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

[furballi]

Don't think you'll see much change in temperature between Paris and Palermo. My 3100 Paris appears to run COOLER than my A64 3000 Venice. I can push the Venice a little higher (+120MHz) at 1.55Vcore.

Average overclock for Paris...2.35GHz
Average overclock for Winchester...2.45GHz
Average oveclock for Venice...2.55GHz

 

[OhioState]

Originally posted by: Zap
I'll put it on my Biostar Geforce6100 to test it out. The Biostar board should arrive tomorrow and I'm gonna test it first with the Sempron 2600+ to directly compare it to the Tforce version that I already have. After that, I'll test out the Paris core. This way I can use BIOS and don't have to mess with clockgen.

Hmmm, besides overclocks I can also see how temperatures go from Paris to Palermo.

Don't doubt me - I do believe the $90 combo to be the hottest budget deal around, but I just wish it were a Palermo.

I'de love to see the results.
I've been thinking about selling this motherboard for the biostar Tforce-6100 for the pci-e and oc options.

 

[pixelnate]

I was wondering if anybody here has tried this mobo with Ubuntu. It is the flavor of the month at the homestead, and I would really like to keep it that way. Does anyone have experience with it, or any other distro for that matter?

 

[elcamino74ss]

I loaded the 64bit version of Ubuntu fine on it.

 

[Emulex]

so wait you say the paris installed and works in amd-64 bit extensions mode?

man i got 10 copies of xp-64 i'm just gonna have to bust out and load one up. thank god nobody at work has 64bit cpu's lol

 

[formulav8]

Let me know if I can get one of those copies of WinXP64 from you



Jason

 

[furballi]

Gee...read my POSTS. This 3100 Sempron works with Windows 64bit. Download CPUz if you want to confirm!

 

[Gorrillasnot]

If I jump on this deal do you think my PC2700 hyperX 2-2-2-5 would run at cas 2.5 PC3200 and be able to OC to 2.3-2.4GHz?

thanks

 

[Melectricus]

I feel compelled to respond to a question or two about upgrading from an oc'd 2500 to this combo. I did exactly this and thought I'd share.

First, I love this oc combo because it did what I wanted upfront: 250mhz 166 htt3 and eventually I'll take it higher with clockgen.

But I have to ask why is it better. I put a clean load of windows and all programs on the system from a 2 year old junked up system, went from a fat32 on a older maxtor to NTFS on a new twin 300 seagates (pata), pulled old pci audio, usb2 and pci IDE card out and I am really happy with performance. Question is if I did all the above on the old oc'd 2500 how much better off would I be with the new system?

My answer is of course the combo is better. But how much better than a clean slate? This is a great value board for the price and I'd highly recommed it. I'd ask how much performance boost is from redoing the system to replacing the system.

I'm curious what other people think because ...well I'm curious... is it 25% faster or whatever OC'd than the 2500 because of reload or raw power? Again I really like it but just wondering?

 

[furballi]

I'm sure it will do 2.3GHz. My Corsair Value Select is stable up to 230MHz DDR400 2.5-3-3-5-1T. Therefore, I have no problem hitting 2.5GHz with 2:3 memory divider and 1.6Vcore. You will need very expensive RAM to run at PC3200 up to 2.4GHz (268MHz FSB).

Run Super Pi 1M digits to compare the performance of the two rigs. The 3100 Sempron can complete the 1M digits Super Pi in 38.1 sec (166 RAM speed, 2.43GHz CPU speed).

 

[zettler]

Originally posted by: MelectricusI'm curious what other people think because ...well I'm curious... is it 25% faster or whatever OC'd than the 2500 because of reload or raw power? Again I really like it but just wondering?

Several on here have been helpful to me but as I still haven't pulled thr trigger (sorry Zap). My son too has an EP-8RDA+ with an OC'd AMD Mobile 2500 XP+ (?), a ATI 9800 Pro, a Gig of PC3200, etc., and I wonder if he will notice it for his gaming...

 

[BlueWeasel]

I'm not running this ECS board -- I do have a Sempron 3100+ (Paris) and I'm running it with an Epox 8KDA3I NF3 board I picked up used from Zap a few weeks ago.

My previous system was a Epox 8RDA3I NF2 Ultra with a XP-M 2600+ @ 2.35Ghz, 9800P, and PC3200 RAM. Currently, I'm running the Sempron system at 2.53Ghz (8x315). While for normal usage, it doesn't seem any faster than my overclocked NF2 system. I don't game as much anymore, but the system certainly seems faster when it comes to Divx encoding and other CPU-extensive tasks.

One huge advantage I see is the different in maximum temperatures between the Sempron and XP-M. For some reason, this Epox board overvolts by a good amount, and my Sempron 2.53Ghz requires 1.55-1.60v to be stable. I've got a midrange Thermaltake copper HSF (Venus 7+) and the most I've seen the temperature get up to is 50C (with 1.60v). I've got one of the newer AMD X2 HSF on the way, and I expect the load temperature to drop 2-3C from 50C with the new HSF.

