XPS 730X resources (reddit)

Hopefully the chassis doesn't have any dings or scratches. It's becoming very difficult to find these chassis in A+ condition.

Yeah, upgrade that CPU ASAP. The furthest I've been able to push the C0 920s reliability is about 3.3 Ghz.

Typically, I recommend the following upgrades asap to produce a speed improvement:

• CPU to something at least 3.06 Ghz or higher (so it can be overclocked to 3.73 Ghz or higher)
• 12 GB of DDR3 1600 mhz Ram
• SSD, nothing too fancy since the mobo is only SATA2 - just pick a reliable one.

Regarding those Xeon CPUs: I am not sure if the A11b bios microcode includes the Xeon IDs. That would be an interesting idea to try. If not, I might be able to dig out my old setup to modify the microcode. The process is easy, it's just the tooling that is old old old and difficult to setup properly. Plus, I don't have an 730x motherboard any longer as all of my chassis have them replaced.

That X5675 does look nice, since it has the faster 6.4 GT/s QPI which is only found in the Intel i7 Core "Extreme Edition" CPUs. While you can overclock a 950 to 3.73 Ghz with ease, its bus only becomes around 5.4 GT/s QPI if I recall. Any faster and it locks up.

IMO, sell those Xeon chips and pick up a Core i7 980x or 990x from eBay for about $120-$150 at the time of this writing. They are Six Core, the same as the X5675, and the same 12 MB of cache. However, they are clocked higher: 3.33 and 3.46 Ghz respectfully (without Turbo, which goes higher). I've easily overclocked them to 3.73 using the "Alienware Level" settings and left turbo on which peaks around 4.1 Ghz. That setting is in the BIOS.

A note about "bottlenecking" the CPU with a high end graphics card. I have ran into this myself far too many times to count with my high end setups (all on 730x platforms!) because of my tri-monitor setup at 6000x1080 resolution.

What it comes down to (the CPU bottleneck) is the CPU clock speed. That's it. If you can get a sustained clock speed of 3.73 Ghz or higher, you won't have issues - and that's coming from someone that plays at 6000x1080 with 3x GPUs in the past on the 730x motherboard and a quad core. It's getting a CPU that will allow that overclocking is the trick.

And AFAIK, only the Core i7 980x and 990x CPUs allow it with ease. I've pushed a 920 D0 and a 950 to 3.73 several times as well; however, it was with high voltage and high power usage (all water cooled btw due to the high temps). The 980x and 990x also run hot cause of the 6 cores, and need watercooling as well. The 980x and 990x CPUs were simple to get to 3.73 Ghz.

Lastly about overclocking, the stock mobo can only do 3.73 easily with some turbo to 4.1. I haven't found a combination of any CPU settings that can go to 4.0 without some type of bluescreen. However, aftermarket X58 boards, like the highly sought after EVGA X58 FTW cause of it's drop-in replacement and front panel i/o matching plug (and the last great mobo from EVGA before the BIOS team left), can take a 920 D0, 950 and 980x/990x to 4.2 Ghz very easily! (disable Turbo though) I can't recall the exact setting, but the 730x A11b bios can't make voltage adjustments to 1 or 2 key lines that the EVGA X58 FTW can, which allows you to go higher.

My chassis was originally a 730x with the solid panel.

I found an XPS 720 X-Panel on eBay, silver, to match. The brush coating is slightly different but you can't tell - even up close. You have to really look hard to tell it wasn't done within about 3 years of each other. :)

Any non-730X side-panel, that you want to use on the 730x w/Theater Lighting (the white lighting to service the internal components that run on batteries), will need a small modification to depress the switch when the panel closes.

I just used a small U-bar piece of aluminum from Home Depot. I think it was either 1/2" or 3/4" in width. A piece of double-sided tape and BAM, fits perfectly.

the 730/730X chassis can support a full size ATX motherboard just fine. However, if you go with an E-ATX motherboard, such as the Asus X79 Rampage IV Black Edition that I have, it requires significant modifications to the motherboard tray as well as to the front an housings. Also considering E-ATX doesn't have a width standard (it just stays it is wider than 9.5", that's what makes it "E" for E-ATX), you really don't know just how much you have cut. And then there's the fan housings' legs getting in the way of the connectors you have to plan around.

The only thing you want to watch out for is the front-panel IO connector. The 730x chassis uses what the industry is trying to standardize around a USB-like internal connector. It's no difference and drops right in, as long as the motherboard has that connector. It is a different pin-out though than USB and SPDIF/Audio onboard connectors.

