Frys: ECS nF3-A s754 mb & boxed Sempron 2800 $69.99

[kaborka]

Today's SoCal ad had this combo. This board. The ad shows a boxed CPU, and that's what I got when I bought one the last time the deal was active.

Update 4/26: This is in Wednesday's ad. Same combo.

 

[workingnonstop]

Review of the board by Zap.

My guess is OEM CPU. That's what they were on the CPU/mobo deals on Outpost, IIRC. Still a pretty nice bargain, if you have a fry's nearby, which I don't.

 

[NovaPolice]

I picked this combo up a while back for $10 more, cpu was retail w/HSF but not 64 bit. Motherboard is ok, nic is a little touchy with the drivers as mentioned in the other thread, & sometimes the bios just resets the date to 2000 - but it's cheap and its been running for months. Didnt bother to try replacing the cmos battery, I'm lazy. Definitely good enough for my wife's computer. Mushkin 512 value didn't work, but 1gb corsair value did perfectly.

If you get it, I'd load the NIC drivers from the disk, and then install the latest Nvidia drivers for the chipset incl sound but don't use the nic or ide drivers on it - depending on the driver version the nic driver will cause an instant reboot (incl the ones from the ECS website).

Also there's a decent deal at Outpost on this board and a box Athlon 64 3000 for 129.99 linkage but it looks like the other deal for the 3100 & this board disappeared from there tonight.

Deal would be better if it were a Biostar, but hey, you can always sell the board & buy one.

 

[0roo0roo]

nice to see a 69 dollar combo again whats this cpu based on? nerfed tbred or a64? i'm losing track.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
nice to see a 69 dollar combo again whats this cpu based on? nerfed tbred or a64? i'm losing track.

Motherboard uses nForce3 chipset so it has to be socket 754.

 

[kaborka]

My guess is fanless oem cpu, too. I'm heading there this AM to grab one. I'll let you know. CC still has the 1GB OCZ memory deal for $50 AR (FW), so I'll be stopping there, too.

Nova: Thanks for the valuable info!

 

[mikeford]

Deal is hot for a mid level board real cheap, but I am going to hold out for the nforce4 deal again, $90 more but its like a year better.

 

[Br0k3nman]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
nice to see a 69 dollar combo again whats this cpu based on? nerfed tbred or a64? i'm losing track.

Motherboard uses nForce3 chipset so it has to be socket 754.

If I remember correctly, I don't believe that's true. There are some nf3 939 boards. I know the sn95g5 shuttle for sure is nf3+939.

 

[deadken]

Originally posted by: br0k3nman

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
nice to see a 69 dollar combo again whats this cpu based on? nerfed tbred or a64? i'm losing track.

Motherboard uses nForce3 chipset so it has to be socket 754.

If I remember correctly, I don't believe that's true. There are some nf3 939 boards. I know the sn95g5 shuttle for sure is nf3+939.

Yes, but since the combo states that it is a SEMPRON CPU, and the Mobo is a NF3, then it HAS to be S754 (at least until they come out with a S939 Sempron CPU).

 

[deadken]

Originally posted by: kaborka
Today's SoCal ad had this combo. Didn't spec which board it was, but it looks like this one. Nor does it say whether the CPU is boxed or fanless. If anyone has more details, please post. I need a cheap upgrade for the gf's machine, and this would serve.

I got in on the Sempron 3100+ / (same) ECS NF3 combo Outpost.com was offering until a day or two ago.

I have only 'played' with it for about a week, but so far I am VERY happy with it. It does all that it is supposed to, and it does it well. The only complaint that I would have is that you can't raise the HTT (FSB) beyond 250 in BIOS. There is a program that others have used to raise it higher (ClockGen), but read up on that if you care to on the Sempron 3100+/ECS Mobo combo thread (also here in Hot Deals). I doubt that you would need more then 250FSB, especially on your girlfriends rig.

Again, I am most please with it. And for that price, I can't imagine you not being perfectly happy also. It's a good thing that there isn't a Fry's around here in NY, or I might be divorced!

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: deadken
Yes, but since the combo states that it is a SEMPRON CPU, and the Mobo is a NF3, then it HAS to be S754 (at least until they come out with a S939 Sempron CPU).

afaik only some really big OEMs (read: HP) get 939 semprons.

not sure why none of those processors seems to show up in the channel, though.

 

[kaborka]

FYI: It was in fact a boxed Sempron that came with this combo after all, not an OEM.

 

[MechaSheeba]

Aren't all 754 Sempron 2800s 64-bit enabled? I thought they were all Palermo.

