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Where to buy Barton 2500+ & NF7-S?

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Diamond

Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2003
I'm going to buy some new parts in a few days. I've narrowed my selection down to an Abit NF7-S (2.0) and Barton 2500+ (retail and I'll pick up an SK-7 HS shortly). I'm just not sure where the best place to pick them up at to get the best stepping, etc.

Here's what I've researched so far (MB + CPU + Shipping):
1. Newegg: $116 + $92 + $0 = $208
2. ExcaliberPC: $111 + $101 + $3 = $215
2a. ExcaliberPC: $111 + $92 (OEM CPU) + $3 = $206
3. GameVE: $109 + $92 + $0 = $201

Here's the pros/cons of each:

Newegg - Pros: My fav online retailer, I've seen some good Newegg Bartons in recent posts here. Cons: Won't guarantee rev 2.0 of the NF7-S, no guarantee in stepping

ExcaiberPC - Pros: Guaranteed rev 2.0 NF7-S, guaranteed stepping (AQXEA 0329VPHW /0328SPQW for Retail box and AQXEA: 0330VPMW or 0330UPMW for OEM). Cons: I'm not sure if these are good steppings or not, price.

GameVE: Pros: Best Price. Cons: No guarantee of CPU stepping. I don't have any experience with this retailer.

I'm leaning towards the retail CPU & MB from ExcaliberPC.

Any comments to help me decide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Make sure you budget in the shipping and handling on both Excaliberpc and GameVE... Most folks well tell you that newegg have been shipping out v2.0 on the nf7-s boards, but they do not go out of their way to verify this. Yes, they might still have v1.2 on the nf72. If you want to, check out the Epox 8RDA3+... they have the newest version which has the cooling fan on the NB and heatsink on the SB, and it's alot less than Abit.
 
I highly doubt you'll not get a v2.0 from a newegg.com ("a newegg.com" as in a larger well known company) unless it is a refurb, and even at that your chances of getting a 2.0 are very high.

I got two of them 4 months ago, you do the math.
 
The Barton steppings arent exactly _that_ significant as long as they are the later weeks which all of them are by now. Its not like any of those numbers is some wicked, amazing stepping like the 0310 XPMW JIUHB 1700. But, it would be nice to get guaranteed rev. 2.0 on the mobo. That is worth a few bucks price difference. Seems like the excaliber deal is a the winner overall.
 
Well, Excaliber no longer listed the Retail 2500+ when I was ready to order, so I went with Newegg for everything. The CPU arrived today and it's an AQXEA 0330WPMW. The MB should be here tomorrow.
 
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