Help CPU advice

[DaGaffer]

Little help please. My main desktop is quite old now (5 years+) but performance wise I don't really need an upgrade (the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9550 @2.83GHz on an ASUS P5K motherboard and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti card ). However, I think the CPU itself is on the way out; I've been getting BSODs and "CPU over temperature error" messages for a few weeks. The fans are all in order and there's plenty of ventilation, drivers are all up to date etc. Now I'm also getting hissing noises coming from the audio, which is apparently another sign of impending doom.

So, I don't want or need a new machine (I haven't played a proper PC game since my son was born over a year ago), but I am probably going to have to get a new CPU, question is, which one? The mobo supports a ton of different chips but its been so long since I've looked at this stuff, I have no idea what's what. Any idea what's the best option and will future-proof me for the longest?

(NB I know it might be the mobo not the CPU but this seems the right order to do things).

 

[caLLous]

I think you might struggle to find a new CPU for such an old socket (LGA 775) tbh.

Depending on your power requirements (Clarkson "power", not actual "power") it might be worth going for a i3 or i5 CPU with cheap mobo and RAM.

 

[DaGaffer]

I think you might struggle to find a new CPU for such an old socket (LGA 775) tbh.

Depending on your power requirements (Clarkson "power", not actual "power") it might be worth going for a i3 or i5 CPU with cheap mobo and RAM.

Yeah I thought you might say that...

 

[caLLous]

You might get lucky and find something on ebay. I would do the new route though, even the bottom-of-the-range i3-3220 out-performs the Q9550.

 

[Raven]

Gah, just gave away a perfectly functioning Q9550 about 2 weeks ago.

Have a look on Ebuyer at the barebones systems, they might have something that suits for £150 or so, which would be CPU, motherboard and ram.

 

[Litmus]

If your getting that BSOD error message, maybe its just that. If you've had that CPU for 5+ years maybe its just time it needs new thermal paste + resitting.I had this problem on a duel core E6550 i had, it was hitting 80+ degrees with little effort. But after a resit and a cheap 3rd party cooler(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-AR&groupid=701&catid=2330) it now doesnt get above 55 degrees overclocked.


Firstly i download something like Core Temp which monitors the cpu temp, while at the same time run a cpu stress test like Primt95. If it gets 85+ degrees then id recommend new thermal paste + resitting before you go spending money on a new cpu/mobo

 

[Scouse]

maybe its just time it needs new thermal paste + resitting

This is a good possibility.

Resat my CPU last year, hoovered the heatsink, new thermal paste. Bingo! Heat problems fixed.

 

[DaGaffer]

If your getting that BSOD error message, maybe its just that. If you've had that CPU for 5+ years maybe its just time it needs new thermal paste + resitting.I had this problem on a duel core E6550 i had, it was hitting 80+ degrees with little effort. But after a resit and a cheap 3rd party cooler(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-AR&groupid=701&catid=2330) it now doesnt get above 55 degrees overclocked.


Firstly i download something like Core Temp which monitors the cpu temp, while at the same time run a cpu stress test like Primt95. If it gets 85+ degrees then id recommend new thermal paste + resitting before you go spending money on a new cpu/mobo

Followed your advice. Bit of a pain in the arse - didn't realise I'd have to take the entire motherboard out to get the CPU cooler off; you were right, the thermal paste was basically gone - but everything seems to be working fine now, which hopefully means I can do a proper upgrade at the back end of the year.

 

[Access Denied]

This may be a dumb question but why did you have to take the entire motherboard out? Should've just been able to unclip the heatsink and lift it off the CPU. In any case it's good news that the problem appears to have been sorted.

 

[DaGaffer]

This may be a dumb question but why did you have to take the entire motherboard out? Should've just been able to unclip the heatsink and lift it off the CPU. In any case it's good news that the problem appears to have been sorted.

Just wouldn't come off. I had to flip the mobo over and squeeze the little plastic pegs together to release the clips from the board. Its supposed to be releasable by just turning the four release clips - they sort of popped up but wouldn't release fully.