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

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Just ordered this for my buddy... I wonder if it's worth it just to buy... damn it's such a sweet deal. LoL.
 
Pkirk618 said:
so far so good. The board itself looks nice and doesn't feel cheap. I purchased a fan from Altex for 9 bucks. It the cheapest thing in their overpriced store lol. I rec'd a 32bit processor but that fine for me. If I decide to upgrade the processor, I have some room to do so. I heard people getting up to 2.4 on this processor. Combine that w/say a 6800 or higher, you can game very well. I got mine from OP too and arrived in 2 days.

Im formatting my HDD as we speak but did get a decent look at the BIOS. Looks like this board has some decent overclocking options. It locks AGP and PCI seperately too so you can OC those areas on your own if you like. It was very easy to hook up my case's lights too--usually I dread figuring out which goes where because the manual is vague. Not with this board. The book is pretty detailed. I've received mobos w/o any literature and that sucks. Comes with Sata and IDE cables. Of course you get ur IO backplate.

I heard that we shouldn't install a driver or two off the CD. I forget which one but I'm going to research that here in a few. I think its the NFORCE HDD drivers or something like that.

In all for 80 bucks, this was a great deal. Thanks OP. ;)
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Two points from your post:

1) From personal experience, get the NFORCE drivers from NVIDIA; DO NOT INSTALL drivers from the CD, they hose the installation. You'll need to semimanually install the SOUND drivers from the CD, though you could probably get them elsewhere (Realtech AC97).

2) I have a slightly different experience than you with the connections... I can't get the power LED onto the board because my old legacy case has a three pin connector with a dead middle pin, and there is only room for a two pin. Everything else connected fine, although I noticed an honest to god bias in the reset switch; it works only in one of the orientations on my system, normally the switch doesn't care, since it's supposed to just be a quick ground to reset the board, but it mattered, at least with my old case.

And one that's a total side issue.

3) Darn it, my RAID 0 array from my old MB isn't instantly recognized by the new NVIDIA NVRAID on the board... which means the data on those drives needs to be transferred to another disk (I have a drive big enough, with a minor amount of pruning, since the drive isn't full), rebuild the RAID under the NVRAID, then reload the data... PITA, I'd be DONE installing the darn thing now if not for that.

Do have to say, for a Sempron, that thing is fast... I started having it do burn in with Einstein@Home, and 1 1/2 hours per work unit.... we'll see, though
 
RGMBill said:
2) I have a slightly different experience than you with the connections... I can't get the power LED onto the board because my old legacy case has a three pin connector with a dead middle pin, and there is only room for a two pin. Everything else connected fine, although I noticed an honest to god bias in the reset switch; it works only in one of the orientations on my system, normally the switch doesn't care, since it's supposed to just be a quick ground to reset the board, but it mattered, at least with my old case.
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They make converters for this or just get a precision flat head and lift up the lip and pull it out and move it to the middle one.

Takes 3 seconds max
 
or do what i did. take some scissors, cut the middle one in half. then, take a knife/exacto knife and shave off the cut pieces flat on either side. sure, you end up with 2 seperate pins, but that shouldnt really be much trouble at all. :D g/l
 
RGMBill said:
Two points from your post:

1) From personal experience, get the NFORCE drivers from NVIDIA; DO NOT INSTALL drivers from the CD, they hose the installation. You'll need to semimanually install the SOUND drivers from the CD, though you could probably get them elsewhere (Realtech AC97).

3) Darn it, my RAID 0 array from my old MB isn't instantly recognized by the new NVIDIA NVRAID on the board... which means the data on those drives needs to be transferred to another disk (I have a drive big enough, with a minor amount of pruning, since the drive isn't full), rebuild the RAID under the NVRAID, then reload the data... PITA, I'd be DONE installing the darn thing now if not for that.
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I had problems using nvidias network drivers to make the onboard network to work, i had to install the cd drivers to get the onboard network to work. (that is if any of you have this problem)

I also had to install the cd drivers for the onboard sound.
 
