP. They do actually run cooler as well compared to 130W 1366 CPUs.

After that I am getting a U402f heatsink

That's a solid heatsink and not expensive.

(unless there is a better aftermarket in the $50 range)

Unfortunately aftermarket heatsinks are a difficult prospect because of the mounting bracket system Dell made in the T[X]500 series of systems.

BTW, welcome to TPU!

 

[Cheese Burger Eddy]

Excellent choice of CPU to pair up with each other and that system. They are 3GHZ but only 95W TDP. They do actually run cooler as well compared to 130W 1366 CPUs.

That's a solid heatsink and not expensive.

Unfortunately aftermarket heatsinks are a difficult prospect because of the mounting bracket system Dell made in the T[X]500 series of systems.

BTW, welcome to TPU!

Originally I had placed an order for a pair of X5690's which was $104 Cad. The Seller on Ebay canceled the order claiming "out of stock" and refunded my money. I checked there store and they had about 8 listings of X5690's, both in pairs and singles, for $85-$110 per CPU. So nearly double the price, which makes me think they "ran out of stock" because they accidentally put down the wrong price. The X5680's on the same listing where $20 MORE than the X5690's.

So I hunted around some more and I was reading that the X5675 is basically a X5690, just with a lower multiplier/power usage. If you look at the benchmarks between the 75, 80 and 90, they are nearly identical performance per watt. I know these aren't an over clockers dream, but I found a thread on overclock.net from 2018 where "chris89" used setFSB to push dual x5650's in his T7500 pretty hard. He then went to X5675s and did the same. I am still, digging through Ebay listings in the hopes of finding reasonably priced ram, right now, I think 12x4gb of 10600r is the sweet spot price wise.

So all in, I will likely spend:

$80 on unit
$52 U402f
$63 2xX5675
$140~ 48gb 10600r
$50 SSD
$15 Compressed air
$60 Sata Cards

Total: Approximately $460. More than I planned, but to have a Dual Xeon, 48gb, 3.5tb storage monster? Not bad.

 

[silie96630]

After that I am getting a U402f heatsink (unless there is a better aftermarket in the $50 range)

If you look on YouTube there is people who have used Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo heatsinks on Dell Precision T3500 machines and I'm pretty sure I have seen liquid cooled T5500s. But the issue is that in 99% of those cases, they had to take out their motherboards to mount backplates for the new heatsinks. And since you're also using a riser card, I am unsure whether you have the mounting holes or are space constrained for a CM Hyper 212 Evo. I would suggest like @lexluthermiester said to just use the U402F, because it's not too costly and is a viable heatsink.

Originally I had placed an order for a pair of X5690's which was $104 Cad. The Seller on Ebay canceled the order claiming "out of stock" and refunded my money. I checked there store and they had about 8 listings of X5690's, both in pairs and singles, for $85-$110 per CPU. So nearly double the price, which makes me think they "ran out of stock" because they accidentally put down the wrong price. The X5680's on the same listing where $20 MORE than the X5690's.

So I hunted around some more and I was reading that the X5675 is basically a X5690, just with a lower multiplier/power usage. If you look at the benchmarks between the 75, 80 and 90, they are nearly identical performance per watt. I know these aren't an over clockers dream, but I found a thread on overclock.net from 2018 where "chris89" used setFSB to push dual x5650's in his T7500 pretty hard. He then went to X5675s and did the same. I am still, digging through Ebay listings in the hopes of finding reasonably priced ram, right now, I think 12x4gb of 10600r is the sweet spot price wise.

So all in, I will likely spend:

$80 on unit
$52 U402f
$63 2xX5675
$140~ 48gb 10600r
$50 SSD
$15 Compressed air
$60 Sata Cards

Total: Approximately $460. More than I planned, but to have a Dual Xeon, 48gb, 3.5tb storage monster? Not bad.

You never mentioned your GPU choice mate, genuinely intrigued

 

[imrazor]

I've got a T5500 with dual X5687 CPUs (130w each) installed. I've tried and failed to get a Vega 56 working by using a vBIOS limited to 150w. However, somehow the card still manages to draw too much power and forces the machine to shut off when put under (gaming) load. Any troubleshooting suggestions?

 

[lexluthermiester]

I would suggest like @lexluthermiester said to just use the U402F, because it's not too costly and is a viable heatsink.

There is a caveat to this: If you can find a pair. They are increasingly hard to find.

@Cheese Burger Eddy
You would actually be better off buying a set of U016F's, which are very good performers.

Dell U016F Precision T3500 T5500 T7500 Workstation Heatsink 0U016F 50742441579 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell U016F Precision T3500 T5500 T7500 Workstation Heatsink 0U016F at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Attach an 80mm fan and you're good to go! See below. Ignore the dust. 90/92mm fans would work well also, but those are more difficult to find.


For powering the fans I use a molex to 3-pin fan adapter.

