budget builders PCI-express set up

JSF35rhino

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 25, 2005
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ewiz has the ecs-socket 754 nf4 mb for $55 shipped

they also have the sempron 90nm core for $57+ s&h

so you could upgrade to a nf4-pci-express system for a spot over $100

http://www.ewiz.com/
eWiz.com IS YOUR BEST FRIEND! We do the product pricing for you!
 
There are NF4 S754 boards that add PCIe, I believe there are some Radeon Xpress200 boards as well.

Remember, the only difference between 754 and 939 is dual channel ram. Whoopie.

If I was building a brand new budget gamer box, I would go for the Sempron S754 2600+.
 
Dew said:
There are NF4 S754 boards that add PCIe, I believe there are some Radeon Xpress200 boards as well.

Remember, the only difference between 754 and 939 is dual channel ram. Whoopie.

If I was building a brand new budget gamer box, I would go for the Sempron S754 2600+.

Well and the FSB 754 is maxed at 800mhz while 939 goes up to 2000mhz
:D
 
well look at it like this

you can get one OEM socket 939 venice core cpu for $118

or you can get a nf4 motherboard (ECS) and one 2600 sempron 754 (90nm) for the same price

--yes it is pci express . don't know about the fsb although NF4's can scale way up there .

don't know what this ECS can do--but i wouldn't be a bit suprised if some of the better nf4-754's could do 300fsb on better . i would guess that the ECS--might do 250+ or so?

this 90nm 754 is the same core as the 90nm-939s (can't recall if it is winchester or venice)

there is a 754 with 64-support out as well. :eek: anyway $118 for a cpu-and MB with pci-express--looks like a good deal to me.

PS you can get the cpu from ewhiz for $63 shipped if you get off pricewatch.com
 
computerdude said:
Well and the FSB 754 is maxed at 800mhz while 939 goes up to 2000mhz
:D
No, that is a max HT frequency of 800MHz versus 1000MHz for normal A64 cores.

Do you know how much of a performance difference there is between 800MHz HTT and 1000MHz? It has yet to show even a 1FPS difference in ANY application/game. The 800MHz is just part of a marketing game for product separation.
 
JSF35rhino said:
don't know what this ECS can do--but i wouldn't be a bit suprised if some of the better nf4-754's could do 300fsb on better . i would guess that the ECS--might do 250+ or so?

Expect closer to 205FSB, maybe 210. ECS is notorious for having the bottom of the barrel when it comes to motherboards. Two ECS motherboards I've owned, and neither one would pass Prime95 for 24 hours at stock settings. One let me boot into Windows at 223Mhz. It died the week after. I switched to my old Abit AV8, and had no problems after that (Aside from being limited to about 267Mhz FSB)
 
yea--i know ECS definatly ain't a OC MB. but this is a nf4chipset there is a little hope for a better run at it.

i'll post on how it runs and how far-(-if any) it will oc.

a few of the old sis/socket a's ecs would overclock quite a bit as a recall --but i admit i haven't had a ECS mb in a long, long time.


some of the early ECS mb i had intel and AMD wern't much . but the DFI's of the time wern't that hot either.--way back in the day. :eek: knowing ECS it probably don't even have a pci lock!! lol
 
well the MB came in today , got it up and running windows in about 30min --seems stable good clean look about it--not a super-cheapo thing with stuff falling off like you might think for a $55 brand new nf4 MB . just put the 2.6 sempron in there put some ram in the slots and it started working.

HS&fan for this sempron looks pretty good--locks down solid--the MB and cpu run very cool .

it has some overclocking options --and has a few adjustments for v-core and v-dimm.
playing around in the bios i haven't found a pci-lock (it might have one anyway) it has memory settings for t1 and t2-- + all the standard stuff.

the hyperthread goes from 4x down to 2x -- it has memory dividers and the fsb only goes to 250-- not much for a nf4 --but enough for my back-up box.

it seems to be stable at 235fsb with the hyperthread @ 3x --might get it overclocked to the max-250 --but i have so work to do to get it there--if it will get there.

after running it for the last 4 hours haven't seen any issues-- but the ram slots are super close togeather-- if you hav ram with heatsinks--there too tight-- another thing--it's only got three ram slots ?-wtf?--LOL

the ram slots are kinda tight fit too--but not as bad as i was afraid they might be.
the retail pack is pretty bare--just the retail box--a few cables a install-book and a backplate. very basic --but enough to start with.

so far it is looking good for a inexpensive gamming rig with light oc on it or a basic type system.

not bad for a $118 MB,cpu ahd hs&fan combo.

i kinda wish i had got the 64 version for new egg for $10 more --but a $57 retail sempron--just couldn't pass that up--lol

if you use that cpu-z thing they got a cpu-tweeker for the nf4 chipset-- i'll try that in a few days and see how far this thing can go in windows. if you had a more powerful cpu--it might make a bang for buck pci-express champ .

the thing is purple--it don't look bad at all--

i'm running 2x512 pqi turbo t2 25 regular--not tccd so far it seems to love the stuff --it came with the new bios allready on it. so no flash is required. i can't remember the last time i got a MB with the new bios on it--been years and years--.
 
