Opteron 148 -- OEM or Retail ??? Purchasing from Monarch.

[WhipperSnapper]

I'm going to go ahead and get an Opteron 148 while they're still available. I'd prefer to order from Monarch.

Should I save $20 and get the OEM or should I order the one in the retail box?

For those of you who've ordered the 148's from Monarch recently, which did you order the retail or the OEM and what stepping did you receive?

 

[Rustler]

I just got my second 148 from Monarch and they were both CABYE 0540

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Oooo La La. Did you order retail or OEM?

Edit: Nevermind--I found your post in another thread. You said that both of your 148 orders were retail from Monarch.

So, that's two order-votes for the Retail.

Has anyone ordered the OEM ?

 

[Rustler]

I ordered two weeks apart and they were both retail.

 

[Big Lar]

Mine is a Retail from Monarch, purchased within the last 2 weeks. CABYE 0540 FPBW

 

[Rustler]

By far the best single core cpu I have owned, get a 148 before they are gone.

 

[Rustler]

That is a damn good stepping.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I ordered a retail early this morning. Hope it actually ships and that I get a good stepping. Damn. I wish I had ordered a 146 back when they were $165. Had no idea that AMD would pull the plug and that all of the Opterons would suddenly disappear.

I also ordered the Epox nForce4 Ultra board from ZipZoomFly ($95 shipped), which is $13 cheaper than NewEgg's price. Take that NewEgg! Power supply will be the brand new Sparkle 550W EPS-SLI. single-rail 36A on the 12-volt PSU.

WhipperSnapper's Upcoming New Rig. First ever do-it-yourself build:

Case: Chieftec Matrix (plum purple)
Motherboard: Epox EP-9NPA+ULTRA nForce4 Ultra.
CPU: Opteron 148 (hoping to overclock to 2.5 Ghz).
RAM: 2 x 512 MB Corsair Value Select (Cas 2.5).
Video Card: Connect3D x800 GTO (hoping to unlock to 16 pipes and overclock to at least x800xt speeds). Might tack on an Arctic Silencer.
Hard Drives: Two of the following. 200 GB Maxtor PATA, 160 GB Maxtor PATA, 120 GB Seagate PATA.
Optical Drives: Lite-On CD-RW, BTC DVD-RW (Staples Black Friday deal/scam).
Power Supply: Sparkle 550W EPS-SLI with 36A on a single rail.
HSF: Probably a Thermalright 90. Fan unknown.

I still need to take care of a couple small details, like ordering the HSF and case fans.

 

[Lyfer]

144 FTW!

 

[kamranziadar]

I think retail is good you might get Copper heat sink which they usually ship it with Opteron 165. It has 4 Heat pipes so you don;t have to spend more money on expensive HSF.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: kamranziadar
I think retail is good you might get Copper heat sink which they usually ship it with Opteron 165. It has 4 Heat pipes so you don;t have to spend more money on expensive HSF.

Wow--a copper heatsink with four heatpipes as the standard HSF? That almost sounds too good to be true and I have my eyes on a Thermalright anyway. What did those of you who ordered the Retail Opteron 148 get?

 

[Googer]

Go retail and Get the warrenty and support. You will thank me the day a pin breaks off or the CPU fails to post.

 

[Rustler]

I don't mind paying the few extra dollars for the retail package just for the warranty, a little piece of mind.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Rustler
I don't mind paying the few extra dollars for the retail package just for the warranty, a little piece of mind.

Yeah and you are going to have to spend at lest $20 on a heatsink anyways so you might as well get the warrenty for free. Go retail!

 

[FSH42NA]

:|
Think I should've gone retail from Monarch. I ordered an OEM retail with Monarch warranty. Really wanted the retail but my paypal account was a few bucks short for the retail. With all this opteron frenzy going on, I had a serious case of the pee-pee dance and went OEM. A day later I ordered another OEM. Got my 1st OEM yesterday and it's a:
CAB2E 0545 FP..... something. Haven't done anything with it yet, but was hoping for a CABYE or CABNE. My 2nd OEM was delivered today (home). Hopefully, when I get home I won't be double disappointed.

 

[Pens1566]

Just ordered retail from monarch. Hoping its CABYE.

 

[sodcha0s]

Crap, I had an itchy finger the other day and pulled the trigger on a retail 146 CAB2E 0540 FPMW on e-bay. I knew the 148 on Monarch was about the same price, but didn't know the stepping... turns out it's better.... oh well I've seen people get close to 3.0G with these, hopefully this one will too. If I had deeper pockets I'd get a 148 from Monarch anyway, these things look like they might be a good investment...LOL.

 

[Tweakin]

has anyone done a OC poll depending on the steppings? I did a search with no luck. Just curious.

 

[FSH42NA]

sheeeeet. My 2nd Opteron 148 OEM from Monarch came in. Same as the 1st!


CAB2E 0545 CPBW

Am I doubly screwed? I don't think they're supposed to be like the "cabbage" stepping - are they?

Ease my pain:frown:

 

[Rustler]

FSH42NA see what one of those OEMs will do It might suprise you.

"Screens of an OP 146 CAB2E 0540 OPWM @ 3.1ghz, 1.52v"
"CAB2E is an FX stepping like CABNE"
"How do the CAB2E Opterons perform? Any pics or overclockability estimate?

It seems to vary a lot. i've seen anywhere from 2.8-3.1ghz stable."

Just a few quotes I found on CAB2E Steppings!

 

[FSH42NA]

Rustler,

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll see what they can do. In the meantime, that's a good price for a 144 retail.

 

[FSH42NA]

Rustler,

reading your last post put a big freakin smile on my face. I was just about to pull the trigger on one of those $150 opteron 144 at Monarch. Of course, once I decided to do it, they jacked the price $200!!!! Damn gouger:evil:

 

[ramuman]

Consider Newegg for the 148. I bought a retail and another poster here bought an OEM (in a 146 thread in hot deals) and we both got CABYEs. I'm currently doing 2.8 (11x255) at 1.35V prime stable with weak, quiet aircooling on an A8N-Deluxe God knows what this chip could do in a DFI with water and more voltage.

 

[FSH42NA]

Well cheap won out. I was gonna grab a retail 148 from Monarch - would've been cheaper than Mwave or Egg since I'm a CA resident. When I went to my cart, I realized I had already added one the retail 144 earlier at the cheaper $148 price. Needless to say, I couldn't justify getting a 3rd 148 on the chance it might be a good stepping, when I had a chance to grab a cheap retail 144. Worse comes to worse, when the supply of Opterons dries up and people are searching far and wide for these chips - he-he :evil:

 

[FSH42NA]

Irrational thinking won out:evil: I cancelled my 144 order @$148 after they put my order on hold cuz I used an alternate ship to addy. Then I placed an order for a retail 148 (Rustler, I know you told me I didn't need to but I just wanted to (hopefully) get a CABYE 0540).

FYI when you order from Monarch and use an alternate ship, they automatically (without telling you it's automatic) send you an email that you're order is on hold and to call your cc company to add your alternate ship to addy. This is misleading cuz it makes you think they actually called the cc company to verify the address, when, in fact , they didn't even try yet. The wording is such that you feel your order is in limbo. Actually, they plan to call later to verify. Annoying!!!