Frys: E4300 + ECS PT890T = $159

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CKDragon

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2001
3,875
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Not too familiar with the motherboard, but I wish this deal were available online. I just checked and there were no search results for E4300 at all on their entire site. They must be saving their stock for the retail stores or something.

I'm starting to get that itch I get every year and a half or so to build a new PC and one of these shiny, new E4300's has my name on it. :)

CK
 
Z

zigner

Junior Member
Jan 10, 2007
20
0
66
Can someone who has purchased an OEM CPU at Frys tell me how they are packaged? Are they in a secure sealed box?

 
V

VinceDee

Member
Jan 26, 2007
157
0
76
Originally posted by: zigner
Can someone who has purchased an OEM CPU at Frys tell me how they are packaged? Are they in a secure sealed box?
Click to expand...

No, they are usually in a really small clear plastic package not much bigger than the cpu itself, with some 1/8" foam protection on either side of the cpu.

That said, out of many builds through the years, I have yet to get a broken or non-working unit (knocks on wood).

Vince
 
N

nomadh

Senior member
Jan 19, 2004
585
0
0
Remember sometimes they are not oem cpus. Sometimes what you get doesn't match the ad pix. If its an oem then Its just like the previous post says. Hope for a retail one or sometimes wait until they run out of oem so they sub a retail unit.
 
H

htne

Platinum Member
Dec 31, 2001
2,360
0
76
I picked up one earlier today, it is the bare, OEM cpu. I also picked up a HSF, the CoolerMaster X Dream P775 (RR-LIE-L9E1-GP) for $17.99.

http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?L...&p_serial=RR-LIE-L9E1-GP&other_title=0

This seems like a pretty reasonable HSF for the money, especially now that the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro has been discontinued and is almost impossible to find.

One thing I did notice, the ad in the Houston Chronicle specified the motherboard as a "V2", and the one they gave me is a "V1.0". Looking on the web site for ECS, they specify in BIOS updates for this motherboard, a new BIOS in November, 2006 specifically to support the E4300. The latest BIOS is from December, 2006. The ECS website makes no mention whatsoever of a V2 of this motherboard, so maybe the ad was in error.
 
jpeyton

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
Originally posted by: htne
I picked up one earlier today, it is the bare, OEM cpu. I also picked up a HSF, the CoolerMaster X Dream P775 (RR-LIE-L9E1-GP) for $17.99.

http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?L...&p_serial=RR-LIE-L9E1-GP&other_title=0

This seems like a pretty reasonable HSF for the money, especially now that the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro has been discontinued and is almost impossible to find.

One thing I did notice, the ad in the Houston Chronicle specified the motherboard as a "V2", and the one they gave me is a "V1.0". Looking on the web site for ECS, they specify in BIOS updates for this motherboard, a new BIOS in November, 2006 specifically to support the E4300. The latest BIOS is from December, 2006. The ECS website makes no mention whatsoever of a V2 of this motherboard, so maybe the ad was in error.
Click to expand...

For $20, you probably want this heatsink instead, but if you need one TODAY the Cooler Master is okay.
 
H

htne

Platinum Member
Dec 31, 2001
2,360
0
76
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

Quick Update: The motherboard has the November BIOS, and correctly recognizes the E4300 cpu. More later.
 
F

Frintin

Senior member
Oct 3, 2002
383
0
0
This is one of those smokin' deals that those of us far away from a Fry's cry about!

:brokenheart:
 
R

RedChief

Senior member
Dec 20, 2004
533
0
81
Checked the San Jose Mercury News Fry's ads online and this deal isnt there. Is it SoCal only?
 
V

VinceDee

Member
Jan 26, 2007
157
0
76
Originally posted by: RedChief
Checked the San Jose Mercury News Fry's ads online and this deal isnt there. Is it SoCal only?
Click to expand...

I saw it in the Mercury News. The deal's there.

