How low can I go?

wishfool

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2007
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Got a E8400 on the way (hopefully.....Antaresdigital.com), but my motherboard needs a BIOS flash to support it. Don't have a 775 socket CPU handy and don't want to pay local computer shop $37 just to flash my BIOS, so I'm looking for a cheap solution. My motherboard is Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P ver 2.0. Any pointers would be appreciated(I would like to keep it below $30 but I realize that is wishful thinking)
 

toadeater

Senior member
Jul 16, 2007
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Btw, the ver. 2.0 *might* be able to boot the e8400 with workable settings, depending on which BIOS version it shipped with. So maybe try it first, then see if you can exchange it if it doesn't work.

EDIT: Forgot about the edit button.
 

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
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I think the lowest you could go would be about $30ish for some kind of Celeron.

You might want to check the for sale/trade threads. I'm sure someone has an old Celeron or P4 they could part with for under $30, or maybe they'd trade it for an old game or something.
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,219
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So you would pay 30 plus shipping for a cheap proc, but wouldn't pay 37 to have your local shop do it and be done with it?. The only extra here is a cheap Celeron that would be sitting on a shelf doing nothing anyways. Up to you. Odd that you would spend 30+ ship, but not 37. I don't get it.
 

tenax

Senior member
Sep 8, 2001
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well, i wouldn't consider having a cele in hand a bad deal in this scenario. may sit on a shelf, but would be handy to have as a backup, no or to keep towards another system. i have a 965 gigabyte ds3 board i'm not using..probably not worth selling, but it's a heck of a good backup or another system board to have around:) to each their own:)
 

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,219
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Originally posted by: tenax
well, i wouldn't consider having a cele in hand a bad deal in this scenario. may sit on a shelf, but would be handy to have as a backup, no or to keep towards another system. i have a 965 gigabyte ds3 board i'm not using..probably not worth selling, but it's a heck of a good backup or another system board to have around:) to each their own:)

This is true. The cheapest "new" celeron is the 420 and that is still around 40+ .
FS/FT is his best bet then. Or Ebay. Make sure it comes with a cooler.
 

wishfool

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2007
21
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Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
So you would pay 30 plus shipping for a cheap proc, but wouldn't pay 37 to have your local shop do it and be done with it?. The only extra here is a cheap Celeron that would be sitting on a shelf doing nothing anyways. Up to you. Odd that you would spend 30+ ship, but not 37. I don't get it.

I know what you mean but if I had a physical unit I would at least have some other options. I was thinking about using it and practicing lapping a CPU and possibly putting up in the sale forums here or on Ebay and recoup some of the cost. Maybe use it to build another machine one day. Hell, my grandma or parents might like a cheap machine. Hmm, maybe I can get them to 'sponsor' this project.

toadeater:
I'm probably gonna look into getting another one from Newegg, but I brought it back in early December(was originally planning to put a E6750 in it but money held me back till about 2 weeks ago and decided to be patient and get the better proc.) so I'll have to look up their return policies. I'm pretty sure it's not the latest BIOS because the F9(the latest that fixed CPU compatibilty) was released 12/28. I was also thinking it *might* work and if it was the same size as supported CPU's I probably would, but with this being a 45nm I'm apprehensive about doing so. Don't want to risk overvolting.

Ha, just checked my invoice at Newegg and it's not even listed on it anymore. Guess returning it is out of the question...
 

wishfool

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2007
21
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Thank you for the help jaredpace but I don't know if those will work. On the CPU compatibility list those are listed as N/A. It's looking like I'm just gonna have to let go of the $30 price point(was hoping to include shipping). Might go ahead and just get a E2140 and practice some overclocking in a couple of months.
 

Mondoman

Senior member
Jan 4, 2008
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Originally posted by: wishfool
... I'm pretty sure it's not the latest BIOS because the F9(the latest that fixed CPU compatibilty) was released 12/28. I was also thinking it *might* work and if it was the same size as supported CPU's I probably would, but with this being a 45nm I'm apprehensive about doing so. Don't want to risk overvolting....
It's my understanding that all the LGA775 CPUs report their desired voltage to the MB via a set of the contacts in the LGA775 field, and that's what the MB uses to set the voltage for the CPU. Thus, the voltage spec process is essentially hardwired-in and independent of the BIOS, so overvolting isn't a possibility here.
BTW, definitely upgrade to the F9 BIOS. The F8 BIOS (at least) has some issues with certain Corsair XMS2 RAM.

 

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
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Originally posted by: wishfool

Thank you for the help jaredpace but I don't know if those will work. On the CPU compatibility list those are listed as N/A. It's looking like I'm just gonna have to let go of the $30 price point(was hoping to include shipping). Might go ahead and just get a E2140 and practice some overclocking in a couple of months.

pentium 4 $30
http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-PENT...12334228QQcmdZViewItem
 

wishfool

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2007
21
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Originally posted by: jaredpace
Originally posted by: wishfool

Thank you for the help jaredpace but I don't know if those will work. On the CPU compatibility list those are listed as N/A. It's looking like I'm just gonna have to let go of the $30 price point(was hoping to include shipping). Might go ahead and just get a E2140 and practice some overclocking in a couple of months.

pentium 4 $30
http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-PENT...12334228QQcmdZViewItem

Once again thank you very much. Think I'm going to try and get it to POST with the E8400. Did some research and found where it was posting to board that was the same as mine and I'll update my BIOS right away if it does. After reading about the overclocking results with people going up to 1.4-1.5v I'm not too worried about overvolting it. I'm just hoping that the board that I brought in Dec. has the BIOS (F7) that was released in Oct. If that fails I'll just wait until I get back from my cruise (main reason I don't want to spend any extra money, gonna dip into my drinking funds if I do) and have another paycheck in the bank, hopefully with some overtime. I'll probably go for a E21xx then and save it for another build sometime soon. Thanks again for the help everyone. This is my first build and reading these forums have helped me a lot. Hope to share good results with everyone.
 

wishfool

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2007
21
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0
Well, got it to work. Updated to BIOS F9 no problem at all. Got everything up and running and typing this message on my new computer. Woohoo, my first build...