Oem Sempron 3100+ & ECS Nforce3 motherboard combo for $79 + S/H (no rebates)

[moz_21]

Well I tried to put windows XP-64 on my system, the installation went fine but when it came time for the reboot and actually get into the operating system the system kept freezing. This is my first shot at install a 64 bit operating system, but by the looks of it the OS didn't like my Proc. So for me I don't think my chip is a 64bit enabled chip. However YMMV.

Both of my chips seem to be x64 enabled. I'm posting this from XP64 right now. I had a hell of a time getting stuff installed, then I ran memtest and the reviews on Newegg were right about the PQI ram. The stuff is failing memtest at 2.5-4-4-8 200Mhz (SPD timings...). I'm gonna send that back along with the other mobo.

As for the RMA question, try reading their site... It's 15 days, I believe, and you must call them. They don't seem to do online RMA's.

 

[doublejack]

My brother started having some computer trouble Friday, so I bought two of these combos on Saturday. One for him, and one for me I'll report back with updates when I get everything. Although I probably won't push either one further than 2.25Ghz, I'm not too keen on using clockgen, especially since this board doesn't have any chipset voltage adjustments. But this deal simply can't be touched in terms of cost to performance ratio. I'm sure I'll see a sizeable speed jump over my current rig.

 

[moz_21]

My brother started having some computer trouble Friday, so I bought two of these combos on Saturday. One for him, and one for me I'll report back with updates when I get everything. Although I probably won't push either one further than 2.25Ghz, I'm not too keen on using clockgen, especially since this board doesn't have any chipset voltage adjustments. But this deal simply can't be touched in terms of cost to performance ratio. I'm sure I'll see a sizeable speed jump over my current rig.

That's what my plan was. The cpu I have in it now passed 25hrs Prime at stock vcore, 250HTT, 3xHT, but gave me errors with Linux. I bumped up the vcore to the first setting, 1.25% or something like that. It's been 100% stable since. Damn nice deal. It's my Knoppmyth/folding box now. Now to get a nice HTPC case....

 

[sJetski]

Both of my chips seem to be x64 enabled. I'm posting this from XP64 right now.

Ya, i've been reading more and more success stories the past week or so. Just nice to know that we don't have to junk these systems when 64bit goes prime-time.

 

[Mr. Perfect]

I'd like to see what other combos they have, but I'm having trouble finding a combos section. Where should I be looking?

 

[DipStickTony]

I got in on the 2800+ combo for 80$, ditched the mobo after deciding to go pcie, and now running on a 46$ newegg refurbed dfi nf4x at 2400mhz / 300htt / 1.475v stock heatsink.

Cant beat the performance this gives for the money. Also its 64bit enabled but no ss3, BA code.

Any good combo they have is listed at fatwallet, just search for combo or outpost. The sempron combo is the only decent one although I did see a dual core a64 with mobo for ~270 not to long ago.

 

[iceage]

My chip is -64x enabled but I don't have a copy of any 64bit OS. Not a big deal for me as its going to end up as a folding layer anyway. It doesn't have SSE3 instructions which is unfortunate.

What I'm really looking for now is a good temp monitoring program for this ECS board. Don't really want to change boards if I can get from 1.8 to somewhere around 2.2-2.4 GHz.

 

[HeatM1ser2k4]

Going on AMD's website is shows that the Revision is CG not D0, so this chip is a 64bit Sempron but has a 130nm core.

I dont think you needed to goto all that effort, I believe that socket 754 boards ONLY accept 130nm CPU's

 

[doublejack]

I dont think you needed to goto all that effort, I believe that socket 754 boards ONLY accept 130nm CPU's

No, there are 90nm socket 754 cpu's. The 130nm cpu's have a Paris core, while the 90nm's have a Palermo core. Anything that is retail boxed and labeled a Sempron 64 is a Palermo core.

 

[Vengance_01]

Yea there are 90nm semprons, but most have getting a 130NM core which is ok by me. Bought to build me one for a server/secondary computer. I am bout to have about 900GB of storage between these two computers LOL

 

[beavismorpheus]

Is there anything that can beat this for the price?

