Just picked up an ECS K7S5A Mobo.. Got a few questions.. :)

[CableDude]

First off, how is this board? I've seen some pretty good reviews for it, but I value the opinions here more. This is my first AMD system, so is there anything that I should know or update? Where can I get the latest 4in1 drivers for my board? Should I update my bios, or try it out first to see if I have any problems? Should I use the onboard sound, or use my SB Live! card? The case that I bought has front USB ports, but I can't seem to find where to plug all the connections. There are 8 wires total. Will I be able to use these with my mobo? Thats all I can think of for now.

Thanks!


Oh.. This is whats going in the system:

Xp 1800+
256 MB DDR
Yamaha 3200 24x10x40x CD-RW
GeForce 4 Ti4200 if I can find one tomorrow, if not either a Radon 8500 or GeForce 3.
Maybe my SB Live!

 

[Athlon4all]

<< First off, how is this board? >>

It's solid. Running one myself.

<< This is my first AMD system, so is there anything that I should know or update? >>

Hope you have a solid PS (I've got a Antec 300W). ECS boards are less tolerant to low quality PS's.

<< Where can I get the latest 4in1 drivers for my board? >>

Sis 735 doesn't use 4-in-1's. For latest drivers go to SiS

<< Should I update my bios, or try it out first to see if I have any problems? >>

Update the BIOS. The most recent one is supposed to be great.

<< Should I use the onboard sound, or use my SB Live! card? >>

SB Live! It's much better

<< The case that I bought has front USB ports, but I can't seem to find where to plug all the connections. There are 8 wires total. Will I be able to use these with my mobo? >>

I think the USB Plugs are on the Left Side of the board further left than the last PCI slot, like near where all the other case connectors go. Take a look at the manual.

God Bless ya!!!

 

[CableDude]

Awesome man, thanks for the info! I got another question though.. You know where we connect the LEDs and switches for the case? FP1? Well.. I pluged in the Reset, power, HDD LED but I cant connect the Power LED.. There is only 2 pins left, but the connector for the LED is 3. I read the manual, but to no avail.

 

[CableDude]

Oh.. How well does this board O/C? I don't plan on O/Cing for a while, but it would be nice to know that I can.

 

[tritium4ever]

First off, the K7S5A is a great little mobo...easily worth the $99 (CDN).

Front USB ports

The hookup diagram is not in the manual. Go here for the proper layout.

Power LED

You're right, the K7S5A has a two pin header whereas case connectors are all three pin. To solve this, <GHETTO MOD ALERT!> take a 2 inch long piece of insulated copper wire, strip a bit off each end, and plug one end into the top of the middle pin of the case connector while the other end goes to the bottom of the third pin. It's ugly, but it works!

Overclocking

Official ECS BIOSes don't have ANY overclocking options whatsoever. You can find a whole assortment of modded BIOSes for OCing at the OCworkbench forums.

 

[Peter]

By far not all case power pins are 3-pin. Mine has two separate 1-pin connectors, to fit both styles of board.

It's quite easy to pull one contact out of the 3-pin plug and put it back in, in the middle hole. Using a needle, lift the tiny plastic tab that holds it in place and pull it out. Ten seconds.

regards, Peter

 

[Buz2b]

As Peter said, just move the wire in your case plug from the end to the middle and your (2 wires) plug will then match up with the MB. One other option that I have used is just to cut the plug directly in half; then plug one half on one pin and the other on the other pin. Works great! I would also encourage you to get a good PS, as was mentioned. If you are unsure about which one to get, you can check on this site to see if it is AMD Approved for your CPU. That is one way to "hedge your bet" that it will have adequate power for your system.

 

[CableDude]

Thanks for the help guys!

About those modified BIOS'- There's no official BIOS release that supports O/Cing? I'm not sure if I want to risk updating the BIOS if it's not official.

I think I'll just cut it in half. Sounds like the easiest solution.

The PSU that came with my case is a Master Power 300w. How are these?

Thanks for the layout, I'm going to try hooking it up now.

 

[athlonator]

In case you find the usb pinouts too cryptic on ecs's website here is the correct orientation

VC or +5V------pin1-+-pin2------Vc or +5V
(-ve)Data1-----pin3-+-pin4------(ive)Data2
(+ve)Data1----pin5-+-pin6------(+ve)Data2
Ground1--------pin7-+-pin8------Ground2

BTW I connected my SB Live as well as left the orboard audio on. Obviously you would have to toggle in windows as to which one it should use. You could also select which it should for playback and which it should use for recording.

I mention this because the motherboard has headers for front audio ports incase you happen to have them. This will allow you to select between using you front or rear ports.

 

[Buz2b]

On the OC workbench ECS Forum there is a link about overclocking with the CHFSB utility. You can do some minor overclocking with that. You might want to take a look at it.
As to the PS, I didn't see it listed on the AMD site. Could be OK, just give it a try. Does the labeling say anything about the combined 3.3 and 5 volt output? What about the other output ratings?

 

[DusterAZ]

Yeah, just cut the 3pin connector from your case in half, much easier and will still work with either config on a motherboard. When hooking up front USB, don't plug anything into pin 10, my case (Maxtop from newegg.com) had 1 extra connector so I plugged it into there. I thought my front USB ports were bad until I unplugged that connector from pin 10 and now it works perfect. Go to the link below for lots of ECS info including all the overclocking BIOS':

http://www.ocworkbench.com/ecs

 

[Athlon4all]

I too have had trouble with the Power Led, and they're right, you just have to switch one of the cables, to be honest, I destroyed the case connector the first time I tried to do that so basically, I've just got cold feet.