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Fry's B&M Athlon X2 4400+ and ECS Nforce 6100 motherboard for $98.99

H

hellfire88

Diamond Member
This seems like a pretty hot deal for the people who have a local Fry's B&M store around. Here is a link to the newspaper ad.

The CPU is a 65W version (Socket AM2?) the motherboard is microATX I think, which is what I'm after. Too bad I don't have a Fry's B&M store around (I'm on the east coast), just a Microcenter. Do you think if I print out this ad, Microcenter will pricematch?
 
Even though the ad shows a retail box, its actually an OEM cpu. I just went to the Industry Frys and picked one up. It still a great deal even without the retail box, plus I already had a spare heatsink/fan.
 
I'm tempted for a cheap Media Center box but ECS scares me... My only experiences with their stuff have been horrible. Granted it's been a long time, we're talking K7S5A days since I've owned one.

Has their cheap stuff improved any?

Viper GTS
 
As far as I've experienced - and I am one of those with a K7S5A that works fine....they are fine for baseline stuff. Not the fastest you'll find (although these days it like like all within 5% of eachother...) but I also have another ECS board for my 3400+ I picked up on an earlier combo (99 for a 3400+ and the motherboard) and everything runs perfectly smooth...

so I wouldn't worry, just dont expect to overclock
 
this is a very low end mobo. has only one ata slot, and the pci-e only runs at 8x. it runs about 10-15% slower than 16x slots with same card.
still a great deal but not for gamers
 
I beg to differ... maybe not for hardcore gamers.. but even the casual gamer or undemanding hardcore gamers like myself (who care more about gameplay than graphics) the board will work fine.

Ahh, the days of Quake I, where we'd tweak our configs down to blobs bouncing around with turd launchers.. just to get over 30 fps. I still tweak my configs in games to get better framerates, because honestly frags matter more to me than how pretty the person i'm fragging is.
 
Originally posted by: kenji4life
I beg to differ... maybe not for hardcore gamers.. but even the casual gamer or undemanding hardcore gamers like myself (who care more about gameplay than graphics) the board will work fine.

Ahh, the days of Quake I, where we'd tweak our configs down to blobs bouncing around with turd launchers.. just to get over 30 fps. I still tweak my configs in games to get better framerates, because honestly frags matter more to me than how pretty the person i'm fragging is.
Click to expand...

You are fragging a computer model you've seen zillion times...

Checked my local Houston Chronicle ads, OP's deal is there 🙂
 
Actually, it's a pretty decent board. Hardwaresecrets seems to think so:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/411/1

The difference between x8 and x16 modes are fairly minimal. You're very unlikely to be transferring enough texture or vertex data to bog down the PCI-E interface without first bogging down the video card itself.
 
No. Microcenter does not have a pricematch guarantee. And anywhere that I've done PM's always requires that the competitor be local anyway.

Originally posted by: hellfire88
This seems like a pretty hot deal for the people who have a local Fry's B&M store around. Here is a link to the newspaper ad.

The CPU is a 65W version (Socket AM2?) the motherboard is microATX I think, which is what I'm after. Too bad I don't have a Fry's B&M store around (I'm on the east coast), just a Microcenter. Do you think if I print out this ad, Microcenter will pricematch?
Click to expand...

 
"I'm tempted for a cheap Media Center box but ECS scares me... "

Not sure why. We have build a couple hundred (literally) boxes with ECS boards, AAMOF that is our board of choice. Never, not even once had a DOA. Actually we have never had any motherboard related issues yet. I used to love the K7S5A. It was cheap and stable. Its only quirk was it lost its memory (BIOS) occasionally. Usually wiping the battery down cured that weirdness.

We have also had excellent luck with Gigabyte. Now ASUS, my friend?s favorite, has done nothing but given us grief. Thank the Lord we only tried them on our in-house machines, oh and in my daughters. What is funny is she just *now* call to tell me her machine is f***ing up? again. Asus, never again around here, ever.

Now before I get blasted I know many people simply love Asus. That?s cool and perhaps if I bought their $200 boards it would be different. But I?m frugal (cheap).

 
Originally posted by: Odeen
Actually, it's a pretty decent board. Hardwaresecrets seems to think so:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/411/1

The difference between x8 and x16 modes are fairly minimal. You're very unlikely to be transferring enough texture or vertex data to bog down the PCI-E interface without first bogging down the video card itself.
Click to expand...


same article i saw the performance difference from. prob not from the 8x pcie slot- just a slow chipset or implementation
 
I have built several systems with ECS boards. They are OK. Many are limited on over-clock features, but they are well made. 3 phase CPU regulators - some "names" only have 2. So, no prob with this brand.

What does bug me about this board, practical things, is that 2 serial drive sockets are left off the board. With only 1 parallel IDE socket, this is limiting. Also, I have no need for the pci-e X1 slot. Since this is a micro, that leaves me only 2 PCI expansion slots.

So, I'll have to pass. But, for most, it will be a reliable, strong performing board and a hot deal I think.
 
I got a Brisbane core and there are people on FW reporting Brisbane core also. I guess that makes up for the fact that these are not retail boxes (which probably would have been Windsor cores).
 
Originally posted by: ofacto
I got a Brisbane core and there are people on FW reporting Brisbane core also. I guess that makes up for the fact that these are not retail boxes (which probably would have been Windsor cores).
Click to expand...

brisbane here; 2.3ghz - 2 x 512kb L2, 65nm
(if it was windsor: 2.2ghz - 2 x 1Mb L2, 90mn)
 
Originally posted by: ourfpshero
this is a very low end mobo. has only one ata slot, and the pci-e only runs at 8x. it runs about 10-15% slower than 16x slots with same card.
still a great deal but not for gamers
Click to expand...


Where did you get those numbers? Thier is no difference at all. No current cards even come close to maxing out the bandwith. Maybe SLI some of the top cards you might have some difference. And still that will be less then 10-15 ypu are stating.

8x is lower end but is buy no means going to slow down any card you put on in this board.
 
The AMD retail HSF that work on the 939 work on the AM2

linky


"Lightweight (and AMD retail heatsinks) that clip onto the socket 754/939/940 heatsink retention frame center tabs will continue to be compatible with the socket AM2 heatsink retention frame."
 
Originally posted by: GeezerMan
The AMD retail HSF that work on the 939 work on the AM2

linky


"Lightweight (and AMD retail heatsinks) that clip onto the socket 754/939/940 heatsink retention frame center tabs will continue to be compatible with the socket AM2 heatsink retention frame."
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for the info! 🙂
 
I'm looking to grab this combo tonight, and add an 8800GTS. Maybe 2 opticals and 2 HDs. Will a 500W PS be good enough? Or do I have to blow more cash on something bigger?

Also, any recommendations on a good HSF? Preferrably cheap, I'm not going to overclock. My best system is a 754, so I have to start shopping for this stuff again...
 
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