Confirmed: XEON E3-1290-V2 work with vostro 470 models

Hello Everyone,

Ive been working on Dells for over a decade. Im the guy that works on some of the most random Dell systems after warranty expires. Or I buy a E-Waste pallet of computers and salvage what I can to reduce toxic landfill waste.

Dell optiplex’s with 3rd gen intel did come with specialty pre order PC’s with very rare chipsets and bios configurations that exceeded consumer level pc’s. The vostro and inspiron line up were and still are lower business class and home use pcs.

I came across an optiplex SFF that had the intel V3-1290-V2. Base Clock 3.7Ghz with a 4.27Ghz boost clock. This is spec for dpec the i7 3770K sku without the integrated graphics.

There are many caveats to this particular chip set in the vostro/XPS bios. It will operate under both A09 and A13 intel ME microcodes. The bios however due to baseclock speed stepping makes the chip run less efficient than the standard 3770 or even a 4th gen 4790.

In CMOS bios settings intel speed stepping has to be turned off. That way the bios can lower the power demands for a broader range between base clock and turbo. The stock base clock of the xeon at 4.7Ghz will have more room to turbo dropping to about 3.55Ghz base.

 The Xeon unfortunately will not see passed 3.99 Ghz. Not because of bios, the vostro mobo doesn't have enough mosfets and capacitors to drive to 4.27Ghz power delivery, and to drive that extra boost. Voltage has to drop, while amperage increases so the xeon wont over heat. So it can be stable at the higher clock speed.

With intel speed stepping OFF. The XEON E3-1290-V2 will perform far better than intel i7 4790. I own them both and the xeon with RTX 3060 will hold a consistent 60FPS in 1080P, better than the i7 4790 with RTX 4060. There are caveats to the xeon it doesnt have SsE4.2, or AVX 2 unlike the 4790 that if you are into more moddern games requiring that instruction the 4790 would be a better value.