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How does K7S5A Pro (SiS 735) compare with the nforce2 or Springdale chipsets? Still consider a K7S5A Pro?

G

Ghamu

Member
Just wondering if the K7S5A Pro is still considered a fast enough motherboard? Any idea on how much % slower it is than modern boards such as the nforce 2 or intel springdale chipsets?

I was going to drop

$170 2.4 ghz P4 c
$105 Albertron 865 springdale board
$70 new faster memory
$30 new 478 heatsink
---------------------
$375

I'm upgrading from a xp1700 (older version, not not overclockable), and I HAVE to upgrade because it is just not fast enought to play WM9 HDTV and to use my HDTV card effectively. I need at least around mid to lower 2 GHz speed (intel) and i was just wondering if it was foolish to pass up on frys 'K7S5A Pro and 2400+ XP for $100' deal right now...

What would the equilent be in terms of a 'modern' intel system? Obviously the intent of the above is to get over 3 GHz and a kick ass system, but all I really I only need is around 2.4 Ghz right noww.... what do you guys think?

Also how about XP2200+ with an nforce2 instead (addional $40, but who really cares)...
 
how was your hdtv slow? doesn't the hdtv card write directly to your video card using overlay? shouldn't be much of a cpu hit unless your trying to capture. hopefully your videocard isn't bad at overlay i guess.

the pro shouldn't be much slower then any normal board running with same memory. but the new boards use faster mem+accessing many banks at once(forgot name). then again the faster mem mostly helps p4. xp doesn't get as much of a boost. a 2200+ only uses 2100 or 2700, i forgot. still nothing insane.
 
...WM9 HDTV is cpu intensive... my xp 1700 on a via kt266a doesn't even stand a chance. Drops every other frame. And my HDTV card is software based one (FusionHDTV II).... I basicly need all the horse power I can get, but I but if the K7S5A Pro and xp2400 can do the job as an dedicated HD HTPC, then that would be great...
 
k7s5a isn't anywhere close to an nforce board. heck, its slower than a kt266a board. they're also pretty picky about memory.

that HD setup sounds pretty sub par to me
 
To me the K7S5A-pro comes down to one thing. Memory. If you have old SDRAM than it is a viable alternative. If your going to go DDR then get an nForce2 board and fork out the extra $35-$40 or whatever.
If your buying new DDR get PC2700 at the very least or better yet PC3200 for future upgrades or overclocking.
Mac
 
well it depends, if you get an ecs/cpu combo from frys for cheap the amount you save over nforce could be even more. how much real world difference you'd get between an nforce with 2700ddr and an ecs pro with 2700ddr is questionable.
 
i got the k7s5a/2400 combo from fry's. i still can't play some wmv9 files. one in particular, the coral 720p is still jittery every few seconds. i believe people with 2.4c can playback smoothly. and the coral video uses all the resolution for detail unlike the racing video, so it makes for a good test file.
 
using the ecs, no matter what memory you have, whether its 3200 or 2700, would result in running it @ 2100 since it only officially supports 2100

that frys deal is pretty good + a stick of 512 ddr
 
If you wanna grow into something more later, get an NForce2 board. The EPoX 8RDA+ is very reasonably priced (around $85 at newegg). Course, you wont get this (or any NF2 board) with a 2400+ for $100! But why chain yourself to a board that is at the end of it's life? I have an old machine with the K7S5A, so I have nothing against the board, in fact, it's a great board for what it does...but I wouldn't put it in a heavy duty machine anymore.

All MHO. Remember that everything is changing all the time...no system is future proof!
 
btw can anyone post a link of something that would seem "slow" like what Ghamu was talking about (wmp9 file) or something? i want to see how my 2400+ would fare considering if it would seem "sluggish"
 
Take it from a former owner, this is not a performance mainboard, nor an overclocker, though its also not a really bad one. I would look for something else if your really want a good system.
 
Yea, 8RDA+ and newer nForce 2 boards could help out a bit especially with two banks. It depends on what the HDTV task needs though.

If you need a lot of cache, a Barton 2500+ for ~$95 would be a good processor, and if you need clock speed, then a separate 2600+ for ~$95 would be the answer, but of course, good CPU's deserve good boards.
 
The difference is a moot point that will only be noticed on a benchmark.
Even there the NF2 will be no greater that 4% or 6% faster with comparable hardware. Here are a few misconceptions. The k7s5a will only support upto 2100+, WRONG. It will support a 2600+ with a 266 fsb. Get a new bios. The PRO version supports up 2600+ out the box. The k7s5a is finicky about memory, WRONG. I have
run every cheap s**t DDR stick I could get a hold off, and they all ran
perfectly CAS 2 or 2.5 for the really, really cheap ones. An NF2 board with
a 2200+ will be faster than a k7s5a board with a 2400+ WRONG. The chipset
will not make up the difference in CPU speed, not even close. Future
upgrade ability, Granted a k7s5a will never run a 200fsb chip (neither will
the majority of NF2 that have already been sold). A k7s5a will run a 166fsb
CPU with a Honey X bios.



