Core2Duo E6600 & ECS P4M800PRO-M MB $199.99

[diamonddave]

Title says it all (pretty much) ... sorry no link since this is a B&M deal.

Fry's in Chicago has the Core2Duo E6600 (retail box at least in ad picture) paired with ECS P4M800PRO-M v2 Motherboard. The motherboard is nothing special, but I am using it in one of my machines & it's working just fine. Basically, you're getting the MB for free, the Core2Duo at $199.99 is a good deal on its own.

According to the ad this is one day only, Sunday, May 20th, 2007.

My guess is Fry's in other cities will have the same deal.

 

[Jules]

Im going to be going to fry's today. I have a e6300 @ 3ghz at stock volts. how good is this e6600 at overclocking? and whats the multi?

 

[rqle]

frys B&M (and some online) customer appreciation sale this weeks is pretty crazy. They been doing this 1-day sale all week. The sport sections became the #2 priority this week for me . They also like to advertise on the back of the sport page too.

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Im going to be going to fry's today. I have a e6300 @ 3ghz at stock volts. how good is this e6600 at overclocking? and whats the multi?

I picked up this similar deal last week with this ECS mobo which is the PCI-E in which I too plan to use it as a spare.
I ordered the eVGA 650i Ultra from the Egg for my new build instead.
Back to the e6600 topic. I got the "G" stepping series from the line-up at Fry's (DFW) but then
My research shows the G model is such a lousy overclocker.
I typically overclock my cpu/gpu like mad.
That being said, I'm not even sure right now whether to returning the whole package and wait for the next round?

e6600 discussion at AT cpu forum

 

[mgutz]

Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Im going to be going to fry's today. I have a e6300 @ 3ghz at stock volts. how good is this e6600 at overclocking? and whats the multi?

It has a 9x multiplier so theoretically you should be able to get to 3.8Ghz with your same settings.

9 x 428 = 3.8

Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. You might be able to squeeze out an extra 0.5Ghz. I own the e6300 and was thinking of upgrading as well but is 0.5Ghz worth $200. Intel CPU prices are supposedly coming down in July so it's probably better to wait. If you don't have a C2D already, this is a great deal.

I bought an e4300 for a second system from Fry's Friday for $99 and that was good deal as I'm able to overlock it to 3.0Ghz.

 

[diamonddave]

OK quick update - went to Fry's in Chicago (Downers Grove) & picked up the combo for $199.99.

The receipt has the combo broken down as $160.39 for the CPU (it's retail boxed w/CPU fan) & $39.60 for the motherboard. My guess is I can return the motherboard for $39.60 credit & purchase a more suitable motherboard. (I was thinking of the Gigabyte 965-DS3 but I'm open to suggestions ...) Has anyone done this at Fry's before, i.e. purchase a combo & then return one piece of it? If they had it priced only as a unit I could foresee problems, but this seems like it should work.

 

[htne]

Originally posted by: diamonddave
OK quick update - went to Fry's in Chicago (Downers Grove) & picked up the combo for $199.99.

The receipt has the combo broken down as $160.39 for the CPU (it's retail boxed w/CPU fan) & $39.60 for the motherboard. My guess is I can return the motherboard for $39.60 credit & purchase a more suitable motherboard. (I was thinking of the Gigabyte 965-DS3 but I'm open to suggestions ...) Has anyone done this at Fry's before, i.e. purchase a combo & then return one piece of it? If they had it priced only as a unit I could foresee problems, but this seems like it should work.

A few (very few) have reported success with this. Many, Many, Many more have reported that it does not work.

 

[Devil2U]

I am going to pull the trigger. I want to have a new system ready to go for the release of ET: Quake Wars.
:thumbsup:

 

[mgutz]

Originally posted by: diamonddave
... purchase a combo & then return one piece of it? If they had it priced only as a unit I could foresee problems, but this seems like it should work.

they're onto this loophole. i tried to return the cheap ECS board when i bought my e6300 some time back. i couldn't convince them. i'm not one to make a scene though. supposedly they won't accept return on a CPU after so many days. i think it was 7 days. i would wait 8 days and then try to return the entire combo. then argue you don't want any of it because the motherboard is crap. they have a very high return rate on these motherboards. they'll probably decline at which point conceed and tell them you understand their policy on the CPU but why do you have to keep the motherboard. i have buddies who aren't afraid to make a scene and you'll be surprised what a little perseverance can do. not my style though.

