Newegg is hawking a ECS GF6100-M754 (V1.0) Micro ATX motherboard, a retail Athlon 3200+ 754 CPU & a 512MB stick of DDR Memory for only $60 after a $20 mail in rebate.

Link-fu FIXED

MIR

Free 3 business day shipping, taxes in California.

It is unclear to me whether this combo comes with a CPU fan or not, though I initially thought it did. See reply a couple of posts below.

Maybe not a gaming rig, but more than adequate for most folks' needs, as long as you don't try to install Vista on it without adding another gig of memory. The CPU supports 64 bit operating systems and the onboard video is more than adequate to run the Linux compositing window manager compiz fusion. This would be a good choice if you are trying to recycle an older (but decent) power supply, since it probably doesn't require the extra 4 pin PS molex that most modern rigs need.

Details:

Model
Brand ECS
Model GF6100-M754 (V1.0)
Combo Type Motherboard/CPU/Memory Combo

Bundle CPU
CPU Athlon 3200+

Supported CPU
CPU Socket Type 754
CPU Type Athlon 64/Sempron

FSB 800MHz Hyper Transport (1600MT/s)
Chipsets
North Bridge NVIDIA GeForce 6100
Memory
Number of Memory Slots 2×184pin
Memory Standard DDR 333
Maximum Memory Supported 2GB
Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 1
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 2
Storage Devices
PATA 1 x ATA 133 2 Dev. Max
SATA 2 x SATA II
SATA RAID 0/1
Onboard Video
Onboard Video Chipset NVIDIA GeForce 6100
Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset Realtek ALC662
Audio Channels 6 Channels
Onboard LAN
LAN Chipset Broadcom AC131 PHY
LAN Speed 10/100Mbps
Max LAN Speed 10/100Mbps
Rear Panel Ports
PS/2 2
COM 1
LPT 1
Video Ports D-Sub
USB 4 x USB 2.0
Audio Ports 3 Ports
Onboard USB
Onboard USB 4 x USB 2.0

Physical Spec
Form Factor Micro ATX
Dimensions 9.6" x 8.6"
Features
Features With 512MB DDR Memory
Packaging

Package Contents GF6100-M754 (V1.0)
Driver Disk
User Manual
Rear I/O Panel Shield
IDE/PATA Cable
FDD Cable
SATA Cable
4-pin to SATA Power Cable
512MB DDR Memory

How do you know this is a retail CPU? Newegg is pretty good about their pictures, and the picture shows a motherboard with CPU installed and NO FAN.

Nowhere in the specifications does it talk about a fan either.

FreeFlyer said: How do you know this is a retail CPU? Newegg is pretty good about their pictures, and the picture shows a motherboard with CPU installed and NO FAN.

Good question, the ad said described the combo as:

Newegg said: ECS GF6100-M754 (V1.0) Athlon 3200+ 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 512MB DDR Memory Micro ATX Motherboard/CPU/Memory Combo - Retail
Free 512MB DDR memory included, limited time offer

I assumed that the "Retail" in this context referred to the CPU. In that context Retail means a CPU with a standard 3 year warranty and a fan, but as FreeFlyer points out, it isn't in the picture and in the Package Contents section of the page it doesn't mention the CPU at all, though it does site the stick of RAM. When I tried to check out with the combo it suggested a number of options including a couple of CPU fans. At this point I would have to assume the combo is probably OEM, in which case, it really isn't that Hot of a deal, since a fan will set you back about $12, but it still might fit the bill for someone who doesn't live close to a Frys & needs a cheap combo.

I tried to contact Newegg using the chat interface, but the representative wasn't unduly helpful sorting out the issue:

• Chat Information

   Alma: Thank you for contacting Newegg. My name is Alma. How may I assist you today?
Praxis: I'm looking at this combo (link)  I'm trying to figure out if it comes with a CPU fan.
Praxis: It says it is "Retail", which generally means with fan, but I don't see any specifics in the ad.
Alma: One moment while I take a look.
Alma: It does not state on the manufacturer product page...
Alma: click here (links to ECS's motherboard page).
Alma: I would suggest you contact them directly.
Praxis: Umm, ECS is only selling the motherboard, the CPU is manufactured by AMD. AMD sells either OEM (bare) CPUs or retail ones with fans.
Alma: Contact AMD to see if that specific combo would come with it. Any information we obtain on a product is provided directly from the manufacturer. We would not have any further information other than what is listed on our specifications tab.
Praxis: Again, AMD isn't selling this combo, you are, Newegg is the only one who knows whether it is a retail or OEM CPU.
Alma: I understand, which is why I stated any item information we obtain is directly from the manufacturer. If it does not state on our website, we would not have that information. Have you tried contacting ECS?

lol

this combo makes no sense. you can get better combos at fry's hell you can buy better components for nearly the same money right there at Newegg.