____________
2600+ @ 2400mhz (150 x 16)
k7s5a v1.0 (yes 1.0)
Maxtor 40gb X 2 (raid 0)
ATI 9700 PRO
SB Live
 
Originally posted by: robcy
The difference is a moot point that will only be noticed on a benchmark.
Even there the NF2 will be no greater that 4% or 6% faster with comparable hardware. Here are a few misconceptions. The k7s5a will only support upto 2100+, WRONG. It will support a 2600+ with a 266 fsb. Get a new bios. The PRO version supports up 2600+ out the box. The k7s5a is finicky about memory, WRONG. I have
run every cheap s**t DDR stick I could get a hold off, and they all ran
perfectly CAS 2 or 2.5 for the really, really cheap ones. An NF2 board with
a 2200+ will be faster than a k7s5a board with a 2400+ WRONG. The chipset
will not make up the difference in CPU speed, not even close. Future
upgrade ability, Granted a k7s5a will never run a 200fsb chip (neither will
the majority of NF2 that have already been sold). A k7s5a will run a 166fsb
CPU with a Honey X bios.



____________
2600+ @ 2400mhz (150 x 16)
k7s5a v1.0 (yes 1.0)
Maxtor 40gb X 2 (raid 0)
ATI 9700 PRO
SB Live
Click to expand...

welcome to the forums

no one said that the k7s5a wouldn't support processors faster than 2100+. the claim was that, no matter what speed ram you put in it, the board will run it at a max of 2100, which is true as long as you're not bios hacking. as for my claim of it being finicky about memory, i only speak from experience. the memory worked fine in my kt266a board, but in the ecs it was completely unstable. swtich over to crucial memory and my k7s5a is rock solid.
 
To elaborate more, my experience with the board is that is was very stable, just not a screamer. BIOS updates all had bugs, the latest HoneyX one seemed to deal with all of them.
 
Originally posted by: draggoon01
i got the k7s5a/2400 combo from fry's. i still can't play some wmv9 files. one in particular, the coral 720p is still jittery every few seconds. i believe people with 2.4c can playback smoothly. and the coral video uses all the resolution for detail unlike the racing video, so it makes for a good test file.
Click to expand...


where do you get these files? i wanna try🙂
 
Man, I tried to run the Coral 720p clip and it slapped my little 'ol XP1600 with PC133 around. 🙁 I think I might be upgrading to a 3.0GHz P4 soon. 🙂 $$$ 🙁
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: robcy
The difference is a moot point that will only be noticed on a benchmark.
Even there the NF2 will be no greater that 4% or 6% faster with comparable hardware. Here are a few misconceptions. The k7s5a will only support upto 2100+, WRONG. It will support a 2600+ with a 266 fsb. Get a new bios. The PRO version supports up 2600+ out the box. The k7s5a is finicky about memory, WRONG. I have
run every cheap s**t DDR stick I could get a hold off, and they all ran
perfectly CAS 2 or 2.5 for the really, really cheap ones. An NF2 board with
a 2200+ will be faster than a k7s5a board with a 2400+ WRONG. The chipset
will not make up the difference in CPU speed, not even close. Future
upgrade ability, Granted a k7s5a will never run a 200fsb chip (neither will
the majority of NF2 that have already been sold). A k7s5a will run a 166fsb
CPU with a Honey X bios.



____________
2600+ @ 2400mhz (150 x 16)
k7s5a v1.0 (yes 1.0)
Maxtor 40gb X 2 (raid 0)
ATI 9700 PRO
SB Live
Click to expand...

welcome to the forums

no one said that the k7s5a wouldn't support processors faster than 2100+. the claim was that, no matter what speed ram you put in it, the board will run it at a max of 2100, which is true as long as you're not bios hacking. as for my claim of it being finicky about memory, i only speak from experience. the memory worked fine in my kt266a board, but in the ecs it was completely unstable. swtich over to crucial memory and my k7s5a is rock solid.
Click to expand...



your info seems out of date. while it maybe true for the long gone k7s5a(i have one). it is not true for the k7s5a pro which is all you get at stores these days. that supports atleast 2700 from what i remember. it isnt finicky with memory either. it'll take two pc133 unlike the first version.

and yea, dunno if the hdtv decoding is mem or cpu limited. i somehow doubt its mem limited though, its not as if the data rate of hdtv is so fast you need a scsi 320 raid setup to handle the data stream. its probably processing power for decode.

