warm: E2180 and ECS PT890T-A - $88.99 at Fry's!!!!

[quadomatic]

http://www.netaffilia.com/ad/e.../2008/01/02/29109.html

This is cheeeep. Anyone know if this motherboard is good?

EDIT: O wait...the motherboard only supports DDR2 533...that's pretty bad

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Note that there is zero difference between E2140 and E2180 except for the CPU multiplier. All of these chips are blazing fast north of 3.0GHz. I'd say 50% of E21x0 should be able to hit 3.2GHz with a decent board and RAM. Even the cheap DDR2 667 HP/Crucial RAM can take a capable E2140 up to 3.2GHz.

 

[quadomatic]

You wouldn't say that this motherboard could take the E2180 past 3.0 ghz would u?

It seems unlikely.

If someone thinks its possible, then I'd pick this thing up first thing tomorrow.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

That's a bastard ECS MB. 2.4-2.7GHz in the best case. MB may not work with single-sided HP RAM.

 

[quadomatic]

Alright, thanks for letting me know.

 

[AllWhacked]

You can probably do a BSEL mod and instantly increase the FSB from 800 to 1066 for an overclock to 2.66GHz. I don't have this particular motherboard but I have the PM800Pro running a e4500 @ 3GHz and before that had an e4300 @ 2.4GHz. However, I heard others got this board and were able to overclock using the BSEL pad mod. If you want to monkey around with the FSB, the board will allow you to overclock but it does not lock the PCI bus. However, there are reports of people increasing the FSB to 300Mhz safely, so you could attain a 3GHz overclock.

 

[soccerballtux]

well, considering that's only $10 more than the processor itself costs online, you're in a no-lose situation if you were planning on upgrading. Get some ddr800 ram, and if you can't get to 3Ghz, pick up a ip35-e when it's back in stock at newegg.

 

[jlee]

B&M only. Wish there was one around here..

 

[Replay]

E2180 10x multi, BSEL mod for 266Mhz boot, then fsb bump to 300Mhz = 3Ghz.
Amazing value, and the board has HD audio.
EDIT: the Gigabit Lan logo is on the carton,
but my not-from-Fry's PT890T-A has 10/100 Lan (stinkin weasels!).

Got one of these boards with a BSEL modded Conroe-L single core. Memtest and Prime95 stable up to 305Mhz fsb. The memory bandwidth does suck, at around 2200Mb/s (per memtest86). Tested and working with Corsair XMS (waste of good ram though!), OCZ Gold/Platinum DDR2-800, and the cheap HP 1G Micron promo ram. Nearest Fry's is hundreds of miles away...

 

[quadomatic]

What is a BSEL Mod?

Thanks

 

[fleshconsumed]

Originally posted by: quadomatic
What is a BSEL Mod?

Thanks

You short two pins (i.e. connect them with conductive paint) on the CPU to trick motherboard into thinking it's a 266MHz fsb CPU instead of 200MHz one. It's mainly used on 200MHz fsb CPUs with motherboards that have limited overclocking potential like the ECS one in this deal.

 

[quadomatic]

Is this dangerous? Can this damage the motherboard or any of the other components on the computer?

Also, I don't understand how the motherboard's FSB is 200 mhz, because the specs say that it is 266mhz.

 

[htne]

The ad in the Houston Chronicle yesterday, Jan 2nd, featured an Intel E2180 and an ECS 945GCT-M motherboard for $88.99. The link in the first post above featured an ECS PT890T-A motherboard, which is an entirely different beast. Here's a link to the specifications for the 945GCT-M motherboard:

http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...tion&MenuID=44&LanID=9

You should probably check your local newspaper ad to see which motherboard is offered in your neck of the woods.

 

[quadomatic]

http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...tion&MenuID=44&LanID=9

It says that 1066 fsb is only offered on newer revisions...probably a bad thing

Also. how does the motherboard run at 300 fsb if it's a 1066 fsb motherboard?

