[rescue] E5405 CPU upgrade?

[Steven M Jones]

On 08/21/2013 06:50 PM, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
> I have cobbled together a decent 32GB RAM, Dell PowerEdge 2950.
>
> Right now it has 2x dual core E5405s in it.I was thinking of buying 2 x
> L5420s off it to give it 8 cores and decent power usage.
>
> Is that it?  Do I just buy them, swap the CPUs and put the ginormous heat
> sinks back on top?  Or do I have to worry about anything else?

The key issue I've run into is whether or not the BIOS will support what 
you want to drop in. Since your system already has a Harpertown (54xx) 
CPU, I would guess it'll be fine. By contrast I cannot put L5420s in my 
Dell PWS690 or HP DL140 G3 - even though the chipsets support them - 
because neither manufacturer released a BIOS with Harpertown support 
(that I could find, at least). The HP will identify the L5420 correctly 
during POST, then the BIOS just won't run let alone boot.

Good luck!
--Steve.