ECS K7S5A + AMD Barton = Possible?

[PCDumbass]

Just wondering if anybody out there is using a Barton CPU on their ECS K7S5A (or Pro) MB.

I was considering 2500 or so.

Thanks in advance for the help!

-Rob

 

[dpm]

I don't know about the pro, but the K7S5A could only take 266 FSB, and the 2500 barton runs at 333.

I know that there's an overclockers bios for the mb, so maybe you could get it working, but its never been the stablest, nor fastest mb in the world, so I'd look for another motherboard instead.

 

[PCDumbass]

Ugh, crappy.

Ya, i've read about "flashing the BIOS" to accept faster CPU's...but I really don't understand exactly what's required to do that.

-Rob

 

[xcript]

Even with an OC BIOS you can't get the FSB >150MHz (without some serious mods to the board).

In many cases you can boot at 133, then up the FSB to 166 from within windows using SpeedFan/CPUFSB/etc. Pretty horrible solution though.

 

[Evadman]

it can be done, but not at 333 speeds. You can unlock the processer though and raise the multiplier.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: Evadman
it can be done, but not at 333 speeds. You can unlock the processer though and raise the multiplier.

On a K7S5A?

I would be extremely interested to know how...

 

[xcript]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy

Originally posted by: Evadman
it can be done, but not at 333 speeds. You can unlock the processer though and raise the multiplier.

On a K7S5A?

I would be extremely interested to know how...

Click Me

 

[PCDumbass]

So, what you're saying is that it will go in there, it will work, but it will not run at those speeds withotu serious mods, right?

What's the max multiplier/FSB/CPU speed the K7S5A is rated at anyways?

-Rob

 

[Looney]

Like others have said, you can flash the bios so that you can fool around with the clock speeds, but there's still noway you can clock it to 333 to run the Barton.

 

[acemcmac]

I don't see why you're so persistant in using that yucky motherboard...

 

[tbrooks40]

Originally posted by: PCDumbass
So, what you're saying is that it will go in there, it will work, but it will not run at those speeds withotu serious mods, right?

What's the max multiplier/FSB/CPU speed the K7S5A is rated at anyways?

-Rob

so whats up Rob? you need another mobo? if you want i'll some parts and put you a barebones system together... get back at me on the barton etc. ttyl

rtb

 

[lobadobadingdong]

instead of the barton if you already have the mobo and are upgrading the proc, go with a 2600+ 266fsb, it's only a couple of dollars more and performs better on that board. if you can I'd just upgrade to a cheap nforce2 or kt400a setup, depending on your budget, should cost you an extra $60-$90(assuming you have ddr mem) and will give you a very noticable performance boost even with an older proc. the shuttle nforce2 IGP is a very solid rig for the price btw

Cheers :beer:

 

[networkman]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
I don't see why you're so persistant in using that yucky motherboard...

I wouldn't call it a yucky board by any means! Of course I am a little biased, since I own 10 of them. And GeoffS has another dozen or so himself. It's a very cheap board with quite a few options and very stable. Geoff has a bunch running XP2100 chips and six of mine are running XP2000s. My understanding also was that using a 333fsb chip wasn't an option - if that's your goal, it's time to turn in "old faithful" and look at a new board.

 

[PCDumbass]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
instead of the barton if you already have the mobo and are upgrading the proc, go with a 2600+ 266fsb, it's only a couple of dollars more and performs better on that board. if you can I'd just upgrade to a cheap nforce2 or kt400a setup, depending on your budget, should cost you an extra $60-$90(assuming you have ddr mem) and will give you a very noticable performance boost even with an older proc. the shuttle nforce2 IGP is a very solid rig for the price btw

Cheers :beer:

OK, thanks for the advice.

I'd prefer to keep the mobo since I have it here and it's been very stable thus far. I just want to max it out first.

So you're saying that I want to look for an AMD Athlon 2600+ CPU with 266MHz FSB speed to max it out, yes? Will I need to flash the BIOS to get it up to the 266MHz FSB speed? I think it only goes up to a 200MHz FSB speed as-is, doesn't it?

Sorry for all the noob questions, I just want to make sure that I know what I'm doing!

-Rob

 

[PCDumbass]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
I don't see why you're so persistant in using that yucky motherboard...

Because I have it in my hands and it works fine?

I want to max it out before I upgrade it too.....one step at a time.

-Rob

 

[PCDumbass]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
instead of the barton if you already have the mobo and are upgrading the proc, go with a 2600+ 266fsb, it's only a couple of dollars more and performs better on that board. if you can I'd just upgrade to a cheap nforce2 or kt400a setup, depending on your budget, should cost you an extra $60-$90(assuming you have ddr mem) and will give you a very noticable performance boost even with an older proc. the shuttle nforce2 IGP is a very solid rig for the price btw

Cheers :beer:

"nforce2 or kt400a setup"

These can handle the Barton's 333MHz FSB speeds, right? Thanks for the advice, I'll check it out!

-Rob

 

[networkman]

The K7S5A supports both 200 and 266fsb by default(200 in the case of a Duron or low-end Athlon). All of the XP chips(for this board) use 266fsb.

Looking at THIS LINK on ECS' site, you'll need to flash the BIOS up to 02/08/09 version to support the XP2600 chip.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

yep, both of those chipsets support the 333 fsb(and higher) they are good performers compared to the older chipsets when it comes to older procs running on 266fsb as they have better memory controlers, among other enhancements. networkman is right, I forgot to mention the bios must be up-to-date to recognize the 2600+, it will work at the speed it's supposed to but will be reported wrong on the startup screen without the bios update. you'll see about a 10-20% boost in performance(depending on the app.) just by upgrading the mobo, but it's not entirely necissary, just depends on your budget really. if you get an nforce2 board, make sure you aren't using geil memory, as geil rarely seems to work on nvidea chipsets. (I've noticed geil also has problems on msi kt400(a) boards as well.)

 

[PCDumbass]

Originally posted by: networkman
The K7S5A supports both 200 and 266fsb by default(200 in the case of a Duron or low-end Athlon). All of the XP chips(for this board) use 266fsb.

Looking at THIS LINK on ECS' site, you'll need to flash the BIOS up to 02/08/09 version to support the XP2600 chip.

09/09/2002 you mean, right?

-Rob

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: PCDumbass

Originally posted by: networkman
The K7S5A supports both 200 and 266fsb by default(200 in the case of a Duron or low-end Athlon). All of the XP chips(for this board) use 266fsb.

Looking at THIS LINK on ECS' site, you'll need to flash the BIOS up to 02/08/09 version to support the XP2600 chip.

09/09/2002 you mean, right?

-Rob

09/09/2002 is the date it was released, 02/08/09 is the version of the bios update, either way it's the one you should update to.