You know those wire stripper/crimper/cutter tools? They work great for splitting those 3-pin things in half. Just turn the (now) two pin connectors to fit onto the pins. Simplest way and you don't ruin your scissors! :p

On topic: I got this kit, but couldn't find the cpu for anything--not in the mb box, not in the outer box, etc., just happened to see it after I tossed the mb box BACK into the box after getting a RMA from Outpost. It was taped to the bottom of the mb box. (augh)

Still waiting for my cpufan to arrive to test this thing.
 
Second one of these setups is waiting for me at home now. ;)

Thanks again for pointing this killer deal out!
cheers.gif
 
I got this combo with one of the ebay hsf. After reformating I used the nForce 5.11 drivers from nvidia, and I even installed the IDE driver. Everything works great, including the ethernet. Great deal.
 
so far ide driver causes problem with cd playing and dvd playing Delete it and all works fine :D
 
How well does the OCed version of this setup compare to a p4 2.4 @3.1 on a an abit 865 board?
 
Great deal. Mine should be arriving tomorrow. Just a couple questions so I can be ready for it, though. I'm assuming the network interface uses the forcedeth driver, right? Likewise, does the IDE controller use the amd/nvidia IDE driver? This is for linux, btw. I'm planning on just doing a quick swap for the time being, and then I'll go 64 bit(if possible) once my school work slows down a bit.
 
Regardless of the AX/BX bit, I can confirm from my chip that they are indeed x86-64 chips. I noticed on the AMD website that there is a relatively new SKU for the Sempron 3100+ that says they are 64 bit, and the CPUID tool from AMD themselves identified it as 64 bit. Mine says it's an AX chip, too.

Oh, yeah, this is a BARGAIN!
 
How do you guys get it past 250 I used the clockgen but I can only get it to 268 before it gives...

Is there any software or hacked bios out there that can do that...
 
The Other said:
How do you guys get it past 250 I used the clockgen but I can only get it to 268 before it gives...

Is there any software or hacked bios out there that can do that...
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Actually you did pretty well, remember the clockgen average with this combo is right around 260ish htt with some getting more, and some getting less.

As long as your familiar with, and have ruled out the other vagaries like voltages, HTT multiplier, ram divider, mem timings etc, then you've probably hit your wall. Try disabling sidebanding and fastwrites in the bios since they "can" limit your overclock bigtime, ymmv. The ECS bios lacking chipset voltage adjustments is seen as a handicap, not sure what can be done about that though.

Are you familiar with overclocking NF3 based rigs?
 
SJetski71 said:
Actually you did pretty well, remember the clockgen average with this combo is right around 260ish htt with some getting more, and some getting less.

As long as your familiar with, and have ruled out the other vagaries like voltages, HTT multiplier, ram divider, mem timings etc, then you've probably hit your wall. Try disabling sidebanding and fastwrites in the bios since they "can" limit your overclock bigtime, ymmv. The ECS bios lacking chipset voltage adjustments is seen as a handicap, not sure what can be done about that though.

Are you familiar with overclocking NF3 based rigs?
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Not very familiar at all... this was my step up from the XP in my sig...

I kinda figured that I hit the wall... But the 2250 with this Sempron does do better than my XP did at 2200, much better... I think my old superpi 1m was at 46 and now I get it at 42...
 
SJetski71 said:
Try disabling sidebanding and fastwrites in the bios since they "can" limit your overclock bigtime, ymmv.
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How can you disable sideband addressing? I am able to disable fastwrites through RivaTuner, but disabling sideband addressing doesn't do anything, it's still reported as enabled. Disabling it in BIOS doesn't help either. Is it part of the AGP2.0+ spec? Seem to remember reading that somewhere.
 
The Other said:
Not very familiar at all... this was my step up from the XP in my sig...

I kinda figured that I hit the wall... But the 2250 with this Sempron does do better than my XP did at 2200, much better... I think my old superpi 1m was at 46 and now I get it at 42...
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You may have already thought about this but your ole Barton 2500+ and Chaintech mobo are still fetching decent prices on ebay (but not for long i bet). If you were to sell those then your almost getting this Sempron combo for free.

