Hot or Not?? Athlon XP 1700+ w/ECS K7S5A mainboard $199 shipped

[theresnosuchthingasadeal]

ripped off techbargains

linky

good deal??

This is the same combo as Fry's was offering for 169..but good for those who dont have frys in their areas....

 

[Naldonian]

Bumpity-bump BUY. Non-Fry region, so this is nicey-nice. Thx for the heads-up.

 

[polypterus]

Looks good to me. It's retail too, it'd be $234 at Newegg.

dc

 

[Kingofcomputer]

very hot.

 

[SirMrMike]

I do believe that this is now Fry's online arm. Maybe now I can finally get in on some of the deals they have.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

I think so too,
all the items and price are almost exactly same as at Fry's.

 

[lizardboy]

great deal (no fry's near me)

just ordered the athlon/mobo along with the antec sx-830 ($50 after MIR)

this is the first system i'm building myself - got a few questions

1) i want to get ddr ram from crucial - what's the difference between the 1600 & 2100
2) what's a good QUIET heatsink/fan i can match with this...i don't plan to overclock it and need a fairly quiet setup
3) what's the best thermal paste & how exactly do i use it ?? (and do i even really need it ??)

thanks guys

 

[lizardboy]

BTW - if you have an eCard Visa from BankOne you can get another 5% off this deal

 

[Dannik]

> 1) i want to get ddr ram from crucial - what's the difference between the 1600 & 2100

Get 2100. Noticeable difference in memory clock speeds with neglible diff in price. There should be some articles about it on Anandtech.com.

>2) what's a good QUIET heatsink/fan i can match with this...i don't plan to overclock it and need a fairly quiet setup

The Alpha PAL8045 has gotten rave reviews and is only $30. Check w/ Alpha to make sure it fits the board.

3) what's the best thermal paste & how exactly do i use it ?? (and do i even really need it ??)

Dunno. (=

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

<< this is the first system i'm building myself - got a few questions

1) i want to get ddr ram from crucial - what's the difference between the 1600 & 2100 >>



1600 memory is for system buses running at 200, 2100 is for 266. This ECS K7S5A can run both but why would you what to run slower? Get the 2100.



<< 2) what's a good QUIET heatsink/fan i can match with this...i don't plan to overclock it and need a fairly quiet setup >>


ALPHA PAL8045 here and get a 4 pin 31.3CFM fan. Oh, and mentioned by the previous post, this heatsink DOES fit this board. No worries there.



<< 3) what's the best thermal paste & how exactly do i use it ?? (and do i even really need it ??) >>


Artic Silver II without a doubt. It drops your CPU temp by a degree or two on its own. Its nice to know this performance is just about guarenteed for like $6. This heatsink doesn't come with its own paste so you'll need to buy a tube of it here. How do you use it? Very detailed instructions are here. Hoped that helped.



<< thanks guys >>



no problem

 

[Sawadee]

Found this motherboard here for $69... Just info.

Link

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

<< Found this motherboard here for $69... Just info.

Link >>



newegg has it again at http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=13-135-102 for $64 shipped

 

[PullMyFinger]

They also have the Antec SX-830 (beige) case for $50 after a $20 MIR. And ground shipping "starts" at $3.95, sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[virtuamike]

<< 2) what's a good QUIET heatsink/fan i can match with this...i don't plan to overclock it and need a fairly quiet setup >>



Good thing you don't plan to overclock, this board doesn't give you many options. Just run the retail heatsink / fan. Don't bother spending $40 on an Alpha 8045, that money would be better spent on a decent video card or a motherboard upgrade.

 

[frogster220]

This would be a great deal if I didn't have to pay sales tax.

Here is another place selling it for $194 plus 12 for shipping. But, outpost is probably worth a couple dollars
more.

http://www.partspc.com/product1435.html

 

[Kingofcomputer]

oh! e-card + ebate + free shipping over $99 make it super hot.

 

[vulcanman]

Does this include heatsink and fan ?

 

[boa]

Keep in mind that this mobo has ALOT of problems. I would only get this mobo if you really love debugging your system. BTW: I speak from experience, I have had a 50% failure rate (2 out of 4). You could be lucky.

For heatsink, the ThermalRight SK6 is your best bet. It fits perfectly.

Best of luck.

 

[samgoody69]

Retail boxed CPU has heatsink+fan
No need to spend $$$ on heatsink+fan

 

[DongTran]

<< Keep in mind that this mobo has ALOT of problems. I would only get this mobo if you really love debugging your system. BTW: I speak from experience, I have had a 50% failure rate (2 out of 4). You could be lucky.

For heatsink, the ThermalRight SK6 is your best bet. It fits perfectly.

Best of luck. >>


Hmm, I have a 0% failure rate, 13 out of 13 systems. ranging from 750mhz to xp 1600+ both types of ram, all running gf2 and gf3 cards (except for one that has a v5).

you just have to remember to use quality ram, this motherboard hates crappy ram. i only buy crucial, so it doesn't matter to me.

my only real gripe is that the pcb smells like a pieces of crap.

 

[FrankRizzo]

The K7S5A can be a problematic motherboard, but most can be cured with tweaking (as outlined at ocworkbench). It's an unquestionable great deal though.

 

[alluu]

One worry is that Fry's has a lot of returned stuff. They just repackage their stuff saying that is a customer return. I would hate to order online and receive a MB that was previously returned by a customer.

 

[Flatpicker]

This Combo is out of stock. When I called yesterday, they already had 45 backordered.

 

[ECHO]

This Combo is out of stock

...please say it aint so did they say when they would be able to fill the back orders?

 

[littletemple]

Pretty good, I just bought the same combo from MWave and just received yesterday, but I'm still waiting for the video card. I got the combo for 220 shipped. So this is a pretty good deal.