MichaelandChrissy.com

My Dell XPS Gen5 computer was high-end stuff when I bought it in 2005.  I updated the video card and memory last year at about this time, thinking that these would be the last upgrades that I would be able to make before buying a new computer.  I was wrong though, since it turns out that my Intel 955X chipset motherboard was capable of handling a multi-core Intel processor, as long as it has the latest bios (A04).  I wasn’t sure if the XPS Gen5 could handle a processor greater than a Pentium 4 until just recently, but I was happy for the chance to prolong the life of my computer.

I didn’t see the need to upgrade to another Pentium 4 chip, since that would only increase the speed to 3.6 Ghz at the most.  However, the Intel 955X chipset in the XPS Gen5 can handle any of the Pentium D 900 series processors as well.  The Pentium D is essentially like two Pentium 4 chips strapped together.  I settled on the Pentium D 940, since it is as fast as my old processor (3.2 Ghz).  Also, the 940 is cheaper and easier to find than the 950 (3.4 Ghz) or the 960 (3.6 Ghz).  There is an 800 series for the Pentium D line as well, but the front side bus isn’t split amongst the two processor cores on these earlier releases.

The downside is that my machine won’t necessarily be any faster, since the processor still runs at 3.2 Ghz.  The difference is that there are now two processors running at 3.2 Ghz, and they run at the same time.  So multiple programs running under Windows will run equally fast, without having to share processor time.  The new processor also has twice the front side cache (2×2 MB) as the old one.  Single programs, like my very needy video games, will run at relatively the same speed, unless they are optimized to run on multi-core processors (I’m thinking Crysis right now!).

I got very lucky and found a brand-new boxed Pentium D 940 on eBay for $80.  Other boxed 940s were going for at least twice that amount online.  I had seen some OEM processors (just the chip, no fan or heat sink) going for only $75 before shipping, so I got a pretty good deal.  When I opened up the XPS Gen5 though, I found that the fan and heat sink that came with the processor would not fit on my motherboard.  I would have to use the old heat sink, a monster cooling tower with two fans encased in a shroud around it (arguably better than the one that Intel sent).

The problem was that I didn’t have any thermal gel compound.  The new heat sink had some on the bottom though, all ready to smash up against the processor.  I took out my pocket knife and scraped off the compound from the heat sink, then spread it the best that I could on the business end of the old heat sink.  It looked like hell, but I’m hoping that it evens out a bit once the processor heats up.  I’ll have to keep an eye on the temperature for the next few days (especially once I start playing games on it) to make sure that it doesn’t overheat.  With luck, this computer should last me another couple of years!

Buyers, you can no longer receive negative or neutral Feedback from sellers.
You should leave honest and accurate Feedback without the fear of receiving negative or neutral ratings.

I recently got this message from eBay that says that sellers can’t leave you negative feedback anymore.  Buyers will no longer have to worry about being screwed into accepting crappy service from sellers on eBay.  This is good news, since I’ve been blackmailed into removing negative feedback at least once.  So, I’m glad that eBay is now protecting buyers from these types of scams.  Just because a seller doesn’t have a storefront, they shouldn’t think that they can forgo basic customer service. If you accept money from someone, then you have an obligation to them to respond promptly to their emails and ship their product quickly.

But I digress. The time that I got the shakedown, a seller took over a month to ship my item and would not respond to any of my emails.  I thought that he was pulling a fast one, so I left him negative feedback. I was in the process of trying to get my money back from PayPal when the item arrived, a month late. The seller then miraculously appeared and said that he would in turn leave me negative feedback, ruining my perfect record, unless we mutually rescinded both claims. That was total bull, since all I did was expect the items that I paid for to be shipped within a decent time.  I did it though, since I didn’t want my perfect feedback rating to be trashed.

Besides the box set, Fun Publications also produces a special figure that is only given to attendees, a freebie just for showing up. This year’s extra figure was a Classics Mirage, molded in clear blue plastic to simulate his “invisibility” power. Mirage also comes with instructions and a “tech spec” sheet. You get this one at registration time along with the box set.

Fun Publications also makes two other exclusive sets available to attendees, but these cost extra. This year we got both sets: one Alpha Trion and Weirdwolf set and one Springer and Huffer set. All four figures are repaints of Cybertron figures, and they did a very nice job on them (better than last year, I think). The lines to buy these two sets were long and slow, but it’s well worth it to pick these up.

I always keep my exclusive toys, but Chrissy sells hers on eBay. Last year, we saw the sets go for huge amounts of money, but that dwindled to smaller numbers as time went on. Last year, Chrissy waited a week or two before putting her sets on eBay, so we only got about double what they were worth. This year, we decided to bring the laptop along and put the sets on eBay as soon as they were in hand. They sold almost immediately, and Chrissy ended up with $1300 in her pocket.

Chrissy is already posting her exclusive Botcon 2006 figure sets on eBay. The Megatron/Waspinator set cost us $100 at the convention, and she sold it on “Buy It Now” for $315. The Laserbeak/Buzzsaw set (supposed to be the original cassettes, but reformatted like Agent Ravage) cost us $50, but she put out an offer for $125. There are no takers yet, but she might relist it without a reserve price since it’s a pain to bid on reserved items. It looks like she’ll make enough to get that new camera that she wants (ours was put to shame at Botcon). Once those auctions are done, she’ll put the boxed set out there.