EVGA boards, and I think Gigabyte boards, have that USB-like front panel connector. But always check that first. If you want an Asus, you'll need to make a custom connector for that.

The H2C TEC document explains that using TEC cooling at 30-50% capacity yields a lower fan speed and therefore lower noise. That was the main driver behind the H2C units. Honestly the H2C water blocks has been beaten several times with high end air coolers.

The fans are controlled via the MCB directly. There are many fault detections with the MCB, such as 5 temp sensors (that increases the PCI Cage fan's speed - the one that points to over the expansion cards, the top one).

There are two modes the CPU Fan (lower one) operates in.

• If you do not have the H2C unit installed, this fan is controlled by the MCB (unless you override it with the Fan Monitor settings). From my measurements on the oscilloscope, it seems to operate at about 50% duty cycle of what is commanded by the motherboard. For example, if the motherboard is freaking out and wants 100% CPU fan (the stock heat sink and air unit), it will operate the CPU Cage (the front one) at 50% speed. If it wants 50% CPU fan, the front CPU Cage fan will operate at 25% speed.

• If you have an H2C unit, the motherboard will directly control the front CPU Cage fan speed via Passthrough of the MCB. Meaning, if the motherboard wants 100% CPU speed (e.g. on startup), your front CPU Cage will operate at a ear-blasting 100% speed. Note that the TEC plates are directly controlled via this same PWM duty cycle.

Also note that if the rear Temp sensor detects excessive heat, the MCB will increase both the PCI Cage and CPU Cage fans! I still need to reverse engineer the binary of the MCB some day... THere's some pretty cool stuff in it.

Now... If I just went overboard and you are complaining about "idle" noises, then you need to override the speeds manually. This is what the Dell XPS Fan/Temp Monitor is for: it allows you to set the fan speeds lower, at like 0% to where you can't hear them (not very much).

IMO, I wouldn't replace them. The volume of air you get vs noise level is far more efficient than any NB or other "quiet" fans. Also, you'll need PWM fans and will need to cut the wires and tap into the stock PWM harness, if you want control. Or you could go all cowboy and just Molex it up to your PWM and be done (and hot!).

Also, IMO, having that PCI Cage fan with stock fan and MCB monitoring temps with the 5 sensors really helps! I've had several multi-GPU setups over the years, and whenever the chassis temps increased (due to some heavy game play), the MCB automagically took care of the internal temps and increased that fan speed. I recall one gaming session after a few hours of jamming hard with my headphones that when I was done, and removed my headphones, I was greeted with the jet blasting noise of hte PCI Cage fan. Investigating, I saw my internal temps have risen to over 45C! Tip: don't go with dual -GPUs that "Dump Air" into your chassis. I have switched to only using GPUs that exit air out the back, like stock Nvidia and AMD cards do.

For my custom H2C setup, I have the CPU PWM on the motherboard sit a 0% PWM duty cycle, which makes the CPU Cage fan idle very very quiet to where you can't hear it.

It sits at this 0% level until the CPU reaches 55C, and then it slowly ramps up to 80% PWM max at 75C. This gives me a scale of 20C steps that the MCB will increase both the CPU Cage and TEC Voltage.

However, with the highend waterblock I am using, temps hardly ever rise above 45C - even in the summer under heavy game play.

X79 LGA2133 4930K Six-Core 135W overclocked to 4.9 Ghz.

Only during video encoding that I sometimes notice the fan increasing, and it never exceeds 58C (a little more fan speed, and a little TEC voltage cools it just enough to stay quiet).

One of the cheapest, best performing and quietest upgrade you can do is an H80 placed in front of the CPU Cage fan. Set the Fan Monitor to idle the fan at 0%, which is way more than enough for max airflow due to the size of that fan. You'll never overheat.

Though the aesthetics are horrible. With no x-panel, it doesn't matter. You can cut up the original fan shroud and put it back on.

However, a good high end air cooler is almost as good.

The stock beefy HS&Fan cooler just doesn't perform at all.

The Corsair H80/H80i waterblock is just a bit better than the stock H2C waterblocks; but, nothing like Swiftech or other high end aftermarket blocks.

My H80 and H80i builds for customers have been enough to run X79 at 4.4 Ghz and X58 at around 4 Ghz without getting too hot.