The majority of the country is not within driving distance of a Fry's. Even if you are, if you are looking for a cheap upgrade for a PII-III, Socket A, etc. that only has a 20 pin molex connector on the power supply, you better budget for a new PS if you get one of Fry's latest offerings. ? said:hell you can buy better components for nearly the same money right there at Newegg. Saying it doesn't constitute evidence. Find a faster combo at Newegg that even comes close this price, especially with free shipping and memory, otherwise you're just flapping your gums. Here, I'll make it easy for you, look at the Newegg mobo/CPU combo page. There is a Sempron 3000+ combo for $48 after MIR, but that isn't as fast as an Athlon 3200+, it doesn't include RAM, and you can't begin to compare Integrated SiS Ultra256 to Geforce6100 graphics. Forget about running all that fancy CF eye candy with SiS graphics (and yes, all the fancy compiz effects I mentioned above are done on a paltry 500 MB of memory).

Heck, while you are at it, go over to Pricewatch and see what you can get for $60 delivered with included RAM.

As to the ethernet not working, 78% of the 41 Newegg reviews rated the board as good or excellent. Something is always not going to work for somebody. Go look at the reviews for Asus' latest & greatest 780G chipset board at Newegg. 75% good or excellent, a DOA or two, some folks couldn't get some stuff to work, one guy had his NIC fail after a week, comes with the turf. Much as I hate PCCHIPS (ECS's parent), I have to say I've had as much luck with ECS boards as anything.

Kevindar said:I agree with proro. Qustionable if there is even fan, buying a system which is very slow for anything not basic, involving a rebate, and not worth spending money on it for componenets or operating system. You can look on craigslist and buy a complete computer with this processor, hard drive, and all built up, with a legal copy of operating system for 100 bucks. DDR ram is expensive. This system just makes no sense. I looked for the word "computer" with a price limit of $100 at my local Craigslist, I scanned a thousand ads and didn't see anything nearly this fast with 512 MB of RAM and a legal copy of Windoze, not that I consider the later much of a feature, being a Linux user (oh goody, I have a nice corporate license to get malware, woohoo, but being a Windows minion I can see why you wouldn't think this upgrade was fast enough, you need an extra CPU core & 500 MB of RAM just to run your AV software & firewall).

DDR is not expensive, I got 2x1 GB Crucial sticks at Fry's a couple of weeks ago (Memorial Day) for $35 after a modest MIR. In any case, half a gig is sufficient for surfing the internet, office work, editing photos, watching pr0n, etc., you know, the "basic" stuff most folks actually do with their computers.

This combo is not the core of a new high-end gaming rig, if you can't figure that out on your own. If you already have a case, power supply, optical drive and hard drive that work well enough, this is a very cost-effective upgrade, even if you have to pay $12 for a fan.

GWBush said:You'd be much better off with a 65W Fry's X2 special for around the same price after tossing in a HSF. Even more better off with a Pentium Duo Core 2200 for ~$10-$20 more. DDR2 RAM is faster and costs next to nothing. Thank me later.

Great advice if you are in California, Texas or one of the 9 cities not in those states that have a Frys, otherwise not too helpful.

BTW, live search CashBack offers 2.7% rebate for purchase on Newegg.com.

I guess I take it "personal" when some wight who can't seem to string together a cogent, comprehensible, grammatical sequence of words any better than his namesake takes repeated gratuitous swipes at me, despite my giving detailed responses to his objections.

To sum up, not that I think that it will percolate through your cranium,

• Not everyone is building a WinBlows gaming rig, most folks just want to surf the internet & use a word processor and this rig will do that for the next few years with no additional RAM.

  The machine on my network that gets the most use is my $100 Asus Terminator local web & file server with a low powered Via C2 processor. It has run 24/7 & never gives me a bit of trouble and has a processor that isn't 1/6th as fast as an Athlon 3200+ and I have no intention of upgrading for the foreseeable future.

  term:~$ uptime
  14:55:08 up 37 days, 3:52, 3 users, load average: 0.28, 0.09, 0.03

  term:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
  processor : 0
  vendor_id : CentaurHauls
  cpu family : 6
  model : 7
  model name : VIA Samuel 2
  stepping : 3
  cpu MHz : 800.090

  It is using 248/472 MB of RAM and not touching the swap file, it ran fine for a couple of years with half of that, I upgraded the memory when I pulled out a 250 GB drive and replaced it with a 750 GB. When I'm in the attic and don't feel like booting a more powerful machine on the KVM switch this box serves perfectly fine for web-browsing, listening to music, downloading torrents, looking at photos, playing card games, email, even burning DVDs (I replaced the CD-ROM that came with it with a DVD-burner when I upgraded).

• Not everyone lives next to a Fry's.

  It's true, Fry's often has very good deals on combos, in my second post above I said this deal was for someone who didn't have a handy Fry's, like the majority of North Americans.

• This deal is far cheaper than anything else that is comparable for someone who doesn't have easy access to Fry's.

Go to Pricewatch, the next cheapest combo with a half gig of RAM costs almost 50% more and has a slower CPU & video. Even once you include the cost of a fan, that combo is 22% more expensive. Any time you can beat the best Pricewatch deal by over 20% with a higher quality product I think that qualifies as a Hot Deal, not "shilling garbage." If you don't think so, move along, this deal is not for you.