Fry's Ad: Intel System Builder Special Event?

L

Levii

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
221
This is in my local (Dallas) Fry's add:

specialeventon1.gif



http://shopping.dallasnews.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=2519&adid=7185460&subid=24282464&type=

Any ideas what it is?
 
To answer my own question, I stopped by two of the Fry's in my area (Plano and Garland). The promotion is that they have the ECS G22T-M2 board for sale for $20, and also have some bundles available to clear out some parts. They seemed to have virtually every Core Duo and Core Quad processor included, but here are the four I can remember the prices for:

Q6600 - $119
Q8200 - $129
Q9300 - $159
Q9450 - $199

Fantastic prices, right? Well, at each location the only processors they had in stock were the Q8200s. Pretty lame. :(
 
LittleGuy said:
Do you remember how much the 8200 was?
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Sorry, there was a typo in the list. Q9200 should have been Q8200 (which was $129.99).

In retrospect, I am not sure if that combo price includes the $20 ECS board, or if that must be purchased separately.
 
I wish there was a Fry's here in Ohio.....I'd snap up that Q6600 in a heart beat
 
No Q6600's in Texas, according to one of the sales guys (after checking the computer). They did have a fair amount of Q8200's, though. The price is $129.99 for the processor AND the POS motherboard (ECS G33T-M2). It is an unbreakable bundle. Not sure if it an OEM or retail CPU.
 
When the guy was checking on the Q6600 for me, he specifically told the cage guy that it was the tray CPU, so I would assume all of these bundles are OEM.
 
Q6600 and Q9450 have been discontinued for by Fry's for some time now, so you will have a hard time finding them.
 
I may go pick up a Q8200 -- that price is cheaper today than a Q6600. I am just trying to upgrade a simple 5 year old rig and that should work fine, despite the smaller L2.
 
I'm thinking of getting another Q6600 (or Q8200) if any are left near me and dumping the Phenom 9600.
 
There were only 3 of the unadvertised combos left in the Woodland Hills store at 5pm: $130 Q8200, $160 Q9300 and $80 E6550, all with the ECS G33 motherboard. I really wanted the $60 E7200 combo for my nephew. :( Oh well, maybe there will be something good and cheap on BF.

I wound up getting the Q8200 combo and an extra G33 board. Thanks for posting the known combos above.
 
just got back from downers grove il, they had many Q6600s left, retail (but opened) and several OEMs. Infact, the only combo offered was the Q8200 and the Q6600, no e4600, no e7200, no Q9300 deals.

My intel box was opened but it came retail, it was clearly used however so we'll see what happens.

whats this tapemod i keep hearing about?
 
pxc said:
Nothing. :p You need to short pads to bump the FSB. You'll be looking for the 266 to 333 mod to run a Q6600 at 3GHz: http://www.overclockers.com/index.p...ew=article&id=3566&catid=54:howto&Itemid=4260

I prefer not to mess with the CPU itself. I solder a short wire to a convenient point on the motherboard and ground it on one of the fan header pins. I'd rather void the warranty on a $20 motherboard than a $100+ CPU.
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You do WHAT? Ok, explain that one, it's new to me... just curious... I know about the pin/pad mods, been doing those for years now, but that little thing you mentioned at the end has me intrigued.
 
Joe Average said:
You do WHAT? Ok, explain that one, it's new to me... just curious... I know about the pin/pad mods, been doing those for years now, but that little thing you mentioned at the end has me intrigued.
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This is a mod I did on a different ECS board, probably a 945GCT-M model (I got rid of it a while ago, but I've done the same thing on several different boards):



It's pretty simple. Just find a convenient connection to the pad(s) on the motherboard, and quick solder a strand of wire with enough slack to reach a ground. I can remove the mod easily if I need to, or just temporarily disable it by disconnecting it from ground. You can do this on virtually any board that doesn't have (working) FSB options in CMOS setup.

