View Full Version : Dual CPU T5500
MindCrime
02-12-15, 09:41 PM
I'll try to keep this short and cut out all the details cause it's pretty basic. I've rewritten this about 3x now ask me for some specifics if you need.
I'm quite confident the temp reporting is wrong via the Dell motherboard. I pulled the riser card and ran some stress tests with just the primary, it maxed out the same as CPU2 does when installed. Normally CPU1 reports maxes around 70c when both are installed. Long story short I put it all back together but I "dropped" a 92mm fan in front of CPU1's passive heatsink and im now reporting 63c on "CPU1" and 69c on "CPU2".
Again I'm quite confident that the Riser card will report as CPU1 when its installed, and the primary will report CPU2 temps. I took two cans of compressed air and blew them over the primary heatsink while it was at 100% lead and watched the temps drop on CPU2.
Sad part is, it's still at 2.793ghz max. I'm pretty sure this restricted by the MOBO. it's worth noting I am on the 0d833f (thats off the top of my head) motherboard there were 2 versions, and i'm up to date on the bios, very easy update.
Conclusion: CPU temps are swapped, the hot CPU is the primary, the one without a fan. There is an upgrade dell p/n: u016f and it's pretty cheap on ebay around 20-30 bucks shipped. I'm going to stick with my 92mm molex fan sitting in front of the stock primary CPU for now.
Edit: I forgot to mention that I previously added 2x80mm fans to the empty "fan area" that fits 2x80mm fans perfectly a couple weeks ago. They're dead silent and exhaust good heat but I never saw "CPU2" temps really drop much from their addition. As the CPUs are located on the bottom of the mid tower when its standing vertically i liked the idea of fans down there to exhaust the heat than wait for it to be drawn up and out the PSU exhaust. These fans fit perfectly and are silent: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999199
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999617 This is the fan I have resting in front of CPU1 heatsink, it has a thermal resistor but its on the inlet side so I haven't heard it changing speeds as I did when I played with it on the exhaust of the case. So far it's working good, I just propped it on a ~3/4in piece of plastic on the bottom of the case blowing across the fins.
Well, isn't that interesting. Thanks for all the leg work on chasing down the temp offender. I'll try adding the fan and see if I get the same result.
If you want to "dynamically" change the loading from one CPU to the other - on the fly then download and install ProLasso.
1. Set ncpus to 12 or put a config app with max_concurrent set at 12 for any project.
2. Bring up Prolasso.
3. Find the executable in the list and right click on it -then-
cpu affinity
always
select
4. Unselect the check boxes on threads 12-23.
You now have those 12 WU running on what Windows sees as CPU0 ... you can see it in the graph of the thread loading
If you check threads 12-23 and uncheck the 1st 12 then it will move all WU to the 2nd processor.
You can monitor your temps and see which is which.
On my machine one processor runs at base speed and the other gets about 200 MHz of turbo which is 200 MHz below max.
MindCrime
02-12-15, 11:53 PM
Well, isn't that interesting. Thanks for all the leg work on chasing down the temp offender. I'll try adding the fan and see if I get the same result.
You don't even have to shut it down if you don't want to. Pull the side panel, lower HD tray carefully, rest a fan (120mm will be tight if it does fit), plug it in raise HD tray and close it up. I've got 3 fans on the free molex connector all daisy chained. Two 80mms in the back and the 92mm in front of the CPU1 heatsink.
MindCrime
02-12-15, 11:56 PM
If you want to "dynamically" change the loading from one CPU to the other - on the fly then download and install ProLasso.
1. Set ncpus to 12 or put a config app with max_concurrent set at 12 for any project.
2. Bring up Prolasso.
3. Find the executable in the list and right click on it -then-
cpu affinity
always
select
4. Unselect the check boxes on threads 12-23.
You now have those 12 WU running on what Windows sees as CPU0 ... you can see it in the graph of the thread loading
If you check threads 12-23 and uncheck the 1st 12 then it will move all WU to the 2nd processor.
You can monitor your temps and see which is which.
On my machine one processor runs at base speed and the other gets about 200 MHz of turbo which is 200 MHz below max.
You've mentioned ProLasso a couple times now, so I downloaded it. I could have saved a lot of time if I put it to use troubleshooting this. When i get some time I'll play around and be able to confirm my results via software. Either way none of my cores are over 70c at the moment and the only changes are new thermal compound on CPU2 and a fan in front of CPU1.
ProLasso has a 30 day free trial with all features and then it becomes a pay-to-play. The only features that really matter for BOINC are the Priority and Affinity and those will stay active when the advanced features go away :D
If you are running PG or SRBase you will get more credits if you turn off hyper-threading. Rather than doing that in BIOS you can use the ProLasso Affinity and select "Avoid non-physical cores". Obviously when you do that you limit the number of WU with cc_config or app_config to 12.
You can also adjust the Priority and move it higher than the BOINC default which is "idle". I usually put mine at normal or above normal and it does make a slight difference in compute time. I never take CPU tasks to HIGH priority but for GPU I ALWAYS put them at HIGH. :D
I just set up a new T5500 dual Xeon workstation - this one with X5670 CPUs. They are clocked at 2.93Ghz base, 3.20Ghz turbo (all cores). With stock cooling it exhibits the same heat issue on the primary CPU. But interestingly, the processors run at full turbo speed under load - even as the primary CPU approaches 85C. Not sure if I got lucky here or what - maybe this one has a BIOS setting enabled/disabled that the other one doesn't? This machine has a different (older, I think) motherboard (ID883F vs OCRH6C) with a more recent BIOS.
