Dell precision T3500:Xeon W3565 3.2ghz

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Rodney_21

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Oct 15, 2016
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I just bought this beast and Need advice on a GPU upgrade, as how not to bottleneck or cause any other problems. To the best of my ability, from what I can find out my PC has 2 3.0 PCI express but doesn't support SLI? I can't afford two card atm anyway but I wish I could clear this up.

I was thinking of a VIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB or GTX 750 Ti OC.

Here are the specs of the machine. Any help is appreciated
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/precn/en/q2wk6_dell_precision_t3500_spec_sheet.pdf
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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I've got one of those Dell Optiplex T3500 work stations myself. With a similar Xeon W3670.
The PCIe x16 slots are gen 2.0, not gen 3.0, but that doesn't matter because PCI Express is a backward compatible interface. I never tried SLI, so I don't know if the board is SLI compatible or not. I suspect not.

One thing to watch when you get a gfx card... if you get one that requires a 6-pin connector, the card has to be short, or the 6-pin header has to be located at the end or near the mid point of the card. The reason being, the swing up drive door will not close if the PCIe connector is in the way. Been there, done that.

If you have the 525W Dell PSU, it should have 2 x 6-pin connectors available. You can go with a more powerful card than those if you choose. I have an Evga GTX 1060 3GB in mine.
 
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Rodney_21

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The only thing I don't like about this machine, or the one they gave me is that I got the cheap ass aluminum CPU cooler as opposed to the more effective/newer one with a place for a fan and heat tubes. I've had some CPU heat related issues and changing the CPU cooler is on the list of things to do. What type does your have? What are your CPU temp ranges?

thanks for the response
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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The stock coolers for the 6 cores like mine is this one:
YxK4rhy.jpg


Since yours is a 4 core, the cooler may be smaller.
This is the GTX 1060 3GB I installed in the PC: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-6160-KR
 
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Rodney_21

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http://www.compeve.com/computer-hardware/pc-accessories/dell-precision-t3500-t5500-t7500-workstation-cpu-heatsink-t021f

I have one of these and at the moment, just running a web browser my CPU temps are up into the 90's . Can anyone recommend a replacement ?

I plan on installing a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or 750 depending. They have a small form factor and good performance.

Question about your CPU cooler. There are millions of new and used CPU coolers for t3500 Dells, if I get one like this will it fit? I wouldn't expect to have any trouble but this is the only place I know to ask.

Thanks for any help!



It's funny. I have nothing running in my background tasks. My CPU usage is fluctuating, it only drops off when I disconnect from the net. I've ran virus scan after virus scan. This is a whole other issue ... but if anyone can recommend a CPU cooler ?

 
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clutchc

clutchc

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I suspect the cooler I have will fit your board just fine. They look like they have the same mounting arrangement. If it says "For Dell Precision T3500", it has to fit. Mine uses the lower front case fan for cooling. I presume yours has 2 front fans as well? One to blow on the cooler and one to blow across the RAM?

Yours should not allow temps that high, tho. Possibly the thermal paste has dried up over the years of 24/7 heavy use as a business work station. That would be the first thing I'd do; clean the old off and put on new. I doubt most retail coolers will fit the proprietary Dell mounting system.

If those are the only 2 gfx cards you are willing to consider, then get the 1050... better yet, the 1050 Ti. It's only about $10 more than the 1050. And out classes the older 750 Ti by quite a bit: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-750-Ti/3649vs2187
Plus, the Pascal GPU handles DX12 better than the older Maxwell GPU.
 
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Rodney_21

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I finally found the fix, or a fix. I went into the Bios and disabled "Turbo boost" , before the CPU was always ramping up for no reason. I could end task on everything but the essential things and it still would be cooking. Now at idle I get actually 0% usage if I wish. The situation still sucks though because if need to be able to turn it back on I'm back in the same boat so.. I'm going to get the Dell cooler you uploaded above, model u016f.

It's at a steady 44 to 45C browsing the web now. Now when I push the CPU it can get up to 80 and maybe above but it's not as bad as it was. I haven't heard the fans ( yes I have the double stacked cage fan you mentioned above ) ramp up since I made the change.

Payday is close, if I can afford a 1050, I assume the 6 pin connector is not in the way of the drive door?

You said it has to be at the end or near the mid point. Which? Both cards have single fan short versions so it shouldn't be too much of a nightmare. I just wish I knew what dimension cards exactly this thing will take. I guess I can measure.


It's funny you mention the proprietary fans or "fan cage housing" When I got this pc from "Tekboost" who refurbs these Dell beasts for Newegg, it took about a week till the excessive CPU temp caused the original fans to start giving me "cage fan failure" errors , or maybe they were bad to begin with.



Why such a difference with turbo boost turned off? Did I tune down my CPU by turning this feature off? I also noticed hyper threading was not on. What can you tell me of this ?

Thanks for the help. I have not built a PC in more ten years. So much has changed.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Too bad you had to disable turbo mode. That adds a lot of power when using less than all cores. Same with disabling HyperThreading. Need that to add more thread handling power.

Be sure to do the thermal paste thing I mentioned above. On a system that old, it may not be transfecting heat as it should anymore. Probably dried out.

There is a way to get around that drive door/header issue. I used a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter that had a very short connector body for one of my cards. http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5990#kf
The 6-pin header on the card is right at the edge of the drive door. But the adapter is open wires that bend out of the way easily. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200420
With that, you may be able to use any card no matter where the header lies on the card.

What is your max budget you are willing to spend on a card?
 
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Rodney_21

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Yes! It's made a huge difference. After a mod even better ..

The thermal paste was good on original heavy aluminum p.o.s. heatsink I removed, I think those heatsinks must have been recalled or made for a processor of the same socket that mite not run as hot as a Xeon.. or something. I'm going to re purpose it to make a heater out of it ,a hotplate, and a cage fan.

I digress, As soon as I booted the machine after installing the uo16f h.s. I left Turbo Boost off as to have the same conditions, and immediately saw a 10 to 12 degree drop in temps.

Today I became the proud owner of a GTX 750ti OC 4gb . After installing it and playing a few games on high settings noticed a couple of heat spikes up into the high 70s to 80C so I did what I have been planning for a while, and zip tied a 70mm fan directly on the rear of the uo16f, drawing air backward and through the rear of the case. I made sure it would move air thoroughly.That mod gave me another 10 degree drop in temp. This is with turbo boost and multi threading activated.

It games wonderfully. Now to add one additional exhaust fan despite the case temps being Ok and I should be set.
 
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