Fridays Fry's 2-17

[dj11]

As of this morning, So Cal Fry's are advertising the Deal at $159.99 .

From what I gather this looks to be a 'get rid of these deal'. However, for those like me, who think 3 generations behind is not bad, this looks like a good deal.

 

[Zap]

Your first post? Welcome to the forums!

This is a pretty hot deal even if you don't like the motherboard - just sell it. The CPU is retail box according to the picture, though they don't explicitly state it. These chips run for the same amount online so if you're in the market for one, may as well get a free disposable motherboard with it and sell it for $20 or so (or send it to me and I'll do a review on it ).

The Chicago Fry's ad also has 1GB dual channel Corsair for $50AR.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Zap
Your first post? Welcome to the forums!

This is a pretty hot deal even if you don't like the motherboard - just sell it. The CPU is retail box according to the picture, though they don't explicitly state it. These chips run for the same amount online so if you're in the market for one, may as well get a free disposable motherboard with it and sell it for $20 or so (or send it to me and I'll do a review on it ).

The Chicago Fry's ad also has 1GB dual channel Corsair for $50AR.

same as burbank and outpost.com but outpost is not letting me order ATM

 

[ruckdaddy]

The Chicago Fry's also has 1 GB (2x512) OCZ (must be value series) for $60 AR. Haven't looked at Outpost.com for this one. So what is better, Corsair or OCZ in value RAM?

Sorry for the threadcrap ahead of time. They are both good deals!

 

[Zebo]

What is "K9T890A" - don't tell me another ECS? Still not bad at all free mobo is basically what you get here and that's about what its worth..

 

[gotensan01]

Originally posted by: dj11
As of this morning, So Cal Fry's are advertising the Deal at $159.99 .

From what I gather this looks to be a 'get rid of these deal'. However, for those like me, who think 3 generations behind is not bad, this looks like a good deal.

Welcome to Anandtech, what a way to start too!

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Zebo
What is "K9T890A" - don't tell me another ECS? Still not bad at all free mobo is basically what you get here and that's about what its worth..

ECS boards are not intended for hot overclocking. I've built a number of them for friends on a budget. If all you want them to do is work to spec, the ones with VIA and nVidia chipsets are very decent, and the price for the combo is the same as the best price for the chip, alone, on pricewatch.com so the board is essentially free.

Originally posted by: ruckdaddy
The Chicago Fry's also has 1 GB (2x512) OCZ (must be value series) for $60 AR.

Here's the page for the board in the Fry's ad in the San Jose Mercury News. It also lists 1 GB of Corsair PC3200 dual channel RAM (2x512 MB) for $49.99. Pretty hard to beat those prices. :thumbsup:

Fry's does not match prices with outpost.com, even though they're the same company, and they don't necessarily have the same prices for stores in different sales regions. Check the SKU's at your local Fry's to confirm whether the items you want are available in your area and whether they still have stock. The really hot deals are often gone in an hour or less.

 

[Satyrist]

Chicago ad also lists a Seagate 250gb (IDE) 16mb cache drive, for $119-$50 rebate=$69....Might not be bad, for those who don't mind rebates.

 

[yukit]

Anyone id the CPU whether it is Venice or Winchester?
Well, it is a bit too late for me since I already built a budget system from the Sempron 3100+ deal.

 

[IrocZman223]

It also lists 1 GB of Corsair PC3200 dual channel RAM (2x512 MB) for $49.99. Pretty hard to beat those prices. :thumbsup:

I saw this too. That is a damn good price right. I figure I could use another gig.

 

[IcBlUsCrn]

Paid $170 2 weeks ago, This deal is in the papers everyweek. They must have alot of these mobo's

 

[furballi]

So how do you like this board? The layout doesn't look to good with the AGP slot at the bottom of the board. What is the maximum FSB that you can dial in? Some ECS boards are limited to 250 MHz FSB. How's the stability of this board? Did you get a Winchester or Venice CPU? Any hardware software issues?

TIA

 

[AkumaX]

wonder why they stopped using the ecs nforce4-a939 i reached 270htt in bios and 310htt using clockgen

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Zebo
What is "K9T890A" - don't tell me another ECS? Still not bad at all free mobo is basically what you get here and that's about what its worth..

Awwww, c'mon Zebo, I know this isn't a DFI Ultra-D but the board most likely works just fine for non-overclockers using a PCIe video card.

In related news... speaking of the Ultra-D mine showed up today... but I wasn't home. I've been home all fricken day and had to run over to the post office, was back in ½ hour to find a sticky note on my door. This is the third time FedEx has done this lately, and I can't predict when they'll show up because they've been here as early as before 11am and as late as near 6pm. It's like I'm a prisoner in my own home until they show up. GRrrrr, now I'll have to wait until Monday for my Ultra-D and Opteron. But wait! I have classes on Monday. :disgust:

 

[hans007]

yeah ecs boards are actually pretty decent if you arent overclocking. i put an ecs rs480 board in my brothers machines and he hasnt had a single problem at all. even used a really crappy 300 watt deer psu and its been rock solid.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: hans007
even used a really crappy 300 watt deer psu and its been rock solid.

