Bumped 2 year old thread.

[superHARD]

We need someone to post up a copy of their receipt!!!!!!!!!11111!!!!!!!1111!!!!!

So we can all go to Staples and get a 110% price match!

 

[phenderson]

Sold out all over... except for a store in Bowling Green Ky.
I live in Lexington, and am headed to Nashville, this weekend. If anyone wants me to pick up a couple, Bowling Green, is on my way, let me know.

 

[note235]

what type of case?
can i put a 7900gs in there?

 

[trOver]

Have to see if its instock at my local b and m

 

[skillyho]

Soooo....anyone dumb enough to try an flash it with an ECS Bios? Pin-mod CellyD to 800MHz FSB for 5.2GHz? Anyone doing anything performance wise besides adding video cards and RAM?

 

[jdoggg12]

Any verdict? If you wipe the HD to install the OS from scratch, does it come with a vista disc?

Is it easy to just drop in a cheap conroe chip?

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: jdoggg12
Any verdict? If you wipe the HD to install the OS from scratch, does it come with a vista disc?

Is it easy to just drop in a cheap conroe chip?

I opened up one of mine today.

It does not come with a Vista disc. However, there is a Vista code on the side. I have backed up the hard drive, and I am going to try a clean install of Vista with that code this evening.

The case is pretty clean inside, so I imagine that dropping in a new CPU is a piece of cake. From CPU-ID:
Mainboard Vendor ECS
Mainboard Model Livermore
BIOS Vendor American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Version 5.06
BIOS Date 03/09/2007

 

[hans007]

that board looks really similar to the ecs 945gz that frys bundles with the combos sometimes.

 

[skillyho]

someone had to do it.......so I did.........

I flashed the BIOS with the ECS Release and it worked like a CHARM! Unlocked CPU FREQ and RAM Adjustments (Voltage / Freq!)

Thanks a ton OP!

 

[aggressor]

Which bios did you use and how did you do it?

 

[skillyho]

http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...yID=1&MenuID=6&LanID=9

Just read the "readme" in the BIOS instruction download....don't freak out when all the fans default to 100% either.......just set it back on "Auto"........

Guys use caution.......Don't mess up your new bargain PC's! It worked for me but YMMV.

 

[Tomer]

I picked all mine up today after a bit of hassle.

Just opened one up. NO discs at all. Only the CPU, a power cord, a phone cord, janky keyboard, and check it, a friggin ball mouse. I'm betting that thing is worth something as an antique. I mean, geez, optical mice are like $4 now.

Anyway opened it up. There is a Deskstar drive (ugh) and no floppy (not even a floppy connector on the MB) and a modem with like 4 parts on it. 250W no name supply and not sure about the DVD didn't bother taking it out.

So for $199 if they run reliably I'm happy. But for the original $400 price, I think NOT.

 

[R-Type]

Just ordered one, showed availability in Owings Mills, MD about 20 miles away from me. I'll let you know tomorrow if it goes through, but thats a good place to check for anyone in the area.

I'm very interested in hearing if a clean install of vista works out, and if it still works after flashing to the ecs bios

And to those with the ecs bios, how far have you been able to oc? I'm certainly not expecting much from this 200dollar future htpc, but those celeron d 360's seem to hit 4.5 ghz without breaking a sweat.

All in all, awesome deal, glad I was able to get in on it!

 

[timswim78]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Tomer
I picked all mine up today after a bit of hassle.

Just opened one up. NO discs at all. Only the CPU, a power cord, a phone cord, janky keyboard, and check it, a friggin ball mouse. I'm betting that thing is worth something as an antique. I mean, geez, optical mice are like $4 now.

Anyway opened it up. There is a Deskstar drive (ugh) and no floppy (not even a floppy connector on the MB) and a modem with like 4 parts on it. 250W no name supply and not sure about the DVD didn't bother taking it out.

So for $199 if they run reliably I'm happy. But for the original $400 price, I think NOT.
</end quote></div>


Maybe we got different models because mine has a connector for a floppy. You might confuse it with an IDE connector because they are right next to each other, and there is only one IDE connector. Also, mine came with a Western Digital drive.

I agree about the ball mouse. I didn't know that these things were still manufactured. I figured that it was probably cheaper to make the optical ones.

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: xxtypersxx
Just ordered one, showed availability in Owings Mills, MD about 20 miles away from me. I'll let you know tomorrow if it goes through, but thats a good place to check for anyone in the area.

I'm very interested in hearing if a clean install of vista works out, and if it still works after flashing to the ecs bios

And to those with the ecs bios, how far have you been able to oc? I'm certainly not expecting much from this 200dollar future htpc, but those celeron d 360's seem to hit 4.5 ghz without breaking a sweat.

All in all, awesome deal, glad I was able to get in on it!

Good to see another Marylander on here.

I did a clean install of Vista with the code on the side. Online activation did not work, so I'll try calling it in sometime in the next 30 days. If it doesn't work, no big deal, I downloaded a trial of Acronis 10 and made an image of the disk before the clean install.

 

[hkklife]

Mine has a flopppy connector on the mobo as well as an spare front panel USB header. Not sure if the Compaq case will handle a floppy and/or card reader, though.

Also, surprisingly, mine came with a 160gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 HD.

Otherwise, the same junk keyboard, mouse, modem, and phone cord. No Windows reinstall or upgrade disc in there at all.

I'm pretty pleased with the asesthetics of the unit as well as its relative quietness.

FWIW, this is the first desktop in 5 years PC I've bought instead of built...since when did cheap retail systems like this one start showing CPU temp & fan speeds in the BIOS? That was a nice but unexpected touch.

