I was wondering… how low do you all think the E6300 price will drop? It has already dropped pretty low, but it's kind of sitting at $193(no tax/no shipping) from ZipZoomFly. Should I buy one now, or should I wait? I'm going to buy one regardless, but I'd hate to buy one then have the price drop on me; or not buy it now and have the price go back up... Then again isn't MSRP supposed to be $189, so maybe it won't go any lower? Please help me out with some advice! THANKS

I believe the tray price of the E6300 is $183.

That would put $193 at $10 over the 1000 unit quantity. I would not expect the price to drop any significant amount until Intel decides to "adjust" the tray price.

HTH.

Yeah just buy it now. The tray price is $183. It's not going to drop anytime soon.

If you are waiting for a 10$ prize drop, I'd say that you are better off buying now.

I agree.

However, if you get an OEM, you can get it cheaper.

eWiz - E6300 OEM - 186.43

Problem with that route, you will need a HSF, and the warranty, which is 30 days.

Though, they have the retail for $204, but it is with free shipping, with the orginal 3 year warranty, and a stock HSF.

Oh man guys!! Thanks for the advice!! $10 isn't a big deal to me, I really was just afraid of not buying and then the price going up and me getting scewed!! I'm just all weary of all these prices jumping around... Can anyone tell me also about what would happen, warranty-wise, if I bought this Conroe and left it in the retail box until the next gen Nvidia mobo's come out? Isn't there a 7 day/or 30 day ONLY warranty? Does it apply if I leave it in the box? Thanks again!!

My advice is if you want to use this as an upgrade or in a new system now, ... get it now. saving ten dollars or so in myopinion is not worth the wait.

I want it now, but can't afford all the components now... all I need is cpu/mobo/ddr2/and vid card... I want to buy the cpu now just incase the price goes up supply/demand maybe? Anyhow... Will I run into any warranty problems if I buy it and don't install it for a month or so? Leaving it unopened? Thanks again!! As for quad cores... I don't think so... not for me at least, that's too much!! I'm upgrading from a P4 Northwood @3.0Ghz... Conroe will be plenty for me.

If you purchase the RETAIL version you have a 3 year warranty from Intel.

If you purchase an OEM version, you have whatever warranty the OEM wants to provide.

I would recommend purchasing the RETAIL version.

HTH.

Sometimes the warranties can come through for people.

But for me, I dunno. I don't think it matters much. I still have my AMD 1Ghz Thunderbird rig. It was an OEM CPU, and still works.

Though my P4 is retail, but still working fine, even though the warranty is out.

. o O (shhhh not so loud, my CPU might hear... knocks on wood)

Like you, I've never had a bad CPU but, for roughly $10 additional I like knowing Intel will replace it in the unlikely event it stops working.

Plus the retail version comes with a fan. It may not be the best fan in the world but it will do in case of an emergency.

$10 extra for extended warranty and a free chipset HSF is a great deal!

Indeed. I gather you meant "free CPU HSF".

Nope.. he ment chipset.

I think Wusy would end up using a 3rd party HSF for CPU.

Some people end up chopping up stock HS to mod/fit on chipsets or GPU's perhaps.

He did have a pic on a video card, with a giant CPU HS, if I remember right.

I didn't think about using a CPU fan on a chipset. I imagine that it must look disproportionate. It should be an interesting picture.

if you want a cheap dual core cpu you could go for the low end athlon 64 -2s

I've got here a boxful of assorted stock HSF ready to be slapped on anything I find that needs to be cooled.
Once you get into watercooling you'll know how hard it is to keep all the little bits cooled.

To be successful at overclocking is to be creative.

Please allow me to clarify... There is no doubt in my mind that I'm going to buy the retail version and not the oem. I was really wondering if I buy this cpu and leave it in the box, unopened, for a month or so while I'm buying the other components... would my problems (if any should occur) be handled with the e-tailer or with intel?? I know e-tailers only offer like 7-15 days for cpus but it's from the ship date!! So where does that leave me? Mine won't even be opened?? Thanks again!! OH... one more thing... I'm an average guy, I do some gaming(not intensive) mainly photoshop/movie editing; Would a 965Express mobo be fine for me? I mean how much difference are the new "500-series" mobos gonna make? I'm not planning to run SLI. If they are worth the wait though, I will... THANKS!!!

I'm pretty much set on a E6300. I don't think any low end X2's can hang with it... even if you overclock...

Does anyone know it this is a good mobo? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131032

It only takes DDR2667... while 965/975 mobos take DDR2800... is there that much of a difference between the two speeds? THANKS!!

As far as processing a warranty claim, the e-tailer will go by the ship date (some by purchase date) since they really cannot know when you opened the box. Given that, if you wait a month or so to use it, the e-tailer "warranty" will likely have expired and you'll need to deal with Intel.

Dealing with Intel to have a CPU replaced is not bad. For one thing, it is extremely rare to get a bad one. Intel is pretty good at replacing them in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm pretty much set on a E6300. I don't think any low end X2's can hang with it... even if you overclock...

Does anyone know it this is a good mobo? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131032

It only takes DDR2667... while 965/975 mobos take DDR2800... is there that much of a difference between the two speeds? THANKS!!

I just bought this board friday from Ewiz.com. It was on sale for $112 with free shipping. I checked my account yesterday and it shipped Fri. afternoon. When I tried to check for reviews Sat. I couldn't find it anywhere on the site. Don't know if that means it sold out or what, ZipZoomFly had the board on Fri but it was $139.

I wish I could find a review somewhere so I'd know a little more about what to expect. The specs look good, but we all know you can't always trust vendor info.

I am also looking at buying a E6300 unless the Newegg E6400 price drops some in the next few days. I know ZipZoom has a lower price, but I have some unused credit at Newegg.