'Matched Pairs' of CPUs

[Conanius]

Hi Folks,

I've got two Xeon X5650 CPUs in my Dell T5500.

If i wanted to put X5690 CPUs in, is it as simple as getting two with the same 'code' on, and if not, what is it that makes them a matched pair?

 

[On Holiday]

Just any old X5690s will do. No idea what a "matched pair" is and I've built hundreds of dual-cpu machines.. Wouldn't worry about it.

 

[.:SAmSuNG:.]

Heard of matched pairs in audio drivers in headphones but never processors.

 

[Conanius]

ok cool. Maybe its something from years gone by and I'm just totally lost and confused about it

 

[mmj_uk]

AFAIK it just means that the serial number is adjacent, OEM's usually buy CPU's in bulk trays and the serial numbers are all in series. It means that they're from the same batch etc, I doubt it matters much though as long as the CPU model is the same.

 

[Toughnoodle]

I think it could be that matched pairs should be same stepping (can be seen in CPU-Z). I'm not sure where to check, but it's possible there are multiple steppings for a single processor model. It might be mentioned in the user manual?

I'm going to be adding a second CPU to a rack mounted server next week and the first step is to update the BIOS. I guess that's because they add support for revised CPUs.

 

[joeyjojo]

Perfectionists will probably want the same stepping for each chip (just to know they're going to perform the same) but even that probably isn't needed.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Ooft, those 5690s command a decent price!
I've got an old T5500 that I wouldn't mind injecting some life into, currently on 2 x E5620s.
Think a couple of X5670/X5675s would be the top end of my scale.
Would still be quite a capable machine, with 2 x 5690s in it!

 

[Conanius]

I'm going to move on my X5650's, it's amazing the price they still command to be fair