Note that I do not use the stock fans on the Corsairs as they are junk. I use the oem Front CPU fan from the Dell chassis, and place the heat exchanger in front of it - stretching the water lines to the water block. This works easily for the older H80 units with 1/4" hoses. However, the H80i 3/8" hoses are a bit too tight. I've instead just purchased a front CPU housing on eBay and modified them to fit the heat exchanger in the rear of that fan.

You see, those two fans in the front of the chassis are high-flow server-grade fans that spin up to an ear-blasting 4000 RPMs. However, these Sanyo-grade fans have a hidden secret that only high-end water cooling rigs know about - they have an extremely high "static pressure" rating. Meaning, at the same RPM, they will push more air than other sized fans - and a lot more. So at low speeds, which is what I idle mine at, the amount of air flow from one of those fans usually exceeds 2x of those cheap Corsair fans in push-pull at high speed.

The heat all comes down to the vcore voltage. Try lowering the vcore. If you have to run really high vcore for an overclock, than perhaps you need more than the H80s can supply - which again, is about 20% better than the stock H2C units; but nothing like a real aftermarket setup.

Also, the X58s I tried to not exceed 80C, which is acceptable. The X79 series however you don't want to exceed 70, or 75C max.

swapping out guts of 730X for newer mobo/cpu combo

AlienFX and XPS Thermal Monitor will no longer work. However, if you install an Nvidia GPU, you can install NVidia System Tools: https://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.06.html

NOTE: Do NOT install the System Update nor the System Monitor. Those basically don't work these days on newer systems. Just install the Performance tools of whatever it is called (there are 3 options in the advanced settings during Windows install).

Once you install the Performance tools, a new option will appear in the Nvidia Control Panel called "Performance". You'll need to accept the EULA and BAM, you can now control your lights and fans. It's a little buggy; but works for the most part.

There's also a slightly newer version, 6.08. But I originally had issues with it and just recommended people install 6.06 as it worked fine for the MCB controls.

Lastly, do NOT run AlienFX and XPS Thermal Monitor side-by-side with NVidia System Tools. They will conflict and fight for control - which causes all sorts of software/DLL crashes and weird fan speed controls

The only other concern is the Front Panel I/O connector. The XPS 730x motherboard uses the industry standard USB-like-but-different-pins header. You can read more about the specs here: http://formfactors.org/developer/specs/A2928604-005.pdf

Some motherboard manufacturers though are not following these rules and still creating their own headers (cough Asus cough). In situations, you have two options:

• Simplest is to just arrange the front panel I/O connector to plug in over the Power On two pins from your custom header pin on the motherboard. Most of this does line up actually, and you get to power on/off your chassis from the stock connector. However, nothing else will work (HDD light nor Power light). That's ok though, that power light is awfully bright IMO.

• Create your own custom adapter cable.

I have some specs for this around somewhere in my notebooks about the custom header. Basically, buy a "debugger header" for whatever motherboard you have. Like, Asus has one. I then buy a standard internal-USB-2 extension cable, like this one http://amzn.to/2GKA7On

I then cut off the female end and solder up the wires to match the debugger header.

Ah, found an old pic of one I made: https://imgur.com/GEQkMCY

That's the Asus debug/extender header in white you see on the left.

That's basically it. If you do not have an Nvidia GPU though, you are SOL for controlling that MCB. This is where my most of my work has been focused the last I worked on these: reverse engineering the MCB USB HID commands. There are two sets that I captured for the most part. Just never got around to finishing those projects.

I don't ever think the rules have ever worked right. I think using the rules may actually screw up the controls. E.g. you set some rules, but it's not right. You try to set other rules and yet the old ones or some odd combination would happen. Nothing short of resetting the MCB (there's two jumpers on it) would clear the defaults and reinstalling Windows would clear the rules out. Then again, that may be been one of the earlier versions like 6.02 that was really bad.

I use the Nvidia Tools to lock in my defaults at startup. Just change the LEDs and set the Fans to 0%. We do this with the right combination of changes-n-apply so that a few seconds after you exit a popup will appear asking if you want to apply the changes to startup. Hit OK/YES! This is the key to "locking in" the defaults onto the MCB between reboots.

If that popup does not appear, a reboot usually fixes it.

Also note...