 

[buddhatb]

This deal is valid at Southern California Fry's stores as well.

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: diamonddave
OK quick update - went to Fry's in Chicago (Downers Grove) & picked up the combo for $199.99.

The receipt has the combo broken down as $160.39 for the CPU (it's retail boxed w/CPU fan) & $39.60 for the motherboard. My guess is I can return the motherboard for $39.60 credit & purchase a more suitable motherboard. (I was thinking of the Gigabyte 965-DS3 but I'm open to suggestions ...) Has anyone done this at Fry's before, i.e. purchase a combo & then return one piece of it? If they had it priced only as a unit I could foresee problems, but this seems like it should work.

good luck.

 

[QuixoticOne]

In for one, thanks, OP.

Hmm the ECS only supports a maximum of 1GBy per single DIMM,
and 2GBy total memory over all DIMMs. that's not ideal since I just
got the 2x2GB Patriot DIMMS from Ftys, DOH. GUess I need to get a good
cheap 2x1GBy DIMM set too now.

I saw something about the M/B being single channel... does that mean that it
doesn't get any speed benefit from using paired DIMMs even if you install a supported
pair of the same DIMM? Isn't that unusual for Pentium chipsets to be single channel only?

Is the BIOS / voltage regulator any good for running the 6600 without overclocking
or am I likely to experience a lot of flakiness / crashes due to bad BIOS or unstable
design? I was originally going to sell the M/B and get a better one for the CPU
but the AGP & integrated graphics is growing on me and I think I might use it,
though it's not worth hours of flakiness / buggyness / instability from hell if it's kind of
a marginal board for the E6600 at stock speeds.

 

[CloE]

got one at Oregon fry's today. $199 combo out the door NO TAX.

getting L631F batch.

 

[QuixoticOne]

Originally posted by: CloE
got one at Oregon fry's today. $199 combo out the door NO TAX.

getting L631F batch.

That's where I got one too.

Batch # L704A945.
Packed 4/4/07.

I haven't yet found the reference to see what stepping that is or what errata
and general performance the batch/stepping is rumored to have.
I guess L704 is the production week number encoded somehow, and A945 is
some code relevant to that.

 

[diamonddave]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne
In for one, thanks, OP.

Hmm the ECS only supports a maximum of 1GBy per single DIMM,
and 2GBy total memory over all DIMMs. that's not ideal since I just
got the 2x2GB Patriot DIMMS from Ftys, DOH. GUess I need to get a good
cheap 2x1GBy DIMM set too now.

I saw something about the M/B being single channel... does that mean that it
doesn't get any speed benefit from using paired DIMMs even if you install a supported
pair of the same DIMM? Isn't that unusual for Pentium chipsets to be single channel only?

Is the BIOS / voltage regulator any good for running the 6600 without overclocking
or am I likely to experience a lot of flakiness / crashes due to bad BIOS or unstable
design? I was originally going to sell the M/B and get a better one for the CPU
but the AGP & integrated graphics is growing on me and I think I might use it,
though it's not worth hours of flakiness / buggyness / instability from hell if it's kind of
a marginal board for the E6600 at stock speeds.

I have another machine (E6300 Dual Core) running on this motherboard (from a previous bundle); so far it's been stable. Really, it's been a placeholder until I get a newer M/B so I can overclock the E6300 & pair it with faster RAM. Since this deal came along, the E6600 will become my main machine (with newer M/B & 4 GB RAM) & the E6300 will allow me room to play with overclocking, eventually becoming a second machine.

What this motherboard does well:
1) Stable/OK in day-to-day usage.
2) Useful if you still have an AGP video card (which I do)
3) Supports a number of IDE/PATA devices (my newer M/B likely won't)

What this motherboard doesn't:
1) Overclocking (slightest bit sends computer in tailspin)
2) Dealing with fast/large memory (two banks of two slots each - DDR or DDRII - you can use one or the other but not both - max rated speed listed is DDRII 533 aka PC4200)
3) Useful if you want to use PCI-e video card (no slot for that)

It's not the worst thing in the world, but there's a reason they include it in this bundle. It supports some older standards (AGP, DDR) to allow you to transition to newer technology, but that's about it. Don't expect a world-beater.