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ECS K7S5A SiS 735 or something else?

S

Shack70

Platinum Member
Ok I am getting anew MB and Processor. I am looking at the ECS K7S5A SiS 735. The reason I am looking at that board is becasue right now I have 512 PC133 Ram I would like to use and then get DDR down the road. Is there any other alternatives to teh sis735 chipset that would let me use my SDRAM now and replace it with DDR later without getting another MB??

Basically it comes down to price. I want to spend $200 or less and get a nice AMD XP processor and MB. Adding DDR memory to the equation puts me over that $200 mark 🙁

ECS K7S5A SiS 735 is only $52 plus shipping at new egg....
 
Some people have had problems with them, some not. I just put together a system for a friend using that board and had no problems at all.
 
Asus A7A266-E should have SD RAM support uses the ALi chipset. Its more expensive, but a better board.
ECS is trouble, stay awake.
 
I have the same MB and CPU plus DDR. Nice and stable with mild o/c (138 fsb).

With a MSI GF2 GTS Pro it scored about 4000 in 3Dmk2k1.
Dropped in a R8500 and newest drivers = 8000 to 8500.

Your SDR will knock that down very slightly, but it gives some idea where you
might look for your next upgade!
 


<< do you oc? because K7S5A has almost no OC feature. >>




If you use the unofficial bois provided from ocworkbench.com it has some overclocking capabilities.
This is a very good board, and very fast for 60 bucks with shipping
 
I just built a system with the board using my old memory. One stick of 256 pc133 and one 128 pc133. Has been rock solid for two weeks. Not one blue screen! Good luck.
 
I have the same mobo, XP 1600+, and 512 MB DDR. The board is nice, fast, and cheap if you have a solid PS unit. Mine works stably at 150 FSB, but I dropped the FSB because my proc was running a little hot for my taste.
Using chFSB, you can use the latest BIOS and do a FSB OC. I recommend it! 🙂

-Ice
 
Just got one this Sunday, apart from a couple of little problems when building (no gfx from AGP card is a common problem, reseat the card a few times, pushing it firmly will fix it), me putting the 2nd IDE cable in wrong way round, and dodgy network card, i can't fault it!

Take a look at my rigs (i'll update now)

ConfusedBW
 


<< Asus A7A266-E should have SD RAM support uses the ALi chipset. Its more expensive, but a better board.
ECS is trouble, stay awake. >>



ALI chip is too slow. ECS isn't the best solution too.
 
ECS K7S5A sing the SIS 735 is a great VALUE

Go ahead and use it!
Upgrade to DDR later ...
by the time you decide to upgrade your memory ... you'll probably want to upgrade you motherboard as well.
And having only spent $52 + S/H it will be easier to stomache!
 
Build about 10 system with this board... no problems.
Excellent value and performance. Be prepared to flash the BIOS right away, and the SIS AGP driver.... and u should be all
set. In case of any problems just post the question in this forum 🙂
Good luck,
Good choice,
 
How exactly do you flash the bios? I downloaded the correct AMI
flash utility and bios file, unzipped it to a bootable floppy etc,
followed the instructions carefully. When I started the flash program
it began running, then the text turned red with an error something
like "can't find file" and dumped me back to the a prompt. I couldn't
resolve the problem.

Currently I'm having trouble accessing the cd-rom. XP reports the volume label but won't explore the files. I've done all the updates except the bios and wonder if the problem is there.
 


<< ALI chip is too slow. ECS isn't the best solution too. >>


The A7A266-E is based on the C-revision of the ALi chipset, just like the Iwill XP-333. This revision of the chipset is almost on par with the VIA KT266A chipset performance-wise, but doesn't have the same problems with sound cards and PCI bursting that some VIA users have reported. YMMV.
 
K7S5A is an excellent choice given the parameters you describe. I have two of them for similar reasons. On one of them I used an SDRAM DIMM I had used on the previous mobo and that worked fine. Since then I have upgraded it to DDR RAM. Now, if I want a fancier mobo I can replace it without having to buy a CPU and RAM at the same time. The ability to upgrade in easy stages is a wonderful benefit of this board.

Woof! Woof!
 
Well ppl, i got my MB and CPU today. Upon installing it, no post. 🙁
Well time to figure out the problem, so i put the Xp processor in my old MB(Iwill KK266-6 w/latest bios). No post
I put my old 1.2 ghz tbird int eh ECS MB...no post
I put my 1.2 back in the Iwill board..post.

I've requested an RMA. The XP processor and the MB dont work 🙁

BTY, PS is a 431W Enermax so it's not a power problem. hopefully ill get a new board and processor and they will work
 
Check the seating of the AGP card, i had the exact same problem

Take it out and put it back in a few times, this IS a common thing with these boards

But, once it's up and running you'll love it, i guarantee!

ConfusedBW
 


<< How exactly do you flash the bios? I downloaded the correct AMI
flash utility and bios file, unzipped it to a bootable floppy etc,
followed the instructions carefully. When I started the flash program
it began running, then the text turned red with an error something
like "can't find file" and dumped me back to the a prompt. I couldn't
resolve the problem. >>



what I did is just typing

a:\aminf329 020112.rom <enter>

of course it depend on what BIOS version you'd like to flash. I heard that ECS has posted the new BIOS. Make sure you have put the AMI flasher and BIOS in the same diskette.

Good Luck
 
Sorry to hear about your problem's BlackFlagg 🙁

🙂 I just got ECS K7S5A, an Athlon XP1700, and GeForce GTS-V this week from NewEgg and it was the easiest system install I've ever done. Currently looping through 3DMark2001 without incident. Using el cheapo FMI 300W PS from Cr@pUSA too.

I've had much more trouble in my previous experiences with Abit and Soyo.
 
i've tried everything...reseating the agp card, different memory, different processor. The MB i got was defective. Thing that gets me is both the CPU and board dont work 🙁 Hopefully newegg will contact me monday about my RMA
 


<< i've tried everything...reseating the agp card, different memory, different processor. The MB i got was defective. Thing that gets me is both the CPU and board dont work 🙁 Hopefully newegg will contact me monday about my RMA >>

Bummer 🙁 but Newegg will make things right by you 😉
 
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