Is it feasible that a CPU could only work in pairs, not on their own?

[drkirkby]

I have a Dell 7920 tower workstation, which is a dual processor computer. At this time I only have one heatsink.

I bought a pair of Intel 8171M processors (26 core, 2,6 GHz), and fitted one in the computer. The workstation would not power on. The power supply would run for 5 seconds, then switch off. Then try again. It was in an infinite loop. The usual POST never got to run.

Interestingly, when I look at some benchmarks for the 8171M, I can only find them for a dual processor machine

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+Platinum+8171M+%40+2.60GHz&id=3220&cpuCount=2

The processor has pretty impressive benchmarks, but does not work for me.

I believe that the CPU was supplied to an OEM, who could have well only fitted it on dual processor machines, which could explain the lack of benchmark for single processor computers.

There’s obviously some risk of damaging CPUs or the motherboard when swapping them around. One could crack the CPU board, or break the heatsink. I don’t want to perform a swap if I am certain to be wasting my time.

Is it feasible this CPU can only work in pairs, or is that extremely unlikely?

[AlHill]

Did you check with dell to see if the 8171M was supported by their bios?

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)

[drkirkby]

I have not asked specifically about that processor, but the manual days the 81xx Platinum seems is supported.

Dell’s technical support is absolutely appalling. I tried asking for the part number of a 64 GB DIMM, but kept being passed from dales to tech support.

Dell wants the end user to buy directly from them, not a third party, so would probably reply I should buy the chip from them. I was looking at one CPU I could buy from Scan Computers in the UK for 3250, which Dell want £5000.

The 8171M is not commercially available - there’s no data on the CPU on the Intel website. I don’t expect anyone from Intel would tell me much about the CPU, but some kind Intel employee may tell me whether a CPU would ever be designed to work only in pairs.

Dave

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello drkirkby,

Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.  

Please help us by providing more additional information so we can better assist you.

Can you please let us know if your system was working before? If so can you please let us know what processor model came with the system?

The processor that you are using should be able to run by its own.

Now, upon checking on the supported site of your Dell Precision 7920 the Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8171 Processor is not list as supported, you can confirm this information here:

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/precision-7920r-workstation/prec_7920r_om_pub/supported-processors?guid=guid-bb909905-421b-4120-bc89-96cf3caa54d3&lwp=rt

We do recommend contacting Dell technical support and confirm this information.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Sergio S.

Intel Technical Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello drkirkby,

We are following your thread and we would like to know if the information provided on the previous post was useful to answer your questions.

Best regards,

Sergio S.

Intel Technical Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[drkirkby]

@SergioS_Intel thank you for your help. Sorry I did not reply earlier. The link given above for the Dell manual is not the one for my machine. The 7920 is available as both a rack and a tower workstation. The link above is to the rack mount version. The manual for my own unit is here

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-uk/precision-7920-workstation/precision_7920_om_pub/system-specifications?guid=guid-5db3f585-e9c7-491c-9e6a-9906fa58c467&lang=en-us

where it says the following are supported

• Intel Xeon Platinum 81xx processors
• Intel Xeon Gold 61xx processors
• Intel Xeon Gold 51xx processors
• Intel Xeon Silver 41xx processors
• Intel Xeon Bronze 31xx processors
• Intel Xeon Gold 52xx processors
• Intel Xeon Silver 42xx processors
• Intel Xeon Bronze 32xx processors
• Intel Xeon Platinum 82xx processors
• Intel Xeon Gold 62xx series processors

Total cache up to 38.5 MB. 

The machine came with a single Silver 4110 (8-core, 2.1 GHz) and worked okay, but rather slowly. I was hoping that switching to a pair of 2.6 GHz 24-core CPUs would have bought a considerable performance benefit, but unfortunately, the Dell will not work with those CPUs.

I have not contacted Dell. Their so-called "support" is virtually useless to an end-user like myself. They would tell me to buy a CPU from them, but from experience, even getting the part number from Dell is difficult. My attempts to get the part numbers for DIMMs and a heatsink have both been very frustrating experiences.

Dave

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello drkirkby,

We are sorry to hear that your system does not work those processors, please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you or if we can close this thread.

Best regards,

Sergio S.

Intel Technical Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello drkirkby,

We are following your thread and we would like to know if you need further assistance or if we can close this thread.

Best regards,

Sergio S.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[drkirkby]

you can close it

[SergioS_Intel]

Hello drkirkby,

We will close this thread as per your request.

Best regards,

Sergio S.

Intel Customer Support Technician

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit :https://intel.com/support/serverbios