Craigslist GEM!

[pay]

Wow. Talk about lucky..

So I find this computer for sale on craigslist and decide to go snatch it up. It featured the following in the ad:

Q8400 Processor, 4GB DDR3, Zalman CPU cooler, Gigabyte EP45T-UD3P mobo, Thermaltake 700W PSU, Coolermaster Case, 74 gig raptor HD, ATI 4870 Vid card. He had it listed for $385 and I got him down to $320. It checked out when I met him up so I took it home.

Now here is where it gets good! I get home and turn it on.. and its actually a Q9550 Processor!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!! I immediately turn the FSB to 400 and am now stress testing with P95 (Any program better to stress cpu with??)

So now I have a dilemma. My current PC is as follows:
ATI 4850
E2200
ECS motherboard with Nvidia 610/630 chipset.
4GB DDR2

I was thinking of just swapping the Q9550 into my current computer and selling off the other parts of the new computer. But keep in mind I will lose the ability to overclock with my ECS board, plus I dont think it has dual channel memory. I also plan to get an SSD hard drive so that should speed things up a bit. My question is if I should keep the gigabyte mobo to replace my ECS mobo as well? Will it be much faster? I mainly play TF2, CSS, and use my computer to work with a lot of PDF files and the occasional movie. Keep in mind an SSD will speed up PDF file openings and that stuff, so will I notice a difference with the gigabyte motherboard over the ECS? Also under P95 for an hour now temps are at 80C... I think the HSF needs to be reseated? This is the one that is on there: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118223

 

[Tsavo]

Going from that Gigabyte to the Nvidia based ECS will be a huge step backward.

 

[mindwreck]

thats a sweet deal.. intel burn test is a good stress tester.

keep the gigabyte mobo and get a better heatsink. that thing is olddddd, uses a 92mm fan and zalmans aren't really made for hard overclocking. a coolermaster 212+ is a good cheap heatsink if you don't want to spend much

 

[pay]

Will do. Even though its stable at 3.4ghz with stock volts and this crappy cooler. Think I can hit 4 ghz?

 

[MustangSVT]

nice. for $320 thats a great deal.
I say sell everything and setup an i5 system ;D + gtx 460 or hd6850

 

[pay]

nah that is overkill for what I do. I just browse the web, MS office, newsgroup downloads (lots of extracting though), and CS:S

 

[mindwreck]

is it doing 80C @ 3.4ghz? its a bit on the high side. until you get a new heatsink i would clean it up and reapply some thermal paste. see what it does.

with a good heatsink you could hit 4ghz. depends on the cpu though of course.

 

[pay]

So I took the computer completely apart. So much dust and nastiness that I need to clean. Then I took off the HSF and there were globs of thermal plaste all over the CPU, and dust all over the heat sink. Needless to say I am gonna toss this heatsink, clean off the CPU and get a new heatsink. here are some pics:

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z164/jmoppa05/photo.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z164/jmoppa05/photo2.jpg

Will rubbing alcohol and Q tips be sufficient to clean the thermal paste from the CPU?

 

[An_Overdose]

use rubbing alcohol greater than 70% and use paper coffee filters to clean to thermal paste

 

[sandorski]

use rubbing alcohol greater than 70% and use paper coffee filters to clean to thermal paste

After shave works well. Smells good too. :awe::biggrin:

 

[nyker96]

damn that's a killer deal!

personally I'd swap out the OCable motherboard w/ q9550, sell off the rest of the stuff you don't need.

 

[MustangSVT]

hmm. sell the stuff and get yourself a camera that can focus!

but just cleaning off the dust and fresh thermal paste should give you more o/c head room.

 

[TemjinGold]

I would just sell off your old system and that 74gig raptor (any modern spindle drive will run circles around this.) You're lucky your ECS board hasn't crapped on you yet because those things aren't known for quality and longevity, so you never know when it might. The gigabyte is a quality board that should definitely last much longer.

 

[Arkaign]

That P45 board is a win! Definitely another vote for dumping the ECS mobo and upgrading to the Gigabyte. Good score. After you sell off all the leftover stuff, you'll be in fine shape.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, nice deal. Kind of makes up for a computer I bought on craigslist that was supposed to have 4GB of RAM, but only had 1GB.

 

[nyker96]

Wow, nice deal. Kind of makes up for a computer I bought on craigslist that was supposed to have 4GB of RAM, but only had 1GB.

this is the down side of buying a computer on craig's list, you cannot plug the thing in and do a thorough inspection before buying it.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

this is the down side of buying a computer on craig's list, you cannot plug the thing in and do a thorough inspection before buying it.

I would think that a visual inspection would catch that.

 

[bigsnyder]

4Ghz might be a stretch, but it is doable. 3.7-3.8Ghz is more typical.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

God damn. That's a killer deal.

... and I'd be happy with a Q8400 system for that price.

 

[Falloutboy]

this is the down side of buying a computer on craig's list, you cannot plug the thing in and do a thorough inspection before buying it.

why can't you? just tell them you want to see it working before they get the money. if they balk they are ripping you off

 

[pay]

Sounds good. I am thinking of getting the Noctua DH14...its $79 at amazon. Is it worth the extra $$$ over something cheap like the Hyper 212? Will it help me to get over that 4ghz hump? Also am probably gonna need to get a full tower to replace my mid tower if I am getting the Noctua huh?

Edit: That is not to say I have a barrier at 4ghz. As far as I know I have only tried 3.4 ghz on stock voltage with the crappy Zalman and it was P95 stable. Not going to push it further until I get a better cooler. But im sure it will get progressively harder to go higher in clock speed.

 

[mindwreck]

nh-d14 is one of the best heatsinks out there right now.

just didn' t recommend it not knowing how much your willing to spend. it will you to 4ghz and keep it quiet.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

use rubbing alcohol greater than 70% and use paper coffee filters to clean to thermal paste

Welcome to the forums!

 

[bigsnyder]

@pay

From the numbers I have seen, I can not justify spending extra on the Noctua DH14 when the cheaper heatsinks come fairly close. That is just me, I am sure others will disagree.

 

[RavenSEAL]

this is the down side of buying a computer on craig's list, you cannot plug the thing in and do a thorough inspection before buying it.

Uhhh...you really need to stop buying from shady sellers...