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If change i3 to i5 or i7 will I get PCIe v3? (Dell Optiplex 7010 w Q77 chipset)

glnz
Beginner
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In a Dell Optiplex 7010 Mini-Tower with an i3 CPU and a Q77 chipset, the PCIe slots are only Gen 2 (PCIe version 2).

  1. If I change the CPU to an i5 or i7, will I get PCIe Gen 3 (PCIe version 3) in any of the PCIe slots?

  2. What is the highest model i5 or i7 I should try?

  3. What else do I need to know before trying this swap?

Thanks.

 

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11 Replies
AlHill
Super User
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You needto ask dell what processors THEIR bios supports.   Then you can select from those.

 

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

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glnz
Beginner
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Al - from other forums, there IS a possibility of changing my i3 to an i5 or i7.  But there is confusion whether or not the change will provide PCIe Gen 3 (version 3) in any of the PCIe slots.

So I think it is good to post that issue here.  

What do you think?

Thanks.

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AlHill
Super User
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Before you do anything, you need to know what processors the Dell bios supports.   And, for something as old as a Q77, I think it is hardly worth the effort at this point.

 

So, start with Dell support to see what your processor possibilities are.

 

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

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glnz
Beginner
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All -

There are numerous reports that I can swap in certain i5s and i7s.

This is a link to a CPU-Z report on the Optiplex 7010 with the i# that I might upgrade to an i5 or i7

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArpWuno4XUAMkmNarGPkcEIShhqu?e=n9n2nE 

(You might have to download it to see it clearly.  It's in HTML format.)

What do you think?

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Steven_Intel
Moderator
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Hello glnz,


Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.


As mentioned by Al, it is recommended to contact the manufacturer first, in order to check what processors are compatible with your system. 


Please be aware that the Intel® Q77 Chipset only supports PCIe 2.0, you can check this information here https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/64027/intel-q77-express-chipset.html


Please let me know if you have any concerns.


Best regards,


Steven G.

Intel Customer Support Technician.


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glnz
Beginner
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Steven G - thank you for clear answer, and I think this could only have come from you at Intel.

The reason I care about the Gen of CPI-E and possibly getting CPI-E Gen 3 on my Dell Optiplex 7010 is to fully enjoy the benefits (in the following article) of inserting an NVME M.2 SSD as my main drive even though my Optiplex 7010 Mini-Tower would not normally boot from an NVMe M.2:

Install and boot from an NVMe SSD on a Dell OptiPlex 3010, 7010 or 9010 

If you go to that article and scroll down, you will see my comments that, after following this procedure, my new NVMe M.2 is doing approx. 1,700 Mbps rather than the hoped-for 3,500 Mbps, and I wonder whether PCI-E Gen 2 (instead of Gen 3) is the cause.

Others with Optiplex 7010s with the Q77 and who followed the article are getting the higher 3,500 Mbps throughput on their NVMes, and so I wonder. 

Would much appreciate your thoughts.

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Are you currently able to boot from this NVMe SSD or are you just testing access to it from within Linux/Windows? If the latter, are you making the assumption that upgrading the processor will suddenly get you this NVMe boot capability?

Whether this will work is dependent upon you choosing a processor that is supported by the PC's BIOS and the PC's BIOS also having support for NVMe boot. Only Dell can answer these questions for you. You may be able to get a list of the supported processors off their web site, but again, the other questions are squarely in Dell Support's bailiwick.

What I can say is that I have never seen a 7 Series system that supported NVMe in its BIOS. NVMe was just not on the horizon at that point (heck, very few 8 Series systems had support for NVMe). It is possible that Dell did a retrofit in a later release of this PC's BIOS, but again, that is a question only Dell can answer.

...S

 

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glnz
Beginner
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n_scott - the NVME M.2 is the only drive in the PC, and it is booting Win 10 Pro 64-bit.  The article link I gave above is all about how to make that happen.

My only issue is the resulting speed - not 3,500 Mbps like the article, but 1,700 Mbps.  That's eight times faster than my old HDD, but not the race jet I was hoping for.

I came here to see if there is a way to get PCI-E Gen 3 on my Dell Optiplex 7010 with the thought that maybe PCI-E 3 would get me to 3,500..

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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According to the datasheet, the 7 Series PCH supports downstream PCIe lanes that are only PCIe 2.0 compliant. What it thus comes down to is whether the M.2 connector is utilizing PCIe lanes from the PCH - which max out at 5GT/s - or PCIe lanes from the CPU - which will only max out at 8GT/s if the processor actually supports PCIe 3.0 (it will be 5GT/s otherwise). Typically, M.2 connectors use PCIe lanes from the PCH. This might explain your results. You would have to ask Dell how they laid out their board.

...S

 

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Steven_Intel
Moderator
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Hello glnz,


Were you able to check the previous post?


Let us know if you still need assistance.


Best regards,


Steven G.

Intel Customer Support Technician.


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Steven_Intel
Moderator
2,351 Views

Since we have not heard back from you, we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

 

Best regards,

 

Steven G.

Intel Customer Support Technician.


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