Fry's B&M - e5200 + MSI motherboard $49.99 A/R

[zagood]

Nice little combo.

e5200 + MSI G31TM-P21: $59.99 - $10 rebate = $49.99 (+tax on $59.99)

http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=32664&adid=8693051&subid=27665279&type=

 

[ahenkel]

not bad at all, I'd get one but ddr2 only boards are dead to me now.

 

[BlueWeasel]

That's hot. The E5200 alone goes for $65 on Newegg.

 

[KeithP]

Seems like a great deal but does anyone know if Fry's will let you upgrade the processor on these combo deals? For instance, if I wanted to pay a more to get the 7400?

-KeithP

 

[bobross419]

grumble*grumble*grumble

Stupid east coast

 

[jlee]

Great deal...mine still runs everything I throw at it.

 

[footballrunner800]

if Fry's will let you upgrade the processor on these combo deals? For instance, if I wanted to pay a more to get the 7400?

Nope

 

[superHARD]

We had the perfect spot for a frys here in KC, it was even rumored that they wanted to move in there...guess who got the spot, WorstBuy!

 

[Meghan54]

Pretty good deal with that.....but I got suckered in on the i5 750/Gigabyte P55A-UD3 combo for $249. Just been kicking around upgrading the secondary box to something new and that just fit the bill. What was nice was the P55A mb coming with USB3 and SATA3.

Then again, don't forget the Phenom II x4 945/Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P combo for $179 AR.

 

[russw]

OOS SoCal FV & Anah in morning ad ran!

 

[Zap]

We had the perfect spot for a frys here in KC, it was even rumored that they wanted to move in there...guess who got the spot, WorstBuy!

In Racine, WI, there used to be a Best Buy and a Circuit City RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO EACH OTHER. Best Buy always had more customers and it was better lit and looked more cheerful inside and out. Well, of course we know what happened to Circuit City.

Haven't been over there in a while and last week I drove by, and guess what? The Best Buy moved into the Circuit City location. Not sure what that would accomplish. Besides removing the signs and having locked doors, the old Best Buy building next door still looks the same so there are now two identical buildings right next to each other. LOL!

 

[EarthwormJim]

Pretty good deal with that.....but I got suckered in on the i5 750/Gigabyte P55A-UD3 combo for $249. Just been kicking around upgrading the secondary box to something new and that just fit the bill. What was nice was the P55A mb coming with USB3 and SATA3.

Then again, don't forget the Phenom II x4 945/Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P combo for $179 AR.

They've had a similar i5 combos for $200 before (just on the 3rd I believe). So watch their ads closely in case it goes on sale again in like a week. Should be able to price match it.

 

[PaducahPhil]

OOS SoCal FV & Anah in morning ad ran!

The ad disclaimer read, in part, "Limited to Quantites on Hand...Limit 1 per customer..."

FWIW in my area what this usually means at Fry's is "we have a small number of open box motherboards at some stores and NO new motherboards"

Fry's started in San Jose and they were successfully sued in California by the authorities for unfair business practices related to their practice of re-boxing returned merchandise and selling it as new, so you can imagine if they DO label returned merchandise as open box what you might be getting for your $.

SO, if you see one of these Fry's Ads it's best to call and determine if the motherboards on hand are new or somebody else's rejects

 

[Zap]

Fry's is usually pretty good these days at sticking their disclaimer sticker on customer returns that are back on shelves. The good thing is that sometimes you automatically get a small discount, and if you don't and there are no new boxes, you can speak with a manager and they'll likely give you a discount.

 

[IMHawaii]

I've had pretty good luck getting a "freshie" at the Sunnyvale Fry's. I've noticed when they do these combo deals, they actually have quite a bit of stock. Often, the ones on the low shelf are the opened, but if you look up at the high shelves, you'll see a stack of new ones. They have been pretty good at putting the 'returned' label on after the suit.

I have to admit, the last few times I've been to a Fry's, I've gotten good service and someone who can actually answer a question... go figger...

 

[edplayer]

I showed up to the Anaheim store last night around 9PM.

Thought they were going to be sold out but they still had a few. New motherboards also.

 

[jrichrds]

Fry's is usually pretty good these days at sticking their disclaimer sticker on customer returns that are back on shelves. The good thing is that sometimes you automatically get a small discount, and if you don't and there are no new boxes, you can speak with a manager and they'll likely give you a discount.

Returned items get a set % discount, but that discount is usually worthless since it is a small discount based off of regular price, and you don't get an additional discount if the item is on sale. On top of that, you end up being the QA tester for Fry's as they don't do any testing of their own. So you end up having to ask yourself...do you feel lucky? Is there any damage that can't be seen from a simple visual inspection which could shorten the life of the item?

 

[zinfamous]

Fry's is usually pretty good these days at sticking their disclaimer sticker on customer returns that are back on shelves. The good thing is that sometimes you automatically get a small discount, and if you don't and there are no new boxes, you can speak with a manager and they'll likely give you a discount.

well, fuck a duck. I'm rather new to the West Coast so don't have too much in-store Fry's experience. i went for the 945 + gigabyte deal; but replaced the gigabyte Mobo with a Biostar TA790GX A3+ (this combo was advertised in store, so I did a quick comparison and went this route; same price as 945 + gigabyte board)

lower-end mobo, maybe, but the gigabyte in the ad posted is only DDR2 (OC to DDR3 "speed," if I'm reading correctly). I figured: essentially free mobo, so might as well go with the DDR3 option and on-board video, hold out for price drop on 5xxx series, and swap out the mobo, if need be, to something more substantial, and cheaper, in 1/2 year.

of course, this all works out well, assuming the board isn't junk and needs to be replaced pronto. there are no RMA stickers or anything on the box. It was slightly banged at the corners, with two of those hard plastic ties spanning the box from both directions.

this is an upgrade plan that will be several weeks away....so I will be outside of the 15 day return policy for the CPU; unless I throw in some memory, snag a case and psu real quick for a test....

