2nd Hand Cpu Advice

cmndr_andi · 2 Jul 2010 at 21:04

intruder369 said:
OK... can I not just get another 2 gig kit of the same to make up the 4 gigs rather than send them back. I know it is perhaps a bit more costly this way but that does not bother me at all. I presume that now I will be using a 64 bit OS rather than a 32 bit.

You can, but not only may it be more costly - but 4 RAM sticks puts much more strain on the motherboard memory controller than 2 RAM sticks. This can limit your overclocking and maximum RAM speeds.

Yes, you will want to use a 64 bit operating system these days (especially with 4GB system RAM + 512MB video RAM). What OS were you going to be using?

pooley · 2 Jul 2010 at 21:13

i would send your ram back and get 2x2gb instead, you will get a better stable oc, it's your call. with 4gig ram use a 64bit os.

intruder369 · 2 Jul 2010 at 21:26

Windows 7. The memory I have sent for online they was only dispatched yesterday so I should get them tomorrow or by tuesday. So I suppose I could send them back and ask them if I can change them for a 2x2Gb kit. Would you recommend the same make and are we still looking at 1066mhz.

cmndr_andi · 2 Jul 2010 at 21:28

Yes, the Kingston HyperX RAM is among the very best. I'd suggest going for this stuff - which is probably what you were looking at anyway - pretty decent price too.

Troezar · 2 Jul 2010 at 21:35

I would like to add to this thread by saying there is some excellent advice to be had here and cmndr andi is consistently good with his advice

I have two builds planned and I'm keeping a close eye on the recommendations on this forum...

Dark_Angel · 2 Jul 2010 at 21:40

intruder369 said:
Windows 7. The memory I have sent for online they was only dispatched yesterday so I should get them tomorrow or by tuesday. So I suppose I could send them back and ask them if I can change them for a 2x2Gb kit. Would you recommend the same make and are we still looking at 1066mhz.

Plus, imagine if you want to go to 8GB in the future.

intruder369 · 2 Jul 2010 at 22:35

Yes I am liking very much the advice here that much that it's totally converted me into something I never really believed was a good idea, but is all of a sudden making a lot of sense I must say. I honestly thought that overclocking was for Gaming Freaks who like nothing more than to brag how much they are getting out of there PC's. But lately I have been reading up on 64 bit processing for video editing and even for music with programs such as Steinberg and so on, to which is my major use for my PC. So I can certainly see a lot of benefit I can get from it all.

Yes I certainly do respect cmndr andi's advice, I have looked at a lot of his posts along this forum and they all add up to a very good food for thought I must say. Likewise I respect you all and very much appreciate the advice I am getting here from this forum.

Essexraptor · 3 Jul 2010 at 01:37

As soon as you see the words "NEVER OVERCLOCKED" you can bet your bottom dollar that it's had the **** kicked out of it OCing wise!!!!...lol

Buying a CPU secondhand is always a gamble I'm afraid. I was lucky in that I got my Q6600 from a system purchased in a high street pawn shop and was able to check it over and discovered it was running at stock!!!!

JTrickle · 3 Jul 2010 at 08:20

intruder369 said:
I am not being funny here but why on earth should anyone change a heatsink and fan that comes with the exact specifications to run the cpu from Intel in the first place. Answer = To Overclock the damn thing. Now am I right or am I missing something here.

Just check the steam hardware survey to see just how tiny the percentage of gamers who overclock is. The % running cpu's >3.35 is small.

Have you heard an intel - or worse, AMD - stock heatsink? They are too loud. Also take a look into the small form factor forum to see people using custom heatsinks and also underclocking their cpus in htpcs.

That said, you should just simply assume _every_ cpu for sale second hand has been overclocked. The percentage of overclockers might be small, but they are also all the more likely to sell second hand.

Overclocking a cpu doesnt usually damage it. In fact its flat out rare. Even if you assume its lifespan is reduced from 20+ years, lets face it, you probably only need 2 years out of what you are buying. Whats the worst thing that could happen when you buy a cpu, new or 2nd hand? You get a naff VID. And thats why the cpus where the seller admits they have overclocked and states the low vid _always_ fetch more cash. Heck, even lapped ones usually fetch more on the bay than a stock oem photo sale one.

intruder369 · 5 Jul 2010 at 15:23

cmndr_andi said:
(look out for the E0 stepping

OK regarding the E0 Stepping can I presume that if I buy a new one it will now come with E0 Stepping and bare the Spec SLB8V or are there still some C0 & R0 Stepping ones still out there. Because If I order this online I can save a lot money on the Q9550 but there is no way of knowing if it will come with E0 Stepping. Now if I get it from a shop its gonna cost me some £240 and then I can obvioulsy make sure I get one with E0 Stepping.

The only other way to be sure I can get one with E0 Stepping is from Ebay second hand and I do not really want to go down that road.