Vince
 
J

Jules

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,213
0
0
Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.

Quick Update: The motherboard has the November BIOS, and correctly recognizes the E4300 cpu. More later.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for and it looks exactlylike the stock intel hsf.
 
H

htne

Platinum Member
Dec 31, 2001
2,360
0
76
Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for and it looks exactly like the stock intel hsf.
Click to expand...

Superficially, it might resemble the stock HSF, but it is different. For one thing, it uses a back plate and real screws to mount. This is (IMHO) much superior to the stock HSF. And it doesn't much matter, as the combo comes without a HSF, and Fry's was not offering to sell an Intel HSF, and I wanted to play with the combo today, not next week.

At stock speed, and stock volts, running two instances of SP2004 (small FFTs, stress cpu) for 10 minutes, the CPU core temperatures are at 37 degrees Celsius.

This definitely does not appear to be an overclocker's motherboard. First, I cannot get the BIOS to upgrade to the December version. Using a DOS boot floppy, or the Windows version of the flash utility, I get "File Rom ID incorrect". I downloaded the BIOS again, same result. Using the November BIOS, you can change the FSB of the cpu, but not increase the voltage. There is a voltage adjust for the RAM, but not the cpu. I tried setting the FSB to 266, and the computer booted at 200 mhz fsb. So I tried 233, and had to clear the cmos. Then I tried 220, and had to clear the cmos again. I am now at 210 mhz, and this seems to work. BFD: a 5% overclock. I wonder how much I can get on Ebay for this turkey?

On the positive side, XP SP2 installed without any problems. The sound drivers on the included CD did NOT work, but the ones on the website DO work.
 
A

AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
12,643
3
81
Originally posted by: htne
Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for and it looks exactly like the stock intel hsf.
Click to expand...

Superficially, it might resemble the stock HSF, but it is different. For one thing, it uses a back plate and real screws to mount. This is (IMHO) much superior to the stock HSF. And it doesn't much matter, as the combo comes without a HSF, and Fry's was not offering to sell an Intel HSF, and I wanted to play with the combo today, not next week.

At stock speed, and stock volts, running two instances of SP2004 (small FFTs, stress cpu) for 10 minutes, the CPU core temperatures are at 37 degrees Celsius.

This definitely does not appear to be an overclocker's motherboard. First, I cannot get the BIOS to upgrade to the December version. Using a DOS boot floppy, or the Windows version of the flash utility, I get "File Rom ID incorrect". I downloaded the BIOS again, same result. Using the November BIOS, you can change the FSB of the cpu, but not increase the voltage. There is a voltage adjust for the RAM, but not the cpu. I tried setting the FSB to 266, and the computer booted at 200 mhz fsb. So I tried 233, and had to clear the cmos. Then I tried 220, and had to clear the cmos again. I am now at 210 mhz, and this seems to work. BFD: a 5% overclock. I wonder how much I can get on Ebay for this turkey?

On the positive side, XP SP2 installed without any problems. The sound drivers on the included CD did NOT work, but the ones on the website DO work.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: for taking your time to post about your experiences.

you might want to head over to the CPU forum to see if you want to mod that chip to 266fsb natively ;)
 
J

Jules

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,213
0
0
Originally posted by: htne
Originally posted by: MyStupidMouth
Originally posted by: htne
That MST-9775 looks promising, but with ground shipping the total came to $29.05. This one, out the door with sales tax, was $19.47, almost $10 cheaper.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for and it looks exactly like the stock intel hsf.
Click to expand...

Superficially, it might resemble the stock HSF, but it is different. For one thing, it uses a back plate and real screws to mount. This is (IMHO) much superior to the stock HSF. And it doesn't much matter, as the combo comes without a HSF, and Fry's was not offering to sell an Intel HSF, and I wanted to play with the combo today, not next week.
Click to expand...
Im looking at my stock intel hsf and it looks the same except the mounting screws.
 
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