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Bought an X3350, need MB suggestions please!

H

HorizonXP

Junior Member
Hey guys,

I just picked up a used Intel Xeon X3350 (equivalent to the Q9450). It's been lapped, and he gave me an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 HSF with it.

Obviously, I still need to test this CPU to make sure it's working, but I'm pretty sure it is. I was looking at the Gigabyte EP45-UD3L. Seems the EP45-UD3P is all the rage here, and I thought I could save some cash by going with the UD3L, since I don't need the RAID, Dual Gigabit LANs, nor will I be running SLI/Crossfire.

I'd like to do some overclocking, but I've never OC'd before, and I don't know what to expect out of this processor. I think it should fare pretty well though. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks!
 
The ep45 should work fine. But I would check the cpu support section on gigabyte's website to be sure you don't need to update the bios to post with the 3350.

 
The Intel Xeon line is not listed on their CPU Support List. But the Q9450 is. I should be ok right? Or is there anything I should do before hand?
 
It worked right away. Board came with the F2 bios. I haven't installed an HDD or OS yet to test it further, but it showed the correct processor ID during POST. And it POSTed, which is a great sign!

I'm unsure about how well I mounted the HSF though. First off, I have this old Zalman thermal grease from like 2 years ago that I used for now. Should I get something newer/better? How should I be applying it? How can I remove the old grease?

Also, what are normal temps for the CPU? I saw it hit about 47 or 48C in the BIOS PC Stats screen. Is that ok? Or should I expect better? I might chalk that up to me incorrectly mounting the HSF. I have it so the fan is pointed to the back of the machine, out through a 120mm exhaust fan right there. I could turn it, so that it points upwards, so it goes out a 140mm exhaust fan, but it seems tight. Turning it so the fan points to the front makes the air blow across the RAM, which doesn't seem like a good idea. Nor does turning it to blow towards the video card/rest of the board.

Again, advice is appreciated!
 
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