E6600 OEM + ECS P-965TA Mobo (PCI-E) $299

[Yreka]

Enjoy

 

[Xarick]

We sure this is oem? I would love to grab this even though the mobo is not the greatest its still ok.

 

[Yreka]

Yeah, just got back from (Fremont, CA) Fry's, it's definitely OEM..

I don't mind OEM , and I needed a board that will get me by till the 680i Gougefest calms down a bit. It seemed worthwhile to me.

 

[Xarick]

is the board oem also? does it come with any cables, plates or anything? Does the oem proc come with a hs/f?

 

[voodoojc]

Board is retail and comes with the usual stuff. OEM processor is CPU only.

 

[Xarick]

Ive never bought an oem proc... what is the downside?

 

[lupi]

I imagine no way to get it but B&M?

 

[marulee]

:thumbsup:

 

[WT]

Xarick, an OEM processor has a shorter warranty (usually 90 days instead of 3 yr. IIR) and no heatsink fan.

 

[Xarick]

is it worth the loss of warranty and hs/f to go with the combo? otherwise I am gonna grab an e6400

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Xarick
is it worth the loss of warranty and hs/f to go with the combo? otherwise I am gonna grab an e6400

Thats up to you.. I normally buy retail, as they are usually only 10-30$ more than OEM.


But in this case, Retail on an E6600 is a little over $300, about the same price as the combo. So in sacraficing the retail package, you basically get an 80$ retail board for free ( sticker on the box says $120, but I doubt anyone is buying at that price, thus the combo), but you lose the 1 year mfg warranty. ( I wouldnt use the HSF anyway. )

Two things that made it an easier sell for me.

1. I am going to eventually OC the $hit out of this chip. Warranty goes out the window anyway.
2. I have never, in my experience had to use a CPU warranty. They usually are either DOA, or they work forever ( or longer than I keep them installed anyway )

So I jumped on the deal.

But dammit, now that I posted #2, this 6600 is going to crap out on me 3 days after the warranty is up :|

 

[Xarick]

LOL
I thought intel procs came with a 3 year warranty.. so aren't you losing out on 2 years of warranty?

Also is that ECS board good enough to actually use? Cause I was gonna buy the intel board for $109 bucks with an e6400 for 218. So $327 there. But of course with the combo I would need to buy a hs/f.

What kind of hs/f is as good as or slighlty better than retail?

 

[videopho]

Hmm...
So no one has been able to confirm the ECS is actually a SLI or Crossfire?

I've bought combo from Fry's before and my experience tells me these come in retailed boxes, including the cpu.
ECS in general is no-frilled, inexpensive, and pratical mobo. If you want o/c flexibility, look elsewhere.
Over the years I've used several of them (ECS) thru combo deals like this previously and all are still in the order working.

 

[petey117]

ECS has come a long way in the past 4 or 5 years. they are not the same crap that "PC chips" used to put out so many years ago
I have always liked the ECS boards, because they just "work"
I have had many problems with high end boards, but the ECS always work from the day you put them in
I have been doing this for a long time, too

I say go for the combo, unless you need features that are not on that board

 

[aznbomber]

Originally posted by: videopho
Hmm...
So no one has been able to confirm the ECS is actually a SLI or Crossfire?

I've bought combo from Fry's before and my experience tells me these come in retailed boxes, including the cpu.
ECS in general is no-frilled, inexpensive, and pratical mobo. If you want o/c flexibility, look elsewhere.
Over the years I've used several of them (ECS) thru combo deals like this previously and all are still in the order working.

I just went to get the combo earlier today. These are not retail, they are strictly OEM.

 

[Yreka]

Got it up and running last night.. Everything booted right up first try. Had a small hickup getting the optical drive working correctly, but other than that it went very smooth. I am using 4GB of 533 Corsair value select ( still waiting for mem prices to drop abit + I had it laying around).

The board itself seems pretty solid.. I mean, you can tell its a <$100 board, but it works. Like VideoP said, you dont have much in the way of OC options. The bios the board ships with basically had a small selection of choices to overvolt the CPU, and the ability to set system bus speed at the standard incriments. 266,100,33_ 333,100,33 etc. After checking the ECS site, I noticed there is a new bios as of November.. Once I flashed that, it gave me the ability to overvolt the ram in preset incriments, and manually set the spd timings.

I was able to bump the proc up to 3Ghz forcing the 333mhz bus ( actually CPUZ reads like 2990mhz) Stock V on RAM and CPU, the only thing I changed was the bus speed. Passed orthos 9 hrs so far so good.

I didnt have too much more time with it after getting it set up last night. I had upgraded from an Opteron 170 @ 2.7, and ran some quick benches before and after. I don't have the numbers with me here, but I can approximate

Edit to add before + after system specs:
Opty170 @ 2.7
A8N32-SLI
2GB ram @ 236mhz
EVGA 8800GTX
74Raptor (The older 8m version)
S12-600 PS

Replaced with the 6600/ECS combo + 4GB of the Corsair Value Ram, everything else was the same.
/edit

SuperPI went from 32 to 17-20sec for the 1M
Aquamark Went from like 108,000 to 150k+
CoD2, 1680X1060 all options maxed in the game went from like 48fps to 76fps on the techpowerup time demo. *I was surprised by this one.
Mark06 gained about 1,500 I think.

 

[videopho]

Yreka-
What is your video card?
Your numbers look rather impressive , imo, considered it is ECS mobo.

 

[Yreka]

EVGA 8800GTX, was running stock speeds on both systems.