Fry's Deals in Chicago (Sempron & mobo, Buffalo wireless)

[Zap]

$69.99
Sempron 2600+ retail box (ad mentions "Heatsink/Fan")
ECS NFORCE3-A motherboard (Nforce3 250 chipset)
Zap's thoughts: I think this board is better than the deals with the SiS chipset board. There are reports that the SiS chipset board doesn't support Suspend To RAM and this one does. Also, this board has been known to OC to 250MHz clock, the maximum available in BIOS. This would make the CPU an equivalent Sempron 3300+ (2GHz 128k).

$39.99 AR
Buffalo Wireless-G 125Mbps high power router (model WHR-HP-G54)
Zap's thoughts: Buffalo isn't well known but it does garner a few recommendations here and there as being solid. This particular unit is notable for a few features. The ones of interest to me are RP-SMA antenna connector (some units use other connectors or non-removable antennas), switch to convert from wireless router to normal access point (disables WAN port, disables DHCP, changes IP from default) and perhaps the most notable is "built in amplifier" that claims 60% more power output than typical wireless routers.

$24.99 AR
Buffalo Wireless-G 125Mbps high power PC Card (model WLI-CB-G54HP)
Zap's thoughts: This is the matching PCMCIA card (whatever happened to that acronym anyways?). It claims 35% higher power over "standard" notebook adaptors. Besides that, this has an external antenna jack - really rare in notebook cards. From what I can tell the external jack is called "MC" and is the same as those found on Orinoco "Gold" cards.

I'm hoping to make it down to Fry's before sale ends to pick up these items.
[/i]

 

[Kaieye]

I think that the ECS Nforce3-a motherboard is the same as the Biostar NF325-A7 and this mb has been known to overclock over 300mhz clock speeds instead of the stock 200 mhz clock speed default. ECS probably makes the nf325a-7 for Biostar...

 

[Samus]

wow, crazy good deal.

 

[pdo]

I just got the ECS Enforce3-A+ Sempron 2800+ and it can overclocks to 250mhz just fine and it's a 64 bit Sempron too.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

ECS probably makes the nf325a-7 for Biostar

They make the PCB for sure. I think they might do SMT also. ECS doesn't suck anymore, by the way.

Kristopher

 

[vfxraven19]

can also confirm the 250MHz bus for that Nforce3-A m/b, using Sempron64 2800+

 

[Salvador]

Would this be a decent upgrade for someone running a socket A motherboard and XP 2400+? The numbers aren't all that different (2600+), but I know that the architecture is different.

Also, what RAM would you guys recommend for this system?

 

[kovert]

Asking the same question as my MB blew a couple caps, might be better off picking up this deal...

Unfortunately don't live near a Fry's..

Any AT'ers willing to help a brother out??? And yes I am serious about this!!!

 

[ofacto]

I went to pick up the mobo combo and it turned out to be the non-nforce 3 ECS 755-A2, the same mobo they offered in past deals. This was the Fry's in Industry, CA. I asked the guy if this was the right mobo he said it was. I still bought it cause I needed the CPU right away, but its probaby going to be going back in the next 15 days.

 

[Zap]

For people who have this board, have any of you tried Clockgen to go above 250MHz?

kovert, may want to check with people in CA because they often get $10 cheaper, or same price with faster CPU.

ofacto, Fry's have different sale items in different markets. Their socket 754 combos will ping pong between the two boards week to week.

Salvador, if you were planning to keep your video card, then yes this would be a tiny upgrade (especially when overclocked). However, if you were planning to replace more of your system than just CPU/mobo (and you asked about RAM) then perhaps consider socket 939. If you were considering replacing your video card as well as motherboard, CPU and RAM, definately consider PCIe. Though this combo is a good deal, it is limited to AGP.

 

[Salvador]

Originally posted by: Zap
Salvador, if you were planning to keep your video card, then yes this would be a tiny upgrade (especially when overclocked). However, if you were planning to replace more of your system than just CPU/mobo (and you asked about RAM) then perhaps consider socket 939. If you were considering replacing your video card as well as motherboard, CPU and RAM, definately consider PCIe. Though this combo is a good deal, it is limited to AGP.

Tiny upgrade? I am planning on keeping my video card for now. I have an ATI 9800 PRO that I still want to make use of. I was hoping that this system would be an upgrade and bridge the gap between what I have now until I want to make a move to PCI Express.

I'm just asking about RAM. I have PC2600 RAM that I could use in it. I was just wondering what RAM people were going to use. I guess at this price, you could use anything that works.

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: Zap
For people who have this board, have any of you tried Clockgen to go above 250MHz?

kovert, may want to check with people in CA because they often get $10 cheaper, or same price with faster CPU.

ofacto, Fry's have different sale items in different markets. Their socket 754 combos will ping pong between the two boards week to week.

