Need help finding a new cheap processor and motherboard!!! Please help!!!

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PrinceKee

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Feb 16, 2006
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OK, I bought a Sempron 3100+ and ECS Nforce 3-A combo from Outpost last week for only $90 but it was DOA. I bought this board because my old Shuttle mobo and Ahtlon XP 2200+ died. So I'm looking for a cheap combo around the same price but don't know where to look, I got lucky and came to these boards and found that combo. I have an ATX 20 pin PSU w/ 4 pin 12V power cable and 2 sticks of Kingston ValueRAM 256MB 333mhz PC2700 RAM. I also already have a socket 754 Coolmaster HSF I bought with the old combo. I'm going to be using an AGP ATI Radeon 9200SE 128MB video card for the time being along with a DVD Burner, CD Burner, floppy, and 2 hard drives 80gig & 40gig. I really need to get this PC up and running ASAP because I have things I need to use on the hard drives for school. I really only use my PC for word processing, internet, DVD making, and light gaming. So if you guys can help me find something that will work with this stuff for a budget PC user I'll really appreciate it.

EDIT: Which one of these mobo's and cpu's would make a good combo or is there something cheaper?
 
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furballi

Banned
Apr 6, 2005
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Fry's has a similar deal with the same MB but with a slower Sempron. The price is $80. The bundle number is 4674248.
 
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markkleb

Banned
Feb 25, 2006
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I have bought over a hundred combos from frys. I have never had a doa. Are you sure the batt jumper was right?

Check out Newegg they always are good with customers and TigerDirect also
 
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PrinceKee

Member
Feb 16, 2006
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Yea, I re-checked and re-installed every jumper, connection, and cable but still nothing. Even go my PSU checked and used 2 different video cards. Never could check my RAM but hopefully that wasn't it...
 
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Jiggz

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2001
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IMO, I would choose either mobo from Asus or Gigabyte with NF3 chipsets. They cost a little more than Via chipset base mobo but they ran better and more stable. Gigabyte mobo may not be the fastest and most tweakable but they are stable. On the otherhand, Asus are tweakable and fast at the same time but also cost a little more. After my first experienced with ECS mobo, never did I bought one again even at 50% discount! Same thing with Acer products. Of course, that is my own opinion.
 
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fire400

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2005
5,204
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Celeron D 310 = $52
Intel motherboard with ICH5 = $55

Sempron = $70
AMD nForce 2 series = $55

You'll spend a little over a hundred bucks for a dual combo, CPU/mobo. Just browse around newegg and see what you like.
 
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Nick5324

Diamond Member
Aug 19, 2001
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Originally posted by: PrinceKee
Last time. What brand of mobo's should I stay away from?
Click to expand...

You need to consider the chipset as well as the board manufactuer. For socket 754, I would say you want an nForce3 chipest instead of a VIA or SiS chipset. There is that Asus board with the ULi chipset, which I don't know much about. I have the ASRock board based on a different ULi chipset that I am very happy with, but I don't know much about the chipset used in that Asus socket 754 board.

For board manufacturer, I would avoid PC chips. I've only owned one ECS board years ago, it was fine, but I've heard lots of bad things on this forum about various ECS boards, YMMV. Biostar boards are the same deal as ECS, I've heard some bad stuff, but I don't have any first hand experience.

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, DFI are good MB manufacturer?s. Epox doesn't seem to have much market share anymore, but I've heard good things about them in the past.

So, I'd say look for a nForce3 based board from Asus, Gigabyte or MSI. There is a cell of MSI haters on AT, but I've had multiple good boards from them, no complaints.
 
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furballi

Banned
Apr 6, 2005
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My ECS NF3 board has been solid. There are three minor issues:

1.Will not run 2 x 512MB Kingston ValueRAM sticks at 1T (works fine with Corsair VS).
2.Will occasonally not detect my USB keyboard during boot. Have to disconnect/reconnect the USB plug to detect the keyboard. I'm testing a new USB keyboard. So far so good.
3.The BIOS will only oveclock to 250MHz. You can use Clockgen's Phantom mode to autoset a higher FSB during PC boot. Was able to run 273MHz FSB at 1.55Vcore.
 
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furballi

Banned
Apr 6, 2005
2,482
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My ECS NF3 board has been solid. There are three minor issues:

1.Will not run 2 x 512MB Kingston ValueRAM sticks at 1T (works fine with Corsair VS).
2.Will occasonally not detect my USB keyboard during boot. Have to disconnect/reconnect the USB plug to detect the keyboard. I'm testing a new USB keyboard. So far so good.
3.The BIOS will only oveclock to 250MHz. You can use Clockgen's Phantom mode to autoset a higher FSB during PC boot. Was able to run 273MHz FSB at 1.55Vcore.
 
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PrinceKee

Member
Feb 16, 2006
69
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Thanks, unforntunately I just ordered another ECS Nforce3 a mobo and Sempron 3100+ from Outpost. Hopefully this one works and I have no problems or else I'll never buy another ECS board again. I was really close to ordering a PC Chips mobo from newegg that had and Athlon 64 3100 for cheap lol...

EDIT: I have 2 x 256MB PC2700 Kingston ValueRAM I want to upgrade to some at least a gig of PC3200 soon. I have a Logitech wireless USB keyboard and mouse. The keyboard is USB but has a USB to PS2 connector and the wireless mouse is PS2 so hopefully it works. And I don't know anything about overclocking but I may want to learn and try one of these days but no time soon...
 
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