Went with the x2 5000

[Jschmuck2]

x2 5000 vs e2180 = ???

I got the 5000 plus a gigabyte mobo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813128090) for $130 - should I have gone with the e2180? This is not a system that I'll be OCing so I took that into consideration and went with the slightly cheaper parts. Good move?

 

[Markfw]

Since you are not overclocking, thats not a bad deal. However, I just got a E2200+motherboard for $79.99, and its probably as fast@stock as that X2 5000.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Since you are not overclocking, thats not a bad deal. However, I just got a E2200+motherboard for $79.99, and its probably as fast@stock as that X2 5000.

It was that ECS deal at Fry's, right? The fact that it was an ECS made me worried, like. I've never used them before and I scare easily.

 

[nerp]

ECS has a horrible reputation but for a non-overclocking board it really shouldn't pose any problems unless it's flat out defective. For a basic stock machine an ECS board should be able to cut it.

 

[harpoon84]

Isn't it too late to ask?

Anyway, the X2 5000+ would beat the E2180 in most benchmarks, but in hindsight yeah, that Frys deal is pretty good value...

 

[Jschmuck2]

Nah, everything is still sealed up - it can always be returned

 

[faxon]

you can get an e5200 for about $90 right now and probably you can find a p35 board for around $50. it will far outperform the e2180 and last you a lot longer, not to mention it is a wholfie with only an 800fsb but a 12 multiplier, so if you DO get the overclocking bug latter on you can pound face with a cheap system in no time. as for ECS boards, the main reason i have heard so much bad stuff about them is because they ARE usually defective. i have had the displeasure of trying to work systems around about 10 of their boards in the past (All frys deals of course), where a friend was trying to be cheap and got a cpu and board for the price of the cpu at frys. their RMA department is nice enough to send us newly packaged replacments each time though, which we promptly ebay and replace with a better board from a reliable company on the cheap.

 

[cubeless]

i've been building pc's with ecs mobo's for years and have had one oob failure...

i'm typing on a vf7050/e7200 frys deal i just put together (running at 325fsb/3ghz) for $120... for simple systems they're hard to beat (i build low buck gaming systems for my kids and their friends)... some are certainly better than others for oc'ing (the vf7050 being the current best imho)... they like jdec memory best, since 2.0 is the max mem voltage...

get a frys combo that hasn't been returned by some noob who didn't know what they were doing and screwed the board up and u r usually good to go...

and the last thing - if u have $170 to spend, u can get the fry's q6600 combo, fire it up at stock, see if u can oc a bit, and be up and running for now for just the cost of the chip... upgrade the mobo down the road somewhere (or get the next frys combo)...

 

[v8envy]

Wish I had a Fry's here. All I have is Microcenter...

There's no reason NOT to overclock an intel rig. Sure, you can get either one now, leave them stock and not notice a difference. But a few months down the line you might decide "You know, I'd like an extra 50-100% more cpu firepower out of my box..." and with a core2 you have the ability to turn the dial to 11. With a 5000+ not quite so much.

I <3 my 2180 currently running at 3 ghz slightly undervolted. Does everything I ask it to and then some. Quiet as a mouse with the stock heatsink, great temperatures. Low power suck. I was originally going to use the X3210 as my desktop, but after playing with this cheapie chip I decided I simply didn't need anything bigger!

 

[Markfw]

I have that E2200@2.8 even on the worst overclocking board there is. I am using a Q6600 retail HSF on it, and its running 47c full load.

 

[solog]

Originally posted by: nerp
ECS has a horrible reputation ...

actually, no. The out of the box failure rate seems to be about the same as most other brands.

The E7200/7050VT combo is on sale right now for $100 at Fry's

 

[nerp]

I stand by my assertion that ECS has a horrible reptuation. Peruse any forum over time or talk to system builders and they will call it the cheapy brand or whatnot. Even in this thread someone said they've had a terrible DOA rate with them. I said reputation and didn't insert any conjecture about their quality or failure rate.

I remain objective about ECS and don't consider them bad or good since I've never used them. All I know is that they don't have the best reputation, akin to PC Chips, etc. Has this made me generally stay away from them? Yes. Does that mean I claim to know for certian that they make decent boards? no.

I also don't have a Fry's or microcenter around here so I have absolutely no opportunity to score these combo deals. I wish I did.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Originally posted by: solog

Originally posted by: nerp
ECS has a horrible reputation ...

actually, no. The out of the box failure rate seems to be about the same as most other brands.

The E7200/7050VT combo is on sale right now for $100 at Fry's

Woah, really?

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2

Originally posted by: solog

Originally posted by: nerp
ECS has a horrible reputation ...

actually, no. The out of the box failure rate seems to be about the same as most other brands.

The E7200/7050VT combo is on sale right now for $100 at Fry's

Woah, really?

I just traded my E2200 for an E7200 at fry's. Now to get it to boot....

 

[Andrew1990]

I owned a couple of ECS boards, and after a nightmare with RMA, I will never buy one again. It was also one of their "better" boards which was an Nforce 570. Well the were out of stock so I got a P965 in return. I didnt really care except for the fact the first motherboard they sent had a few bent pins. The second would not even post, and the third needed a new bios so I had to wait a week to get a bios chip in the mail.

They have the worst tech support over the phone. It is basically set up in a loop, and when you do get someone, and by someone I mean the one employee the have, they treat you like YOU did something wrong.

 

[Markfw]

Well, they may be cheap, but to this day I have an ECS K7S5A board running an XP2000, and my recent E7200 (stock 2.53) is now testing at 3166 on this "cheap" ECS board.

 

[nyker96]

if you want a E2180 combo here's some from newegg all around the same budget you quoted.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...d=0&PageSize=10&page=1

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: nyker96
if you want a E2180 combo here's some from newegg all around the same budget you quoted.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...d=0&PageSize=10&page=1

Why would he get a 2180 for $110, when he can get a E7200 and motherboard for $100 ?