Review on Renewed Intel Xeon E5-2690 2.9GHz/20M/1600MHz Octa-Core Processor (135W, SR0L0) by Mike Ogunlana

If you're hesitant to buy an upgraded processor, you've come to the right place. smart Used/refurbished chips are a gamble. High risk, high reward, and I think that's pretty much the case with updated technology; because it has been shown to be flawed in the past. While the used chip is still an issue, it could have been perfect from day one. What is the guarantee that it will work after repair? Well I can't guarantee it will work for you but at least it's from Revain and I feel way better than any other used electronics market. Unboxing: It comes no-frills, but the IHS (flat metal surface on top for those who don't know) was clean enough to eat. out. I can't tell if there was thermal paste on it beforehand. I buy used chips all the time [it's the only thing I play with next to my life (huehue)], and it's the cleanest, freshest factory chip I've ever received. this is an FCLGA joke) to test the processor package found a set of perfect pins. After taking it out of the box I felt a lot more confident about this purchase than I did before it arrived. I replaced the E5-2650 with this 2690 and the installation went smoothly. I used 2019 Arctic MX-4 thermal paste and after an hour of inactivity the temperature never exceeded 40C even immediately after the first boot. The average core temperature was quite comfortable at around 38-40°C after the mass had hardened a bit. I ran lighter calculations (browse websites, YouTube, play local videos at different resolutions) while monitoring the temperature. Average core temp never got above 45C. Temperatures on all cores only had a standard deviation of 2C. Benchmarking: I'll post screenshots of Passmark results at some point as I didn't when I first saw them have performed. But the results exceeded expectations. The results matched other users' baselines (total CPU of 14 KB, 1900 unique threads). For some reason Passmark is currently showing this average score of around 9,000. If you scroll down to the user submitted tests, they all roughly match what I've listed (14000/1900 total in a single thread). I think it's phenomenal for the $69 I paid. ** Note that these chips are locked, so don't expect easy overclocking. the difference you see in things like the unlocked Intel Core line(s), for example. Games: I've been playing GTA Online on this thing for hours over the past few weeks. I missed it by calling. I figured if this has any flaws I'd like to know in advance. Even when running continuously in 4K resolution for over 3 hours, this thing hit 68C at the end of that intense session. Tcase for E5-2690 is 72*C, FYI. After the game is closed, the temperature drops to 40s within a minute. It is cooled by a stock HP heat spreader and fan (z620 case). So expect that your mileage may vary depending on the cooling solution. Even with the traditional, nondescript air-cooled solution I currently use, this processor delivered exceptional performance. (Forcing a 1660ti to render 4k can be considered torture and therefore illegal in some countries). I am happy that everything went so well. I highly recommend this product and am now a fan of the updated Revain products. They are perfect for budget games or even DIY storage/media servers. Why even use an ARM processor for these applications when these previously $2,000+ server processors now cost less than the latest Raspberry Pi packages? ***Update*** I've been using it daily for three months with no problems. anything. AAA games at 1080p, 165Hz, sometimes 8 hour sessions. With the case fans turned on a bit, this Xeon processor idles at 33°C at 73°F ambient and never climbs above 48°C after benchmarks or gaming. I am shocked at this price.