Frys: E4300 + ECS PT890T = $159

[AkumaX]

Not that problematic mobo from 3 weeks ago, so hopefully it'll work better

http://latimes.p2ionline.com/shoppingchannel/data/images/1630432_4315290.jpg

 

[CKDragon]

Not too familiar with the motherboard, but I wish this deal were available online. I just checked and there were no search results for E4300 at all on their entire site. They must be saving their stock for the retail stores or something.

I'm starting to get that itch I get every year and a half or so to build a new PC and one of these shiny, new E4300's has my name on it.

CK

 

[superHARD]

Does this mobo OC? Any good or bad things to say about this board?

*edit, looks to be an ultra cheap mobo...look at the hsf's, the 2 sata ports, or the lack of traces on mobo

https://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-PT890TA&show=r#

 

[zigner]

Can someone who has purchased an OEM CPU at Frys tell me how they are packaged? Are they in a secure sealed box?

 

[nyker96]

that's nice combo

 

[VinceDee]

Originally posted by: zigner
Can someone who has purchased an OEM CPU at Frys tell me how they are packaged? Are they in a secure sealed box?

No, they are usually in a really small clear plastic package not much bigger than the cpu itself, with some 1/8" foam protection on either side of the cpu.

That said, out of many builds through the years, I have yet to get a broken or non-working unit (knocks on wood).

Vince

 

[nomadh]

Remember sometimes they are not oem cpus. Sometimes what you get doesn't match the ad pix. If its an oem then Its just like the previous post says. Hope for a retail one or sometimes wait until they run out of oem so they sub a retail unit.

 

[MustangSVT]

how does this ecs mobo o/c ?

pci lock? voltage?

 

[JayMassive]

hopefully the store will still have one after i leave work

 

[tvdang7]

do the cpu's come with a heatsink?

 

[RADON]

Originally posted by: tvdang7
do the cpu's come with a heatsink?

No, they are OEM... CPU only.

 

[Zombeh]

does anyone have these deals online?

 

[nefariouscaine]

no deals like that online - thats the price of the cpu (or less) but I'm making a mad dash for it after work

 

[htne]

I picked up one earlier today, it is the bare, OEM cpu. I also picked up a HSF, the CoolerMaster X Dream P775 (RR-LIE-L9E1-GP) for $17.99.

http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?L...&p_serial=RR-LIE-L9E1-GP&other_title=0

This seems like a pretty reasonable HSF for the money, especially now that the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro has been discontinued and is almost impossible to find.

One thing I did notice, the ad in the Houston Chronicle specified the motherboard as a "V2", and the one they gave me is a "V1.0". Looking on the web site for ECS, they specify in BIOS updates for this motherboard, a new BIOS in November, 2006 specifically to support the E4300. The latest BIOS is from December, 2006. The ECS website makes no mention whatsoever of a V2 of this motherboard, so maybe the ad was in error.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: htne
I picked up one earlier today, it is the bare, OEM cpu. I also picked up a HSF, the CoolerMaster X Dream P775 (RR-LIE-L9E1-GP) for $17.99.

http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?L...&p_serial=RR-LIE-L9E1-GP&other_title=0

This seems like a pretty reasonable HSF for the money, especially now that the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro has been discontinued and is almost impossible to find.

One thing I did notice, the ad in the Houston Chronicle specified the motherboard as a "V2", and the one they gave me is a "V1.0". Looking on the web site for ECS, they specify in BIOS updates for this motherboard, a new BIOS in November, 2006 specifically to support the E4300. The latest BIOS is from December, 2006. The ECS website makes no mention whatsoever of a V2 of this motherboard, so maybe the ad was in error.

For $20, you probably want this heatsink instead, but if you need one TODAY the Cooler Master is okay.

 

[htne]

That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

Quick Update: The motherboard has the November BIOS, and correctly recognizes the E4300 cpu. More later.

 

[Frintin]

This is one of those smokin' deals that those of us far away from a Fry's cry about!