Someone with some time and access to their machines should check out the Corsair H50 water cooler for socket 1366. I don't know if there would be room or not to add 2 of them.
I got lucky, my last T5500 runs about 5 - 7c cooler than the other two do. Not sure why.
@Bryan - sounds like a good job for Mindcrime and FourOh. I love volunteering others. :)
I got lucky, my last T5500 runs about 5 - 7c cooler than the other two do. Not sure why.
@Bryan - sounds like a good job for Mindcrime and FourOh. I love volunteering others. :)
Mindcrime could add valuable insight ... like does the T5500 use "standard" mounting for the socket 1366 CPU fan. If so then the H50 might work. The problem is how to mount 2 120mm fans in that little case.
I guess the big issue is whether it is worth spending $100 for 2 water coolers to get an additional 100-200 MHz out of the processor. That's only a 6% gain.
The problem is how to mount 2 120mm fans in that little case.
Not sure, but I think a hacksaw might be involved :D
Not sure, but I think a hacksaw might be involved :D
Yep, I don't think a bigger hammer is going to help =))
MindCrime
03-12-15, 04:06 PM
The riser card on the t5500 socket is going to be hard to work with. The voltage regulators or whatever they're called are very tall and very close to the cpu itself. Making a lot of the brackets incompatible but otherwise should work besides other physical dimensions.
Also on the t5500 my motherboard reports the primary as cpu2 when the riser is installed. I verified this by pulling the riser card and booting with just 1 cpu. My temps climbed to the low 80s just as cpu2 would have shown if it were installed. Basically it looks like the riser card cpu reports as cpu 1 (or cpu0 in some apps) but either way as what we would think is the first or primary.
So i found it was actually the big passive heatsink on the primary cpu that is the hot one. Rather than find a permanent solution after chasing my tail for a few days I just rested a 90mm fan with a molex connector on the bottom of the case right in front of the cpu and behind the intake fan. My temps are now all in the low 70s or high 60s all all cores when running 90% load sustained for weeks.
I looked up the service tag on the t5500 i got off ebay. Originally it had e5520s in it. I have no idea what kind of cooling solutions each came with but I wouldn't be surprised if these IT offlease resellers pop and swap parts without considering the TDP of each different cpu. I would think an 80w CPU such as the x5650 would need more than a passive aluminum heatsink. The x5670 is a 95w CPU.
This is the heatsink on my primary CPU: https://www.splusdirect.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/d/e/dell-precision-t3500-t5500-workstation-desktop-cpu-heatsink-t021f-image1.jpg
The next option is the U016f: http://goo.gl/9HPTkK
And this last one I think is for the t7500 case/plastic stuff but should attach just fine in a t5500 case if the ducting is removed, possibly HD tray collision? : http://goo.gl/gcXHZn
These are all for the primary CPU. I thought the 2nd heatsink was pathetic too but it's not too bad. I did remove the shroud and remounted the stock fan flush because the shroud gave it a nice big gap and i know a axial fan doesn't create much pressure so I got it snug. I also remounted with arctic silver mx-2. I don't recall remounting the primary cpu at all.
I'd love to have an AIO cooler like an h50 in hand to check out the mounting hardware. Wouldn't take long to see about clearances. If i recall on my h100 on a socket 1155 it had a ring with teeth on the ID to fit in the grooves around the pump head. I suspect this ring would collide with the Voltage regulators around the cpu, but that was the riser cpu. I haven't noted their position on the primary.
I installed the High-Performance Dell Heat Sink on my T5500 with X5670s and it had a drastic effect on the onboard CPU temps. They went from 80-83C to about 68C. As a consequence, with more heat dumping towards the riser CPU - those temps are up from 70-73C to 75-77C. Overall I am seeing improved performance - both CPUs seem to remain at higher turbo speeds than before, especially the onboard CPU. I also installed an 80mm exhuast fan at the lower rear of the case. This doesn't seem to affect CPU temp but keeps heat away from the GPU and PSU above. I'd say for the T5500, if you want a modest performance increase and better airflow, the upgraded heatsink and added exhaust fan(s) are the way to go.
So which heatsink did you use? The U016F?
So which heatsink did you use? The U016F?
That's the one. I think cleaning the CPU and using some good quality thermal compound was probably worth a few degrees.
Though I'm not overly concerned the temps now, summer is coming to NC. Temp drops like that deserve a second look. Thanks for posting your results.
MindCrime
03-22-15, 01:35 AM
Glad someone tried another heatsink, and I'm glad it's working. I used two of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999199 for the exhausts. They fit perfectly and are pretty much silent. The price says 50 bucks when i click the link now but I want to say they were like 6-7 bucks each when i ordered. Try looking elsewhere if you are interested in them. The reviews speak very highly of them. I also appreciate that they were designed to have the blades removed for easy cleaning (good bearing setup).
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