Users that are using H2C units, both stock or modded versions like mine that continues to use the thermoelectric cooling peltiers, operate a bit differently. When the wire loops of the TEC pelters have continuity, the MCB firmware switches to "H2C" mode. What this means is when you connect the MCB to the CPU Fan header on your motherboard:

• The "Front CPU" fan control in the tools now becomes controlled via the 4-pin PWM CPU fan header on the motherboard.
• The TEC Pelters are directly controlled by the 4-pin PWM CPU fan header on the motherboard! 50% PWM CPU Fan speed from motherboard == 6VDC split across four pelters, 2 wired in series for two pairs for a distribution of 3V per pelter. Highly efficient!
• The "Rear CPU" can control in the tools now controls two fans: the 4-pin small 60mm(?) fan over the heatpipes of the motherbard attached to the original H2C units, and the Rear Panel PWM fan header on the LED lighting board that covers the rear panel i/o.
• The "PCI Cage" fan now rams up slowly in Auto mode inline with the Front CPU fan; but, only as a percentage of the PWM duty cycle.
• The "PCI Cage" fan now seems more sensitive to internal chassis temps and will speed up more often in Auto mode. Given, it's always a very gradual ramp up and down, it is different than standard air-cooling Auto mode. I forgot to capture the PWM curve of the PCI Cage fan in relation to the chassis 4 temp probes. Frankly though, if your chassis reaches to that point (like 38C to 45C), it's getting a bit too warm and will shorten the lifespan of the system - you may want to look into replacing components.
• The Water Pump PWM control adjusts inline with the "Front CPU Fan" setting, but only via a percentage. For example, 50% Front CPU Fan I think equals 25% PWM on the pump.

While pretty cool logic really, this can have a very negative/jarring effect on systems that have swapped the motherboard and use default CPU Fan profiles in the BIOS. You'd want to go into the BIOS and setup the fans to default to 0% PWM or "Quiet". 0% PWM means the PWM fans will spin down to their lowest possible speed, but not off.

Finally... The H2C mode allows you to control the Front CPU fan with any software that can automate normal CPU Fan PWM speeds. One of the best I've ever used and still use under Windows is SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

I've got a set of scripts with some automation for general H2C units to quickly install the SpeedFan software because, the software itself is nowhere near intuitive to setup at all. The wrong combination of probes will cause BSoD, so you'd want to disable some for your mobo type. He's gotten better at improving the probes to be more accurate; but still, disabling probes and just directly enabling a generic CPU Fan PWM controller works great.

I've always enjoyed the original fan controllers using the Nvidia Support Tools.

With aftermarket motherboards, I've always relied on SpeedFan - having it tied to the CPU temps and slowly ramping up the PWM pump and Front CPU fan along with the PCI Cage fan if case temps got a little high.

Note that the X-Panel from XPS 720 will also fit. That's actually where I got my silver x-panel from: an xps 720, that fits my XPS 730x.

Since I had an "X" version of the 730X, it had additional "Theater Lighting", which is basically the dedicated battery-lighting when you remove the Panel.

Well, the 720 machines did not have this (nor the 730) - so there no is "metal tab" to press the switch.

A quick trip to Home depot for a 3/4" U aluminum scrap piece for $1, stuck to the panel with some double sided tape, and DONE!

You can't tell, even upon close inspection. But if you really shine the light in all directions, nick picking, the "grain" of the brushed aluminum on the top panel is different than the side panel. They are both clear coated so it is very hard to see. But you can't tell, not even in pics.

I've never had much luck with the DOS versions of the AMI flash utility on the XPS 730X motherboard. I've always recommended using the Windows version of the flashing utility. You can download Windows 10 ISO for free from Microsoft directory, load it up, and put the BIOS files there to flash with and then wipe it if you want.

I've recently posted the overall procedure here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/730x/comments/8q434u/xps_730x_alienware_bios_flashing_process/

Re-reading it, I mention where i didn't have much luck with the DOS versions back then either.

But if you are determined, I recommend formatting a USB stick with /E /F to transfer the boot files (if memory serves).

We had a discussion like this on the FB group.

My stance: the A10/A11b bios does not support 24 GB of RAM (3x8GB). No bios for the 730x or Alienware Area-51 ALX system does.

The max supported is 12 GB (3x4GB) with the A11b bios.

A quick search indicates others that have the exact same problem as you describe: only 2x8GB sticks detected.

The reason is that the A10 and A11b bios limits tRFC to 150 max (earlier versions were limited to like 88 or something if memory serves). This is an important setting for delay timing for the cache to clear. I believe most 8GB sticks need 180 or higher for 1600 MHz ram.

