Frys: 2600/2700/2800+ combos: $69.99/$84.99/$99.99

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RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,814
319
136
Originally posted by: kenrippy
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Damn glad I didn't buy it.

Thanks :)
it will fit in one of the ebuyer $17.99 kingcases though ;)

I'm looking to build an HTPC, I gotta read up on CPU/mobo/cases :(

I think I'm sold on the Antec Aria but want the best bang for my buck CPU/mobo, something fast but quiet, stable and cheap.
 

kenrippy

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2002
1,763
0
0
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: kenrippy
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Damn glad I didn't buy it.

Thanks :)
it will fit in one of the ebuyer $17.99 kingcases though ;)

I'm looking to build an HTPC, I gotta read up on CPU/mobo/cases :(

I think I'm sold on the Antec Aria but want the best bang for my buck CPU/mobo, something fast but quiet, stable and cheap.

If you're going to go with a SFF system, check out the Biostar 200N. it comes with a great board w/ onboard GF4 graphics & dual channel ddr, and has the best case layout/wiring and cooling of all the SFF systems. You can spend a little less for their km400 chipset model, but this 200N really rocks. Just add cpu, hdd & optical drive.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
78,814
319
136
Awesome!

Would that GF4 onboard be sufficient for an HTPC? I guess it would be since it wouldn't be a "gaming rig".
 

kenrippy

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2002
1,763
0
0
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Awesome!

Would that GF4 onboard be sufficient for an HTPC? I guess it would be since it wouldn't be a "gaming rig".

Yes. But you could fit a 9800Pro in there if you wanted to. I heard it's hard to fit a longer agp card in, like an older GF4 etc. I have been thinking of getting the one for socket 478. I have a p4 2.53 533fsb chip laying around that needs a home. :D
 

tsowen

Member
May 24, 2002
115
0
0
I plan to build a machine to do divx encoding and playing movies (a lot of real time processing). Which processor is better? 2400+ or 2600+? The 2400+ seems to have higher clock speed (2.0GHz) compare to 2600+ (1.9GHz).
 

Chebago

Senior member
Apr 10, 2004
575
0
0
marcyes.com
Originally posted by: tsowen
I plan to build a machine to do divx encoding and playing movies (a lot of real time processing). Which processor is better? 2400+ or 2600+? The 2400+ seems to have higher clock speed (2.0GHz) compare to 2600+ (1.9GHz).

check to make sure if you are dealing with a barton or the what were they? Thunderbird? I can't remember, anyways, I know the 2600+ clock speed got dropped to 1.9 mhz on the barton because they upped the fsb and the cache, I love my 2600+ barton, had it for almost a year and it hasn't given me any hiccups or problems, if you want the best bang for the buck though, you might want to look at the 2500+ bartons, I think they are the ideal price/performance winner IMO.
 

bjamm2

Senior member
Dec 29, 2002
742
0
76
Originally posted by: Chebago
Originally posted by: tsowen
I plan to build a machine to do divx encoding and playing movies (a lot of real time processing). Which processor is better? 2400+ or 2600+? The 2400+ seems to have higher clock speed (2.0GHz) compare to 2600+ (1.9GHz).

check to make sure if you are dealing with a barton or the what were they? Thunderbird? I can't remember, anyways, I know the 2600+ clock speed got dropped to 1.9 mhz on the barton because they upped the fsb and the cache, I love my 2600+ barton, had it for almost a year and it hasn't given me any hiccups or problems, if you want the best bang for the buck though, you might want to look at the 2500+ bartons, I think they are the ideal price/performance winner IMO.

I will second that... i bought this 2600+ combo for a friend as a gift, but since the 2600 is faster than my 2500 i put it in yesterday.. i had my 2500 running at 3200+ speeds (2.2ghz) with 0 problems and possibly will go even faster. But the 2600 would only hit 190mhz :( which is like 2150mhz... needless to say the 2600 is already out and im back to my 2500 :)
 

passivex

Senior member
Sep 23, 2000
290
0
0
I got this combo (ECS nForce2Ultra400 board + barton XP2600+) a few months back. Here are my thoughts on this combo:


  1. Great combo at $59 or $69 (got mine for $69)

    Been up and running (non-stop for weeks on end) for about 4 months now. No problem whatsoever @ stock speed (166x11.5)=1.92Ghz. Core voltage is locked at 1.65v

    Best overclocking FSB = 185Mhz (x11.5 = 2.13Ghz) but the system could not last more than 4 days of continous run (dling whole seasons of the Simpsons so I had to leave it on). This combo will go to 195FSB and run pretty stable too but that required a voltage mod (drop tiny copper wires into the pin grid, shorting the appropriate pin to force the core voltage). At 195FSB, the system runs for a long time (about 8 hours) without problem, then weird little errors would crop up. I wouldn't burn anything at that speed (messed up 2 DVDs already).

And no matter what I do, I could not run this combo @ 200FSB (I did get it to run at 215 though, weird). I am using an all-copper Zalman heatsink with a TMD fan running at 10K rpm with this CPU and it never gets very hot (temperatures hover at around 43 degrees C).
 

krackato

Golden Member
Aug 10, 2000
1,058
0
0
Jesus Christ, why does every Fry's thread have to be 80% filled with people complaining that they don't have a Fry's? Not to rant, but it's freaking annoying when you're browsing a thread and trying to find out if anyone's posted details on the quality of the product and you just have to skim by post after post after post of people whining and complaining and mentioning and reminding the rest of us that they live in a location that doesn't have a Fry's. Ignore the threads that say "Fry's". Why would you open them? You can't get the stuff anyway.

