Are the Ivy Bridge Xeons compatible with a Sandy Bridge motherboard?

[WeeKiwi7]

I have a Dell T1600 workstation that has an i3-2100, providing I keep to a reasonable budget I can upgrade the processor. My first thought here was to just find a cheap i7 but the intel page for the chipset (C206) doesn't list it as compatible. The Sandy Bridge Xeons aren't too expensive so I decided on an E3-1270. The thing is I can get an E3-1270 v2 (Ivy Bridge if I'm understanding all this) for about the same price.

 

Does anyone know if I would have any issues trying to use the v2 in this system?

I'd also really like to know why the i3 is compatible with this system but an i7 of the same generation wouldn't be, if anyone has some knowledge on that.

 

Thanks.

[Wolly9102]

wouldn't pose a problem, (when upgraded to latest bios) and why wouldn't an I7 be able to work? I am cursious which intel page you are mentioning

[WeeKiwi7]

This was the page I was looking at for the chipset.

[Wolly9102]

17 minutes ago, WeeKiwi7 said:

This was the page I was looking at for the chipset.

https://www.dell.com/community/Precision-Fixed-Workstations/Dell-precision-t1600-cpu-upgrade/td-p/5748847

well according to dell I7's will also work just fine  so do what you want, the xeon will also work

[asand1]

I upgraded a Lenovo Ideacentre from an i3 2100 to an i7 2600 although that CPU was not on the compatibility list. It will work, no worries.

[Fasauceome]

You can get really cheap CPUs off AliExpress from china, dare I say cheap enough to just say screw it and get one to test if it works.  

 

Edit: the 1270, not so much, but there are loads of cheap others on the site from dumped server systems.

[WeeKiwi7]

On 11/7/2018 at 10:42 PM, fasauceome said:

You can get really cheap CPUs off AliExpress from china, dare I say cheap enough to just say screw it and get one to test if it works.  

 

Edit: the 1270, not so much, but there are loads of cheap others on the site from dumped server systems.

I have tried this route, fingers crossed!