***Deal Ended Monday 2/24***Frys Austin $159 combo 2.4 + ECS mobo
- Thread starter jhites
- Start date
what's the quality of ECS mobo? Also, what's the difference between a P4 2.4 GHZ and a P4 2.4B GHZ?
I called Fry's to check the sSpec and these are not the Northwood cores.
So not as good of a deal as I first thought.
Still not bad, though.
So not as good of a deal as I first thought.
Still not bad, though.
It has to be a Northwood core @ 533fsb. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Williamette core only made it up to 2.0ghz and only used 400fsb.
I bought the same combo but with a retail 2.4b bout 2 weeks ago for $200 and it's been running smoothly. Been running prime and 3dmark for quite some time now.
Just make sure that all the jumpers are set correctly like the fsb and the dimm voltage. I think i had to change like 3 jumper settings.
The retail 2.4b I got was a c1 stepping that could go up to 3.1 at +.5v in another motherboard I had. It's a shame I had to put the processor back since I was building it for my uncle. The ecs mobo doesn't have any overclocking options at all but works fine as a basic mobo.
The $159 oem 2.4b and esc mobo combo is also available at the wilsonvill, or frys in case anybody's looking.
Just make sure that all the jumpers are set correctly like the fsb and the dimm voltage. I think i had to change like 3 jumper settings.
The retail 2.4b I got was a c1 stepping that could go up to 3.1 at +.5v in another motherboard I had. It's a shame I had to put the processor back since I was building it for my uncle. The ecs mobo doesn't have any overclocking options at all but works fine as a basic mobo.
The $159 oem 2.4b and esc mobo combo is also available at the wilsonvill, or frys in case anybody's looking.
I'm heading down to my local Fry's (Houston) tonight to get mine.
If you check pricewatch, 2.4ghz/533 is $163 by itself!
This qualifies as a super hot deal in my opinion.
If you check pricewatch, 2.4ghz/533 is $163 by itself!
This qualifies as a super hot deal in my opinion.
A litlte more info. checked these out last weekend at Frys Austin (when it was $189). The boards had Frys stickers on the boxes marked as refurbs or returns carrying the same as new warranty. I assume current deal is same but who knows??
Newegg dropped prices on retail 2.4b to $164 (currently OOS) so you get the mb almost free with the Frys combo (except for retail vs OEM cpu).
I have used the equivalent AMD ECS mb K7s5a and had no problems but people seem to love them cause it works and is cheap - or hate them because of they dont work.
Newegg dropped prices on retail 2.4b to $164 (currently OOS) so you get the mb almost free with the Frys combo (except for retail vs OEM cpu).
I have used the equivalent AMD ECS mb K7s5a and had no problems but people seem to love them cause it works and is cheap - or hate them because of they dont work.
Fry's also has the boxed 2.4 533Mhz with a Soyo Dragon Lite P4S-645D for $229. The Soyo is better board than the ECS but the ECS combo gives you more bang-for-the-buck. Anyone know if Fry's will let you substitute a board? (i.e. get the ECS combo but substitute the board for something else and just pay the difference)
Even better: the motherboard has USB 2.0 and 10/100 built on. It'll take SDRAM or DDR up to 1Gb.
Though I haven't checked the specs.
My experience with ECs motherboards is that the RAM is divided into 4 slots,
2 for SDRAM and 2 for DDR.
They can't be mixed.
My experience with ECs motherboards is that the RAM is divided into 4 slots,
2 for SDRAM and 2 for DDR.
They can't be mixed.
Fry's is real picky on these doorbuster combo deals. You cannot return the processor without also
returning the motherboard, and vice-versa. I am sure that they will not allow mix-n-match
with the various combos. Fry's appears to be the ECS dumping ground for motherboards.
OTOH, it can be a helluva deal, and they usually have a good stock. I picked up an MSI KT266A and
an XP1800+ for $129 about 5 months ago (helluva deal back then).
This is not a thread crap, just a bit of foreknowledge for anyone interested in this combo. I picked it up a few weeks ago at the Fry's in Wilsonville, OR. store for $199 with the retail boxed CPU. I've built my share of systems from scratch and never had as many problems as with this combo. The onboard network adapter would cease functioning after a few hours of use and refuse to work until a fresh install of Windows. I assumed bad motherboard and exchanged it with no hassle at Frys a week later. Same problem. After several hard drive wipes and Windows installations with exactly the same problem, I finally decided to document each step. This way I was able to locate the exact moment the issue arose. The onboard NIC would stop working immediately after loading the printer drivers (HP DJ930C). I tried Win98 and WinXP a few more times each with the same results. Even after uninstalling the printer drivers the NIC would still not function. I then tried disabling the onboard network adapter and added a PCI card. Windows would recognize the new card, drivers loaded fine, but still zero network activity. Clearly this is an issue of the printer drivers interfering with the network. After several weeks I gave up and bought a refurb MSI 845e board from Newegg for $45 shipped. I'm sure that further diligence probably could have come up with an eventual solution. I did try contacting HP's email tech support, what a joke. They suggested I uninstall the previous drivers. I had stated that this was a fresh install using the current drivers offered on their website. Useless. Perhaps there is a software fix out there somewhere, or I could have bought a print server and used it as a workaround. Bottom line was that it was easier to replace the ECS board. Besides, the red MSI PCB matches my Sapphire 9500Pro perfectly. Sorry about the long rant, but this may help someone else. Probably wouldn't effect anyone that doesn't have the same printer, but who knows? I did try running it for several days without hooking up the printer and it worked flawlessly. YMMV.
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