Leadtek 7350KDA Results...it's going into storage for awhile.

[MichaelD]

Gee, that's too bad, Insane3D. I had high hopes for 'ya with this board. Hopefully, their FTP site comes back up so you can DL the latest bios, flash it, and see what happens. A new bios can make the diff b/t a board that flies and a paperweight. But you knew that already. Best of luck and please do keep us updated.

 

[NFS4]

After going through these two boards (both posed reboot/stability/IRQ problems):

(1) Reference SiS735 Motherboard
(1) ECS K75SA

I was just sitting back and laughing to myself (I know, I'm evil) when I first saw this thread b/c I KNEW that it would end up this way. I'm sorry that you had problems with the board, but after my experiences with the chipset, I didn't think that you WOULD have a positive outcome.

 

[Insane3D]

"Gee, that's too bad, Insane3D. I had high hopes for 'ya with this board. Hopefully, their FTP site comes back up so you can DL the latest bios, flash it, and see what happens. A new bios can make the diff b/t a board that flies and a paperweight. But you knew that already. Best of luck and please do keep us updated. "

I got the bios and flashed it...nothing improved.

"After going through these two boards (both posed reboot/stability/IRQ problems):

(1) Reference SiS735 Motherboard
(1) ECS K75SA

I was just sitting back and laughing to myself (I know, I'm evil) when I first saw this thread b/c I KNEW that it would end up this way. I'm sorry that you had problems with the board, but after my experiences with the chipset, I didn't think that you WOULD have a positive outcome. "

That's cool...I actually had great success with my ECS board. I only removed it from my main system because I needed to use a Golden Socket to change the multiplier. Mine had no problems and ran my 1.4ghz bird @ 1.6ghz @ 150mhz FSB with two sticks of Crucial. The board is fine @ stock speeds, but overclocking is very important to me...especially when the board has more overclocking options than most mainstream boards...

 

[Mem]

Insane3D stick with your Epox and save your money for beer ,women and NV25 .

 

[Bovinicus]

That's too bad about the board. I am on the verge of ordering a new motherboard (Possibly today). I was considering this board because of the sheer number of options available in the BIOS. Tweaking is pretty fun. Sometimes you get surprised and squeeze an extra 4% performance out of your system by changing some option that you don't even know what it is. However, the board sounds like it has too many problems.

 

[StormRider]

Are you only judging the board by how much you can overclock it?

Or are you also running benchmarks on it?

The reason I'm asking is because it's possible for a board that is more overclocked to actually perform slower than another system that isn't overclocked as much.

For example, sometimes a board will be able to overclock at 153 Mhz but that's because it is inserting more "wait states" to achieve stability. So it will actually perform slower than another system that is running at a slower FSB but using less "wait states".

I think it's better to judge a board based on actual applications and benchmarks instead of overclockability.

 

[nortexoid]

and so i weep...

 

[Bozo Galora]

Bozo folds his hands on his desk, lowers his head, and begins to weep uncontrollably.
Wave after wave of sorrow courses through his body.


Eventually, bleary eyed and broken, he calls the massage parlor and makes an appointment.

 

[AGodspeed]

Do not weep my friends, for there may be light.

Stable at 166MHz FSB (?)

 

[Soccerman]

I don't know.. the only disappointment is that there is no voltage tweaks for the RAM (at the moment). I don't consider that a big problem cause I wasn't ever planning on upping the voltage anyway, just getting some PC2700 or faster.

I'm certainly going to pick this board up.. take a look at this review that popped up today.. the performance improvement is admirable..

hey Insane, maybe you'd ship that up here cause I can't get one where I am!

 

[formulav8]

I saw that review. Some very nice memory scores. I would hang onto it if I was you. I would try different memory or wait to try another bios update.