he is after all running a 1700+ 😛 tad slow these days.
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: robcy
The difference is a moot point that will only be noticed on a benchmark.
Even there the NF2 will be no greater that 4% or 6% faster with comparable hardware. Here are a few misconceptions. The k7s5a will only support upto 2100+, WRONG. It will support a 2600+ with a 266 fsb. Get a new bios. The PRO version supports up 2600+ out the box. The k7s5a is finicky about memory, WRONG. I have
run every cheap s**t DDR stick I could get a hold off, and they all ran
perfectly CAS 2 or 2.5 for the really, really cheap ones. An NF2 board with
a 2200+ will be faster than a k7s5a board with a 2400+ WRONG. The chipset
will not make up the difference in CPU speed, not even close. Future
upgrade ability, Granted a k7s5a will never run a 200fsb chip (neither will
the majority of NF2 that have already been sold). A k7s5a will run a 166fsb
CPU with a Honey X bios.



____________
2600+ @ 2400mhz (150 x 16)
k7s5a v1.0 (yes 1.0)
Maxtor 40gb X 2 (raid 0)
ATI 9700 PRO
SB Live
Click to expand...

welcome to the forums

no one said that the k7s5a wouldn't support processors faster than 2100+. the claim was that, no matter what speed ram you put in it, the board will run it at a max of 2100, which is true as long as you're not bios hacking. as for my claim of it being finicky about memory, i only speak from experience. the memory worked fine in my kt266a board, but in the ecs it was completely unstable. swtich over to crucial memory and my k7s5a is rock solid.
Click to expand...



your info seems out of date. while it maybe true for the long gone k7s5a(i have one). it is not true for the k7s5a pro which is all you get at stores these days. that supports atleast 2700 from what i remember. it isnt finicky with memory either. it'll take two pc133 unlike the first version.

and yea, dunno if the hdtv decoding is mem or cpu limited. i somehow doubt its mem limited though, its not as if the data rate of hdtv is so fast you need a scsi 320 raid setup to handle the data stream. its probably processing power for decode.

he is after all running a 1700+ 😛 tad slow these days.
Click to expand...

nah, the board will only RUN @ pc2100, even if you stick pc3200 it in, itll still default back @ pc2100 (because nothing will let it run @ 200 or 166 (without honeyx/cheepoman) so ddr266 is the way to go w/ this board)

have many, MANY experiences w/ this board, so here's two:

1) 2400+, k7s5a pro (stock bios), pc2100
running @ 133/133, cas 2 timings
computer runs stable as heck, BEAUTIFUL

2) 2100+, k7s5a pro (cheepoman bios), pc2700
set bios to 133/133, cas 2.5 timings
used speedfan 4.08 to set to 166/166 in windows, efficiently o/cing from 2100+ >>> 2800+
computer runs stable as heck, BEAUTIFUL

 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
your info seems out of date. while it maybe true for the long gone k7s5a(i have one). it is not true for the k7s5a pro which is all you get at stores these days. that supports atleast 2700 from what i remember. it isnt finicky with memory either. it'll take two pc133 unlike the first version.
Click to expand...

i looked in my (stock) bios in my k7s5a pro. there is a 166MHz FSB option but no 166MHz ram option.
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
your info seems out of date. while it maybe true for the long gone k7s5a(i have one). it is not true for the k7s5a pro which is all you get at stores these days. that supports atleast 2700 from what i remember. it isnt finicky with memory either. it'll take two pc133 unlike the first version.
Click to expand...

i looked in my (stock) bios in my k7s5a pro. there is a 166MHz FSB option but no 166MHz ram option.
Click to expand...

yeah in the stock bios there's only 166/133 (never tried it, doubt itll work)
no k7s5a can boot @ 166/166 (so far...)
you can use speedfan 4.08 to go to 166/166 in windows, it works!
but just the stock k7s5a[pro] has no pc2700 (ddr333==2x166) option
 
It seems I'm the only one that thinks you should just sell the software based hdtv card and use the money to buy a hardware based one.
 
How do I get a screen shot of Sandra Soft Memory benchmark?

My brother is running a k7s5a ver3.0 with a 2700+ at 166mhz/166mhz from boot-up with no problems. He is using the latest Honey X bios. It is on for hours at a time playing IL-2 Forgotten Battles in open GL. He has timings of CAS 2 and Ultra with no stability problems. Mine will not post at 166 but I think it is a memory (read cheap) issue. He is in the process of getting a Barton 3000+. We actually have a bet on whether it will burn or not. If it works I have to shave one of my eyebrows, and photocopy my ass at work. J

________________________
2600+ @ 2400mhz (150 x 16)
k7s5a v1.0 (yes 1.0)
256 X 2 DDR2100
Maxtor 40gb X 2 (raid 0)
ATI 9700 PRO
SB Live
 
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