Keep K7S5A or Upgrade to what?

[dummy2001]

Ok, I RMA'd my K7S5A because the front USB ports didn't work, but it also had problems w/ win98se corrupting that I never totally got a handle on (might not have been the board). The thing is my entire 2 months w/ the board were spent troubleshooting, and though it was fun for a while learning about how everything worked, that phase needs to be over. People say its stable if you get a good one but I don't want to worry about it any more. I've decided when I get my new one from Newegg to leave it unopened and post in the For Sale forum and see if I can recoup a decent amount and buy a more stable board. I don't care about overclocking, but I want good price/performance and win98se stability. Ok, so I want it all, what's the cheapest I can do it for?

Two boards at Newegg I was looking at but haven't seen a lot of discussion on:
Leadtek 7350KDA ($83 + 9 shipping) also SiS735 chipset, maybe like a a higher quality k7s5a? I especially like the onboard LAN.
EPOX EP-8KHAL ($76 + 7 shipping) I've seen it described as "8KHA+ lite", limited OCing which is fine by me but hopefully (?) same quality and performance as unOC'd KHA+; but no onboard LAN, have to buy a PCI card.

Thoughts?

 

[dummy2001]

Also, another feature of the k7s5a I like is the pin header for a set of front usb ports. If chipset info says a board supports 4 usb is it safe to assume there is a a physical header on the board for the second set, or do some "support" it but not actually have the pins? Thanks.

 

[birddog]

Another board you should consider (if you go that route) is the Shuttle AK31A. There have been alot of good reviews on that board. Newegg has it for $76. I just ordered one of these & an athlon XP1700 a few hours ago to replace my PIII rig. My second rig has a K7S5A board running Win98se without a hitch.

 

[dummy2001]

Thanks. Any 266A boards w/ built in lan?

 

[MozartsGhost]

The K7S5A is a hold over board. Sooner or later you will have problems. How much money you got? If money is no object (and it always is) I'd go for the Soyo Dragon but that's just me.


My Rig

 

[dummy2001]

Yeah, money is an object. I want stability and good performance but in just a basic features socket A board, I don't care about overclocking, RAID, firewire etc. Onboard LAN is helpful but not a requirement.

 

[AA0]

epox board is great, good price, and fast. The cheapest board you should ever buy, is a medium priced board, otherwise you will pay sooner or later for it through RMAs, problems, or early deaths.

You might want to take a look at the Gigabyte 7VTXH, it has lan, and although its a little cheaper then the epox, the lan pays for itself.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I agree with birddog, I've built several systems using the AK31A and it's fast, overclockable, and stable and at 76$ a good price/performance board

 

[dummy2001]

Ok, shuttle sounds good too. One more question: is motherboard support a big issue like videocards are with drivers? If I get a less popular model like shuttle or leadtek, will I have trouble in the future with the companies not releasing updated bioses to address future technical issues? I like getting better price/performance from underdogs but not if it means getting stuck with unsupported hardware.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

That's an excellent question dummy2001 and I don't have a definitive answer but I can say this; Shuttle has been coming on strong the past year and they seem to be striving to improve even though they out-source most the manufacturing to ECS. Besides, with how fast the tech evolves now, you'll be upgrading before lack of hardware support becomes an issue most likely. I guess what I'm trying to say(and not doing very well saying it 😉 ) is that I wouldn't be too concerned with manufacturers abandoning you to your fate prematurely.