Cheap Socket 754 upgrade

[rwrentf]

Socket 754 Athlon 64 3000+

I know.. I know... It's tiger direct. But if the rebate does show up, it's a good deal IMO.

 

[Mongals]

I would put Tiger direct in the title.

 

[SonicIce]

this isn't the venice

 

[RiDE]

Originally posted by: SonicIce
this isn't the venice

He didn't say it was.

 

[soflawill]

64 bit processor for a benjie-pretty hot to me

 

[furballi]

A waste of $ because this processor cannot run in dual channel with socket 754. A much better deal is the ECS NF3 MB and the Sempron 3100 for $80 without any rebate. I can overclock my CPU up to 2.5GHz MAX. This chip will definitely run at 2.25GHz without any complain.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4705559

TD is junk!

 

[rwrentf]

Two things:

1 - 1642 postings and you don't yet know what thread crapping is?

2 - ECS is junk!

 

[ruckdaddy]

word

 

[furballi]

Ahhh...not too smart to recognize a good deal?

ECS is a top tier MB manufacturer. How many company can stay on top by selling junk hardware?

 

[gvbjr]

some people ought to do their homework.....this is a good deal

 

[deadken]

1- There isn't such a thing as thread crapping a Hot Deal thread. We all are looking for deals here, if someone puts up a better deal inside your thread, so be it.

2- "AMD Specifications: Process Technology 0.13 Micron", too bad it isn't a 90nm.

3- What is 'hot' about this CPU from TD is they are offering some 'combos' (look at the last tab 'Bundles'). A new S754 3000+, w/Gigabyte Matx Mobo for $155 after MIR is a nice deal. Or choose the Abit board both seem nice, and there are others to choose from.

4- What I would say to 'furballi' is that Dual Channel 'only' gives less then a %5 performance boost. Also, there are plenty of us out here that still have 6800 GT AGP's and want to use them with a 64-bit AGP board. Yes, you can get AGP w/939, but 754's are cheaper and make solid upgrades.

 

[furballi]

The Sempron 3100 will work with 64-bit Linux and Windows. I also don't care about dual channel. There is no significant advantage with the A64/939 platform unless you must have dual core.

 

[probzy]

Good deal. Thanks OP!

 

[Hummin]

Originally posted by: furballi
Ahhh...not too smart to recognize a good deal?

ECS is a top tier MB manufacturer. How many company can stay on top by selling junk hardware?

Sorry furballi, ECS is nowhere near obataining the Tier One motherboard status three other manufacturers enjoy. In fact, considering who is Tier One, Two and Three, I'd wager that ECS is actually put into Tier Three.

Tier One is generally thought of as containing 3 manufacturers: ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte. No ECS here.

Tier Two, where ECS might crawl into on a good day, generally is thought to include the likes of Epox, Soyo, Abit, and others.

Tier Three would include FIC, Soltek, PCChips, and more than probably ECS.



Sorry furballi, you may sound like you "know it all," and maybe you feel like you do, but them's the facts. ECS is a minor player in the motherboard market, rarely called upon to supply OEM manufacturers with motherboards for computers....like Dell, Sony, HP/Compaq, IBM/Lenovo, Gateway/eMachines and on and on. Most OEM manufacturers source from companies in Tier One, esp. ASUS.



BTW.....you can see Tier One mentioned all over the 'net, such as in the press release from Corsair when Corsair announced they were launching partnerships with Tier-One motherboard manufacturers for the NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition chipset.....they mentioned ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte. Oddly, ECS was nowhere to be seen.

Here's a link to the .pdf Corsair put out about that release/partnership.


As far as the Sempy vs. the A64.............give me the A64 any day. True, the Sempron is a good deal, but in my secondary box, a Socket 754 machine, I just got rid of a Sempron in favor of an A64 3000+, and the difference is noticable. Zippier, easier to OC.......the Sempron barely got to 2.25 stable while the A64 popped right up to 2.4GHz and seems to have more headroom. Too bad I've got Corsair ValueRam in there.....wish I'd sprung for better, but then again, the cost would have moved it out of budget territory.

 

[breweyez]

hey Hummin.....can you provide a real link to this tier one two three you seem to know so much about?

I would like to see a place where this information exists, and is backed by more than just a RAM seller

 

[Zap]

AFAIK the "tier" a mobo manufacturer is considered to be in is based on how "big" it is, meaning number of units and revenue. It has nothing to do with enthusiast perception of quality. Of course Corsair would not even mention ECS even if it were the only tier 1 manufacturer in the world because ECS isn't "known" for enthusiast boards (even though it has boards that OC just fine... these days).

These following motherboard manufacturers are considered tier 1:

Asus
ECS
Gigabyte
MSI
Foxconn

You can go to Digitimes to verify if you wish.

 

[MIDIman]

There's also a s754 3400+ for $200 - $40 MIR.

Are TD rebates still frowned on?