 

[quadomatic]

Hmmm, in my area it doesn't say which motherboard it is that they're selling.

http://tapchivitinh.com/forum/download.php?id=1046

It says the ECS 945GCT-M is bundled with the E6850. For the E2180, it just says that it's bundled with an ECS motherboard.

I'll call them up later today and ask them what motherboard it is.

 

[nonameo]

Originally posted by: quadomatic
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...tion&MenuID=44&LanID=9

It says that 1066 fsb is only offered on newer revisions...probably a bad thing

Also. how does the motherboard run at 300 fsb if it's a 1066 fsb motherboard?

Actually what they're talking about is the base speed in mhz. It is quad pumped to 1066. 266x4 = 1066

 

[lopgok]

Neither of the boards mentioned in the ad have gigabit ethernet, according to the ecs web site.
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...ation&MenuID=7&LanID=9
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...tion&MenuID=44&LanID=9

 

[Replay]

Originally posted by: lopgok
Neither of the boards mentioned in the ad have gigabit ethernet, according to the ecs web site.
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...ation&MenuID=7&LanID=9
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSi...tion&MenuID=44&LanID=9

Ack! You are right. My box for the PT890T-A has a emblem for "Giga LAN", and the manual shows Gigabit lan is an option, while the board has a 10/100 Lan chip (Via VT6103L). At least it has the VIA 1708A HD audio, and not AC97.

Paid $5 for mine, and it did not come from Fry's, so I cannot say what others may receive.

 

[AllWhacked]

Originally posted by: quadomatic
Is this dangerous? Can this damage the motherboard or any of the other components on the computer?

Also, I don't understand how the motherboard's FSB is 200 mhz, because the specs say that it is 266mhz.

It's not dangerous. I've been running mine since February without issue. You can find a tutorial on how to do it in the overclocking forum. The mod just tricks the motherboard to run the CPU at the next FSB level without also overclocking the PCI bus speed as well. This is good because on cheap boards like this, which do not have PCI bus lock, if you had simply increased the FSB your PCI bus speed would also increase and eventually you would reach a point where your data on your hard drive will become corrupt. Not to mention that most of the onboard ports like the NIC, Sound will stop working as well.

 

[htne]

This deal is dead. Fry's ads run Wednesday-Thursday and then Friday-Tuesday. This was a Wednesday-Thursday ad. Todays ad (Friday, Jan 4) in the Houston Chronicle features the same motherboard (ECS 945GCT-M) and an E4500 for $118.99. That is $30 more for the E4500 over the E2180. Personally, I think I would have chosen the E2180 for $30 less, but .........

 

[jiffer]

Thanks for the heads up, OP.

At the stores in my area, the ECS PT890T-A is a clearance item, and the salesmen say the only ones left in stock are customer returns (that is, merchandise that has been bought and returned by previous customers who probably didn't know what they were doing and blamed the board when they messed things up). None of the salesmen I talked to were willing to help me find a brand new one; two of them said they would help me and then put the phone down and never picked it back up. (And of course, it's their unofficial policy to tell you that all ECS motherboards suck and you shouldn't buy one of those combos, anyway.) My guess is that the PT890T-A was offered with the "Fry's combo of the day" in my area this time to help clear those old motherboards off their shelves.

In my experience, the PT890T-A is a solid budget board for inexpensive systems, but it's not meant for overclocking. I think the newer ECS 945GCT-M is even better (especially the power supply circuitry, since it was designed to accommodate two PCI-Express video cards), but like most Intel chipsets, the chipset gets hot (it is passively cooled), and like most new motherboards released these days, it doesn't have a parallel port.

Fry's has sales every day of the week, and the Pentium E2180 is regularly combined with various motherboards for $88.99 these days. It was bundled with the ECS 945GCT-M a couple of weeks ago, and I plan to buy a combo like that if it comes on sale again in the near future.

 

[jiffer]

Update: This combo is back on sale in north Texas today (Saturday, January 5) through Tuesday (January 8).