There are three revisions of the 1950:  I, II, and III.  Each support a different line of CPU's.  If it currently has a 2.0 QC, then it would either be a II (supports 5300-series) or a III (supports 5400-series), so you could go a little faster, if you can find a good enough deal. Yeah, even your 2850 couldn't have taken the 68-pin drives, and even if it could, it supports U320 (and U160), so you would have been better off getting faster drives anyway.  Just remember, drives on a backplane (hot-swap) are provided power through the backplane, so it will have extra pins for providing power.  68-pin drives must be powered separately from the SCSI interface (molex). As for your 2000 issue ... I'm afraid 2000 is before my time (I mean, I have used Windows since I was a kid - 3.1 days - but in a professional/support env, I started when XP/2003 was out), so I won't have much insight and have never had a need to use/obtain 2000 media ... sorry.  Hopefully someone can help you with that thread.
  Good day, and sorry to post... I wish once "inside" a thread, they would have a better search but I am in process of purchasing a 1950 PE and I am unsure of a couple of thing after looking here: [URL]  1) I have seen (2) Socket types mentioned for the Quad Processors...and not sure which one this uses please?  2) I also wonder if this is 68 pin? As I have (2) Dell Quantum Atlas 73GB 10k U160's and wondering if I could use them in this box please?  Thanks all in advance..  [dislcolure] = Hard Core 1300/600 PE user...getting ready to UPGRADE!!  
PowerEdge 1950SAS/SCSI Pin Question please?