I'm done.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
Originally posted by: krackato
Jesus Christ, why does every Fry's thread have to be 80% filled with people complaining that they don't have a Fry's? Not to rant, but it's freaking annoying when you're browsing a thread and trying to find out if anyone's posted details on the quality of the product and you just have to skim by post after post after post of people whining and complaining and mentioning and reminding the rest of us that they live in a location that doesn't have a Fry's. Ignore the threads that say "Fry's". Why would you open them? You can't get the stuff anyway.

I'm done.

Amen. It's annoying as hell. I guess people need a shoulder to cry on.
 

kenrippy

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2002
1,763
0
0
Originally posted by: jpeyton
Originally posted by: krackato
Jesus Christ, why does every Fry's thread have to be 80% filled with people complaining that they don't have a Fry's? Not to rant, but it's freaking annoying when you're browsing a thread and trying to find out if anyone's posted details on the quality of the product and you just have to skim by post after post after post of people whining and complaining and mentioning and reminding the rest of us that they live in a location that doesn't have a Fry's. Ignore the threads that say "Fry's". Why would you open them? You can't get the stuff anyway.

I'm done.

Amen. It's annoying as hell. I guess people need a shoulder to cry on.
I don't mind, it just makes me feel better about living where there's a fry's :D
It's funny how most normal shoppers like my parents etc. hate going to fry's because it can be so confusing at times. Like when you need a cpu or ram, you have to talk to the CSR first......I am so used to it, I don't have to think when I go in there. It's like being in a "zone" where everything around you is moving in slow motion and you are at normal speed.....ahhh
 

chinkgai

Diamond Member
Apr 4, 2001
3,904
0
71
Originally posted by: kenrippy
the only slight problem with this combo, is that the 2600+ barton's default multiplyer is 11.5 (locked of course)

i got one thats unlocked :p
 

razel

Platinum Member
May 14, 2002
2,337
90
101
FYI. . . Was feeling pretty good about not upgrading my system for over a year and jumped on this deal since it came with a motherboard that had the great NFORCE chipset and officially supported a 200MHZ bus that my unlocked T-Bred B can run at. Too bad it doesn't support unlocking from the BIOS! It also didn't support S3 (suspend to RAM) with the fans turned off.

Looks like it's going back and I'm going to remind myself to check online manuals for motherboards before buying. Funny because S3 and multiplier adjustment from the BIOS are two things that I looked for over a year ago when I last upgraded my PC.

Regardless, this is a GREAT deal for your average PC user.
 

kenrippy

Golden Member
Sep 3, 2002
1,763
0
0
Originally posted by: razel
FYI. . . Was feeling pretty good about not upgrading my system for over a year and jumped on this deal since it came with a motherboard that had the great NFORCE chipset and officially supported a 200MHZ bus that my unlocked T-Bred B can run at. Too bad it doesn't support unlocking from the BIOS! It also didn't support S3 (suspend to RAM) with the fans turned off.

Looks like it's going back and I'm going to remind myself to check online manuals for motherboards before buying. Funny because S3 and multiplier adjustment from the BIOS are two things that I looked for over a year ago when I last upgraded my PC.

Regardless, this is a GREAT deal for your average PC user.

I never had a use for STR, but the no multiplier thing is a drag. Although most socket A cpu's these days are factory locked, this feature would come in handy for some users/overclockers. Then again, whoever is buying a budget board like this can't expect much more than standard functionality. Maybe a future BIOS will have these features.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,545
10,171
126
Originally posted by: kenrippy
Originally posted by: razel
Regardless, this is a GREAT deal for your average PC user.

I never had a use for STR, but the no multiplier thing is a drag. Although most socket A cpu's these days are factory locked, this feature would come in handy for some users/overclockers. Then again, whoever is buying a budget board like this can't expect much more than standard functionality. Maybe a future BIOS will have these features.

If that ECS board is anything like the Biostar M7NCD, then the BIOS is limited on purpose. You have to buy the "Pro" version of the board (with NF2 Ultra 400 chipset, dual-channel capable), to get voltage/freq/mult adjustment support in the BIOS. :(

At least NV has released their "system" driver too, that will work on most NF2-based mobo, to do things like dynamically-adjust the FSB while in Windows. Unfortunately, I don't think that it is possible to dynamically-adjust multi, and it requires mobo-specific support to adjust voltage.

PS. Do people actually use things like STR and Hibernate? I've never seen any fully-loaded PC system yet that could properly and fully support all of those power-management bells and whistles. The first thing that I do when setting up a new PC, is turn all of that crap off, for stability.
 

tomstevens26

Senior member
Sep 21, 2001
700
0
0
Originally posted by: assemblage
Fry has some good deals. I only wish there was one in my area.


Same here. I'm so sick of hearing about Fry's deals. :| Fry's needs their own forum, and posting their deals in this forum should be banned. I get so tired of seeing a pretty good deal, only to notice that it's at Fry's. :frown:
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
Most deals regarding Frys now have the strore name in the title.

Posters have that courtesy to inform you when they are bragging.
 
Jul 1, 2000
10,274
2
0
Originally posted by: tomstevens26
Originally posted by: assemblage
Fry has some good deals. I only wish there was one in my area.


Same here. I'm so sick of hearing about Fry's deals. :| Fry's needs their own forum, and posting their deals in this forum should be banned. I get so tired of seeing a pretty good deal, only to notice that it's at Fry's. :frown:

Grow up. :roll:
 

Unforgiven

Golden Member
May 11, 2001
1,827
0
0
if you are buying any of these combos at the fry's location in renton, wa make sure you bring the ad with you. their salespeople are absolutely clueless and have no clue what they are doing! i was so pissed off yesterday dealing with these jackasses. i tore into a manager for having 15 sales people on the floor and NO ONE being informed as to what deals they were running for the day. absolute joke!