 

[kaborka]

bump for same deal in new ad 4/15 through 4/18

 

[PDubs]

Will this board support ATI RADEON 9600 and what wattage PS do I need? I've been out of the h/w game for a while but need to upgrade my board/cpu/ram.

 

[kaborka]

It's an AGP board, so your Radeon should be very happy in it. The Antec 480W PSU in the same ad (see other thread) would be a good one to go with the combo.

There's a 1GB stick of PNY memory in the same ad for $50 AR (link above) if you want to complete the system. Not everyone likes PNY, but there are plenty of good memory deals around -- I'm sure there'll be other comments. There's a big thread on this board, with plenty of discussion.

 

[MintBoy]

Two questions:

#1 Is the Sempron 2800+ in this deal 64-bit enabled?

and

#2 Do you need a power supply with a 24-pin power connector to power this unit?

 

[kaborka]

#1: The CPU I got is a SDA2800AIO3BA, if that helps. No reference on the box to 32 vs 64-bit.

#2: The board has a 20-pin connector, plus a separate 4-pin power connector

 

[gwag]

who cares if its 64-bit its not like these boards support 8Gs or ram or anything?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: MechaSheeba
Aren't all 754 Sempron 2800s 64-bit enabled? I thought they were all Palermo.

Technically, no not all Palermos are 64 bit. In practice, some of the cores that AMD says are NOT 64 bit have turned out to be 64 bit, but there's no guarantee. The ones that are possibly not 64 bit are the D0 core Palermo. I think all the E3 and E6 are officially 64 bit.

Originally posted by: kaborka
#1: The CPU I got is a SDA2800AIO3BA, if that helps. No reference on the box to 32 vs 64-bit.

Does the box say the PIB#? If it's SDA2800CVBOX then it is definately 64 bit. The other option is SDA2800BABOX which is "officially" only 32 bit, but may or may not be actually 64 bit (likely but not guaranteed). Strangely the tray part number is the same for both, so I'd think it was 64 bit capable. They are D0 core so do not have SSE3 and potentially won't overclock as high as E3/E6. My 2600+ D0 can do about 2.2GHz default vcore, 2.4GHz with a slight vcore bump and 2.52GHz on huge 1.65v. All stable. Currently running at stock speed on 1.15v or so for quiet/cool usage in my HTPC.

AMD Sempron details

 

[kaborka]

The Fry's printed label stuck to the box has SDA2800BABOX on it. The only other number is the AMD serial# barcode, on a separate label.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: kaborka
The Fry's printed label stuck to the box has SDA2800BABOX on it.

That means it is "officially" 32 bit only, but "likely" 64 bit anyways.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: deadken

Originally posted by: kaborka
Today's SoCal ad had this combo. Didn't spec which board it was, but it looks like this one. Nor does it say whether the CPU is boxed or fanless. If anyone has more details, please post. I need a cheap upgrade for the gf's machine, and this would serve.

I got in on the Sempron 3100+ / (same) ECS NF3 combo Outpost.com was offering until a day or two ago.

I have only 'played' with it for about a week, but so far I am VERY happy with it. It does all that it is supposed to, and it does it well. The only complaint that I would have is that you can't raise the HTT (FSB) beyond 250 in BIOS. There is a program that others have used to raise it higher (ClockGen), but read up on that if you care to on the Sempron 3100+/ECS Mobo combo thread (also here in Hot Deals). I doubt that you would need more then 250FSB, especially on your girlfriends rig.

Again, I am most please with it. And for that price, I can't imagine you not being perfectly happy also. It's a good thing that there isn't a Fry's around here in NY, or I might be divorced!

its back, 3100+ with nf4?

 

[kaborka]

Same 2800+ combo is back for 4/26-27 -- in SoCal ad.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: deadken

Originally posted by: br0k3nman

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
nice to see a 69 dollar combo again whats this cpu based on? nerfed tbred or a64? i'm losing track.

Motherboard uses nForce3 chipset so it has to be socket 754.

If I remember correctly, I don't believe that's true. There are some nf3 939 boards. I know the sn95g5 shuttle for sure is nf3+939.

Yes, but since the combo states that it is a SEMPRON CPU, and the Mobo is a NF3, then it HAS to be S754 (at least until they come out with a S939 Sempron CPU).

the comparison was between a Socket A(462) or A64-type architecture, since he asked if it was a Tbred or not

usually if they show a retail box in the picture, its going to come w/ the box + hsf + 3yr warranty. but if its just the logo, most likely oem