EMachines Semperon 3400 - $215 NR

[Aztech]

Originally posted by: Powermoloch

Originally posted by: Aztech
I ordered one online for instore pickup and went and got it at lunch. It wasn't at my nearest Best Buy, but that turned out to be a good thing because the checkout person at this store let me use that 30% Back to School coupon on a monitor! I had struck out at several others in my area. I got the 19" MAG LCD that's on sale this week for $199. I got it for $139! I haven't heard much at all about MAG lately, but the price is right. I'll have to look them up a bit... Anyway, that was a HOT lunch break

Thank you OP!

I got myself a mag 17" LCD last year...and it still runs like a champ :thumbsup:

Cool, glad to hear it. It seems like there are hardly any reviews online. I didn't find any. It also seems like only Best Buy sells MAG anymore... Anyway, I'm sure it will suffice for my brother's needs, which don't include gaming.

 

[superHARD]

I have called BB's before that had this instock...They have let me place an order, and took my CC and shipped the desktop to me...so this might not be dead even if there are no local stores that have this, and if you can't place an order online...

 

[tbogstad]

Originally posted by: badflash
Thanks for the details! Does it come with the XP install cd's? Thanks!

comes with Win XP Home Recovery DVD, probaby would not install on a non-emachines PC.

but atleast you don't have to make your recovery dvd like Emachines used to do, they came with blank media and you had to burn the Recovery disc yourself.

 

[Aztech]

Originally posted by: tbogstad

Originally posted by: badflash
Thanks for the details! Does it come with the XP install cd's? Thanks!

comes with Win XP Home Recovery DVD, probaby would not install on a non-emachines PC.

but atleast you don't have to make your recovery dvd like Emachines used to do, they came with blank media and you had to burn the Recovery disc yourself.

I believe that's what you have to do with that Acer deal from CC...I read it in several posts somewhere...

 

[badflash]

sweet! the included dvd makes it better! YAY!

 

[Powermoloch]

That's it ,I'm going to get this for my 2 lil brothers as a birthday present...

gonna add another 512 mb of memory and also add a x850xt pci-e too....so they will have their first l33t cheap gaming machine

 

[tbogstad]

Originally posted by: Powermoloch
That's it ,I'm going to get this for my 2 lil brothers as a birthday present...

gonna add another 512 mb of memory and also add a x850xt pci-e too....so they will have their first l33t cheap gaming machine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102688


$30.00 rebate is gone, but still a good deal, was super hot with the $30.00 rebate.

 

[Juno]

OOS for me.

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: tbogstad

Originally posted by: Powermoloch
That's it ,I'm going to get this for my 2 lil brothers as a birthday present...

gonna add another 512 mb of memory and also add a x850xt pci-e too....so they will have their first l33t cheap gaming machine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102688


$30.00 rebate is gone, but still a good deal, was super hot with the $30.00 rebate.

I didn't care about the rebate, it's far far better price wise...since I bought my x850xt AGP for 349.99 last year. This is a steal to be honest.

I might get a better PSU just to be in the safe side

 

[Foladar]

tempting, some in stock somewhat closeby.
would go well with my new 19" LCD widescreen.

 

[Powermoloch]

I came back and got one

It cost me : $ 232.73 (with tax) - $ 50 Gift card (from my birthday) = cost me around $ 182.73 :evil:

Just to you let know guys, especially members around the Longbeach, CA area. Lakewood BestBuy, from what I heard they have 15 of them in stock. Get them while they're hot.

 

[digme]

so i got one here in md...but it was a display... and they gave me only 5%.. so right now, i am scractching my head saying, is that the correct discount for a display model...after all, this is not like the deal with the compaqs where the board was a 939 socket..so i am really iffy about it now.... they told me that they have to keep it overnight, and then reconfigure it, and would be ready by tomorrow..any comments guys? is that a fair price of only 5%(which means 200+tax(10.75)-(10.75 discount))= 215 out the door... in any case i am going to hit a couple of BBs tomorrow around the area...Towson, md store is out folks

 

[Netopia]

I think 5% is a bit low for a display model that anyone could have messed around with, but I don't know what their policy is.

Joe

 

[WhipperSnapper]

If anyone lives near Flint, Michigan, you might try the Best Buy that's on Miller Road near the airport. They had at least one in stock when I left. (Of course, now that the employees know about it, it's possible that they might have snatched it.) I also found an "in stock" listing for a store near Grand Rapids.