 

[VinnyTAMU]

Is there anything that can beat this for the price?

For single core I would say no. However if you are looking for more power I would wait till you see a combo deal for an Intel 805 Dual Core processor.

 

[doublejack]

Is there anything that can beat this for the price?

No. Nothing even comes close. In bang-for-the-buck the closest match is an inexpensive Opteron like a 146 paired with a refurb 939 mobo from newegg. But that would run around $200-215, and upwards of $250 with a good heat sink like an XP-90. It'll be faster, but also about triple the cost. And Intel doesn't offer anything near the performance level of the Sempron for the money.

I'm super cheap, it's why I still have a socket A rig as my main box. But this is such a good deal I couldn't pass it up.

Oh, I was told that my combo arrived today Now I just need the stock A64 heat sink I bought off egay to arrive.

 

[moz_21]

Oh, I was told that my combo arrived today Now I just need the stock A64 heat sink I bought off egay to arrive.

And that's why I got the cheapest hsf from outpost, I knew I'd want to play right away lol.

 

[iceage]

With the ECS board I've gotten it to 249 HTT / 4x HT / 1:1 Mem / 2.241 GHz. I'm Priming now and its 10 hours stable so far. Anything over 249 HTT locks up. A 440MHz overclock (24%) isn't all that bad for a < $100 folding rig. I might buy another if they're still around.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Using the stock heat sink, I've got this up to 260x9. Damn Biostar 6100 board Vcore option jumps from 1.50 to 1.65, so I can't try any higher without a better heat sink. 64-bit extensions are enabled on mine as well as reported in Everest.

 

[sJetski]

With the ECS board I've gotten it to 249 HTT / 4x HT / 1:1 Mem / 2.241 GHz. I'm Priming now and its 10 hours stable so far. Anything over 249 HTT locks up. A 440MHz overclock (24%) isn't all that bad for a < $100 folding rig. I might buy another if they're still around.

Surprised you didn't have to kick it down to 3x HTT, that's what i notice most when people overclock this rig.

Maybe kick it down to 3x HTT and shoot for 260HTT? You might have to up the cpu voltage a notch but it might net you an extra 100~150mhz of folding power

Oh yea btw, enabling sidebanding and fastwrites in the bios killed my overclock. When i disabled them it netted me an extra 150-200mhz, A few people at other forums have made similar claims. Might be worth a shot.

 

[iceage]

I'll try disabling fastwrites and sidebanding and see what that does.

I guess I need an education on this whole HT / HTT thing.

From what I understand, the AMD HTT is similar to the Intel FSB. I understand the memory controller is on-chip for this Sempron and for Intel the Northbridge serves that purpose.

So what is HT, and what does setting it to 3x instead of 4x do?

I bought the stock HSF for this rig. Maybe I should have gotten the stock HSF that has the 4 heatpipes.

What are you guys using to measure temps?

 

[doublejack]

I finished my brother's build based on this combo. The final result using the ECS board is 240 HTT / 3x HT / 6:5 mem (200Mhz eff.) / 2.16Ghz with 1.7% overvolt. He's got one 512mb stick of cheap Centon PC3200, so pushing the memory beyond 200Mhz was not possible and the 3:2 memory divider was too steep to use (it would have taken 300 HTT to max out his memory, probably wasn't gonna happen). This setup is prime stable for 24+ hours. We used a stock A64 heat sink (not the heat pipe version). Temps were high 30s centigrade at idle and mid 40's under load in a room with 72 degree F ambient temp (he lives in an apartment so it really never varies much from that).

Overall we both were very pleased with the results. This ECS board isn't the best OC'er, but for the money (basically free) it's more than adequate and benchmarking / first hand experience has shown it was a worthwhile upgrade (my bro upgraded from an AXP similar to the rig in my signature). Next up, I get to build mine I'm going to get more agressive because I know my memory can do 220Mhz.

 

[beavismorpheus]

im happy with this combo. a lot of people hate ECS because it isnt the best. but if youre considering a sempron in the first place, this mobo is a damn good partner. budget mobo and budget cpu. gets the job done.