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AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ & ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard for $80 at Outpost.com

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Originally posted by: furballi
Pay someone $100 to pre-assemble your PC. It will be cheaper. The odds of two BRAND new ECS NF3 DOA is very slim.
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Dude the boards where gone. I couldn't believe it myself. Like I said I went and took it to the PC shop and they diagnosed and tested it for free while I watched them do everything I tried and then some. Which is why I just went ahead and bought one of there cheap mobo's. When I came home and assembled the board I bought from them yesterday I had no trouble. I would love for the ECS board to work because I would rather have it than the one I have now but I'm at wits end and don't feel like doing another RMA. Thanks jumper I'll check that PSU out...
 
Did the shop use your old memory sticks when they tested? Or did they use their own?
PC speaker hooked up for post code?
Svcks I know....just saying the obvious, the jetway board is the new item to the mix. Thought I read over FW some time ago with some people having mem compatibilty problems.....good luck!
 
Just got the combo setup and running. One question though. I have a Santa Cruz soundcard. Which is better the onboard sound or the Santa Cruz. Running at 2250 with no problems.
 


the first 2 are stable at 2.249 250 fsb 4x ht 1.7+ cpu voltage[/quote]

Two questions for you:

1) Did you ever try using the stock CPU voltage in the BIOS or did your setup require a 1.7+ CPU voltage increase? What happened when/if you tried using the stock voltage?

2) Did you set your RAM (i.e., "Max Memclock") in the BIOS to a fixed 166MHz or did you leave it at "Auto"?

Thank you![/quote]

1)yes i tried at stock voltage and in my machine it was a no-go. Not stable windows would load Sometimes.
2)fixed 166 so the resulting memclock is ddr 408 or so.


 
Originally posted by: OhioState
the first 2 are stable at 2.249 250 fsb 4x ht 1.7+ cpu voltage
Click to expand...
Have you tried 3X HT? Do that and see if you can run lower voltage. Otherwise... that's not much worse than the first Paris core I had.

I may end up buying another one of these combos because I have enough spare parts for a system, missing just the CPU/mobo/HSF. I figure spend $110 shipped on the stuff I need and then I have a complete system to sell off for cheap - just discovered a local LAN gaming hotspot and people are already asking about cheap systems. I've got an AGP 6800LE video card, 512MB PC3200, new (but spare) budget aluminum case, halfway decent PSU, DVD drive and extra hard drive (been replacing everything under 250GB with 300-400GB). Add in this combo with a cheap $7 Cooler Master HSF and bingo presto.
 
Originally posted by: OhioState


the first 2 are stable at 2.249 250 fsb 4x ht 1.7+ cpu voltage
Click to expand...

Two questions for you:

1) Did you ever try using the stock CPU voltage in the BIOS or did your setup require a 1.7+ CPU voltage increase? What happened when/if you tried using the stock voltage?

2) Did you set your RAM (i.e., "Max Memclock") in the BIOS to a fixed 166MHz or did you leave it at "Auto"?

Thank you![/quote]

1)yes i tried at stock voltage and in my machine it was a no-go. Not stable windows would load Sometimes.
2)fixed 166 so the resulting memclock is ddr 408 or so.


[/quote]


Thanks for the info. The reason I asked is that I've got stock voltages all around and was curious if you'd tried the same. The only changes I've made presently to the BIOS are increasing the FSB to 250 and setting the Memclock to a fixed 166MHz. And you're right, the Memclock happens to result in DDR 410 (PC 3300) on my system. I've made no other changes.

I'm using 1GB of PC 3200 (DDR 400) Corsair Value Series RAM (2x512MB sticks) and have run Prime95 for 8 hours straight without incident. I'm just wondering if I should expect any problems in the future since I haven't increased my CPU or RAM voltages from "Auto" and am still running 4X HTT. I maybe getting away with it now, but my minimal settings probably wouldn't suffice if I tried any additional overclocking using ClockGen.

If anyone could offer any additional advice, I'd sure appreciate it.

EDITED TO ADD: Also, I'm a bit hesitant to report this as it as it may seem unbelievable, but on my first stab, the ONLY change I made to the BIOS was to increase the FSB to 250. Yes, that means my Corsair Value Series RAM was operating at DDR 500. I didn't run Prime95 Torture Test with those settings, but everything worked great for a couple of days until I did further research and realized everyone else was setting the RAM Memclock to a fixed 166MHz. In case anyone is interested, I'm using an Antec SLK3700AMB case with its stock 350W Smart Power PS. Was I just lucky?

ONE FINAL EDIT (I promise): The HSF I'm using is a new unit I purchased off of eBay that originally shipped with a boxed AMD 64 Dual-Core Athlon 64 4400+. It appears to be a pretty good HSF, with heat pipes and so on. I did NOT use Arctic Silver 3/5 or anything like that. Just clamped it on using the already provided thermal pad. The BIOS shows the CPU temp running anywhere between 36 and 40 degrees C.
 
