CPU + RAM Upgrade - Sun Fire x4170

Today I upgrade the CPU's and RAM in the Sun xFire x4170 from a mere 2x E5620 (quad cores) and 48GB of RAM to a whooping (well slightly overkill) 2x X5650 (hex cores) and 96GB of RAM.

Whoop

I shall add some additional details over there.

~~Music~~
All music is by Zweihander, from various albums.
Support the artist over on their band camp.

[haroonytube]

Hi,
Nice upgrade content. I have a sunfire x4140 but the problem is that the vga output is garbaged. Perhaps the built in vga controller is bugged. Can’t see anything. Serial connection via Putty is showing fine just the bois setup after that everything is garbage.

Plz tell me that Can I use external vga card for this server ? If yes then which vga card is supported by this server ?
Thanks in advance

[clairearkwright]

Presumably, you cleaned off the old heatsink paste (with thermal paste remover and lint-free coffee cone paper), prepared the heatsinks thoroughly (with thermal surface purifier), then gave them a proper wiping (lint-free cloth), to give a perfectly dirt free, shiny surface before applying an ultra-thin film of brand new thermal paste, right?

Then did the same with the replacement processors (if new, just the latter two steps)?

We don't see that in the video. Will just assume you did.

Honestly, not sure ignoring Sun/Oracles’ “star pattern” advice was wise. Just dropping a pea sized blob in the middle, then hoping heatsink pressure and CPU heat will dissipate the thermal conducting paste to every corner of the processors isn't reliable at all. That's why computer/processor manufacturers make specific recommendations: they've tried different patterns and learned from experience which works best.

Sure, doing all the preparation I've described takes time — 30 minutes all told — but it's definitely well worth it when you know your CPU’s are cared for properly, running at their most efficient speeds and, importantly, lower temperatures.

That time spent gains us longer CPU life and (best of all, with Sun “jet engine” servers), lower fan speeds and, therefore, (slightly) less noise.

These are fairly basic steps which everybody should follow (‘best practice’): a good habit for beginners (and everyone) to pick up and use on every upgrade — forever, don't you agree?

Thanks for making and posting the tutorial. I hope I added a little to it.

[patrickcorcuera]

Hello. I have an x4170 mark 1. May I know the highest spec processor that I can place? Is it compatible with six or 8 core processors? It has the lga1366 socket unlike your mark 2. Thanks

[bvg]

Hi i dont know if you still have the x4170. I have one and tried putting in a dedicated gpu. Sadly it doesnt seen to be recognised by the system. Lshw or lspci fail to find it. Wondered if you'd ever tried a gpu out on it?