Upgrading to Athlon 1.4GHz - is ECS K7S5A any good

$90 FOR THAT BOARD!!!!!
dude, i think that the msrp is 69-70...
i got mine for 75 at fry's...
90 bucks and you are getting ripped off...
either buy it online, or try another shop...you are being raped at the shop that suggested it to you...
as far as the board itself goes, i am on one right now, and it works great. snappy performance, and it will take an athlon xp if you ever decide to get one in the future!
takes ddr and pc-133 (not at the same time!) and can take up to a gig of ddr!
that is pretty good, and would make future upgrades possible, so this board should last a while.
i hope that you can find a way to get it cheaper than that shop is offering it.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

MSI K7T266 Pro2, Epox EP-8KHA+ and Shuttle AK31A all use
VIA KT266A chipset. They would be the best choice.
They all cost under $130 (in US).
Good review
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1547" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1547&lt;/A>





Breaking news: Intel hit by a SledgeHammer! AMD to blame! More in just a moment...

I'd spring the extra 20 bucks for a Shuttle AK31A, simply because ECS's board has 2 DDR dimms, and Shuttle's has 4. Oh, and Shuttle has the faster chipset too, albeit it's a close race. I also think Shuttle has 1 more PCI slot the ECS, but who actually uses all 6 anyway?

Me "I bought a TNT2 M64, the BIOS says its a Vanta"
IOMagic "Theyre the same card"
Me "Um, no"

I recommend the ECS K7S5A simply because it uses the SiS 735 chipset. These people don't realize that prices, even in American currency, are higher in Ausie land.

Back to you Tom...

Just watch out when buying one (the K7S). It is a great board overall, but they seem to have high RMA rates and problems initally.

:tongue: Have you ever tried cooking an egg on your HSF? Tasty. :tongue:

woops, sorry, didnt realize that he was in australia...and that would be a good price i suppose...not too good with the currency and tax difference in australia...
but the board is good...
the only problem i am having with my system is that every other boot, my computer says that it has to restart because it had an error accessing the registry...not sure if that is a problem with the board or not, but it seems to be just a nuisance...and other than that, the system is stable as hell, and qute snappy...

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

Thanks to everyone for your posts. I think I'll stick with the ECS K7S5A. Apologies for not mentioning the foreign exchange rate, which is $0.50US = $1.00AUS. I already have 512MB PC133 RAM - am I better off sticking with this or getting DDR RAM instead?

I'd go with ddr. The prices are too low not to.

If you ever stop learning then your dead!!

And the funny thing is is that you can see the PC 133 RAM for the same price to a friend with XP or 2000. I am planning on getting this board for a friend because you can't beat the price  I would suggest one thing though, make sure that you have a 350 Watt Powersupply as this board likes the voltage, and make sure that it is AMD Approved!!!

If it works for you then don't fix it.

yeah, sell the pc-133, and get ddr..
you will not regret it!
especially since 256 megs of ddr is like ~$30 us....


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

Thanks for the advice...I'll definitely get the DDR RAM then. I have one final question - do I need to get a new AT-XT case as well? My current case is AT-XT and has a 300W power supply.

i got a 350 intel recommended one...but it is generic...and puts out juice VERY near the specs..
the 5v is like 4.999 for example...
so if it puts out good specs, you should be able to run, as long as you dont have a bunch of drives, big fans, and lights, and stuff like that.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-