If I click on Properties for "My Computer", it shows only 384 mb of RAM. Is that normal? Is the other 128 MB being used by or reserved for the video system, or did I get screwed?

Unfortunately mine didn't get the Seagate drive with the 8 MB cache. Instead I have a 160 GB Western Digital Caviar with a 2 MB cache (which is the specs at eMachines website). The top of the front panel was also a little loose but I popped it back in.

This is a huge upgrade for my second computer. It's sitting next to my HP Vectra, which has a P3 533 Mhz. The eMachines case is dwarfed by the higher quality Vectra case. It's a tidy little case, which makes me wonder whether or not certain video cards might not fit.

So far I've deleted all AOL programs, the McAffee trial (replaced by free AVG), and BigFix. I removed BigFix by mistake, but I figure that not having it can't be too big of a deal.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I looked over the FIC motherboard's BIOS and it completely lacks overclocking capability, not that you'd want to overclock much with this rig anyway. However, that leaves me to wonder, is that motherboard a regular ATX form factor and how difficult would it be to replace it? (Obviously, you can't go around replacing all of the components, but suppose that a better motherboard came available, perhaps bound with a nicer processor, on the cheap.)

[Edit] I suppose that swapping out the motherboard and processor might cause problems when trying to reinstall the eMachines version of Windows XP Home. Forgot about that BS. Oh well, I wasn't counting on it to be much more than an Internet surfer anyway.

 

[superHARD]

If you swap out mobo's you won't be able to use the OS that came with your system.

Premade systems (dell, Compaq, HP, ets) won't have OC options in the bios, but you can (most of the time) flash the bios with the mobo's bios and not the system's bios (flash the FIC bios back on the board, and not the emachines bios).

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Good idea. Has anyone tried flashing the BIOS yet? Aren't Semprons supposed to be pretty decent overclockers? (Of course, might have to swap out the stock HSF.)

 

[badflash]

weird! I powered one of mine on, started beeping like crazy, and would not post, no video etc. After unplugging and powering on a few times, it managed to post. The bios checksum said it reloaded, then it powered on successfully. I booted into XP, then it crashed in the screen where it tries to adjust the resolution. I rebooted and it entered into xp correctly and I was able to get in. I then powered off, and powered back on and the system did not start. I then unplugged it again, and help the button down for a long time and it started. I powerered/rebooted a few more times and all appears well. Whats the dealio with these emachines anyways? I may have to return my other one cause the quaility appears risky? Do you guys think the bios battery may have been drained and lost it's settings and needed to be charged a bit?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Did you try swapping out the RAM to test for a RAM problem?

 

[superHARD]

badflash...a bios battery would not cause your problems...return your system, and get another one...If it doesn't boot the first time, I would not be keeping it!

 

[badflash]

Thanks guys for the advice, I haven't busted it open yet as i am sure that voids any return or warranty from bestbuy. So far the system runs fine. Weird, I have a feeling the battery was low and lost it's settings, thus the beeps. Will watch for awhile.

 

[Zap]

Even if BIOS doesn't have overclocking settings, all is not lost. Being an nvidia chipset you can probably use clockgen on it to push it as far as the RAM/HT will go. Probably not too far if you can't drop the RAM multiplier though.

 

[tbogstad]

Originally posted by: Zap
Even if BIOS doesn't have overclocking settings, all is not lost. Being an nvidia chipset you can probably use clockgen on it to push it as far as the RAM/HT will go. Probably not too far if you can't drop the RAM multiplier though.

yup did not think about clockgen, and some have had these semprons up to 2.7ghz on stock volts with stock cooling, so this might be a better deal then i thought

http://www.cpuid.com/index.php

 

[unclebud]

Whats the dealio with these emachines anyways?"

they have junk bestec/etc power supplies
for some, they work good forever

but i remember starting one up and getting to windows, then got up to answer the phone -- it crashed. i immediately yelled ohn and and yanked it our and put the far maddog in as a replacement. haven't had a problem since with that machine in over a year

 

[sat4fun]

I got one of these, thanks OP.

Windows is not reporting the correct 512mb of memory in the Gerneral Tab of the System Properties. I quickly checked mine for operation and checked the properties and noticed only 384 MB despite the advertised 512. Anyone else have this problem? Is there a way to correct this or is it best to return?