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I have a somewhat old Dell Precision T7500 desktop with this 64-bit Intel Xeon CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/48768

I have been thinking about upgrading this CPU to an Intel i7 CPU.

It looks like this CPU corresponds to this one at cpu-upgrade.com: http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Xeon/E5645.html

On the right side of above page at cpu-upgrade.com is a link to a "Intel X58 Express" page (under "Intel Xeon E5645 chipset compatibility"). This link leads to this page: http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/X58_Express.html

Above page lists some i7 CPU's as compatible with the chipset on this motherboard.

I have two questions I wanted to ask:

  1. Is this information all I need to determine which version of the i7 CPU I could upgrade to?
  2. If not, how can I determine if I need to replace the entire motherboard?
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    The T7500 is old. You'd need to match sockets, and chances are the xeon in it is better than any core i7 you can buy. So, meh, there's little point in upgrading the CPU. Toss in as much ram as you can, upgrade to an SSD (which is totally worth it), and basically spend your money elsewhere.
    – Journeyman Geek
    Dec 28, 2016 at 5:14
  • Your socket is FCLGA1366, aka LGA1366. So basically any Socket LGA1366 cpu should work, but as another answer has stated, the CPU is likely not the main thing causing performance bottlenecks.
    – NZKshatriya
    Dec 28, 2016 at 16:21

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Sockets are the answer. Generally, modern intel CPUs use sockets in the LGA 11xx format. I don't know what your CPU uses for it's socket, but before you ask: no, you cannot get socket adapters for cpus. If the sockets aren't compatible, you need a new motherboard, and maybe more.

The socket type should be silkscreened onto the motherboard somewhere.

Read the top comment on this answer for a bit more info.

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    Sometimes it can go beyond matching the socket. There are times where you will need something like a BIOS update. For example, running a haswell refresh on a haswell motherboard, in which case you would need to update the BIOS with a haswell CPU prior to using the haswell refresh CPU. -- In other cases, the chipset might not be supported by the CPU, even if the sockets match.
    – 0-60FPS
    Dec 28, 2016 at 5:36
  • That is very true. You never know what else you might have to do. For the most part, what I mentioned will work.
    – Bobdabiulder
    Dec 28, 2016 at 5:40
  • Some motherboards are also limited in the current they can deliver to the CPU socket. You have to check the motherboard manual for compatibility.
    – James
    Dec 28, 2016 at 21:54
  • I didn't know that James! Coming from me, that is significant because honestly, in all my computer building, I've never used complements that had that issue with each other. Good point ☝️
    – Bobdabiulder
    Dec 28, 2016 at 21:56
  • Actually, I did see it once on a computer someone else built on a super tight budget.
    – Bobdabiulder
    Dec 28, 2016 at 21:58

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