Y-Cable, 4-Pin Molex to 2x 4-Pin (PWM) and 1x 3-Pin, 30cm, Sleeved, Black | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Y-Cable, 4-Pin Molex to 2x 4-Pin (PWM) and 1x 3-Pin, 30cm, Sleeved, Black at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

$140~ 48gb 10600r

Unless you need the 48GB, go with 24GB(12GB per CPU). You'll save a lot of money.

4GB DDR3 ECC REG. MEMORY FOR DELL PRECISION WORKSTATION T5500, T7500 | eBay

Dell P/N A2626072, A2626093, A2862069, A2862074,A3721482.

www.ebay.com

I've got a T5500 with dual X5687 CPUs (130w each) installed. I've tried and failed to get a Vega 56 working by using a vBIOS limited to 150w. However, somehow the card still manages to draw too much power and forces the machine to shut off when put under (gaming) load. Any troubleshooting suggestions?

Yes, get a higher wattage PSU. You likely have the 525W PSU model and you need a 825w minimum for that card to run with those CPU's.

Mint Condition T5500 T5400 875W PSU N875E-00 POWER SUPPLY | eBay

Pulled from a working system. Condition is "Used".

www.ebay.com

 

[imrazor]

Yes, get a higher wattage PSU. You likely have the 525W PSU model and you need a 825w minimum for that card to run with those CPU's.

Mint Condition T5500 T5400 875W PSU N875E-00 POWER SUPPLY | eBay

Pulled from a working system. Condition is "Used".

www.ebay.com

I'm about 80% sure I have a ~800w PSU, but I'll double check. If it is the 825w model, is there any other possible explanation?

 

[Cheese Burger Eddy]

You never mentioned your GPU choice mate, genuinely intrigued

Well, once I pry the money from my wallet and get everything, I am stripping my current, i5-6600k build and upgrading to an i5-10600k. The T7500 would hopefully replace my current build temporarily, so I can sell those bits (hoping for about $370) then use those profits to buy new bits ($600-670) so that I only spend around $230-300 on the new parts. During that time I would use my salvaged 1070ti, then once I have the new build up, I would switch that for my 7870. The 7870 is another card I want to sell off though. Best case, I get a new, 3060ti for a reasonable deal, sell the 1070ti for profit (I am into the card maybe $45) sell off my other assorted junk and run 3060ti in my main build and find something mid range for the T7500.

@lexluthermiester I have a Evo 212 on my current i5 build, so I guess I could try that? The stock aluminum heatsink obviously isn't good enough and the U016f is round half the price of the U402f. I was all in on the 402, I just did not know if another, better cooler for around $50 existed. My riser board has the full kit with the big heatsink, the dual fans, shroud etc. So I am just leaving it like that. The main heatsink though is the lowest tier aluminum one though. As for the RAM, Why only 6 sticks of 4? I am finding the best, per stick deal, to be in the 4gb sticks in lots. I found some 4x4gb, 6x4gb and then 8x4gb. The 8x4gb plus a 4x4gb order puts me around 120-140, which isn't bad.

 

[lexluthermiester]

If it is the 825w model, is there any other possible explanation?

The PSU might be weak or the card is overloading it, in which case you need the 1100w PSU.

GENUINE Dell Precision T7400 T7500 1100W Power Supply H1100EF-00 G821T | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for GENUINE Dell Precision T7400 T7500 1100W Power Supply H1100EF-00 G821T at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

That one will come with the wiring harness, but you can just swap PSU's as the T5500 and the T7500 harness's have the same pin-outs.

@lexluthermiester I have a Evo 212 on my current i5 build, so I guess I could try that?

You'll have no way to attach it. The heatsink base plate is glued to the bottom of the T5500 motherboard. You are limited to Dell made heatsinks unless you want to MacGyver it. The U016F's are a perfect choice for the X5675's.

 

[Cheese Burger Eddy]

The PSU might be weak or the card is overloading it, in which case you need the 1100w PSU.

GENUINE Dell Precision T7400 T7500 1100W Power Supply H1100EF-00 G821T | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for GENUINE Dell Precision T7400 T7500 1100W Power Supply H1100EF-00 G821T at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

That one will come with the wiring harness, but you can just swap PSU's as the T5500 and the T7500 harness's have the same pin-outs.


You'll have no way to attach it. The heatsink base plate is glued to the bottom of the T5500 motherboard. You are limited to Dell made heatsinks unless you want to MacGyver it. The U016F's are a perfect choice for the X5675's.

When you say 2, U016F, do you mean one for CPU1 and the other on CPU2 on the riser? My Riser board has a heatsink that looks like the U402f currently, but I was unsure if it is different.

 

[crispysilicon]

Heh, glad I found this page. I decided this was the way to go for my son's machine a few months ago.

So he now has a T5610 with 2x E5-2637v2 in it, and 64gb of 1600mhz DDR3.

Now, the only GPU I had laying about was a 7970ghz, which was more than enough for his use, but the power draw was a problem, way unstable.

Had to downclock the GPU to about 700mhz to get it to remain stable under gaming. Tore out the HDD RAID array and put in a single ssd. It'll get my GTX1080 when GPU stock becomes avail again.