Salvador, if you were planning to keep your video card, then yes this would be a tiny upgrade (especially when overclocked). However, if you were planning to replace more of your system than just CPU/mobo (and you asked about RAM) then perhaps consider socket 939. If you were considering replacing your video card as well as motherboard, CPU and RAM, definately consider PCIe. Though this combo is a good deal, it is limited to AGP.

Got the combo this afternoon, and was able to OC'ed to 250FSB, or 2Ghz (prime stable). The clockgen seems to work for FSB > 250, but the combo wasn't prime stable at even 2.1ghz (262FSB). Messed around with the mobo oc options a little bit, like the Memory speed options and HTT multiplier, and some of the option doesn't seem to work very well. At higher FSB, some of those option becomes necessary, and it's annoying when they don't work as expected. But I only have a couple of hours to play with the combo so far, so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, can't expect too much for a 69 buck combo. But for those who really want to utilize the full potential of the Sempron 2600+, which is known to overclock to 2.2+Ghz, you may want to go with a better OC board. But then again, if you really want to oc big time, you may want to get a higher end cpu, if you are already investing in mobo, heatsink, and memory to oc the cpu, why skimp on the cpu?

 

[MustangSVT]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: Zap
For people who have this board, have any of you tried Clockgen to go above 250MHz?

kovert, may want to check with people in CA because they often get $10 cheaper, or same price with faster CPU.

ofacto, Fry's have different sale items in different markets. Their socket 754 combos will ping pong between the two boards week to week.

Salvador, if you were planning to keep your video card, then yes this would be a tiny upgrade (especially when overclocked). However, if you were planning to replace more of your system than just CPU/mobo (and you asked about RAM) then perhaps consider socket 939. If you were considering replacing your video card as well as motherboard, CPU and RAM, definately consider PCIe. Though this combo is a good deal, it is limited to AGP.

Got the combo this afternoon, and was able to OC'ed to 250FSB, or 2Ghz (prime stable). The clockgen seems to work for FSB > 250, but the combo wasn't prime stable at even 2.1ghz (262FSB). Messed around with the mobo oc options a little bit, like the Memory speed options and HTT multiplier, and some of the option doesn't seem to work very well. At higher FSB, some of those option becomes necessary, and it's annoying when they don't work as expected. But I only have a couple of hours to play with the combo so far, so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, can't expect too much for a 69 buck combo. But for those who really want to utilize the full potential of the Sempron 2600+, which is known to overclock to 2.2+Ghz, you may want to go with a better OC board. But then again, if you really want to oc big time, you may want to get a higher end cpu, if you are already investing in mobo, heatsink, and memory to oc the cpu, why skimp on the cpu?

which store? chicago? so, was it nf3 board?

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: MustangSVT

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: Zap
For people who have this board, have any of you tried Clockgen to go above 250MHz?

kovert, may want to check with people in CA because they often get $10 cheaper, or same price with faster CPU.

ofacto, Fry's have different sale items in different markets. Their socket 754 combos will ping pong between the two boards week to week.

Salvador, if you were planning to keep your video card, then yes this would be a tiny upgrade (especially when overclocked). However, if you were planning to replace more of your system than just CPU/mobo (and you asked about RAM) then perhaps consider socket 939. If you were considering replacing your video card as well as motherboard, CPU and RAM, definately consider PCIe. Though this combo is a good deal, it is limited to AGP.

Got the combo this afternoon, and was able to OC'ed to 250FSB, or 2Ghz (prime stable). The clockgen seems to work for FSB > 250, but the combo wasn't prime stable at even 2.1ghz (262FSB). Messed around with the mobo oc options a little bit, like the Memory speed options and HTT multiplier, and some of the option doesn't seem to work very well. At higher FSB, some of those option becomes necessary, and it's annoying when they don't work as expected. But I only have a couple of hours to play with the combo so far, so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, can't expect too much for a 69 buck combo. But for those who really want to utilize the full potential of the Sempron 2600+, which is known to overclock to 2.2+Ghz, you may want to go with a better OC board. But then again, if you really want to oc big time, you may want to get a higher end cpu, if you are already investing in mobo, heatsink, and memory to oc the cpu, why skimp on the cpu?

which store? chicago? so, was it nf3 board?

Yes, chicago frys, it was nf3 board.

 

[kovert]

Damn, serious if anyone wants to pick a NF3 combo up for me I would definitely be interested. PM ME!!!

 

[Zap]

NVM

 

[kovert]

-thanks for the try ZAP!!!

 

[Zap]

Zap's mini review of the ECS NFORCE3-A motherboard bundled with the Sempron 2600+ CPU