Dude, you're just asking for it to go up in smoke. :evil:

Anyways, I have to take issue with "aren't overclocking." Yes, most ECS boards don't OC worth a damn if at all, but some do okay. I'm currently running my x2 3800+ combo from Black Friday on this ECS board with a nice overclock to 2.5GHz default voltage.

 

[nomadh]

I had one that did overclock some. I put it back to stock later for stability but either way it seemed rock solid. Then I went on vacation a yr later and my brother in law used it. It was up in smoke when I came back. Don't know what happened. He said it was dead when he came over. I suspect a power spike or a bonehead move but I'll just never know. Until then it was a decent very solid MB.

 

[mikeford]

I stopped at Frys on the way home, the guy stocking the shelves said it didn't come with a HSF, and I didn't ask at the podium, spending $125 (before $50 rebate) on the Seagate 250 GB drive was plenty for me without further temptations. This was the Fullerton store and they had ONE new and half a dozen returned MBs on the shelf.

 

[Zap]

I don't know why Fry's gets tons of returns on those motherboards. For the record I don't recall having a single one fail. I have actually returned two combos ever (out of about... 10+) because the first one was a Paris core Sempron and I wanted a Palermo, and the other one was way back when I was still dabbling in Prescott chips. It was an OEM P4 3.2E or 3.0E and it was absolutely DOA. The board was fine, the CPU didn't work - tried in multiple boards. That was the last Prescott I ever tried out of about 5-6. No more. :|

 

[IcBlUsCrn]

i got two boards the 3200 is a venice and i got the 3800x2 combo deal w for $279 they both came with HSF. 2nd i have no idea how to overclock i however did increase my fsb and got to 2.2 ghz but i was just changing numbers without testing. and the pc would not get past the post, i think it might have to do with cheap 512mb elixer ram?
I returned the 3800x2 because it was not any faster then my socket 478 p4 3ghz.


Just a heads up at frys make sure you asked for an unopened cpu box before you pay, I did not and had to pay 2x for my 3800x2 i got my money back for the open box after 2days.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: Zebo
What is "K9T890A" - don't tell me another ECS? Still not bad at all free mobo is basically what you get here and that's about what its worth..

ECS boards are not intended for hot overclocking. I've built a number of them for friends on a budget. If all you want them to do is work to spec, the ones with VIA and nVidia chipsets are very decent, and the price for the combo is the same as the best price for the chip, alone, on pricewatch.com so the board is essentially free.

Originally posted by: ruckdaddy
The Chicago Fry's also has 1 GB (2x512) OCZ (must be value series) for $60 AR.

Here's the page for the board in the Fry's ad in the San Jose Mercury News. It also lists 1 GB of Corsair PC3200 dual channel RAM (2x512 MB) for $49.99. Pretty hard to beat those prices. :thumbsup:

Fry's does not match prices with outpost.com, even though they're the same company, and they don't necessarily have the same prices for stores in different sales regions. Check the SKU's at your local Fry's to confirm whether the items you want are available in your area and whether they still have stock. The really hot deals are often gone in an hour or less.

Thanks for the ad Harvey. I did say "Still not bad at all" but I was thinking out loud with the rest of my reply which made it somewhat contradictory. Good deal darnit..

 

[sixt7gt350]

I bought the $279 K8T890A ECS w/ 3800 X2 combo at Fry's last weekend. My CPU box was sealed.
The motherboard was about as happy with my PNY 512MB sticks as a Palestinian reading Danish newspapers.
No problems with my AIW Radeon 7500 in the AGP slot. The motherboard box said 10/100 LAN was an (unincluded) option, but it was on the board and fired right up.

I ordered the Corsair 2GB (2x1GB) XMS memory from Outpost for $149AR and all was rock solid at 210. I pushed it up to 220 and it crashed. I didn't change anything other than speed. I'm guessing I could have fiddled with memory voltage, but I dropped it back to 200 and left it there. Definitely not an OC board, nor a board that can use bargain memory. An decent transition board. My next purchase will be a PCIe video card, followed by a motherboard with more DIMM slots and better OCability.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: hans007
even used a really crappy 300 watt deer psu and its been rock solid.

Dude, you're just asking for it to go up in smoke. :evil:

Anyways, I have to take issue with "aren't overclocking." Yes, most ECS boards don't OC worth a damn if at all, but some do okay. I'm currently running my x2 3800+ combo from Black Friday on this ECS board with a nice overclock to 2.5GHz default voltage.

yeah well, it was just stuff i had laying around. my brother just uses integrated video and a 3000+ winchester and its allright.