Plays a heck of a game of minecraft ;-)

 

[lexluthermiester]

When you say 2, U016F, do you mean one for CPU1 and the other on CPU2 on the riser? My Riser board has a heatsink that looks like the U402f currently, but I was unsure if it is different.

Have you looked up pictures of the U402F and U016F? If you do have a U402F on the riser, then you should also have one on the main board CPU. Take a look at the following post on the Dell Forums. if you have the T021F, you should replace it with at least a U016F.

T7500 dual CPU cooling - one CPU running hotter - wanted some kind of added CPU fan | DELL Technologies

Howdy. I have a T7500 that has been and still is great except that one of the CPUs is running about 25 degrees F hotter than the other. I put a cheap, noisy Ikea fan (on high) right up ...

www.dell.com

 

[Cheese Burger Eddy]

Have you looked up pictures of the U402F and U016F? If you do have a U402F on the riser, then you should also have one on the main board CPU. Take a look at the following post on the Dell Forums. if you have the T021F, you should replace it with at least a U016F.

T7500 dual CPU cooling - one CPU running hotter - wanted some kind of added CPU fan | DELL Technologies

Howdy. I have a T7500 that has been and still is great except that one of the CPUs is running about 25 degrees F hotter than the other. I put a cheap, noisy Ikea fan (on high) right up ...

www.dell.com

I have a U402f on the riser, a T021F on the main board. Which is why I was planning on going U402f on the main board. I am guessing, since it came with dual X5550 and 6x2gb of ram, the system was a base model and they added stuff after.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I have a U402f on the riser, a T021F on the main board. Which is why I was planning on going U402f on the main board. I am guessing, since it came with dual X5550 and 6x2gb of ram, the system was a base model and they added stuff after.

Are you sure you don't have one of these on the riser?

New OEM Dell Precision T7500 2nd Processor Riser Heatsink/Fans G082W W567F GFF8K | eBay

Dell p/n: G082W W567F GFF8K. New OEM Dell Precision T7500 2nd Processor Riser Heatsink/Fans Assembly. Actual Photos. We are not responsible for item incompatibility.

www.ebay.com

You could always buy a unit like that and cannibalize the heatsink for mainboard CPU. It'll fit, you just have to remove the rest of the fittings.

 

[imrazor]

Are you sure you don't have one of these on the riser?

New OEM Dell Precision T7500 2nd Processor Riser Heatsink/Fans G082W W567F GFF8K | eBay

Dell p/n: G082W W567F GFF8K. New OEM Dell Precision T7500 2nd Processor Riser Heatsink/Fans Assembly. Actual Photos. We are not responsible for item incompatibility.

www.ebay.com

You could always buy a unit like that and cannibalize the heatsink for mainboard CPU. It'll fit, you just have to remove the rest of the fittings.

I have two of these daughterboards/riser cards, and they both have the superior heatsink on them. The low end heatsink is nothing more than a chunk of aluminum, whereas the higher end models have proper heatpipes.

 

[Cheese Burger Eddy]

Are you sure you don't have one of these on the riser?

New OEM Dell Precision T7500 2nd Processor Riser Heatsink/Fans G082W W567F GFF8K | eBay

Dell p/n: G082W W567F GFF8K. New OEM Dell Precision T7500 2nd Processor Riser Heatsink/Fans Assembly. Actual Photos. We are not responsible for item incompatibility.

www.ebay.com

You could always buy a unit like that and cannibalize the heatsink for mainboard CPU. It'll fit, you just have to remove the rest of the fittings.

Yes that is the one I have on the riser. I thought it was the same heatsink as the U402f, but slightly different and riser specific. There are lots of U402f's on Ebay for about $50 cad, so I will just buy one of those. I just didn't know if there was a "better" option that was aftermarket and not Dell proprietary. You mentioned 24gb of ram, 6x4gb sticks. I currently have 6x2gb sticks, so if I went with just 6x4, could I run both? 3x4 and 3x2 on each CPU? That would give me 36gb of ram total, all 10600r. I was tempted to go 6x8gb, then upgrade with another 6x8 if I ever found a deal, but I can get 12x4 for a fair amount less than 6x8.

I have two of these daughterboards/riser cards, and they both have the superior heatsink on them. The low end heatsink is nothing more than a chunk of aluminum, whereas the higher end models have proper heatpipes.

Yes I have the low end, T021f aluminum block on the main CPU. That was the first thing I decided to replace. I was waffling between the U016f and the U402f, but I am going to try and push the X5675s so I figured the bigger, stronger heatsink was the better choice. It is also why I asked about aftermarket models, in case there was some secret sauce option.

 

[Susquehannock]

When considering PSU replacement don't forget that many aftermarket PSUs fit easily into Tx500 cases and have twin CPU connectors available. The EVGA unit in my T5500 does even though I do not need it. No riser so that modular cable just sits in the box. Also more modern PCIe graphics card connectors besides the typical 6-pin from Dell, and active warranties. Something you do not get with a used Dell unit of unknown origin which may have 90-100,000 hours of hard use already.