BTW, you could try horsing around with bios setting some more, but you may end up just setting clockgen to 267HTT for an even 2400mhz, and sit back and enjoy :)

/Deal still alive/
 
SJetski71 said:
You may have already thought about this but your ole Barton 2500+ and Chaintech mobo are still fetching decent prices on ebay (but not for long i bet). If you were to sell those then your almost getting this Sempron combo for free.

BTW, you could try horsing around with bios setting some more, but you may end up just setting clockgen to 267HTT for an even 2400mhz, and sit back and enjoy :)

/Deal still alive/
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that is how I convinced the girlfriend to come with me and why I should be buying this instead of saving for our wedding...
 
I got mine in yesterday and let Prime95 run all night.
Not a bad little combo for the money. Results below... :)

semp2310.png
 
I currently have the system in my sig....well actually I think the mobo bit it. It won't post anymore. I wasted money on a new PSU and that wasn't the problem so now I want a new mobo but I can't find my model on the net.

My question is, how much of an ugrade would this system be over my current rig? Assuming I ran this sempron at stock vs my current rig how would it compair?
Would I need to OC to make this system faster than my current rig? My NF2 is running very tight dual channel ram timmings and single channel on this system would seem a bottle neck. Also, as sad as it seems, I do plan to game on this a little. Some BF2 and maybe WOW. Also lots of DIVX and XVID encoding. Thanks for any input.
 
MiXdNuTs said:
I currently have the system in my sig....well actually I think the mobo bit it. It won't post anymore. I wasted money on a new PSU and that wasn't the problem so now I want a new mobo but I can't find my model on the net.

My question is, how much of an ugrade would this system be over my current rig? Assuming I ran this sempron at stock vs my current rig how would it compair?
Would I need to OC to make this system faster than my current rig? My NF2 is running very tight dual channel ram timmings and single channel on this system would seem a bottle neck. Also, as sad as it seems, I do plan to game on this a little. Some BF2 and maybe WOW. Also lots of DIVX and XVID encoding. Thanks for any input.
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Gaming I saw an improvement even though I went from 1.5 to 1gb of ram... Obliviion and BF2 run just as smooth as before... Check my sig I had my barton at 2.2ghz and I have this at 2250 just 50 mzh higher but vastly improved my rig... My superpi 1m went from 49 to 46...

but as far as encoding and such I really can't say but I think it would be about the same... but I might be wrong on that...
 
Doctor Carta said:
what kind of temps?
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Been running D2OL now for over twelve hours and it seems to be jumping between 46 and 48 degrees. Now that I know everything works I will pull the chip out and lap it down to 1,500 grit and use some AS5 on it.
 
MiXdNuTs said:
I currently have the system in my sig....well actually I think the mobo bit it. It won't post anymore. I wasted money on a new PSU and that wasn't the problem so now I want a new mobo but I can't find my model on the net.

My question is, how much of an ugrade would this system be over my current rig? Assuming I ran this sempron at stock vs my current rig how would it compair?
Would I need to OC to make this system faster than my current rig? My NF2 is running very tight dual channel ram timmings and single channel on this system would seem a bottle neck. Also, as sad as it seems, I do plan to game on this a little. Some BF2 and maybe WOW. Also lots of DIVX and XVID encoding. Thanks for any input.
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Be sure to check the review links i added in the original post. I went from a [email protected] dual-channel, to this Sempron@ 2.34ghz single channel and it has speeded my tasks up noticeably. IMHO dual-channel on socket-A was a sham, all reviews seemed to only show a 2~4% speed increase which imho classifies it as a "tweak" and nothing too special.

A $79 upgrade plus the chance to sell off some old parts, it's a win-win imho.

/Still in stock btw
 
MiXdNuTs said:
Is THIS CPU cooler overkill for this? Its the CNPS 7700
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"No CPU HSF is overkill on keeping a CPU cool". That said, the physical layout of the motherboard, between the CPU, the memory slots, and the AGP card seems to be a tad tight to me (and the MB power cable snakes past the CPU socket). That's a VERY large cooler overall in terms of diameter... it might not physically fit well, and it WILL mean having to pull your video card to get at the RAM, I'm nearly certain of that (because it's only marginal even with the stock cooler not having to do that....).
 
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