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-NF4A754#

Is that the motherboard you're talking about?

Also do all the socket 754 motherboards have the issue with 3 sticks of ram going down the next speed setting? I got in on the ancient AMD bundle deal with the A64 3200+ and the Asus K8V SE Deluxe and it will run 2 sticks at DDR400 but three is at DDR333 (I think). Sorta blows...

I'm getting really annoyed with the K8V SE Deluxe so I'd like to upgrade. I'm getting a new video card at the end of the month (after vacation) so if my ATI preorder for the X800XL PE never works out (and trust me, I don't really expect it to but who knows) then I might be looking at PCI-e cards.
 
So isnt part of the reason of having PCI-E is to not fall behind in the times, yet you'd be using it on a s754 board.
 
streetkid said:
So isnt part of the reason of having PCI-E is to not fall behind in the times, yet you'd be using it on a s754 board.
At this price who cares... If you're going to get a new video card and you are considering PCI-E and you already have a CPU for this or you want a cheap CPU... Makes sense to me.
 
well i got the MB up and running 2000 pro

not a bad little overclocker to boot--

it is now running 1.6 sempron 90nm @ 2000 8x 250fsb ! 1.58v-core

the ram is running 3200 speed 2.5 cl t2 200mhz 2.79v

darned thing is stable--this is in spite of the fact that i'm running a generic 500w psu that is a little low on the 12 v rail (12 v only shows 11.68v)

it is so stable in fact i used my hatachi 80g sata 2 drive that i had been useing to overclock the dfi-lanpartu ultra d (nf4 ultra)-- and it didn't even require a re-format or anything--and this 2000pro has seen the mill--sort of speak with the DFI

only thing holding this mb back from being a good overclocker is that it's fsb only goes to 250--maybe there will be a new bios that will take it to 300--but i wouldn't hold my breath.

i think i may start useing the 939 version of this MB for my budget builds as well .

for $47 to $60 shippes their hard to beat--you can hardly find a decent referbed MB for that--

another thing--no problems with the sata -- boots off sata just like any other nf4 mb. easy upgrade mb--heck with the stock hs-fan it will even fit older cases and the mb has a very small foot-print--about any case should have room to spare. :cool:
 
JSF35rhino said:
it is now running 1.6 sempron 90nm @ 2000 8x 250fsb ! 1.58v-core

the ram is running 3200 speed 2.5 cl t2 200mhz 2.79v

250FSB? Congrats! That's not half bad. My Abit didn't do much more than that, and cost twice as much :)
 
this thing could go above 250fsb with a new bios--

another thing to consider is-- i got a crap-psu on this too -- it is one of them $20 shipped from e-bay jobs and it undervolts on the 12v rail-- now if you got one of these with a good PSU --like a 450w antec or the likeness--i don't think you would encounter any issues with the pqi-turbo (non0tccd) ram or this sempron with this setup.

it's been running most of the day --stock hs and fan in a room that reaches 98f and it hasnt't crashed once.


only thing it did was--when upping the fsb above 230 --the computer won't re-boot--but it will boot after a push on the power switch-- stability seems excellent--temps are warm but normal .

can't do much better for the $$$ if i was serious about building one of these though--i would consider going with a higher cpu-a 3100 sempron or so would clock a bit higher.

- your limited by the 250fsb --these nf4s can easy go 300+ my nf4 a8n-sli has made windows @ 316 on air @9x .my dfi-lanparty has made over 400mhz 2 5x --so there is lots of room to go up with the nf4 chipset. 250 is a cakewalk.

a funny thing this MB has enough volts for v-dimm and v-core to get serious--if another bios revision would come along--lol :cool: but fot the $$ a 90nm sempron and this nf4 MB are tough to beat--a little over a $100 for a cpu and a nf4mb ?--can't beat that--lol

even with the fsb jacked up to 250--it's only running 2000mhz--if these 754's are like my 939's when you get to around 2400 its partytime--lol :cool:
 
i was wondering on which abit you had that couldn't do 250fsb ?

i haven't had an abit since the ic-7g--but as i recall it was quite good at overclocking .

i think on this mb the a754 it is the nf4 chipset that is making the slack for the overclocking --rather than ecs--.i just wonder if a biostar has the same overclocking headroom with the nf4 mb's?? :cool:
 
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