--my current gpu is an ATI x800xl. would the on-board HD 3300 be a reasonable replacement until upgrade?

--Am I looking at ~700 W PSU when all is said and done? (945+ 5xxx + 6-8gb ddr3 + ~2x HDD + 1-2 DVD/BD)

 

[russw]

I showed up to the Anaheim store last night around 9PM.
Thought they were going to be sold out but they still had a few. New motherboards also.

Odd. I was there around 2pm Friday afternoon and they were sold out of mobo's. I had called first and they told me they only had four left at that time but by the time I got there they said they were out of mobo's.

I had gotten a mobo at FV which was a Fry's "re-certified" banded box. Last night while examining it a found that the install/drivers CD was missing and it only had the manual and quick install docs along with an opened backplate and cabling for PATA and SATA.

 

[Meghan54]

Yeah, Fry's, at least the ones in ATL, have a bad habit of "recycling" returned parts and selling them as new. Their excuse is "We test everything so it works."

Be that as it may, that sort of thing has been mostly centered on returned cpus and memory. Motherboards are almost always marked as returned.....I've never gotten a returned mb being sold as new. CPU, memory....I've had that pulled on me before.

I now check every cpu and memory set I buy at Frys, and I tend to avoid Frys if Microcenter has the same part as MC will pricematch anything Frys sells, except the mb/cpu combos.

And the Frys I frequent, the Duluth store, is especially sneaky about how they reseal the opened cpus and memory....whoever reseals the boxes is very, very good and you really have to look it over closely to see its been opened before.....just giving the package a cursory glance will sometimes fail you.

What I do now is once I get outside, I immediately open the motherboard box (easy to tell if its been opened/used before----the I/O plate will have its packaging opened, the mb antistatic sleeve's tape won't be in its original spot, the other items in the box will show signs of being opened, etc.) and the cpu----again, easy to tell once you get the cpu out that it's been used due to some traces of the TIM still left on the cpu, TIM gone from the heatsink, etc.

But, as I said, I prefer MicroCenter to Frys as MC has never pulled the sort of crap that Frys still tries to perpetrate on its customers.

 

[jrichrds]

Be that as it may, that sort of thing has been mostly centered on returned cpus and memory. Motherboards are almost always marked as returned.....I've never gotten a returned mb being sold as new. CPU, memory....I've had that pulled on me before.

I agree. Fry's is notorious for doing this with OEM CPUs and Memory in which there isn't a retail seal. Some of the CPUs they tried to give me as new were in such poor condition it was just ridiclous...a third of the pins bent with thermal compound caked on top.

 

[Meghan54]

I agree. Fry's is notorious for doing this with OEM CPUs and Memory in which there isn't a retail seal. Some of the CPUs they tried to give me as new were in such poor condition it was just ridiclous...a third of the pins bent with thermal compound caked on top.

And that reason is why I won't buy one of their combos that doesn't include a boxed/retail cpu.

Given that, the current i5 750/Gigabyte combo I bought at Frys on Friday saved me over $65 compared to Newegg's prices, sales tax included. Not too bad, really.

 

[jrichrds]

And that reason is why I won't buy one of their combos that doesn't include a boxed/retail cpu.

I don't have as much of an issue buying an OEM CPU as I do memory in unsealed retail packaging (e.g. Corsair) because it's usually pretty easy to tell when an OEM CPU has been previously used. Of course, Fry's tries to tell me it was only for "internal testing" when there's thermal compound caked on top...yeah right. As for memory, I've been able to tell from fingerprint smudges on the heat spreaders.

You can beat Fry's combo deals. They had great ones back in the ECS days until their VP got uncovered. Then the deals really sucked for most of this year until a few months ago when they started having good combo deals again with better brand boards.

 

[Zap]

You can beat Fry's combo deals. They had great ones back in the ECS days until their VP got uncovered.

Yeah, they don't trust customers ("final indignation" at the door) and regular employees, but really they should be keeping an eye on the higher end as that's where the big bucks are.

 

[Fayd]

well, fuck a duck. I'm rather new to the West Coast so don't have too much in-store Fry's experience. i went for the 945 + gigabyte deal; but replaced the gigabyte Mobo with a Biostar TA790GX A3+ (this combo was advertised in store, so I did a quick comparison and went this route; same price as 945 + gigabyte board)

lower-end mobo, maybe, but the gigabyte in the ad posted is only DDR2 (OC to DDR3 "speed," if I'm reading correctly). I figured: essentially free mobo, so might as well go with the DDR3 option and on-board video, hold out for price drop on 5xxx series, and swap out the mobo, if need be, to something more substantial, and cheaper, in 1/2 year.

of course, this all works out well, assuming the board isn't junk and needs to be replaced pronto. there are no RMA stickers or anything on the box. It was slightly banged at the corners, with two of those hard plastic ties spanning the box from both directions.

this is an upgrade plan that will be several weeks away....so I will be outside of the 15 day return policy for the CPU; unless I throw in some memory, snag a case and psu real quick for a test....

--my current gpu is an ATI x800xl. would the on-board HD 3300 be a reasonable replacement until upgrade?

--Am I looking at ~700 W PSU when all is said and done? (945+ 5xxx + 6-8gb ddr3 + ~2x HDD + 1-2 DVD/BD)

why would you need a 700 watt PSU?

i just bought a 945 + gigabyte mobo, and am intending on getting a 5770 or 4890, and have existing 4 HDD's. i'm gonna continue using my HX520.