True_Scotsman · 5 Jul 2010 at 15:27

arknor said:
or maybe they just want a computer than runs cooler and less noisy?

most stock coolers sound like a bees nest once you start doing something....

aftermarket heatsinks are bigger and usually made out of much better materials than the cheaply made stock ones so they dont need as fast a fan, usually they use larger fans anyway which arent as noisy as small ones

This, I for one dont OC and dont intend to, I bought the Freezer 7 pro because it ran cooler and quieter than the stock cooler that came with my CPU.

cmndr_andi · 5 Jul 2010 at 15:55

intruder369 said:
OK regarding the E0 Stepping can I presume that if I buy a new one it will now come with E0 Stepping and bare the Spec SLB8V or are there still some C0 & R0 Stepping ones still out there. Because If I order this online I can save a lot money on the Q9550 but there is no way of knowing if it will come with E0 Stepping. Now if I get it from a shop its gonna cost me some £240 and then I can obvioulsy make sure I get one with E0 Stepping.

The only other way to be sure I can get one with E0 Stepping is from Ebay second hand and I do not really want to go down that road.

You can't guarantee it, as they may well have some older stepping Q9550 chips sitting on a shelf they want to shift. For people using them at stock - they won't care which stepping they get - but we do.

If it is a normal UK based online retailer (not auction) then you have the right to return any item bought for a full refund within 7 days - this is part of the Distance Selling Regulations (DSR). So long and the item is returned as-new to the retailer, you get all your money back. With this in mind you can order this CPU from the cheap shop - and if it has the older stepping code on the sticker on the side of the box - just send it back.

intruder369 · 5 Jul 2010 at 16:07

Ok this sounds good but it will probably take me a month to get a full refund which is the case with most online shops. By then this cpu will start dissapering a lot of places no longer stock them including OC. I might get it from the shop least that way I can be sure. But it makes me sick cause I got this cpu for my mates PC some 2 or 3 years back now and I got it for £209 and now the same shop wants £242 for it.

intruder369 · 6 Jul 2010 at 12:37

I might be able to get the Q9650 with E0 Stepping for the same price as the Q9550 is it worth going for.

cmndr_andi · 6 Jul 2010 at 12:58

Yea, the Q9650 is a great chip, very fast at stock and overclocks very well - if it cost the same as a Q9550 I say go for it.

How much are you able to get it for, out of interest?

intruder369 · 6 Jul 2010 at 14:21

Well I am hoping to get it for the same price £242 brand new the chap at the shop is gonna let me know tomorrow.

HeX · 6 Jul 2010 at 15:25

Almost £250 for a Q9650 =/

You're mental.

Would be far better off getting an i7 920 + Mobo + DDR3 (for about the same money it'll cost you to get that Q9650 + P5Q + DDR2).

Only Quad worth buying on 775 is the Q6600 G0 atm, unless you happen to find a really good priced Q9550 2nd hand.

Paying anything over £150 for a CPU on 775 now is just crazy.

intruder369 · 6 Jul 2010 at 16:14

Well that maybe but looking at the i7 920 it's only a 2.66Ghz cpu and goes for around the 200 mark a mobo for it will cost double the price of the P5Q and the memory will cost around the same. So yeah maybe worth the extra pennies as you say, but if I was going for a new i7 cpu I would be going for the i7 950 and that one will cost a hell of a lot more.

Just out of interest is ebay any good for 2nd hand cpu's or not the way to go at all for 2nd hand stuff. I mean you can put a hold for 21 days on the payment giving one time to test it out.

HeX · 6 Jul 2010 at 20:14

The i7 architecture is more efficient clock for clock than the Q9XXX series, so the reduced GHz is offset by that.

Not to mention the i7 has hyper-threading to give it 8 threads, which once again improves the overall efficiency of the CPU.

It also has an improved memory controller, and triple channel memory for far more bandwidth than the Q9XXX.

i7 920's can also be found for around £180 if you look around.

Mobo is about £125, and 6GB memory around £130.

So all in all you are looking at about £435 for an i7 setup.

The Q9650 + P5Q + 4GB HyperX = 242 + ~90 + 77 = £409

So for the sake of £26 you could have a current gen cpu, 4 more threads, 2GB more memory, DDR3 instead of DDR2, and a ton more bandwidth...

cmndr_andi · 6 Jul 2010 at 20:33

Yea, I didn't realise you were looking to pay that much for a Q9000 series chip - considering it is not current generation it may well be worth looking for an i7 system.

As HeX says, you can get an i7 920 CPU for ~£190 if you look around. This chip may have a slightly lower clockspeed than the Q9650 - but if you look at this set of benchmarks you will see it is a good deal more powerful in many applications.

As you may know, both the Q9650 and i7 920 can overclock to around 4GHz - however as the i7 is much faster clock-for-clock then at 4GHz it trounces the Q9650. As for getting an i7 950 - it really isn't needed, internally it is just an i7 920 chip (same D0 stepping) with a slightly higher multiplier. Under air cooling it overclocks just as well as the i7 920 but no better - due to thermal limits.

As for motherboard, this £125 board is excellent and overclocks very well.

As for RAM, it is £133 for this nice 6GB triple channel set. However, if you need to keep costs down, a 4GB dual channel set will work fine.

Considering you should be able to sell your existing board for ~£70 and your RAM for around £60 - you would not be spending much more in total than just buying a £242 Q9650 but an i7 system will be a good deal faster and last you longer.