You might be able to get away with running the ram slower, at like 1333 MHz or 1066 MHz which relaxes the timings a bit (allowing u set 150 for tRFC).

It's not a CPU MCH thing, it's a bios limitation.

Note: the X58 LGA1366 chipset and socket is a tri-channel memory setup. Meaning, to get the full bandwidth of memory, you need to run 3 sticks - not 2.

Lastly, there was one other I chatted with that swore he had full 24 GB running fine at 1600 MHz and tRFC set to 150 even though his memory wanted 188. I asked him to run Memtest86+ overnight and he said it passed. However he did complain about random bluescreens. (Hint hint)

You may want to run MemTest86+ overnight through a few full runs to make sure it's stable. Each 8GB stick needs tRFC set around 180 to 190 at 1600 MHz. What does your XMP set it to now?

Linux tends to be more picky about ram as that's what I run mostly these days, and hence why I could never get away with 24 GB. I also upgraded the 730x internals for about a dozen clients as well, where none wanted the original guts. So we've all been on the 32/64 and 128 GB bandwagon and haven't had much experience with 24 GB kits.

You may want to run MemTest86+ overnight through a few full runs to make sure it's stable. Each 8GB stick needs tRFC set around 180 to 190 at 1600 MHz. What does your XMP set it to now?

Linux tends to be more picky about ram as that's what I run mostly these days, and hence why I could never get away with 24 GB. I also upgraded the 730x internals for about a dozen clients as well, where none wanted the original guts. So we've all been on the 32/64 and 128 GB bandwagon and haven't had much experience with 24 GB kits.

Re: upgrading the X58 chipset/platform...

that Rampage III mobo is nice, yes. however there are a few gotchas to be a drop-in replacement.

• It's a bit wider than standard ATX, as it's an E-ATX motherboard. You'll have some overhang over the motherboard tray that could potentially touch and short-out. What most people do is they use a hammer and just flatten the lip down on a piece of concrete. Personally, what I do is to cut off the front lip of the motherboard tray, so we can use larger motherboards. However, then you run up against the front fan mounts that will need a little modifications as well with a dremel.
• The Front panel I/O connector is non-standard in that Asus does their own thing. I personally buy an "Asus Debug Header" for a few pennies, and then a short male-to-female USB extender, like 6" long. I remove the individual pins from the female connector side and place them exactly where I want them on the debug header. Then I heat-shrink everything and call in the day.

If you don't want to deal with either of those and want a 100% drop in replacement, the EVGA X58 SLI (not the classified) has been my motherboard of choice back in the day. They use the standard USB-like connector for the front-panel I/O which plugs right up as-is, and the motherboard is a standard ATX size.

The "Matrix storage" is the Silicon Image controller (Sil3132) on the X58 730X motherboard. This controller handles the "two stand alone" purple SATA ports, as well as the rear eSATA port and the onboard "red" SATA port back near the rear I/O.

You don't really need it. I always disable this controller in the BIOS as I never have more than 3 or 4 HDDs connected to my machine. You could just disable it in the BIOS and never worry about it again.

The reason why you have a yellow warning is most likely you have one of the custom BIOSes we released to the community? TkMods actually updated the firmware on the Sil3132 for his A11b bios hack. This is usually the reason why Windows doesn't have a driver. I outlined the details on the wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_XPS_730x#Cross-flashing_to_the_modified_Alienware_A11b_BIOS

In short: the A11b bios zipfile you can download from the pinned post in this reddit includes the drivers that matches the upgraded firmware of the Sil3132.

But again, you don't normally need it. Unless you really need 7+ internal SATA connectors, or to use the eSATA port on the rear I/O. Also, these Sil3132 chips are usually fairly slow in benchmarking and uses more CPU than the 6x "native" Intel chipset SATA ports you already have. I wouldn't touch the Sil3132 unless I really had to.

I too am still rocking my originally-purchased 730X, though it was a refurb cause I couldn't afford a mint one. :) It's highly modified now, currently sporting an AMD 2950X watercooled with a highly modified H2C unit, along with dual Vega 64s.

I think the original 1.0.5/1.0.6 was limited to 120. The A10/A11b bios increased that limit to at latest 150, which you would want with 8 GB sticks.

I am not sure if the Xeons will work. The 980X/990X are cheap enough now to pickup for like $90, so I'd just stick with them. The Xeon doesn't buy you anything in performance nor does the mobo allow ECC.