I don't know if I'm going to mod the G33 board from this deal, but if someone is interested I can show where the 266 to 333 or 200 to 266 mod points are on the board later tonight.
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I don't need another E6550, but if any are left tonight I might pick up another. $80 is sounding too good to pass up on that combo. I wish the cheap E5200 combos were available last night. Much easier to overclock.
 
This morning the Fry's in Plano, TX had 1 8200 combo left. The guy said they started with 20. He also confirmed for me that the ECS boards were garbage. It was a tough call, but in the end I decided not to get it and hold out for a 8400 or 8500. Since I am not going to be doing any serious gaming, I am not too worried. But, man, that is still a nice price for the 8200. Maybe I should get my ass back in the car and go buy it...

For those asking, the board is currently on-sale for $20--originally $40. I bet you could probably find a few NIB for sale here cheaper than that.
 
pxc said:
This is a mod I did on a different ECS board, probably a 945GCT-M model (I got rid of it a while ago, but I've done the same thing on several different boards):

*snip*

It's pretty simple. Just find a convenient connection to the pad(s) on the motherboard, and quick solder a strand of wire with enough slack to reach a ground. I can remove the mod easily if I need to, or just temporarily disable it by disconnecting it from ground. You can do this on virtually any board that doesn't have (working) FSB options in CMOS setup.

I don't know if I'm going to mod the G33 board from this deal, but if someone is interested I can show where the 266 to 333 or 200 to 266 mod points are on the board later tonight.
------------

I don't need another E6550, but if any are left tonight I might pick up another. $80 is sounding too good to pass up on that combo. I wish the cheap E5200 combos were available last night. Much easier to overclock.
Click to expand...

Duh, ok, I'm still at a loss about why this works, truly stumped, but interested on trying it just for shits and giggles on an ECS 945GCT-M/1333 v3 board with a Celeron 430 on it I have here (another Fry's combo from months ago). The Celeron 433 runs at 200x9 for 1.8, always wondered (because it ran so cool) if it could handle 266 but the BIOS options of course are effectively useless.

I'm looking at that pic a little zoomed and I'm assuming you're using a specific "pad" spot off that (apparent) transistor (3 leads), if not then I'm just missing this entire thing completely... bleh. If there's a website with more info point me to it, as I'll continue doing research, but this "technique" of pushing the FSB is new to me, oddly.

Thanks...
 
Joe Average said:
I'm looking at that pic a little zoomed and I'm assuming you're using a specific "pad" spot off that (apparent) transistor (3 leads), if not then I'm just missing this entire thing completely... bleh. If there's a website with more info point me to it, as I'll continue doing research, but this "technique" of pushing the FSB is new to me, oddly.
Click to expand...
There's probably no info on other sites because as far as I know I'm the only one who does this. :p

I don't have any ECS 945GCT-M/1333 3.0 boards, only the 1.0 version with 2 x16 sized slots. It has a much different layout.

The reason it works is because the contact point I choose on the board is shorted to the BSEL pad on the CPU that I wanted to bring low. In the case of increasing the FSB from 200MHz QDR to 266MHz QDR, shorting BSEL1 from any convenient place on the board to ground (BSEL1 to VSS) does the trick. It's the exact same concept as using a window defogger kit to connect BSEL1 to pad L30 (VSS) on the CPU package. It's just grounding the pin to force it low.
 
pxc said:
I don't know if I'm going to mod the G33 board from this deal, but if someone is interested I can show where the 266 to 333 or 200 to 266 mod points are on the board later tonight.
Click to expand...

I ordered the board and would definitely be interested. I'll be throwing an E7200 in it most likely so a bump to FSB333 would net me 3.16GHz. That would provide a noticeable FPS boost in the few games that I would play with the setup I have planned for this.
 
Kurik said:
Ugh, time to write Fry's corporate and demand a store in Ohio!
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I was on vacation near a Fry's, and of course that week they had zero specials of interest. I wish they would go back to having the occasional decent deal on the web.
 
Just throwing it out there - in the past I've been able to get these ECS/CPU deals and then return the motherboard unopened (keeping the processor). I did it about two black fridays ago. It may have been clerk error on not paying attention, but it worked. Worth a shot, only $20.
 
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