Sempron 140 (unlockable 2nd core) + AMD 785gm motherboard $96.98 free shipping

idiot proof... just set "acc" in bios to enabled and it does it by itself.

agreed great htpc build. Add ram and a case/psu. Speaking of case there is a case on sale rosewill 19.99 and free shipping today.

Only thing is unlockable core is luck of the draw. Still a great little cpu and 785 is newest chipset

I'm not sure if 100% of these chips unlock, so please do some research. It definitely is a high percentage of success if it's not 100% success, so it's still worth a shot @ this price for many people.

All you have to do is enable ACC (Advanced Clock Calibration) in your BIOS settings to enable the additional core.

austonia said: unholy - i do not doubt what you say but can you provide some reference about this hack? thank you.

assuming it works then i know this CPU can do 1080p video on its own because i'm already doing that with a 4850e (X2 2.5ghz/45W) using MPC-HC. several of my older 1080p rips are not DXVA complient and rely on CPU for decode.

this is a nice deal for a low-powered HTPC. should be able to complete it with $20 RAM, $50 case/cpu, and hopefully re-use some old hard drive and copy of windows.
The answer to those 1080P movies that play choppy is CoreAVC. My HTPC is a BE-2350 (dual-core AMD, 45W) that runs 2.8ghz and RAM @ 400mhz 5-5-5-15 2T. Some of my 1080P movies would be choppy where the video would lag behind the audio. It really is a simple solution. I tried so many things to try to figure out the issue, and I'll just keep it short and tell you that CoreAVC was my final answer (unless you want to pay for a much more powerful CPU). Those same videos would play just fine on my E8400 rig, so it was in fact my CPU that was lacking in power, but as I said CoreAVC took care of that for me.

You have to pay for it, or you can go the other route to obtain it which I will not explain...

alphasux said: How does unlocking the 2nd core affect power consumption and heat?

It might add about 20 watts... close to that figure. Owning a Kill-A-Watt is very useful. I have 2 of them... got em each for around $17-18 shipped.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

They're on sale now and then with free shipping e-mail promotions...

Just to clarify the second core issue, when companies like AMD and Intel manufacture processors, the dual cores that have a core failure get the bad core disabled and are sold as single cores. If there is more demand for single core cpu's than there are failures, perfectly good dual cores get one core turned off, but its still functional if re-enabled.

In the early stages of production for a processor, there is a higher failure rate than there is as it reaches maturity and towards the end of production the fail rate is extremely low.

So if you buy a CPU that's been made for a few months, odds are good you'll get a single core with a bad core in it. Towards the end, most likely two good cores.

If you're buying old, old stock or brand new stock, same rules may sway your 'luck'.

For anybody interested in the HTPC side of this board, you might start here: Link to AVSforums

mpkb said: Within the past week, there have been combo deals from the egg and frys around $100 for Pentium dual core. Aren't those a lot more powerful than a Sempron?

Sorry for the newbie question, I haven't bought a combo in years and am a little out of it.

Well, the AMD one on Newegg is for an ECS mobo and not a lot of people like them. The mobo itself is around $30ish AR and the cpu is around 60ish to total to around 100ish. This deal, however, is for a better (gigabit or something) mobo that some people might be willing to pay for (dual video output)

mpkb said: Within the past week, there have been combo deals from the egg and frys around $100 for Pentium dual core. Aren't those a lot more powerful than a Sempron?

Sorry for the newbie question, I haven't bought a combo in years and am a little out of it.
The gigabyte board in this deal is of a much higher quality and feature level than the other ~$100 deals. The AMD cpu included in this deal is relatively low-end, but if you can unlock the 2nd core, you should have a cpu that is competitive with the Core2 or Pentium Dual Core cpu's included in the recent deals. With both cores working, this Sempron should place somewhere in the range of an E5200 or E6300. For a normal use computer or an HTPC, this is very usable and probably more power than you need (exceptions: gaming, video editing, or a general massive lack of patience).

The major downside of this board and all 785G boards is the (slightly astounding) lack of multi channel LPCM over HDMI. Nobody can figure out how or why AMD dropped the ball on this one.

thanks op looks like a great deal. My main pc just died, this will do great for a while to hold me over till black friday, then will make a great htpc build.

The same MB and AMD regor 2.8Ghz CPU is available for $20 more @ $119.99. For those who dont want to take a chance with the ACC mod this may be a better option regor Combo @ Newegg

Price is 3 bucks more now

Oh Well, the price for the combo is down to $96.99 again. I finally gave in and got one for yet another HTPC build. Now I can have a HTPC in all my bedrooms . I also go this quirky looking case from Newegg which looks like it may turn out to be a fun case.
Auzentech Toast

Don't know if this is a good deal but who can resist a "I did it" moment

Discobob73 said: o1die said: Great deal, but frys is better. In todays dallas tx ad, they have the sempron 140 with biostar micro atx board for $49.99 after $10 rebate. I don't have a link, but you can access their ad online. I already have this board with a sempron 1250Le, which I paid $10 more for. It works fine. The cpu runs at 2700 and uses only 45 watts.

Does the Biostar allow the unlocking though?

Doesnt seem like it. This is from Newegg's description (seems to be the same MB) Biostar MCP6 M2
The biostar runs an older nforce 430 chipset with onboard Geforce 6150, no hdmi and no dvi. The Gigabyte MB is much better for a HTPC build with the onboard ATI4200 and hdmi + esata etc.

o1die said: Would you expect a combo that's half the other guy's price to perform as well? Just pointing out a cheaper alternative with the same cpu. Your deal for $96 has been around for awhile. I use this biostar board everyday, and it works ok. Not an overclocker's or gaming motherboard, but at this price, what do you expect? I agree the other board is better.

Dunno whom you are replying to but one of the main attractions of the combo is the ability of the Gigabyte MB to unlock another core and in effect get twice the CPU bang for the buck. So its not really the same apple to apples comparison with your combo although it includes the same CPU. For those who are looking at the cheapest possible option the Frys combo is a great deal but for those (like me) who are looking to build an HTPC the included hdmi and esata are great features to have. Also IMO the gigabyte board provides a better path for future upgrades. Different strokes for different folks.

Worst case scenario:

Typical E7xxx rig that's overclocked to 4.2GHz, actual system idle load is 65W, while Prime load is 143W. This is with an 80+ PSU and basic 7200GS GPU.

I received my combo today and put it together later in the evening. The ACC mod does indeed unlock the sempron to a X2 4400e. I had to increase the voltage a bit for the system to be stable. BTW the hdmi output didnt work right out of the box and I had to go in to the Bios and set the option from auto to vga/hdmi and that solved the problem.
I am currently running windows7 RC and windows update automatically updated the drivers for the integrated ATI 4200 and hdmi sound works as well.
I am planning to run this build as a HTPC so I reverted back to the locked sempron and and the single core seems to have enough juice to push 720p /1080i content over hdmi without any hiccups. All in all a great MB with lots of options and a cheap capable CPU to boot.

Tks OP.

I just bought this motherboard a couple of weeks back. Excellent motherboard for a fantastic price. I wish if I had waited for two more weeks to get this CPU deal! Not sure if I can get this combo deal combined with a previous order.

Anyone know when this combo price ends? Wish I could find it somewhere without having to pay tax.