which fry's deal is better 2200/shuttle or 2600/ecs

[techiecool]

i want to get one and they both seem tempting. could someone weigh in on this...shuttle an35n & amd 2200 retail ($99) or ecs N2U400A & amd 2600 oem ($90). thx

 

[Mustanggt]

I would take the 2600 I pretty sure thats a Barton

 

[richd111]

Tease

(Fryless in NJ)

 

[vegeto456]

Yeah the 2600 for sure. I didn't know ECS made a nf2 mobo! And from the looks of it, its quite nice.
Review link

 

[techiecool]

i think you're right. i guess i just have an uneasy feeling about ecs...not that i have ever used them but their reputation stinks.

sorry didn't mean to rub it in

 

[modedepe]

I would get the 2600+, especially if you can get a barton (there are T-breds also). Btw, wrong forum, this should be posted in general hardware.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I got one today (2600+ / ECS) - looks awesome

 

[techiecool]

i was debating which forum to post in, but since i was looking at 2 hot deals i figured others would see the deals as well...otherwise my apologies.

 

[NasdaqTrader889]

Oh no, not again about the Fry's deals. I just bought a Duron 1.8 / ECS combo Thursday for a HTPC I'm building, but now this comes out and now I'm thinking I may have bit too soon. Looks like I will be selling the Duron combo to a friend and use the proceeds to buy this for the HTPC instead.

 

[wasssup]

i'm in NJ too, but luckily for me my parents live in Texas

I had them pick up a k7s5a/xp2000+ combo for $60 almost a year ago, and i've been running it pretty much 24/7, and its at full load about half the time and i've got no problems (other than the fact that i was only able to OC my chip to xp2100 speeds )

 

[Scrounger]

Where's the deal? Wrong forum, maybe?

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Originally posted by: Scrounger
Where's the deal? Wrong forum, maybe?

Not really. This thread inquires as to which is the hotter deal. If this is not the proper forum, which would be?

The best place for this post would have been in the existing thread on the Frys hot deal. But who really cares?

 

[gsaldivar]

I just installed my 2600+ & N2U400-A today and all I can say is WOW!

This combo is NOTICEABLY faster than the old K7VTA3, even when paired with the same 2600+ cpu!

The N2U is superior to both the K7S5APro AND the K7VTA3 in nearly every way:

- 400mhz max FSB instead of 333mhz
- 3GB max RAM instead of 2GB
- 8X AGP instead of 4X AGP
- 6-Channel Audio instead of 2-Channel

Not to mention the unified Nforce architecture - bye bye VIA!

Bottom line: N2U400A is a keeper!

 

[kenrippy]

For me, it would depend on which I needed more....a mobo or cpu. I won't build a rig with an ECS for myself so that's out of the question.

You can buy the Shuttle combo and sell the retail 2200+ for $55 shipped (I just did that) I just don't see why fry's would sell a 266fsb cpu in a combo with a 400fsb board.

You can buy the 2600 barton/ECS deal and sell the ECS for whatever would be a good price, and end up with a really cheap barton. They didn't have that deal an the fountain valley location or I probably would have done that.

If you're a "risk taker" you could always build with the 2600 & ECS and roll the dice. Personally I've sworn off of ECS for evaaaaaaar....

edit: BTW that shuttle an35n ultra is a GREAT board! built a few rigs with those and they are rock solid and have good vcore and good onboard sound.

 

[PoPPeR]

Originally posted by: wasssup
i'm in NJ too, but luckily for me my parents live in Texas

I had them pick up a k7s5a/xp2000+ combo for $60 almost a year ago, and i've been running it pretty much 24/7, and its at full load about half the time and i've got no problems (other than the fact that i was only able to OC my chip to xp2100 speeds )

yeah the K7S5A = CRAP CRAP CRAP. Especially if you got one with a sticker. I was so agitated with mine (i got the same combo for $79 a long time ago) that I finally ordered a Epox 8RDA+

 

[woodscomp]

As a system builder who has done plenty of systems with both Shuttle and ECS I can say they are pretty equal in quality control and price. Difference between these two manufactures lies in customer support which ECS has Shuttle beat by 1000 miles. If you have ever tried to contact Shuttle it is fruitless, they do not reply and are slow to respond when you call them for help (RMA that is). ECS on the other hand deals very quickly with RMA's. Fry's has brought ECS to the consumer market in a huge way. We get the Fry's deals here and to be honest the Shuttle deals are usually way higher in price than the ECS deals in which youpractically get the mobo for free.

