X3350 in a P5K-E WiFi board...

[CNeufeld]

Ok, got my new proc. Ripped out the old one (E8400), plugged in the new. Tried to put on my Scythe Ninja cooler, and ran into my first snag. I guess I'd changed processors too much, and the funky white fingers had spread too much to fit properly in my motherboard. I tried needlenose plier to pinch then, but no go.

So continue on with the stock cooler. First thing I noticed was that it's the same size as the E8400 cooler, but has a copper core (instead of all aluminum). But boy, is that thing sweet to put in place compared to the Ninja! It's also very quiet.

Fired up the computer, and got a message about updating my BIOS to recognize the new processor. I was running 904 before, and had downloaded the 1004, but I hadn't installed it. Continued on to Windows, and it wanted to install some new drivers. I let it do that while I looked for a flash drive. ARGHH!!!! All my flash drives were at work! Without the BIOS update, it was running at 266MHz, for a 2.1GHz system rather than 2.66.

Anyway, finally found a drive, updated the BIOS, and finished booting cleanly. Ran 3DMark06 just for giggles, and my system at stock speed (2.66GHz) comes in just under my E8400 processor at 3.825GHz. 12629 vs. 12913. I'm not sure how much overclocking I'll do until I get a new cooler (or little white finger thingy's), but that's where I'm at right now.

Clint

 

[lp231]

So is the Xeon X3350 working on the Asus P5K-E?


If so where did you get yours from?

 

[CNeufeld]

Worked from the start, although at a slower speed until I updated the BIOS. But it would still boot. This was NOT the factory BIOS, however, as I had upgraded it when I first set up this system.

I got mine from NCIX (www.ncix.com). They're a Canadian company, but have a US division.

Clint

 

[jimmysmitty]

Nice. I have a Q6600 but want a Yorkfeild so bad just for the cooler running.

But its nice to know that when the prices fall I can get a X3350 and it will run. Plus getting that close vs a E8400 @ 3.83GHz? Thats not too bad.

Mind posting the individual socres like the CPU score and the FPS in each CPU test? I wanna compare it to my Q6600 @ 3GHz. Oh and when you get a better fan let us know the OC'ing results and scores too. Man that sound tasty. Double Xeon cheese burger.

 

[jimmysmitty]

I ordered mine from NCIX too. I put my order in on Good Friday so the holiday is holding up my order process.
Happy to read it's working on your motherboard.
I'm running the latest BIOS for my motherboard (Intel DX38BT) so I hope the board accepts the Xeon processor.
The board doesn't officially support 1600FSB or DDR3 1600 memory but I'm running my E8400 at 1600FSB with Patriot DDR3 1660 memory. The memory isn't overclocked and the E8400 is running at 3.6GHz at stock voltage.

I'm disappointed to read the X3350 comes with the half height HSF. I was hoping it would come with the full height HSF that is shipped with E6550/E6850. I'm using a full height copper core Intel stock HSF with the E8400. But I'm like you, the retaining pins are becoming worn from so many processor swaps. I guess I should head down to the local computer store this week and pick up four replacement push pins.

And this is why I love the Zalman setup. It uses a back brace and front brace with screws and the HSF has a retainer held down by 2 screws so it will hold nice and tight and not worry about it wearing out as fast.

 

[CNeufeld]

Stock cooler, stock speed, running 4 copies of Prime95. All 4 cores reporting 59 to 61 degrees in RealTemp, or 58 in Speedfan.

It's currently running at 1.136V as reported by CPU-Z, which is cool

However, if I run Prime95 in anything other than "Small FFT's", it crashes with a rounding error... Sounds like a memory issue? But my RAM (OCZ DDR2-6400) isn't overclocked right now, so I'll have to troubleshoot that.

Clint

 

[SpinachEater]

Arrrg, sorry to hear about your cooler. Nice work though. I am searching for the posts I found where some dude OC the bageebus out of his 3350. He had all of the voltages and stuff that might be helpful.

Here we go. Some X3350 OC fun.

http://forums.ngemu.com/hardware-discussion/102341-intel-xeon-x3350-core-2-quad-q9450-results-56k-small-screens-warning.html

 

[jimmysmitty]

Stock cooler, stock speed, running 4 copies of Prime95. All 4 cores reporting 59 to 61 degrees in RealTemp, or 58 in Speedfan.

