frys, 2500 athlon retail + nforce2 $99

[hans007]

i forgot to post this, but it was on the back of the saturday Los angeles times.


it should be valid for another day or so. i was thinking hmmm ECS+2500 for $99 isnt cheap, but then i noticed it was an nforce2 ecs and a retail 2500

 

[Corporate Thug]

if only it was a mobile...

 

[kyparrish]

still a pretty good deal!

 

[Harvey]

They seem to rotate a lot of 2x00+ CPU's with mobo combos. When it comes around again, the $2400+ Tbred and ECS board for $69.99 is a killer system for office/commercial apps. The ECS board has a VIA chipsets, but only support AGP4, but it includes the LAN and AC'97 sound.

I put one together for a client, and it seemed to be rock stable. I'd put together a company full of these in a heartbeat.

 

[kenrippy]

I picked up one of these combos yesterday at the FV, CA store. not bad for an nForce2 Ultra board (dual channel capable)

 

[simo]

Doesn't seem to be in Sunnyvale, only the ECS K7 thing and 2600+ for $99.

I'd be all over an Abit NForce2/Mobile Athlon 2400+ combo though if anyone knows of one?

 

[ae86pwr]

ECS board actually works for me this time ... just make sure you update the bios first before installing OS. The board without new bios will think this 2500+ as 3200+ and crashing left and right.

 

[kenrippy]

Originally posted by: ae86pwr
ECS board actually works for me this time ... just make sure you update the bios first before installing OS. The board without new bios will think this 2500+ as 3200+ and crashing left and right.

they only show 2 bios versions for this board on the ecs site. did you flash to 1.0b then?
bios d/l page

 

[hans007]

this board is identical to one of the shuttle nforce2 boards. i've seen pictures and their layout is the same.


shuttle and ecs have some other identical boards like that . so yeah.

 

[RBC]

Can you get this deal in Dallas?

 

[xybertron]

You should be able to - it was in the paper.

http://newspaperads.dfw.com/newspapers/dfw/ads/20040426/0003_20040426/3614099.gif

 

[ae86pwr]

double check with your board when it loads its IDE detection screen .. it will say if yours has 1.0b or 1.0a

The one i bought is 1.0b



I unplug the hd power to it stop at that screen so it can read the text on screen longer

 

[kenrippy]

Originally posted by: ae86pwr
double check with your board when it loads its IDE detection screen .. it will say if yours has 1.0b or 1.0a

The one i bought is 1.0b



I unplug the hd power to it stop at that screen so it can read the text on screen longer

you should be able to hit the pause/break key to stop the screen to read it.

if yours came with 1.0b then it came with the newest bios already. ??? or did it come with 1.0a and you flashed it to "b"?

 

[tsowen]

Simo,

Athlon XP 2500+ boxed CPU with ECS N2U400-A for $99 is available at Fry's in Bay area now.

 

[simo]

Originally posted by: tsowen
Simo,

Athlon XP 2500+ boxed CPU with ECS N2U400-A for $99 is available at Fry's in Bay area now.

Thanks for that - quite tempting when you think that an Abit NF7-S costs $90 alone from Newegg.

It's not a great NF2 mobo - no multiplier settings for overclocking and no SATA or Firewire like most other NF2's.

ECS site

 

[RBC]

Any thoughts on the value of the the other combos they've got on sale? I saw one with a 2600 for $99 and a bare P4 3.0 with a DFI board for $279 (this is the one I tempted to get).

 

[RBC]

Any advice at all on the intel combo? I'm asking a friend to go over in about an hour to pick on up for me.

 

[kenrippy]

Originally posted by: RBC
Any thoughts on the value of the the other combos they've got on sale? I saw one with a 2600 for $99 and a bare P4 3.0 with a DFI board for $279 (this is the one I tempted to get).

if the other $99 deal is not for the nForce chipset board then it's probably the K7VTA3 which I would stay far away from if I were you. I can't speak of the $279 P4 deal though.

 

[Unforgiven]

ive got a k7vta3 for a seti cruncher that runs flawless.....anything ecs is really hit and miss!

 

[RBC]

A lot of negative comments on the ecs nforce2 board on google. Enough so that I think I'll pass.

 

[Subodim]

Since it's Tuesday evening, I presume that this deal is over. But don't worry; Fry's has sales on CPU/mb combos every week.

For example, over the weekend, my local Fry's had the following combos on sale:

Athlon XP 2400+ (OEM) CPU w/ECS K7VTA3 motherboard $54.99
Athlon XP 2600+ (Retail Box) CPU w/ECS K7VTA3 motherboard $99.99
Athlon XP 2400+ (Retail Box) CPU w/Shuttle AN35N-Ultra $119.99
3.0GHz Pentium 4 (OEM) CPU (800MHz FSB) w/DFI PS83-BL motherboard $279.99
Athlon XP 2500+ (Retail Box) CPU w/ECS N2U400-A motherboard $99.99
2.8GHz Pentium 4 (Retail Box) CPU (800MHz FSB) w/FIC VL13PE motherboard $249.99

I don't have Monday's ad, so I don't know if there was anything else on sale. Most of the combos listed above have been on sale several times in the last few weeks, possibly at different prices. Most of the really good deals sell out the first day, but then Fry's gets more in stock and runs the same specials again.

In the past two months, I've bought the following combos:

Athlon XP 2200+ (OEM) CPU w/ECS K7VTA3 motherboard $49.99
Athlon XP 2500+ (OEM) CPU w/ECS K7VTA3 motherboard $84.99
Athlon XP 2200+ (Retail Box) CPU w/Shuttle AN35N-Ultra motherboard $99.99
2.4GHz Pentium 4 (Retail Box CPU (533MHz FSB/1MB cache) w/ECS 848P-A motherboard $129.99
2.8GHz Pentium 4 (Retail Box) CPU (533MHz FSB) w/ECS L4VXA2 motherboard $159.99

I'm running the Shuttle motherboard right now with an Athlon XP-M 2500+ Mobile CPU. Fry's sells it for $69.99 plus tax by itself; NewEgg sells it for $69.00 shipped. If I see another combo on sale at Fry's that includes that motherboard for $99.99 or less, I'll buy it.

 

[kenrippy]

yeah, that shuttle is a great board. i picked one up for $99 when it was paired with a retail 2400+ a few months back. the board is still sittin here waiting to be used.

i was jumping all over those combo deals w/ the K7VTA3 and selling the boards for about $30-35 shipped and keeping the cpu's. i'm not wasting my time anymore with that board, but i'm going to take a chance on the N2U400-A and see how it goes. all i'm hoping for is stability, not overclockability.

 

[manno]

New rule no one can post frys deals until they set up shop on the east coast... or just Miami FL. Great post, hot deal. It's even a retail chip!

 

[WA261]

Wish I had one here in SLC.

 

[tsowen]

Other recent Fry's offer also inlcude:

Athlon XP 2600+ (Retail Box) CPU w/ ECS N2U400-A motherboard $109.99
Athlon XP 2700+ (Retail Box) CPU w/ Albatron KX600 Pro motherboar $159.99
Athlon XP 2800+ (Retail Box) CPU w/ DFI KT600-AL motherboard $169.99
Athlon XP 3000+ (Retail Box) CPU w/ DFI NFII 400-AL motherboard $199.99