Fry's tries to sell you the returned boards first (usually) I always make them get a brand new board when purchasing one of there combo deals.

 

[psianime]

Wow, the features on the ECS mobo look AWESOME! I picked one up today at Industry, good deal.

 

[kenrippy]

Originally posted by: woodscomp
As a system builder who has done plenty of systems with both Shuttle and ECS I can say they are pretty equal in quality control and price. Difference between these two manufactures lies in customer support which ECS has Shuttle beat by 1000 miles. If you have ever tried to contact Shuttle it is fruitless, they do not reply and are slow to respond when you call them for help (RMA that is). ECS on the other hand deals very quickly with RMA's. Fry's has brought ECS to the consumer market in a huge way. We get the Fry's deals here and to be honest the Shuttle deals are usually way higher in price than the ECS deals in which youpractically get the mobo for free.

Fry's tries to sell you the returned boards first (usually) I always make them get a brand new board when purchasing one of there combo deals.

There you have the "you get what you pay for" in the ECS/Shuttle debate. I've built about 10 Shuttle rigs and about 75 ECS and haven't had 1 bad Shuttle, but about 50% of the ECS boards have been either finicky or flaked out after about 6 months. The AN35N Ultra is by far a superior board than the ECS nf2 counterpart.

And I'm with you, I never buy a mobo from fry's that has already been returned. At my local fry's you can grab the mobo yourself and walk up to the CSR to get the cpu. They usually have a stack of the mobo's sittin near by so they can hand you one though, and they are probably the returned ones too.

 

[gsaldivar]

Originally posted by: kenrippy

"...about 50% of the ECS boards have been either finicky or flaked out after about 6 months..."

I've built 25 ECS systems in the past 6 months.

Not a single "finicky", "flake out" or failure so far.

Maybe the problem isn't the hardware, but the person assembling the hardware??

:beer:

 

[Z80]

I've had good luck with the Shuttle AN35N, overclocks well. ECS is a crap shoot. Go with the Shuttle and the 2200.

 

[PoPPeR]

My ECS wasn't total crap, it was crap for me because the ECS seemed to be extremely picky about ram. I was using generic Fry's ram and it was horrible, I used the ram when I switched to my epox board and everything ran perfectly.

 

[kenrippy]

Originally posted by: gsaldivar

Originally posted by: kenrippy

"...about 50% of the ECS boards have been either finicky or flaked out after about 6 months..."

I've built 25 ECS systems in the past 6 months.

Not a single "finicky", "flake out" or failure so far.

Maybe the problem isn't the hardware, but the person assembling the hardware??

:beer:

Some have been weird happenings, like going over to a "customer's" house and checking out their pc to find out it had somehow set itself back to 100/100 instead of 133/133....but the date and other settings hadn't changed in the bios. Just very odd things have happened w/ these boards. (I'm talking about the k7s5a np/pro models)

 

[cHeeZeFacTory]

i only have crucial ddr pc2100 ram, that means i won't be able to overclock the fsb much with the 2600+ combo right?

 

[datdamkid]

Originally posted by: techiecool
i think you're right. i guess i just have an uneasy feeling about ecs...not that i have ever used them but their reputation stinks.

sorry didn't mean to rub it in

Don't get the ECS its an okay board but...I've had a bad expreience with one before....actually it was just a few weeks ago...and then I got the shuttle AN35N and i love it

 

[pxc]

Originally posted by: gsaldivar

Originally posted by: kenrippy

"...about 50% of the ECS boards have been either finicky or flaked out after about 6 months..."

I've built 25 ECS systems in the past 6 months.

Not a single "finicky", "flake out" or failure so far.

Maybe the problem isn't the hardware, but the person assembling the hardware??

:beer:

Pretty much the same for me, too. Out of 2 dozen ECS boards I've bought, only 1 has had any problem with it (secondary IDE port problem) and that was just about a week ago and it's still under warranty.

I have no problem buying or recommending these. They're cheap and have poor overclocking abilities compared to enthusiast boards, but they do work fine.