Dell Optiplex 320 does not compatible with Intel Pentium D 830

My friend gave me a Pentium D 830. It is a good CPU and I want to use it in my Dell Optiplex 320. It is currently running Celeron 420. After seeing a few YouTube videos, I finally installed the CPU on the board. Then I turned on the computer. The led turned yellow and cpu fan running very fast as well as noisy but the computer won’t boot at all. If I put back the Celeron, it works correctly.

I think that there are different types or may be 2 types of lga775 sockets. The older one is compatible upto Pentium 4 HT 3.8 and the second socket is compatible up to Pentium D and if there is a third one, then I think it can go up to Core 2 Duo and maybe Core 2 Quad. If you have the latest one, then there won’t be any problem. If not, you will need to update a few major things.

As far as I know that Optiplex 320 will take only a 800MHz FSB Conroe or else Allendale based Core 2 Duo. However currently I am using the E4600 and it is running at 2.4 GHz without any problem. I have also tried the Core 2 Duo E6600 1066 FSB but it is capable to run only at 800 MHz fsb and due to this the CPU runs at only 1.8 GHz instead of 2.4 GHz.

If the processor is incompatible then it doesn’t mean that it is defective. Before installing the processor I urge you to take a look at the list of compatible processor for the Dell Optiplex 320 in the Intel official site. I would think that Optiplex 320 only support 95w processors. I didn’t see any list regarding the compatible processors. It seems to me like there must be different kind of lga775 sockets depending on the Dell models.

I Think that there is an issue of TDP, I don’t know what it is actually but I can assume the same. However the repair person doesn’t agree with the TDP problem. To tell about Pentium D 830, it is 130w. On the other hand your current CPU, which is Celeron 420, is only 35w. It could be a problem. If you need a compatible processor I urge you to replace the Pentium D 830 with Pentium D 820 because it is 95w. You may run this processor without any problem.

First of all make sure that your bios is updated and it is very latest. When you first boot the computer you will see Dell splash screen where bios version is listed. The latest is 1.1.2. it should be compatible with following

• Intel Pentium D 800MHz FSB Socket T with Dual Core technology XD, EM64T, 2x2MB L2 cache, and EIST (900 series)
• Intel Pentium D 800MHz FSB Socket T with Dual Core technology XD, EM64T, 2x1MB L2 cache (800 series)

I also think that both of Pentium D 820 (SL88T or SL8CP) would be fine because both are 95w. The D820 contains 2 x 1mb cache and running at 2.8 GHz. If you can afford some more money, then you can go for some expensive one. You can get a Pentium D 925 (SL9D9 or SL9KA) which are 95w. The main features are they have larger 2 x 2mb cache and 3.0 GHz