Dell Inspiron 530 with G33M02

I have found that this motherboard will support "up to" core 2 duo processors.
Does this mean any and all core 2 duo processors?
I can't find a list of exactly which core 2 duo processors the board does support.

From what I've read Dell screwed us over on the voltage side of things so there is no way to go to quad core without upgrading the motherboard and the power supply. I'm not interested in the added cost. The core 2 duo family all run at about the same voltage and are all 65watt. So I dont think power will be an issue.

There are 3 fsb speeds in the core 2 duo family. Will this motherboard support all 3 fsb speeds?


Any help would be appreciated...
Dell Tech support are a bunch of bumbling idiots. 2 hours on the phone with them and I found nothing. Was surfing while being transfered to somebody else (again) and found everthing I know so far at this website.

It looks like you will be able to run dual core wolfdale's and some quad cores, such as the q8200, but foxconn made 2 versions of this board, so you may want to post your concerns in the dell forums to be safe.

Thaks for the replies!

A day after posting this a Dell techless support rep called me on the phone at home. He said he was tier2 support and had reviewed my questions from the day before. I told him I still didnt have any answers.

He said any G33 motherboard will support core 2 duo cpu's up to E8500 and select quad core cpu's including the Q6600 provided the power supply is upgraded to atleast 350watt.

He went on to say he would be glad to transfer me to the Dell parts division to order the parts but if i installed any of the parts I would void the Dell warranty. I asked him why would I want to buy the parts if I cant install them. He said he was just offering to help if I wanted to buy the parts.

He said the first upgrade anybody should make on the inspiron 530 is the power supply whether u want a better video card or faster cpu, you need to upgrade the power supply. Failure to do so usually blows the motherboard.

I am not even going to try to put a Q6600 on this machine and recommend that nobody does. I'm just passing along what Dell "tier2" support told me. I am upgrading the power supply 1st to a 450watt. I will make further upgrades from there.

I completely understand the 530 comes with 2 different motherboards. That's why in my post I specifically state my machine has the G33M02 motherboard. I also specified this to every dell techless support person I spoke with.

For the record I upgraded the power supply to a ultra 450w power supply and I installed a xfx geforce 9800 gt. With the E8500 cpu and 4gig of ram I am very happy with the result.