It's currently running at 1.136V as reported by CPU-Z, which is cool

However, if I run Prime95 in anything other than "Small FFT's", it crashes with a rounding error... Sounds like a memory issue? But my RAM (OCZ DDR2-6400) isn't overclocked right now, so I'll have to troubleshoot that.

Clint

What do you have it set to in BIOS? I had the same trouble with mine(Corsair PC2-8500) when I would set it to 1066 with everything on auto. I have the same board. What I would suggest is setting the timings, speed and voltage manually. After I did that It ran stable in all settings of Prime95.

The stock timings on my memory was 5-5-5-18 but I was able to get them to 4-4-4-12 stable which is nice. But yea its more than likely your memory doing it. Also what frequency to you have your memory set to? I tried 1333 so I could have a 1:2 ratio but it wouldn't boot for me. So for now I have it set to 677 for a 1:1 ratio.

 

[CNeufeld]

Is Patriot memory any good? A local shop has 4GB of Patriot DDR2-8500 memory for $150 ($120 after rebate http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20231(ME).aspx), or Corsair Dominator for $190 (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20277(ME).aspx).

Or is it a waste of money to worry about DDR2-8500 memory? Will the DDR2-6400 memory work just as well, since I'm probably not going to reach astronomical FSB speeds with the X3350? They've got a Crucial DDR2-6400 4GB kit for $115 as well.

Thanks for the input...

Clint

 

[jimmysmitty]

Is Patriot memory any good? A local shop has 4GB of Patriot DDR2-8500 memory for $150 ($120 after rebate http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20231(ME).aspx), or Corsair Dominator for $190 (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20277(ME).aspx).

Or is it a waste of money to worry about DDR2-8500 memory? Will the DDR2-6400 memory work just as well, since I'm probably not going to reach astronomical FSB speeds with the X3350? They've got a Crucial DDR2-6400 4GB kit for $115 as well.

Thanks for the input...

Clint

Patriot is nice but the Corsair is probably the best. I have yet to have any problems with them having used them for 6 years+. The only thing special about the Dominator series is the heat spreaders. But I have the same thing minus the Dominator heat spreaders and have it running at 667 for a 1:1 and at 4-4-4-12 timings from its stock 5-5-5-18.

But its up to you what you want to get. Even PC2-6400 should be fine for regular OC, like to 3GHz.

 

[CNeufeld]

Thanks for the input, JS.

Hey, MrsBytch, if you want to tell me what the "user error" could be, I'm all ears.

Clint

 

[bowhuntergs]

I'm ready to get a new cpu as well and the x3350 looks like the deal. The motherboard I am considering is the Gigabyte GA-Ex38-DS4 or maybe the more expensive -DQ6. According to their website both boards support the Q9450, but no mention of the x3350.

Since I currently have an AMD CPU, I have no way to update the bios for this new system unless it boots up on the first try. Even as your Asus did (wrong speed, but worked). I hate to crap shoot, but do you think this combo will at least boot up to allow me to flash the bios?

Thanks

 

[CNeufeld]

You might want to see about buying locally. Most of the local shops here will flash the BIOS before you walk out of the store, if you ask.

I can't even guarantee that my motherboard would work with an un-flashed BIOS, since I didn't start with that. So I for sure can't comment on your Gigabyte board... Hopefully someone can chime in intelligently on that.

Clint

 

[moose64]

You might want to see about buying locally. Most of the local shops here will flash the BIOS before you walk out of the store, if you ask.

I can't even guarantee that my motherboard would work with an un-flashed BIOS, since I didn't start with that. So I for sure can't comment on your Gigabyte board... Hopefully someone can chime in intelligently on that.

Clint

So far so good then cneufeld? I got my x3360 coming in friday along with a gigabyte board.

 

[CNeufeld]

Yeah, except for my potential RAM problem. I'll probably pick up some different memory today and see if that resolves the problem. Unless MrsBytch has a useful suggestion regarding "user error".

Clint

 

[SpinachEater]

Hahah, Mrs Bytch is opinionated like that. I think "user error" may be pointed towards people who don't know how to adjust their timings and voltages for the proper frequencies.

The guy on emuformus just got his up to 4GHz on air. It is nasty unstable but he is doing it on a ASUS P5E-VM HDMI. 3.8 is his most stable OC. I imagine with a good OCing board and some good cooling, this thing can kick some @ss. I would imagine water cooling can get it to 4 and beyond.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Yeah, except for my potential RAM problem. I'll probably pick up some different memory today and see if that resolves the problem. Unless MrsBytch has a useful suggestion regarding "user error".

