Pondering a purchase

[Tullphan]

I missed out on the Intel Retail Edge deal cause I couldn't pull the trigger.
I now have an opportunity to purchase an Athlon X2 3800+ (Socket AM2) for $75.
Is that a good deal or should I wait a couple of months for the e4300 to drop around $119?
If it is a good deal, is there a good, reasonably priced, somewhat overclockable motherboard that I can put this on along with 2 gigs of Super Talent ram?
Thanks.

 

[bobthemongoloid]

that price is more than fair.. considering a lot of us paid up to $300-$350 not so long ago for that same x2-3800.. what price is good to you for the mobo? Actually, based on the extremely low $ you are willing to spend on a cpu, I'd say you'd probably want to be really specific on how much you can spend on the mobo for someone here to give you the best answer.

 

[myocardia]

You'll spend more money on an X2 3800 plus a motherboard, even at that price, than you can buy an E4300 plus motherboard now. Fry's sells an E4300 with an ECS motherboard almost every weekend for either $149 or $159. That's what I'd buy, if I were wanting an E4300 anyway.

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: myocardia
You'll spend more money on an X2 3800 plus a motherboard, even at that price, than you can buy an E4300 plus motherboard now. Fry's sells an E4300 with an ECS motherboard almost every weekend for either $149 or $159. That's what I'd buy, if I were wanting an E4300 anyway.

If he were to go with that E4300, couldn't he do that pinmod to get it to run at 266MHz fsb? Besides that, unless he wants to buy another motherboard for the E4300 later or just wants to keep whatever he gets at stock, I think the X2 would be a wiser choice as, although he would spend more on the X2 + motherboard, at least he would be able to overclock it.

 

[catalysts17az]

the X2 is at a great price, but my money would go on the 4300 with a evga 680i mobo. this is an expensive combo, but will overclock like mad! your choice though.

 

[locutus12]

Originally posted by: myocardia
You'll spend more money on an X2 3800 plus a motherboard, even at that price, than you can buy an E4300 plus motherboard now. Fry's sells an E4300 with an ECS motherboard almost every weekend for either $149 or $159. That's what I'd buy, if I were wanting an E4300 anyway.

erm... according to frys.com they dont actually stock the E4300, let alone a combo for that price, and given the cheapest price for an E4300 in the USA is 159.00 just for the CPU, youl be bloody lucky to get a combo of the board and chip for that money and if by some miracle you did, the board would be terrible quality.


the X2 3800 is clearly the best value for money option at $75, paired up with an
ECS NFORCE4M-A (V1.1) Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135019

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130050
MSI K9N Neo-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

and its a real good way to spend $135 to $150

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: f4phantom2500
If he were to go with that E4300, couldn't he do that pinmod to get it to run at 266MHz fsb? Besides that, unless he wants to buy another motherboard for the E4300 later or just wants to keep whatever he gets at stock, I think the X2 would be a wiser choice as, although he would spend more on the X2 + motherboard, at least he would be able to overclock it.

Yeah, he could do the pinmod, and have a 2.4 Ghz E4300, if he wanted.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: locutus12

Originally posted by: myocardia
You'll spend more money on an X2 3800 plus a motherboard, even at that price, than you can buy an E4300 plus motherboard now. Fry's sells an E4300 with an ECS motherboard almost every weekend for either $149 or $159. That's what I'd buy, if I were wanting an E4300 anyway.

erm... according to frys.com they dont actually stock the E4300, let alone a combo for that price, and given the cheapest price for an E4300 in the USA is 159.00 just for the CPU, youl be bloody lucky to get a combo of the board and chip for that money and if by some miracle you did, the board would be terrible quality.


the X2 3800 is clearly the best value for money option at $75, paired up with an
ECS NFORCE4M-A (V1.1) Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135019

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130050
MSI K9N Neo-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

and its a real good way to spend $135 to $150

Hmm, one of us must not know what they're talking about. I wonder which one of us that would be? And of course the board isn't gonna be top quality; who said it would be? But yet, you linked him to an ECS motherboard, that only has a 4x PCI-E slot, but costs $59?

