Fry's Athlon 64 X2 4200+ & ECS GeForce7050M-M

[QuixoticOne]

Thanks, you're a wealth of good information. I appreciate the tips.

I was going to order one of the ones you mentioned but that
$53AR shipped mushkin 1.8V 5-4-4-12 2x2GB DDR2-800 set in the other thread came
back into stock (woot!) at newegg, so I jumped on that --
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146731

And so I figured I'd save on shipping just getting a couple of the first halfway decent looking heat pipe cooler for AM2 there on the same order, so I grabbed a couple of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835200036

I didn't find any really quantitative reviews on them in the few seconds I took to search it, but they seemed to be claimed to be notably better than the stock cooler by the newegg reviews, so I figured it'd be worth $15 + a couple bucks shipping. Since it has a fin assembly that is risen up on the heat pipes over the HS base hopefully that'll give sufficient clearance to insert/remove the 4-pin MB power connector with the HS installed. But if it fits at all I guess I'll just live with it at this point, though I agree with you that it's annoying when you don't have free access to the connector with a HS installed or if things actually get so close they touch (wires, connector body).

The Freezer 7 Pro / 64 pro coolers do seem to be well reputed, though I haven't seen those on a deal lately; IIRC they were like $21 shipped at one point.

Originally posted by: jiffer
I might have spoken too hastily when I said the TR2-R1 won't fit. It will fit, but it makes contact with the 12V connector, and I don't like that. The Alpine 64 is clear, but just barely. Having just discovered this annoyance, I'm annoyed by it. But I will probably get used to it after a while.

Here is a cheap cooler that will do the job:

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-8ID2AL

eWiz has also several similar models in the same price range in case you want an alternative. The nice thing about that one (aside from the fact that it isn't much larger than a stock CPU cooler) is that the 80mm fan can easily be replaced if necessary.

This one is a step up, but it's actually a little bit louder:

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-9ID3A

I haven't used either of those in a while, and I can't remember if the automatic fan control works with their 3-pin connectors. If it does, then noise shouldn't be a problem.

By the way, I'm actually using an Alpine 7 without the LGA775 mounting hardware instead of an Alpine 64. (Aside from the mounting hardware, they're practically the same.) I have an older Alpine 64 that has a 3-pin connector and I don't know if the newer ones have a 4-pin connector; but the Alpine 7 has a 4-pin connector, so that's why I'm using it instead.

I don't have an Actic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro that I can try out with the GEFORCE6100PM-M2, but I have a Freezer 7 Pro (aside from the mounting hardware, they're practically the same), and just from eyeballing it, it looks like the Freezer 64 Pro would fit alright. So would a Mini Typhoon or a Big Typhoon, but those cost a lot more than $15.

I hope this helps.

 

[mikeford]

Stopped by Fry's tonight and picked the $79 combo, AM2 4800+ and ECS PM6100, added the 2x1GB Corsair memory $59 (before $40 rebate), and got the Zalman 8700 fan for $29, out the door at $183 incl tax. Now I need to decide on a good about $100 video card and stir around the bone yard for a case etc.

 

[jrichrds]

Originally posted by: mikeford
Stopped by Fry's tonight and picked the $79 combo, AM2 4800+ and ECS PM6100, added the 2x1GB Corsair memory $59 (before $40 rebate), and got the Zalman 8700 fan for $29, out the door at $183 incl tax. Now I need to decide on a good about $100 video card and stir around the bone yard for a case etc.

I picked up the ECS Geforcee6100PM-M and Corsair memory as well. What version Corsair memory did you get (printed on the modules)? I got v5.1
On this ECS motherboard, it doesn't work as well as the Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB DDR2-800, but better than the OCZ Vista Upgrade Edition DDR2-800 (all from Fry's sales in the past week).

Watch out what video card you get, because my card wouldn't fit into the slot due to the chipset heatsink and memory DIMM slot being in the way of the video card heatsink.