I myself am sporting a 720 X-window, as it is the same as the 730/730X chassis. I modified it for my theater lighting and all is well. Can't tell a difference.

H2C:

Unless you plan on highly modifying them, don't.

I've refurbished dozens of them for clients and frankly always rebuild them with the core from an H80. Even then the sealed environment only lasts 3-7 years before it evaporates (yep, the water will still get low over a long period of time).

Just grab an H80i and stick it against the back grill area, above the rear I/O and get better performance for no effort. :)

Note, if you have the air-cooled version, that Front CPU Fan cover you have is highly saught after because of people modifying their 730x - which looks ugly, without that air-cooled version of that cover. I've seen them go for as high as $110 on ebay!

Keep it.. And stick an H80i in the back, or something similar, and have a very nice looking machine (and quieter!).

The A10/A11 BIOS limit tRFC to 150 or a little higher. Meaning, you can use 8 GB sticks - but not 16 GB. Won't hurt to try if you can afford the return. :)

The XPS Thermal Monitor does not show CPU Temps.

The biggest limiting factor in the stock 730X systems is the CPU, overclocked or not. A single GTX Titan (aka GTX 780 series) never gets pegged on the 3.73 Ghz Core i7 980 Extreme I used it on - it was CPU bottlenecked.

My opinion, to be taken with a grain of salt, is to think what you want out of your machine for the next 3 to 5 years. If you are going to just casual game and use the machine for other things, then buy a used GTX 770 or 780 and be done with it. Or cheaper still, go with an AMD 280X, 290 or even a 290X (the 290X would be a premium, I'd just stick with the 290 or 280X). Ive sold several machines with 280Xs in them and they played every game at max settings on a regular Core i7 950 CPU at 3.73 Ghz. Rock solid 1080p performance.

However, if you plan on revamping the entire system/motherboard with a newer generation chipset, then go ahead and go for the GTX 9XX series or AMD 400/500 series. Get what you want for now.***

GTX 770s are faster than the 280X as well (but not the 290X). Just, you don't need anything more than a 280X with a 1080p 60hz monitor, is all I was saying.

First, a few technical facts to get straight...

The Dell XPS 730X bios versions 1.0.x limit the delay of tRFC to 100ns. This is a timing to set for the system to know to wait a certain amount of time for the memory to clear/reset/notify before moving onto the next cycle. Think of it as a setting for the bios to know, "How long should i wait for you to clear your tRFC before assuming you are ready for another write?" The A10/A11b BIOS versions allow for that tRFC delay of 150ns, which is typical in 4 GB 1600Mhz DDR3 sticks.

Remember, the SPD timings are all just "use these delays when writing, cleaning and waiting to write again on the next cycle" in the CPU cycles. The higher a particular SPD setting, the higher the delay.

Manufacturers come up with these SPD settings as a "most stable" setting, and if you run anything shorter it might run into instability. This is why we have machines that can overclock SPD settings, as a tweakers paradise to eek out that exact bit of performance.

Another fact is to remember that this tRFC setting, as with all other SPD settings, are directly related to the speed of the ram. E.g. 1066, 1333, 1600, 1866 Mhz and so on. IOW, a 4 GB stick of 1066 Mhz stick will have an tRFC of something like 88 or so whereas if you speed it up to 1600 Mhz, it will want to delay clearing of tRFC to something like 122ns or higher.

Next fact are XMP profiles. These are a way for memory manufacturers to tell the BIOS exactly what the SPD timings are to use. Aka, "Auto" mode. The Dell 1.0.x BIOS only supported the 1.0/1.2 standard for XMP. The A10/A11b BIOSes added XMP 2 specifications, however I think it's still a bit limited in recognizing all SPD definitions out there. Then with 2133 Mhz and 2400 Mhz ram, we have XMP 2.1 (or some higher number, can't remember). I don't think Dell ever release XMP 2.1 functionality in any Alienware BIOS.

And the last fact to remember, that I already hinted at above, is that memory can operate at multiple frequencies. Just because it lists 2400 Mhz on the box doesn't mean you have to run it at 2400 Mhz. If it is DDR3, then most likely it will run at 1066 Mhz just fine with XMP 1.0 specifications built into the stick.

With all of that said... Sticking in 2133 Mhz ram most likely will not POST properly as it may be using a newer version of XMP 2.x that the A11b or 1.0.6 BIOS does not support. I would be surprised if it did boot on AUTO.