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: myocardia
You'll spend more money on an X2 3800 plus a motherboard, even at that price, than you can buy an E4300 plus motherboard now. Fry's sells an E4300 with an ECS motherboard almost every weekend for either $149 or $159. That's what I'd buy, if I were wanting an E4300 anyway.

Is that an in-store deal only? If so, it won't do me any good since I don't live near a Fry's.

 

[Green Man]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: locutus12

Originally posted by: myocardia
You'll spend more money on an X2 3800 plus a motherboard, even at that price, than you can buy an E4300 plus motherboard now. Fry's sells an E4300 with an ECS motherboard almost every weekend for either $149 or $159. That's what I'd buy, if I were wanting an E4300 anyway.

erm... according to frys.com they dont actually stock the E4300, let alone a combo for that price, and given the cheapest price for an E4300 in the USA is 159.00 just for the CPU, youl be bloody lucky to get a combo of the board and chip for that money and if by some miracle you did, the board would be terrible quality.


the X2 3800 is clearly the best value for money option at $75, paired up with an
ECS NFORCE4M-A (V1.1) Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135019

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130050
MSI K9N Neo-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

and its a real good way to spend $135 to $150

Hmm, one of us must not know what they're talking about. I wonder which one of us that would be? And of course the board isn't gonna be top quality; who said it would be? But yet, you linked him to an ECS motherboard, that only has a 4x PCI-E slot, but costs $59?

you linked a VIA chipset board

Friends don't let friends use VIA chipsets.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Tullphan
I missed out on the Intel Retail Edge deal cause I couldn't pull the trigger.
I now have an opportunity to purchase an Athlon X2 3800+ (Socket AM2) for $75.
Is that a good deal or should I wait a couple of months for the e4300 to drop around $119?
If it is a good deal, is there a good, reasonably priced, somewhat overclockable motherboard that I can put this on along with 2 gigs of Super Talent ram?
Thanks.

It depends on what you want to do...
If you don't OC, get the X2 and the Asus M2NBP-VM CSM ($75 from NewEgg). That's $150 for a board that's much better quality than an ECS with the X2...
If you are overclocking, probably the E4300...but get a better board than the ECS!

 

[o1die]

Fry's has the retail boxed e4300 with ecs via board for $158 today. Uses ddr or ddr2, and has an agp slot with built in video.

 

[jlbenedict]

One statement worth consideration:

ECS = You Get What You Pay For

 

[nyker96]

75 bucks!? where? that's pretty awesome price even for a budget X2 like 3800. But personally I think if you looking to OC a bit C2D 4300 at say 125ish later Q2/2007 probably will gain you lot more at the end that extra 50 bucks won't be wasted. But if you want to save the max amount of cash, this plus a decent AM2 with those super talent RAM will be a nice setup for your money.

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: nyker96
75 bucks!? where? that's pretty awesome price even for a budget X2 like 3800.

I work p/t @ RadioShack & can get in on some deals.
I really don't overclock that much...heck, i'm really not on my pc that much anymore.
Guess I figured if I can get a dual core chip pretty cheap, i'd go ahead & upgrade.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Tullphan

Originally posted by: nyker96
75 bucks!? where? that's pretty awesome price even for a budget X2 like 3800.

I work p/t @ RadioShack & can get in on some deals.
I really don't overclock that much...heck, i'm really not on my pc that much anymore.
Guess I figured if I can get a dual core chip pretty cheap, i'd go ahead & upgrade.

IMHO, it comes down to if you're going to OC, go with the e4300 (but get a better mobo).
If not, then go with the X2 3800...either way, you can't go wrong at those prices!

 

[Tullphan]

I'm pondering a MSI motherboard...one of the K9N series...but i'm not sure which chipset is better...the nForce 550 or the GeForce.
I'm leaning towards the Neo-F @ $73.