I think with a cheap PCI-E video card (I have a spare 7300LE I'm going to put in it) and another gig or two of RAM this should be a sweet little system for most anyone. Celerons have really come a long way since the 300A days!

 

[skillyho]

Same here......love mine. Also got a 160GB drive which was nice.

No Joy with getting an overclock from the BIOS flash....I can adjust the FSB from 133 to 500+ but when I save and reboot everything stays at stock speeds. Ram adjustments work great though! Going up to 1.9vDimm and bumping up the timings helped out...and stay configured with no problem.

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: BSkip22
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...yID=1&MenuID=6&LanID=9

Just read the "readme" in the BIOS instruction download....don't freak out when all the fans default to 100% either.......just set it back on "Auto"........

Guys use caution.......Don't mess up your new bargain PC's! It worked for me but YMMV.

Is there a way to backup the Compaq BIOS and reflash it?

 

[R-Type]

Originally posted by: timswim78
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: xxtypersxx
Just ordered one, showed availability in Owings Mills, MD about 20 miles away from me. I'll let you know tomorrow if it goes through, but thats a good place to check for anyone in the area.

I'm very interested in hearing if a clean install of vista works out, and if it still works after flashing to the ecs bios

And to those with the ecs bios, how far have you been able to oc? I'm certainly not expecting much from this 200dollar future htpc, but those celeron d 360's seem to hit 4.5 ghz without breaking a sweat.

All in all, awesome deal, glad I was able to get in on it!</end quote></div>

Good to see another Marylander on here.

I did a clean install of Vista with the code on the side. Online activation did not work, so I'll try calling it in sometime in the next 30 days. If it doesn't work, no big deal, I downloaded a trial of Acronis 10 and made an image of the disk before the clean install.

Did you do the clean install with a full vista disk? I'm not familiar with Acronis, what does it do?

BSkip, if you can save your memory settings, you could try relaxing them a bit and then controlling your overclocking in windows using clockgen. I haven't used it in about a year, but either it or another windows overclocking tool has a way to automatically apply the overclock at startup. Its worth a shot.

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: xxtypersxx
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: timswim78
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: xxtypersxx
Just ordered one, showed availability in Owings Mills, MD about 20 miles away from me. I'll let you know tomorrow if it goes through, but thats a good place to check for anyone in the area.

I'm very interested in hearing if a clean install of vista works out, and if it still works after flashing to the ecs bios

And to those with the ecs bios, how far have you been able to oc? I'm certainly not expecting much from this 200dollar future htpc, but those celeron d 360's seem to hit 4.5 ghz without breaking a sweat.

All in all, awesome deal, glad I was able to get in on it!</end quote></div>

Good to see another Marylander on here.

I did a clean install of Vista with the code on the side. Online activation did not work, so I'll try calling it in sometime in the next 30 days. If it doesn't work, no big deal, I downloaded a trial of Acronis 10 and made an image of the disk before the clean install.</end quote></div>

Did you do the clean install with a full vista disk? I'm not familiar with Acronis, what does it do?

BSkip, if you can save your memory settings, you could try relaxing them a bit and then controlling your overclocking in windows using clockgen. I haven't used it in about a year, but either it or another windows overclocking tool has a way to automatically apply the overclock at startup. Its worth a shot.

Vista discs come with all versions on them. When you enter your serial number, the corresponding version is installed.

Acronis TrueImage makes an image of your hard disk. So, if anything happens, you can restore your hard disk exactly like it was.

 

[R-Type]

Originally posted by: timswim78


Vista discs come with all versions on them. When you enter your serial number, the corresponding version is installed.

Acronis TrueImage makes an image of your hard disk. So, if anything happens, you can restore your hard disk exactly like it was.

Ahh ok. If you could let us know how the phone activation goes I'd be extremely grateful. Get to go pick up mine after happy hour today, looking forward to playing around with it.

Also I noticed the website won't even let you add these from stores anymore, I must have got in just in the nick of time last night

 

[samR6]

I sent this private message to a couple of people, but I have not heard back. I sent it this morning so I can understand why I haven't heard back. So, I figured I would just post this up. If I purchase this computer, I would get it around 5 today (only chance really). Here is what I wrote...

I thought I would come to you for some advise regarding this thread...
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
It's about the Compaq selling for 199.99.

There's one local best buy that still has the Compaq, and I've put it on hold for me. Now, I'm by no means very computer savy. You guys had words thrown around in the thread that I have never heard of. Right now, my gf and I need something to be able to do our school work on while we are in grad school (I'm planning on getting a laptop when the time is right). Because $$$ is of issue, I thought this looked like a good deal. However, I know it will need more memory cause of Vista. Our main goal is to be able to surf the web for research, have several office applications open, store photos & songs, and burn movies/cds/photos. That's about it. We?re by no means gamers.

Is this computer good for this while just upgrading the ram? Is this a simple procedure?
Or should I get the 299.99 computer also offered by best buy (mentioned in the thread)?
What about the processor? Will I need to update this? I don?t want the computer to be slow or bogged down cause I?ll have several explorer windows opened while using MS Office (I have ms office) applications.

As you can tell, I'm a total newb. Just trying to get some advise. I really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[aggressor]

Once you buy another 512MB stick, the performance will be more than acceptable for you. I grabbed this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16820161657
Installing the memory is as simple as opening the side of the case, locating the memory slot (the area below the CPU, towards the front of the case), and snapping the memory into the slot.

 

[samR6]

So once I purchase it tonight, will I be able to take it home and plug it right up to the internet? (have comcast cable internet now).

Also, do I want more memory than that? I mean, I willing to shell out some more now rather than later.

 

[nomadh]

OOS and store pickup doesn't seem to be an option. Is there an easier way than calling all the local stores?