ASRock K8Upgrade-NF3 NVIDIA nForce3-250 w/Sempron 3000+

[funboy6942]

Linkage

Great board for those still using, or have a Socket 754 chip, faster then what comes with this, but would like to jump from AGP to PCI-E goodness. And if mem serves me right, please do lmk if I am wrong, but I do believe you are able to run a agp and a pci-e card at the same time for 4 monitor goodness with this board.

Description: This ASRock K8Upgrade-NF3 motherboard is a unique Socket 754 ATX motherboard that lets you use a separate add-in board for connecting newer Socket 939 & AM2 CPUs! It's powered by the NVIDIA nForce3-250 chipset and features support for AMD Sempron & Athlon 64 socket 754 processors. The two DIMM slots support up to 2 GB of DDR 400 memory.

Add an array of devices with the two IDE channels and two SATA channels, and if you feel nostalgic add a 3.5-inch floppy drive to the floppy disk channel. Integrated 6-channel audio is provided with the Realtek ALC850 chipset. Connect to high-speed networks or the Internet with the integrated Ethernet LAN.

Upgrade the CPU capabilities of this board with a separate ASRock 939CPU board (not included), then upgrade the graphics with the AGP 8x/4x slot. Four PCI slots and four rear USB ports make this a fully flexible foundation!

General Features:
- NVIDIA nForce3-250 chipset
- Socket 754
- ATX form factor
- Supports up to 2 GB DDR RAM (non-ECC)
- Supports DDR 266/333/400 MHz
- Integrated Realtek ALC850 audio chipset
- Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
- Two (2) IDE channels
- Two (2) SATA channels
- One (1) floppy disk channel
- 20-pin ATX power connector

Supported Processors:
- Support for Socket 754 AMD Sempron & Athlon 64 processors
- Supports HyperTransport interface

Expansion Slots:
- One (1) CPU_FUTURE port (for ASRock 939/AM2 CPU board, not included)
- One (1) AGP 8x/4x slot
- Four (4) PCI slots
- One (1) AMR slot

I/O ports:
- Two (2) PS/2 ports
- Six (6) USB 2.0 ports
- One (1) Parallel port
- One (1) RJ-45 Ethernet port
- Mic in, Line in, Line out

Package Includes:
ASRock K8Upgrade-NF3 Socket 754 mATX AGP DDR Motherboard only

Notes:
- Model: K8Upgrade-NF3
- Product is motherboard only, no I/O shield, cables, screws, etc. are included.

 

[cmv]

I think that is way too much for a refurb socket 754 motherboard. I just payed $40 for a decent "open box" socket 775 motherboard at NewEgg. They have at least 4 "open box" socket 754 motherboards and all are $30 or less before shipping. My problem right now is too many socket 754 motherboards, not enough CPUs and not enough expensive DDR ram.

For anyone considering this, think long and hard. I recommend making the jump to socket 775 and going with something like the E2180 CPU (see hot deal for $50 AR before shipping). Socket 754 is a dead end 🙁.

edit: Oh, and I have the Asrock P4Dual which is the socket 478 version of this motherboard. The AGP slot can only handle specific cards. Read the manual if you are planning on using the AGP slot (I think they called it an AGI slot)?

 

[beergeek]

Well, as a replacement for an existing (dead) 754, the upside is that it apparently includes a Sempron 3000+, and would allow me to re-use the 2GB of DDR400 that I already have in the dead board...

That's vs your $30 for an open-box 775, $50 for a (admittedly much faster) 2180, and $30-$40 for 2GB of DDR2 800. $55 vs $110-$130 (plus probably $10-15 extra shipping) - have to think about that...

What are people's experience with open box MB's from the egg?

 

[soflawill]

scrambled eggs all over my face, what is a boy to do? Main rig is an asrock dual vista running an opteron 165 with 2 gigs ocz pc 3200 platinum, a nice agp video card,

wifey has one of those ultra micros running a 754 with a couple of gigs of pc 3200 and onboard video,

kid has a 754 with a gig of pc 3200 and a nice agp video card

want to upgrade so bad to some of the new goodies, but everything we have fits our needs.


being a so-called responsible adult is a pain

but as to this, I cannot complain about an asrock board. the one i use is rock solid

 

[dpauley55]

Help me out guys on the Refurb .vs Open Box question. I know it's different but my Sony TV went out and the guy resoldered a board in it... It worked for a year and died again. It only cost me about half as much as a new part at the time but a new part might have lasted 10 years like the original. It was a good excuse to move up to LCD anyway, but I felt like I threw money away. Does open box mean someone has tried it out and may have overclocked it and done damage even if they say it's checkedout? Does Refurb mean like a bad capacitor. Can they fix it out of the factory as good as new?....thanks

 

[kaborka]

Open box mobo from NE will probably NOT include the i/o shield, which is a MAJOR PITA. That said, I got an OB Biostar S754 mobo for $17 and it was fine. My friend got the same board and it was DOA, but NE replaced it.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: dpauley55
Help me out guys on the Refurb .vs Open Box question. I know it's different but my Sony TV went out and the guy resoldered a board in it... It worked for a year and died again. It only cost me about half as much as a new part at the time but a new part might have lasted 10 years like the original. It was a good excuse to move up to LCD anyway, but I felt like I threw money away. Does open box mean someone has tried it out and may have overclocked it and done damage even if they say it's checkedout? Does Refurb mean like a bad capacitor. Can they fix it out of the factory as good as new?....thanks

Open box means it was sold, USED, and for some reason or another returned to the store where they did a in-house test, mostly really quick, and re-sell it if it turns on for a few minutes without really checking it out fully.

Refurbished means something was bought, USED, and returned because it was broken. At which point is returned to the manufacture for repair back into "NEW" like condition and resold.

Honestly, if Im going to buy a open box Id much rather buy a used part off the FS/FT section, because for some reason or another that item in the open box was used by someone, did something wrong, and made them return it. Maybe because it didnt overclock to their liking, it hangs in certain spot, most of which the egg will not test long enough to make happen, just happy it turns on, because if it dont it goes back to be refurbished, and there just has to be a good reason for a item to be returned to be a open box. 99% of the time I doubt its due to price that made them return it because the egg price matches.

I buy refurbished and used all the time. I have bought a few times open box, but got burned too many times with the product showing up half working and after 15 days thats it, your sol. At least with used from the forums you know that 99% of the time your not getting scammed and it works great and has been for a long time, and with refurbished it is most of the time repaired by the manufacture so it should be good to go for as if it were a new item.

Thats my take, take it or leave, how ever you want.