Clint

Best thing for you to do is, if you decide to get different memory, set the timings and voltage manually first to the specs. Then set the frequency to a 667 for a 1:1 and run the Prime95 for stability. Then you can switch the ram to like 1333 for a 1:2 ratio. Gives your memory a bit of a speed boost.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The kits I had worked at the SPD timings. Two of three kits didn't work at the rated timing printed on the label applied to the RAM heatsink. Even when the voltage and timings were set to the label rating. With the processor running at stock speed.

MrsBytch OCZ is overpriced and overrated $hity fockin' memory. At least your memory worked at its advertised speed. But is it a quality product when the heat sinks fall off?

Nice way to put it. If those heatsinks are warping off that means the memory is either getting too hot or its just bad. And its pretty hard to warp metal, even aluminum when its a certain thinkness and I think the memory should be running at a heat of probably 30-50c depending.

Thats why I will stick with my beloved Corsair. I have 2GB of DDR400 thats 5 years old and still kicking like a bat outta hell. Even if I have to pay a bit more.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Never had a problem with:
Micron
Nanya
Apacer
Kingston
Crucial
Patriot
Samsung
Infineon

I had a problem with a DDR Corsair kit. It was DOA. System wouldn't boot. I've used DDR2 Corsair kits with no problem.

OCZ I've had problems with their DDR and DDR2 kits on three different systems.

DOA is different than not running at the stated SPD. Anything can come DOA, it just is chance. I have yet to have anything DOA except a open box X800XT PE. But I kinda expected that to be DOA. Well it wasn't DOA but wasn't fully functioning.

 

[CNeufeld]

Thanks for the input, all... I've asked the local shop to get me the Patriot PC2-8500 Viper 4GB kit... I'll post back when I get it in.

Clint

 

[moose64]

I put my x3360 in a GIGABYTE X48T-DQ6 and it works the motherboard see it as x3360 Xeon @2.83G the only problem was with the memory wanted to run at 1T had to lower it to 2T,I have 4G of OCZ,2x2G's and trying to get 0raid working With vista 64bit had to give up on it the drivers need work.

 

[SpinachEater]

CN how is your setup coming along? Are you still waiting on the Vipers?

@Zpyrd - did you notice that the Pad modding thread vanished? What is up with that?

 

[CNeufeld]

Funny thing about that memory... I went and picked it up, installed it, and it came up as 2 GB (2x1 GB). Went back to the store, and all their 4GB kits came up as 2GB. Stupid Patriot... So I fired off a nasty e-mail to their customer service, and am back at square one.

Clint

 

[SpinachEater]

I hadn't noticed the Pad Modding was missing.

It's possible THG receives advertising revenue from Intel and AMD. So it could be an ethical breech to promote modifying advertised products.

Or it's possible the Pad Modding article is a scam causing the cpu to burn out.

Link to original article.
Intel LGA775 Pad Modding

I would never recommend pad modding when there are so many motherboards available that will allow you to change the FSB via the BIOS.

Ah crap, now this thread will be deleted!

Funny thing about that memory... I went and picked it up, installed it, and it came up as 2 GB (2x1 GB). Went back to the store, and all their 4GB kits came up as 2GB. Stupid Patriot... So I fired off a nasty e-mail to their customer service, and am back at square one.

Clint

Wow, that is bizarre. Were the serial numbers wrong? I had some A-data RAM where the serial numbers on the RAM didn't match the packaging. A-data never was able to tell me what was up with that. I wonder how many packages got messed up with the Patriot RAM.

 

[CNeufeld]

They had an order of 10+ that they pulled off the shelves. They had the right packaging, and the heatsinks were labeled for the 4GB kit. But in CPU-Z, it showed the 1GB stick part number. The shop said that was the first time they'd seen it happen with Patriot, although they've had similar problems with Mushkin in the past.

But when it comes to overclocking, setting my system to anything over stock speeds turns up tons of errors in MemTest. That's with DDR2-6400, which should have a stock speed to match a 400MHz FSB. I don't understand what's up with that. I was able to use the same board and memory to get my E8400 processor up to 3.825GHz, without touching any voltages (9 x 425MHz). So I figured I should be able to drop in the X3350 and get 400MHz without too much of an issue, but no joy. Even tried a single 2GB memory stick, and all the memory slots, and a new 4GB kit from a different manufacturer.

Clint