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Athlon 3100 for $100? whats the catch?

Z

ZippyDan

Platinum Member
i noticed a bunch of AMD Athlon 3100s + ECS motherboard combos for sale at ebay (see here for example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3467531591&category=44935), all going by the same guy, and all selling for just over $100. you can find them all by searching for 'AMD 3100' and scrolling down a bit

wow thats a good deal i think. a 3000 barton goes for $160 at newegg. so just the processor along is a good deal, plus i get a motherboard. how is this guy doing it? well, i answered myself, i better investigate the details on the processor. so i emailed him and asked first- is there a warranty on the CPU? (it says it comes with AMD fan but doesnt expressly say anything about a warranty) and what fsb is the CPU, 333 or 400?

well he responds and says there is a 1 year warranty from ECS, and the fsb is 266. huh? AMD made a 3100 with only 266 fsb?

finally i went to pricewatch and typed in 3100a. aha. 3 stores selling the exact same thing for just over $100. and now i finally realized its not a combo. the CPU is INTEGRATED into the motherboard (thats why the warranty is only from ecs). on the other hand, that doesnt seem to be a huge problem (the fact that its not CPU upgradeable). as, as far as i know, the socket a has just about reached the end of the line anyway, and a 3200 is just about the max you can put in there.

ok so the CPU is integrated. the fsb is only 266. you can get a 2700 barton with 333 fsb at newegg for around $100. but its still a 2700. this is rated at 3100. so even at 266 fsb, by AMD's own ratings it should be a faster processor right? in fact it should be a good overall 10% faster for the same price. not to mention u get a free motherboard in the deal.

this page http://www.shentech.com/ecsl7amdpro2.html mentions its an AMD Athlon Pro 3100A+ (Pro? well its not an XP i guess)

so the final question is. is this a good deal? anyone have any benchmarks/reviews/performance on this thing? i mean obviously ECS isnt the best brand, obviously a barton is probably a slightly better core, obviously its better to get a CPU thats not integrated into mobo, obviously 266 fsb is now passe, obviously an nforce2 board would be better than that km266 chipset, obviously a 3 year warranty is better than 1. but doesnt this seem like a great deal for budget computers that are still really really fast? i mean, 3100 is close to being flagship performance. for $100??

or is there a catch? is the 3100 label fooling me and it actually would get its pants knocked off by a 2500 barton? IS IT: TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

discuss 🙂

~Zippy!
 
i checked out the ecs site and it says it has a duron on it. even in the guys pic of the box it says pro 2300a. here is a link to the manual from the ecs site.... i would say you could get a better deal at frys for the same $$$
 
sure, but when u have 3 different retailers selling it, plus a few ebayer's. one of whom has 100's of positive feedbacks, you know its something that exists, and works. im just wondering how/if it really performs 😛

~Zippy!
 
so its a 2300+ duron with neutered cache and all? that makes sense but i have to wonder why so many are selling as a 3100+...

edit: no look. i did see what u were talking about in the picture, but i think they are just using the wrong picture. note here they are selling three models, a 2300+, 2800+, and 3100+ http://www.ateck.com/viewcategory.asp?idcategory=128 so the 3100+ must exist. but is it a duron? and how does a 3100+ duron with neutered cache and 266fsb compare to an athlon... and if its a duron then why do they all say Athlon? that page i linked even says Athlon XP Pro

~Zippy!
 
Well fact is Amd doesn't nor has ever sold a 3100 model cpu as far as i can determine. Looking through the sellers feedback there is a neutral there that accuses the seller of bait and switch. Says the cpu is only a 1900+ that sounds more believable. Personally I wouldn't buy from anyone who is trying to deceive me about what the part really is.
 
There are no model numbers for Durons, they're just x GHz, not xxxx+.
I'd be more than a little suspicious when someone starts making up products that don't exist, be it this seller or ECS.
 
i think amd has made every cpu in 100 increments from 1500 to 3400. take the 2600+ barton that nobody had heard about for instance

here's a 3100 athlon (even though its an athlon 64, i seem to remember normal 3100s) http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1202965&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=arc

that guy on ebay has been selling dozens of those boards. do u really think he's been selling all of them 1900s? not to mention the pricewatch retailers. i think they really are 3100s. what KIND of 3100s is open to debate

~Zippy!
 
Avoid that ECS "marketing gimmick" combo at all costs. Those model numbers are utter crap and very misleading. The soldered on processor eliminates any possibility of a cpu upgrade, and if your board dies you are in for a treat.

I've seen some sites claiming the 3100a+ is an Athlon 1400MHz. However it appears to be a XP-M 1900+ 35w mobile processor running at 1600Mhz.