IMO, I would just run the 2133 Mhz ram at 1600 Mhz and set the SPDs manually to match what the manufacturer specifies for 1600 Mhz (should be posted on their site). You already know how to get the machine to boot into "safe mode" - which would put the ram running at 1066 Mhz and "safe" settings for SPD timings to boot (which your memory supports). Once booted in safe mode, enter the BIOS, set your CPU Freq the way you want, and remove "AUTO" from SPD timings for memory. Then go set your ram to where it calculates to a ~1600 Mhz speed. Then lastly, go set your SPDs all manually. Reboot, and it should be up and going.

There's where I would stop if it was me. Nice, stable settings, at a known 1600 Mhz freq that the first-gen Core i7s love just fine.

However, you are free to run at higher speeds/Mhz with lower-than-manufacturer's SPD settings including very-low tRFC, just like any overclocker would. What you risk is instability. This is also not "auto" settings.

There's also the question of voltage as the ICH on the 1st-gen Intel Core i7 CPUs may not be strong enough to run anything that high. Technically, the Intel Core i7 first-gens are only rated at 1333 Mhz max, FYI. 1600 Mhz should be ok, and I've even seen some 1866 Mhz with good high end CPUs (like the 980X I have). However, I think anything faster than 1600 Mhz is really for the 2nd gen Core i7 CPUs - not this series. You could, and most likely should increase the voltage to the ICH if you are trying for 1866 Mhz or higher.

If your system is stable without a single reboot for months, congrats! You may have won the silicon lottery in both CPU and memory die.

Don't set them to 2133 Mhz nor the SPD timings for 2133 Mhz.

Lookup what the SPD timinigs are for your ram running at 1600 Mhz, and set that - along with the speed around 1600 Mhz as well and you should be fine.

See my reply below.

Also note: I would remove any overclock from your CPU first (go back to stock) while playing around with any memory combination. Once you figure out a stable setting, make note of it, and then go overclock your CPU.

Edit: On second thought, if things are running fine and stable for weeks at a time with 2 sticks but a 3rd stick freezes the system, then I would point to a weak ICH in the CPU - which is common in all but the Extreme Edition variants (980X and 990X - and even those need the ICH overvolted to very dangerous levels for very fast ram at 1866 Mhz).

MSI MS-7543 MS7543 REV 0C MS 7543 motherboard schematic

https://elektrotanya.com/msi_ms-7543_rev_0c_sch.pdf/download.html

730 and 730x share the exact same Front CPU Fan and PCI Cage Fan assemblies. They are identical.

Now, depending on if it was air cooled or an H2C unit changes what the "fan cover" was. The air cooled versions of the 730 and 730X has the exact same single plate "fan cover" that was basically just a baffle - an extension of the front CPU Fan cage. The H2C units was far more complex with a similar fan cover housing, but slightly larger to encompass the front heat exchanger and rear TEC waterblock along with hoses dangling out for the rest of the H2C system as it was an all-in-one unit.

The cost of those air-cooled fan covers is what I have seen skyrocket because people don't want the H2C units and want to install a normal HS&Fan or a simple H80i. However, if you so this to a previous H2C system, you'll end up with an ugly look over the front counter cage area.

IMO, buy a broken H2C unit for no more than $25 shipped, cut the tubes off, remove the heat exchanger and water block and all wires. Poof, you have a fan cover now.

Couldn't say for sure but i would assume that every single part of the 720 differs from the 730/730x, including the fans and cages.

The 730/730X Front CPU Fan assemble is mounted by two rear feet that slip into the chassis mounting plate via two large holes. The front plastic plates mounts with a single screw.

Dell P/N is Dell XPS 730 Heatsink Mounting Bracket JU616.

black plate is the mounting tray mounts the original Dell HS&F or H2C waterblock to the stock motherboard and tray. Without this plate, you could not mount either OEM cooling solution.

There were two versions, just like two versions of the motheboard tray:

• one for the 730 (supporting an LGA775 socket)
• a hybrid two-hole position version for both LGA775 and 730X LGA1366 HS&F

They only fit the OEM 730/730X motherboards that matches the tray revision.

If you switch motherboards, you don't need it as it won't line up any longer.

If you with to some other type of watercooling, you don't need it.

The reasons why are because that black plate only goes with the oem cooling solutions and only lines up with the matching mobo and tray combination.

Just toss it.