 

[avash]

I bought the retail AMD heatsink fan off Ebay. Works good enough for me.

Got my replacement mobo and CPU in the mail this week, will re-install this weekend. Fingers crossed, I've blown too many power supplies already

 

[rancherlee]

got mine today, set it at 250HTT and 166mem @ 1.42V actual and went right into windows, GREAT little setup for Under 100$

 

[jumpr]

My HSF was delivered this afternoon, so as soon as I get home I'll be doing the final assembly.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Melectricus
I'm curious what other people think because ...well I'm curious... is it 25% faster or whatever OC'd than the 2500 because of reload or raw power?

IMO the Windows reinstall makes a system feel "snappier" while the raw power cuts down on time needed to complete CPU intensive tasks. You got the best of both worlds, plus you may even come out money ahead by eBaying the socket A stuff.

 

[furballi]

You're getting the performance of a stock A64 3000 by overclocking this rig to 2.25GHz.

The lowest price I've seen on the A64 3000 is $110, plus $60 for the MB. I paid $210 for my A64 3000/939 rig. Best Super Pi 1M digits time is 34 sec. This $90 combo will do 37 sec. I couldn't tell the difference between the two systems without the use of test proggies.

 

[jumpr]

I'm up and running! Not bad for my first build! The HSF was a little tough to get on right (I'll need some Arctic Silver for sure) but other than that I'm flying smoothly. The 3100+ with 1024 MB RAM is a TON faster than my 2.0GHz P4 with 1024 MB RAM.

 

[furballi]

See if you can push the 3100 beyond 250MHz FSB using Clockgen. Mine would do 2.5GHz at 1.6Vcore (+5.1% setting). CPU temp is 49C with 73F ambient. Stock voltage is 1.41V.

 

[jumpr]

Okay, I have no idea what the heck you just said. I'm guessing that I can do most of this from the BIOS, right? I poked around and saw a ton of voltage/FSB type options. Should I use the BIOS or do it though a software program? Also, my idle temp is stable at 30C...oops just dropped to 29C.

 

[Emulex]

man i got the $12 cpu cooler they put some nasty silver lube on the spot over the copper round. took me a bit to get that junk off my hands. good heatsink. odd how the motherboard shuts off the fan until you boot into XP. then it keeps moving around from slow to fast to medium like its on crack.

 

[furballi]

Repost:

Change value to number in (xxx):
page 33 of manual...Max Memclock (166), 1T/2T Memory timing (1T), CAS# Latency (2.5), CPU overclock (250), HT frequency (3X)

page 43 of manual...CPU voltage (+1.7%), DDR Voltage (2.7).

Hit F10 to save and reboot PC. Speed will go from 1.8GHz to 2.25GHz.


Go into the BIOS and set the fan control to SMART. This will turn on the fan if the CPU temp exceeds 40C. Mine only comes on when I bench test or run a task that will require 100% CPU load for more than about 20 seconds. Most of the time, the CPU temp is between 27 and 33C (73F ambient).

Suspect you may have a bad fan. I'm using the Zalman 7700Cu. The fan is running between 970 and 1020 rpm when it is ON. Don't think there is variable voltage out at the fan's terminal (0 or 12VDC).

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: furballi
Repost:

Change value to number in (xxx):
page 33 of manual...Max Memclock (166), 1T/2T Memory timing (1T), CAS# Latency (2.5), CPU overclock (250), HT frequency (3X)

page 43 of manual...CPU voltage (+1.7%), DDR Voltage (2.7).

Hit F10 to save and reboot PC. Speed will go from 1.8GHz to 2.25GHz.


Go into the BIOS and set the fan control to SMART. This will turn on the fan if the CPU temp exceeds 40C. Mine only comes on when I bench test or run a task that will require 100% CPU load for more than about 20 seconds. Most of the time, the CPU temp is between 27 and 33C (73F ambient).

Suspect you may have a bad fan. I'm using the Zalman 7700Cu. The fan is running between 970 and 1020 rpm when it is ON. Don't think there is variable voltage out at the fan's terminal (0 or 12VDC).

Thanks for the info - and sorry for missing it earlier.

Did just that and I'm idling at around 34°C, and after SuperPI to 1M (42 sec. vs. 52 sec. before), I'm at 38°C.

 

[furballi]

That's about right. Very good temperature reporting from this board. It's too bad the BIOS will only allow 250MHz FSB speed. You will need to run Clockgen from Windows (autoload) if you want more speed.

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: furballi
That's about right. Very good temperature reporting from this board. It's too bad the BIOS will only allow 250MHz FSB speed. You will need to run Clockgen from Windows (autoload) if you want more speed.

I'm still waiting on my new video card for this system (UPS delivered it to the WRONG HOUSE and my neighbors aren't home yet) :| but I'm really happy with the overlcock thus far.