 

[furballi]

Why would an A64 on 754 platform run faster than a Sempron, also on the same platform? One can argue about the improved memory controller, but that should not amount to more than 3% boost in speed? The boost is speed is in YOUR HEAD. As for overclock, the average speed for an A64 on 939 platform is 2.4 to 2.5GHz. The Sempron 3100 on 754 will do 2.3 to 2.4GHz. Tell me how much faster is this 100MHz delta?

Don't you just love words like "feel" and "seem"? Use a memory divider if you have Value RAM and think that your CPU can tack on more speed. Again, who is the true NOOB spreading BS?

The migration from 754 to 939 permits the use of dual channel memory, which largely account for the speed improvement. Let's compare the best case scenario, between an A64 3000/939 and Sempron 3000/754. The actual boost is only about 4 to 7%, depending on the type of benchmark. An A64 3000/754 combo would yield on a good day (hehehehhhh) a 1 to 2% improvement due to random test noise!


http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/sempron-3000_7.html

 

[Mac]

Just curious, would the Sempron 3100 and ECS outperform my current set up which is a 3 year old Asus A7N8X Dlx rev 1.4, OC'g an Athlon XP-M (Barton) to 2.16GHz (12 X 180MHz). I can't do anything else with this mobo...it is will not run above 185MHz bus speed. I purchased the XP-M about a year ago to extend the life of the system and it has worked well. It is a very stable system but getting a little old so I am thinking about upgrading.

 

[furballi]

Should be faster. Download and run Super Pi 1M digits. I get 38 seconds with the 3100 at 2.44GHz. You should be able to run at 2.25GHz with 43 sec time.

 

[rwrentf]

"There is no significant advantage with the A64/939 platform unless you must have dual core. "

Ever heard of SLI? Or upgradability to future processors? Or even existing processors, I have yet to see a Sempron 4000 or am I looking at the wrong sites?

As to the top tier ECS manufacturer, they can pump out crap by the bucketload and Fry's will continue to basically give these motherboards away with a CPU purchase. But you'll never see a Abit, Asus, or a Tyan board bundled at only $5 or $10 over the cost of the CPU and with good reason...

This is a good upgrade for someone who has an old Socket 754 lying around they want to upgrade from a Sempron 2600 or if they want something stable to upgrade a friend's, or a relative's machine. When I upgrade my mom's machine I want it to be stable, I'm not going to OC it. He!!, I might consider buying this CPU and underclocking it to make sure it's stable.

 

[furballi]

The 939 platform is technically DEAD with the introduction of 940 this year. It's a strategy used by AMD and INTEL to force consumers to buy an NEW PC. SLI is a niche market, and will never reach mainstream popularity.

Upgrading processor is a low return on your investment due to the rapid advancement in technology. Ignorant PC builders try to justify the higher component cost with the old "upgradability" line. The best strategy is to build the cheapest rig that will meet your needs today, and possibly the next two years, then build another rig on the 3rd or 4th year.

A company does not stay in business for long in today's competitive market with crappy products. ECS manufactures many Abit boards. Why should Fry's bundle Abit or Asus MBs when they can sell to NOOBs like YOU for a premium?



Joke of the day... "I might consider buying this CPU and underclocking it to make sure it's stable."

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Nice post, but I'd rather get a 3000+ S-754 Venice for ~$120 shipped w/o rebate.
Have one in my main rig now, clocks easily to 2.7GHz (backed down to 2.6GHz for a small safety margin).

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: rwrentf
2 - ECS is junk!

Maybe yes, and maybe no. ECS makes a mostly low priced boards, but if someone asked me to build an office full of machines on a budget, and all the boards had to do work reliably to spec without overclocking, I'd get a Fry's $80 combo specials like this one for a Sempron 2800+ with either VIA or nVidia chipsets in a heartbeat. I'd avoid the ones with other chipsets.

The price they're asking is only a few bucks more than the best price for the CPU, alone, on pricewatch so the motherboard is almost free. If you can get a combo on that basis, all it has to do is work to be a hell of a bargain. It really depends on your needs and expectations.

 

[rwrentf]

"The best strategy is to build the cheapest rig that will meet your needs today, and possibly the next two years, then build another rig on the 3rd or 4th year."

So your saying it's cheaper to build a complete new system than to upgrade a processor or video card after a few years? I've had many systems last me 5+ years upgrading key components.

And actually companies do stay in business building crappy products, you yourself proudly proclaim you have the ECS board. My first PC was an 8088 23 years ago, I know hardware. You probably don't even know what an 8088 is NOOB. I've dealt with enough hardware incompatibility hassles from companies that build sub-par products to know it's not worth my time to save the $20. I'll look for a deal, but I'll never use ECS or PC-Chips.

Joke of the day:
"The 939 platform is technically DEAD with the introduction of 940 this year. But... A much better deal is the ECS NF3 MB and the Sempron 3100 for $80 without any rebate."