ECS K7S5A?

[Hapless]

How's the ECS K7S5A for overclocking and general stability? I'm looking at one for a LAN box with a 900 or 1Ghz Duron.

 

[gogeeta13]

I'm using one with a tbird 850 in my LAN box

Rock stable. I am not OCing tho

Runs find on a generic AMD PSU

 

[Samwise]

The ECS K7S5A is not an overclocking board. I have one and it has been good in terms of stability, but it really does't have many options for overclocking. It is very inexpensive and a great solution if you're looking for a fast, cheap motherboard with lan, but not good for overclocking.

 

[Freewolf]

Nice board but not for ocing

 

[Pabster]

The "myth" that K7S5A can't be overclocked is just that -- a myth.

I'm running a 1.4GHz Thunderbird at 1650 (150x11) as well as an 1800+ XP at 1573 (138x11.5) with no issues. Rock solid.

Granted, it isn't as easy as setting the multiplier and bumping voltage in the BIOS, but it can be done.

If you must have overclocking options in BIOS, or "easy access" overclocking, wait for the K7S6A. It's due in the next couple weeks and will offer multiplier, fsb, and vCore adjustments.

 

[gogeeta13]

<< The "myth" that K7S5A can't be overclocked is just that -- a myth.

I'm running a 1.4GHz Thunderbird at 1650 (150x11) as well as an 1800+ XP at 1573 (138x11.5) with no issues. Rock solid.

Granted, it isn't as easy as setting the multiplier and bumping voltage in the BIOS, but it can be done.

If you must have overclocking options in BIOS, or "easy access" overclocking, wait for the K7S6A. It's due in the next couple weeks and will offer multiplier, fsb, and vCore adjustments. >>



The Leadtek has those options. It is not a limitation of the Chipset, just the bios/whatever parts they made the board with..

 

[Hapless]

Pabster, what do you mean by not as simple? Do you mean all adjustments are done by DIP switches/jumpers?

 

[lsman]

you can modify it
link

 

[ku]

The only way of you overclocking throug hthe BIOS is if u download a certain BIOS and up the FSB. Even if you do this, you sitll only have choices of 138, 150, and 166. To change the voltage/multiplier, you're going to do it via bridges on the chip. However, I've ran my 1.4birdy @ 1.57 (10.5x150) rock stable at cas2.5 fast time settings. If you wan't to save money, get this. If you want to overclock, don't. If you want something in between, get another board.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have a K7S5A and you can also overclock from the FSB using CPUcool which provides many FSB options and hardware monitoring as well. Also, I ran Crucial 2100DDR and a Duron700@133x7=931mhz by just using the 133/133 option in the bios and it ran great(very stable) until I sold my 1.4T-Bird that I had in my AK31A. Now I'm just waiting on my XP1500+ tomorrow and I'll be running the Duron in the K7S5A@931mhz again as a Eccp/LAN box For the money it's a great board!

 

[Hapless]

Ugh, that definetly doesn't sound like an appealing option. Are there any motherboards close to the K7S5A's price point that allow overclocking? How about the ECS K7VTA3, with the KT266A chipset?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Go with the Shuttle AK31A for 80$@Newegg. I love this board and I've only had it about a week. Great overclocking features, 4 DIMM slots, northbridge HS/F and good layout of components.

 

[Hapless]

Well, after looking at how much DDR ram costs nowadays I've decided to stay away from the KT266a, how's the Shuttle AK11? It's only a little more expensive than the K7S5A and it's got overclocking options, any horror stories?

 

[Tummy]

One thing I noticed about the K7S5A I have - the power supply needs to put out > 3.3V or else you can't run 2 dimms. There's a whole huge thing about it at ocworkbench. Fortunately the power supply I have (power win) has a 3.3v pot so I adjusted that and after making sure it put out > 3.3v, it's super stable. Sweet board.

 

[Hapless]

^bump, any opinions about the Shuttle AK11?

 

[mboy]

I would go the DDR route if I were you. WHy would you want to spend a bit more to OC and squeeze out max performance, yet choose a slower RAM?
Go with the Shuttle or the 8KHA+ (I have the Epox and now a k7S5a). The 8KHA+ is definately faster even at the same fsb settings.
If you are upgrading, go with the DDR. Wait till after New Year for price to drop a bit.

 

[Hapless]

I don't wanna go DDR because I already have PC133 RAM I can use and going SDR will save me $20ish on the motherboard and then another $40-50 on the RAM, so are there any opinions about the Shuttle AK11?

 

[phatboi]

i had one and it was very stable, it ran great. reason i got rid of it is b/c its not as adept to overclocking as other boards. but it's a good board.