:brokenheart:

 

[RedChief]

Checked the San Jose Mercury News Fry's ads online and this deal isnt there. Is it SoCal only?

 

[VinceDee]

Originally posted by: RedChief
Checked the San Jose Mercury News Fry's ads online and this deal isnt there. Is it SoCal only?

I saw it in the Mercury News. The deal's there.

Vince

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

Quick Update: The motherboard has the November BIOS, and correctly recognizes the E4300 cpu. More later.

You get what you pay for and it looks exactlylike the stock intel hsf.

 

[htne]

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

You get what you pay for and it looks exactly like the stock intel hsf.

Superficially, it might resemble the stock HSF, but it is different. For one thing, it uses a back plate and real screws to mount. This is (IMHO) much superior to the stock HSF. And it doesn't much matter, as the combo comes without a HSF, and Fry's was not offering to sell an Intel HSF, and I wanted to play with the combo today, not next week.

At stock speed, and stock volts, running two instances of SP2004 (small FFTs, stress cpu) for 10 minutes, the CPU core temperatures are at 37 degrees Celsius.

This definitely does not appear to be an overclocker's motherboard. First, I cannot get the BIOS to upgrade to the December version. Using a DOS boot floppy, or the Windows version of the flash utility, I get "File Rom ID incorrect". I downloaded the BIOS again, same result. Using the November BIOS, you can change the FSB of the cpu, but not increase the voltage. There is a voltage adjust for the RAM, but not the cpu. I tried setting the FSB to 266, and the computer booted at 200 mhz fsb. So I tried 233, and had to clear the cmos. Then I tried 220, and had to clear the cmos again. I am now at 210 mhz, and this seems to work. BFD: a 5% overclock. I wonder how much I can get on Ebay for this turkey?

On the positive side, XP SP2 installed without any problems. The sound drivers on the included CD did NOT work, but the ones on the website DO work.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: htne

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

You get what you pay for and it looks exactly like the stock intel hsf.

Superficially, it might resemble the stock HSF, but it is different. For one thing, it uses a back plate and real screws to mount. This is (IMHO) much superior to the stock HSF. And it doesn't much matter, as the combo comes without a HSF, and Fry's was not offering to sell an Intel HSF, and I wanted to play with the combo today, not next week.

At stock speed, and stock volts, running two instances of SP2004 (small FFTs, stress cpu) for 10 minutes, the CPU core temperatures are at 37 degrees Celsius.

This definitely does not appear to be an overclocker's motherboard. First, I cannot get the BIOS to upgrade to the December version. Using a DOS boot floppy, or the Windows version of the flash utility, I get "File Rom ID incorrect". I downloaded the BIOS again, same result. Using the November BIOS, you can change the FSB of the cpu, but not increase the voltage. There is a voltage adjust for the RAM, but not the cpu. I tried setting the FSB to 266, and the computer booted at 200 mhz fsb. So I tried 233, and had to clear the cmos. Then I tried 220, and had to clear the cmos again. I am now at 210 mhz, and this seems to work. BFD: a 5% overclock. I wonder how much I can get on Ebay for this turkey?

On the positive side, XP SP2 installed without any problems. The sound drivers on the included CD did NOT work, but the ones on the website DO work.

:thumbsup: for taking your time to post about your experiences.

you might want to head over to the CPU forum to see if you want to mod that chip to 266fsb natively

 

[fatpat268]

bah... i wish i had a frys nearby.

closest one is about 80 miles away.

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: htne

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth

Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

You get what you pay for and it looks exactly like the stock intel hsf.

Superficially, it might resemble the stock HSF, but it is different. For one thing, it uses a back plate and real screws to mount. This is (IMHO) much superior to the stock HSF. And it doesn't much matter, as the combo comes without a HSF, and Fry's was not offering to sell an Intel HSF, and I wanted to play with the combo today, not next week.

Im looking at my stock intel hsf and it looks the same except the mounting screws.

 

[gcy]

Originally posted by: RedChief
Checked the San Jose Mercury News Fry's ads online and this deal isnt there. Is it SoCal only?

Mercury News ad