CPU cooler is okay.

Those new Corsair VS can crank out the MHz! Mine is stable up to 238MHz at 1:1 memory ratio. I suspect you will fail Memtest86 and Prime95 at DDR500. Use the 166 divider if you want to use Clockgen. Search the net for version CG-NVNF3. I've bumped my system up to 2.51GHz at 1.6Vcore, 2.7Vdimm, 279FSB, 3x HT. Memory timing is 2.5-3-3-5-1T. 1M digits Super Pi time of 36.8 sec.

This is a 1.5V CPU core so you should be able to run up to 1.65Vcore. Idle is between 27 and 31C at 73C. Maximum temp with Prime95 in Max Heat mode is 46C. My Zalman 7700Cu is OFF most of the time because the side duct on my Antec SLK3000B is drawing cold air into the CPU cooler.

I'm planning to keep this rig for several years, so the Vcore is down to +3.4% with a FSB speed of 270MHz. Cool n Quiet is ON.

This rig will outrun most $800 retail systems if you can overclock the CPU to +2.4GHz. And don't forget the five PCI slots to upgrade your sound, wireless connection, modem, audio/video editing, etc....

 
My rig also boots with the Corsair running at 250MHz, 2.5-3-3-5-1T. Cannot run Super Pi or Prime95.

Tested at stock speed (1.8MHz , DDR400). 1M digits Super Pi time is 48 sec, which is quite a bit slower than the overclocked time of 38 sec (2.44Hz, DDR333).
 
I was thinking about getting this as a cheap upgrade for my current PC (see sig), but I dunno about my memory. I have hyperX PC 2700 2-2-2-5. Would this memory even work on this combo and if so would the performance be much of an upgrade over what I already have?

thanks
 
Should work at the lower speed. Don't think there will be a HUGE boost in speed. What's your 1M digits time for Super Pi?
 
Originally posted by: phatTweaker
I was thinking about getting this as a cheap upgrade for my current PC (see sig), but I dunno about my memory. I have hyperX PC 2700 2-2-2-5. Would this memory even work on this combo and if so would the performance be much of an upgrade over what I already have?

thanks
Click to expand...


well ill tell ya my old rig was similar to yours i was running this

athlon xp 2800 + and 512 meg hyper x ddr 2700
now
semperon 3100+ @ 2.25 and 1 gig ddr 400 1T

and i can feel the diffrence ive still got the old system sittin on my desk with a kvm switch
and i can for example use dvd shrink on the same movie and time it and the new system is much faster.Soon i will sell my old system and ill actually make money on the upgrade.

im very happy with my purchace.

ps i ran a 2100+ @ 2700+ speeds for like 3 years loved it til i cracked my core changing heatsinks :|
 
Looks like I'm going to join PrinceKee 🙁

My comp just shut down while I was browsing AT (using laptop now), then the power supply blew. After 3 years, I figured the power supply probably had given up. Pulled out a brand spanking new PS from its box (had a backup) and that one just blew too 🙁 🙁

I bought mine on Feb 6th, just in time for the 30 day RMA. Going to call them now, this sucks. 🙁

Edit: Anyone has a decent PS deal? I tried the RS above but can't find the rebates.
 
I'm looking for a nice low power, QUIET CPU/MOBO for a Home theater PC. What do you folks think about this combo?
 
Just wanted to say thanks. I needed some cheap components to make a Home Theater PC. Ordered it just a few days after the original post and finally got it all together this weekend booted up fine first try.
 
Another happy customer. I see about 40 of those boards at the local Fry's. The actual dealer cost is probably under $30 per board. The sample board at Fry's had United Chemicon and OST capacitors. All the boxed boards came with TKR and OST 105C caps. I hope we're not going to see anymore leaky caps.
 
I am currently running a Mobile AthlonXP 2600+ on a Shuttle AN-35 Ultra at the stock 2.1Ghz with a Geforce 6800 (non-ultra) 128Mb. Would this deal make that big a difference? I would like to see a few more fps on FEAR and CS:S. Tia.
 
Originally posted by: pixelnate
I am currently running a Mobile AthlonXP 2600+ on a Shuttle AN-35 Ultra at the stock 2.1Ghz with a Geforce 6800 (non-ultra) 128Mb. Would this deal make that big a difference? I would like to see a few more fps on FEAR and CS:S. Tia.
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yes it would make a big diffrence especially if willing change the fsb to 250

trust me its a VERY easy overclock.

ps i just got my 3rd one of these combos in the mail (all good) and there still shipping paris core NOT palermo
 
I gave in and ordered one. I'll keep it this time even if it's Paris. 😱 I'm gonna be using it for a really cheap build. Someone local to me asked about a cheap gaming computer and looking around my "stash" of parts, have everything except mobo/CPU.

If I happen to get a Palermo, especially an E3 or E6, I'll keep it and order ANOTHER combo, LOL. Hopefully that won't happen because otherwise I'll end up with extra stuff again.
 
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