 

[scgt1]

Picked up ECS Geforce 6100 and amd x2 5200+ today for $99

 

[PottedMeat]

Fry's is running the Athlon Combo and Pentium Dual Core combos again until the 15th.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: cubeless

Originally posted by: jiffer
Fry's B&M now has a combo on sale with the same processor (Brisbane 4200+ tray) and an ECS GEFORCE7050M-M for $69.99.

http://shopping.dallasnews.com...9&subid=20862448&type=

I haven't used that motherboard because the last one I saw had a beta video BIOS (it said so on the startup screen--"engineering release, not for public use" or something like that), and I don't know if the chipset drivers are mature enough for my taste. They might have problems with operating systems such as Windows 2000 or Linux.

On the other hand, I haven't seen many returned items at the store, so maybe a lot people are happy with it.

a big part of the reason for so many returns to frys is the same as the reason for so many divorces of newlyweds... there's no test to prove that u r smart enuf to handle the pieces before u are allowed to take the plunge... building something takes a bit more than many are able to handle...

cheap deals attract n00bs and people with unrealistic expectations thats true.
lots of pebcak

 

[Rockhound1]

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I broke down and bought the combo deal with the 5600+ chip for $105.

Well, I put the system together today with the following components:
- ECS Motherboard
- AMD X2 5600+ processor
- 4 GB DDR2-800 (Mushkin)
- 9600GT (PNY)
- 250 GB SATA3.0 (Seagate)
- Vista Ultimate (64 bit)

I am very impressed by the responsiveness of this system. It feels pretty "snappy". The "Windows Experience" was 5.9 for everything except the processor, which scored a 5.3. So far, no problems with any drivers. I will stress test the system and run some benches later.

I could not decide if I should continue to wait and upgrade to a C2D, a quad core Intel, or a B3 Phenom. All of these options would have been more $$. When I saw this combo deal, I decided to go for this instead and try it out. If it didn't perform well, then it would serve as a stop-gap for the next couple of months until I upgraded to one of the options mentioned above and then sell this to someone still using XP. So far, it has exceeded my expectations! Based on my experience so far, I will probably keep this setup for at least the next year, or maybe longer.

 

[IBuyUFO]

I'm using this setup that was mentioned above to run windows 2008. The only differences are that I'm running only 2 gb of ram (crucial), 6600GT, and 320 gb PATA drive. So far it has been pretty good but I don't like the noise coming from the fan. It's a thermaltake fan that I got from Fry's.

 

[jiffer]

Fry's currently has two different $99.99 combo specials featuring the Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Brisbane tray processor (2700MHz, 2x512MB L2 cache, 65nm, 65W). It's the fastest Brisbane you can get. It is almost as fast as the 5600+ Windsor (2800MHz, 2x1MB L2 cache, 90nm, 89W), but it should run cooler and require less cooling.

Combo #1 (PLU 5515020, appearing in Friday's ad) includes an ECS GEFORCE6100SM-M motherboard. It is not a high performance motherboard, but it is stable and durable. It has a parallel port if that is important to you.

Combo #2 (PLU 5515030, appearing in Sunday's ad) includes an ECS GEFORCE7050M-M motherboard. (The motherboard model does not appear in the ad, so I called them and asked.) If you get revision 1.0A, it does not support Phenom processors. If you get revision 2.0, it is considered to be a Socket AM2+ motherboard, and it does support Phenom processors. The person who answered my questions said it was the Socket AM2+ version, but I think you should verify that for yourself if it is important to you. I haven't used this motherboard, so I can't tell you much about it (other than what the specs say).

Since the 4200+ combo we discussed above also comes with the ECS GEFORCE7050M-M, you should also verify which revision you're getting if it's important to you.

 

[pinktank]

can someone pick up an e2200 combo for me?

 

[PottedMeat]

Woo I picked up a 4200+ combo tonight - New motherboard, the tray processor looks used - got traces of white heatsink compound on it. I'll probably get it booted tomorrow, I still need to cobble a heatsink together.

 

[okieedokie]

I bought this 4200+ & GeForce7050M-M combo last month. I'm wondering if your combo has the following problems:

1) The motherboard doesn't beep such as no post beep, no error beep when the memory sticks are removed, etc. It only beeps when the CMOS is reseted.

2) I used several hardware monitors in windows and they show wrong voltages. For example, +3.3V is shown as 1.87V, +12V is shown as 4.86V and -5V is shown as -11.65V.