Pro3000A+ Pro2800A Pro3100A+ 3000a+ pro

What CPU's are these?, Elite L7VMM3 onboard cpus
 
What I dont understand is how ECS can avoid getting sued, especially in the US, the promised land of lawsuits.
 
here is the ECS website on the product

http://www.ecs.com.tw/products/pd_spec.asp?product_id=418

note its only listed on their taiwan website (nowhere on their ecsusa.com usa website), which is probably why it isnt seeing huge distribution here in the usa. only at a few pricewatch retailers and ebay. note that spec sheet says its an AMD Athlon.

grab the manual at the bottom link here

http://www.ecs.com.tw/download/dw_spec.asp?product_id=418

as someone above pointed out, the manual does say its a Duron processor, even though the spec sheet says its an Athlon. a Duron in taiwan and not US makes sense, as i recall when the Duron 1.2ghz and stuff were brought up here (i thought Duron ended at 1ghz was the claim), some pointed out that Durons were continuing past 1ghz in Asian and 3rd world markets.

still, id like to see some real performance numbers on this thing. how can they claim its a 3100? marketing gimmick indeed. i guess im starting to believe its all marketing now, but i still want some hard numbers 😛

~Zippy!
 
Here's a WCPUID screenshot of the 3100a+ processor

i recall when the Duron 1.2ghz and stuff were brought up here (i thought Duron ended at 1ghz was the claim), some pointed out that Durons were continuing past 1ghz in Asian and 3rd world markets.
Click to expand...

AMD Duron's go up to 1.8GHz (applebreds) and are readily available in the USA. If you are looking for a ~$100.00 motherboard/cpu combo then I'd recommend the Biostar M7NCD PRO for $62 and the Duron 1.8GHz for $43 from newegg w/ Free FedEx Saver Shipping.
 
weeee

ebay says its an Athlon Pro
pricewatch says its an Athlon XP Pro
ECS website says its an AMD Athlon
ECS Manual says its an AMD Duron
message board thread says its either an Athlon or a Duron
CPU utility says its an Athlon Mobile

im most inclined to believe the CPU utility i guess, but man is this thing an enigma

anyone have some quick links on how Athlon Mobiles compare to like-rated Athlon nonMobiles? then we'd have some idea of how fast/slow this thing is.

a 1.4ghz Athlon XP is like a 1600+ right?. but this is Athlon Mobile, can u make the same rating comparison? additionally i notice in the stats its only running at 200mhz FSB, not even 266, ouch. there are other things i havent even looked at like internal cache (if its a Duron its half cache right?)

assuming its a 1.4ghz Athlon Mobile, would it be fair to say that this 3100a+ is actually like an Athlon XP 1600+? or is that giving it too much/too little credit

~Zippy!
 
I would avoid it.

PC Chips were selling an onboard 2000+Pro CPU on one of the earlier integrated boards. Turned out to be a 1.3GHz Duron. AMD's ratings are modest - these are just downright ridiculous as it betters the Althlon XP ratings.

The board is also totally integrated (probably some Via) and wayyy slower than any nForce2 board you could buy for the price. I would bet the CPU is in fact a Duron as well.

Run far away...
 
Originally posted by: ZippyDan
i think amd has made every cpu in 100 increments from 1500 to 3400. take the 2600+ barton that nobody had heard about for instance

here's a 3100 athlon (even though its an athlon 64, i seem to remember normal 3100s) http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1202965&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=arc

that guy on ebay has been selling dozens of those boards. do u really think he's been selling all of them 1900s? not to mention the pricewatch retailers. i think they really are 3100s. what KIND of 3100s is open to debate

~Zippy!
Click to expand...
This is an ECS issue, not a seller issue. A KM266 w/ a Duron will not perform very well, no matter what you do. You'd be much better off buying a CPU and mobo, or getting a combo somewhere like Fry's. Hell, a KM266 w/ any CPU won't perform very well.
 
I wouldn't doubt that AMD has made 3100XP's I mean they have made 2300XP's for emachines rigs so why not?

The thing is I doubt this is what they are selling. I would steer clear of ECS mobo anyways I realize many have had good luck with the K7S5A's/ pro's but I wouldn't risk it. I would go with the $60 Nforce2 Shuttle board and get an 1800 XP from newegg before anything like this.
 
Originally posted by: JBT
I wouldn't doubt that AMD has made 3100XP's I mean they have made 2300XP's for emachines rigs so why not?

The thing is I doubt this is what they are selling. I would steer clear of ECS mobo anyways I realize many have had good luck with the K7S5A's/ pro's but I wouldn't risk it. I would go with the $60 Nforce2 Shuttle board and get an 1800 XP from newegg before anything like this.
Click to expand...

Considering the people on AMD's own boards are denying the existence of such a product, I doubt it.
That's aside from the fact that ECS made up absolutely ridiculous ratings for Durons, which gives them a not so stellar trackrecord.
 
It's an Athlon XP 1600+ running at 1400 Mhz (stock.)
It's not a good deal.
They just double the PR rating for some reason. Maybe they're just comparing it to a celeron. That would be accurate.
I have, in my basement, right now, a rig (not mine) which has an ECS K7S0M motherboard in it. It has a Duron 950 SOLDERED into the socket and the heatsink glued down and then two screws which they gave a rating of "1400+" to.
It's all bs.
 
From newegg:
Athlon XP 2000+ retail box $57,
ECS KT333 or SIS735 motherboard $42,
both have free shipping.
Why bother something from ebay?
 
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