 

[nortexoid]

interesting, but something is wrong, if it is at least the GUI or coding of that overclock utility

notice at 166mhz mem/cpu the pci/clock ratio is at 6, which is NOT 33mhz pci bus, it's like 27...

and then it's at 5 for 200mhz, saying 33mhz pci bus...obviously wrong...the ratio is lower and the frequency higher yielding the same numbe.r..u figure it out.

so is the stupid ratio working correctly or non?...and if so, why the hell is that thing saying otherwise (and how else could u even determine it?)

something is working tho, since the performance is going up with each increase...

i likes...and the tears dry up for another day.

 

[Soccerman]

lol ya nortexoid, the software is all messed up (who uses that software anyway?).

heh..

 

[WetWilly]

interesting, but something is wrong, if it is at least the GUI or coding of that overclock utility

notice at 166mhz mem/cpu the pci/clock ratio is at 6, which is NOT 33mhz pci bus, it's like 27...

You're interpreting it wrong. That number isn't the PCI/Clock ratio, it's the CPU multiplier. 167 x 6 ~= 200 x 5 = 1000MHz. To determine/verify the PCI/Clock ratios, check the PCI and AGP speeds. At both 167 and 200MHz the PCI speed was 33MHz and AGP was 66MHz. 167/33=5 and 200/33=6.

 

[nortexoid]

so they used the term "ratio" for the multiplier/fsb ratio?...hmmm, good choice...not.

anyway, at least that's understood...though the term should be reserved for real ratios (i.e.division, not multiplication), non?

i would assume that if u're buying this board and mem from scratch, it's a good choice, or unless u already have nanya et al modules that fucntion well in this board.

 

[irrigating]

Some refurbs showed up at newegg today for 89 bucks. The end of the tale, sad but true.

 

[Insane3D]

Ok, so you guys think I should wait and see if things change? I saw that VR Zone review, but that was one board, and it may have been handpicked or something. Also, he was only using a 128mb stick of Crucial. I wonder if it is because I'm using a Athlon MP. The board doesn't recognize the MP correctly at all, so maybe the Hardware Prefetch or something is screwing with the board. Maybe I'll try a Tbird in it. I did notice that the voltages on the board are all low too.

"the only disappointment is that there is no voltage tweaks for the RAM (at the moment). "

It does have voltage tweaks for the DDR, CPU, and AGP. The DDR voltage settings are default, +.1v, +.2v, and +.3v. The only problem is it runs low to begin with. When @ default of 2.5v, it runs @ 2.45v, and when it's cranked to 2.8v, it still runs low @ 2.75v. The 3.3v line is also low, it runs @ 3.2v...


What do you guys think I should do...?

 

[WetWilly]

so they used the term "ratio" for the multiplier/fsb ratio?...

Leadtek uses the term "CPU speed ratio" for instead of the more common "multiplier." And it is a "real" division-based ratio defined as CPU speed/FSB.

They just probably couldn't fit the word "multiplier" on their Speed Gear control panel.

 

[nortexoid]

yeah but the cpu speed is only secondarily a ratio in that sense, since the derivation comes from fsb*multiplier

 

[WetWilly]

Insane3D

Kind of curious - what revision is your board? Older revisions had some memory compatibility issues.

I did notice that the voltages on the board are all low too.

They seemed to be low on the VR-Zone OC board as well. In fact, every single voltage reading except the battery (and modded Vcore) was lower than spec. Didn't seem to stop them from hitting 166MHz, though.

The board doesn't recognize the MP correctly at all, so maybe the Hardware Prefetch or something is screwing with the board.

I dunno. OCWorkbench tested theirs with an Athlon XP 1500+. Then again, they didn't overclock.

 

[Insane3D]

WetWilly -

Well, I just pulled it out and I'm throwing my 8K7A+ back in. I may keep it for a bit and see if things improve. As far as revision, the board says "PCB Revision A" and below that it says "Assy Rev:" and then there is a sticker after that with a "C". One neat thing I noticed about this board is they put the MAC ID of the Realtek NIC on a sticker on the board...nice little touch. As far as O/C'ing, I am doing a customer build next week with a 1.33ghz Athlon, and I may throw that in and give it a try. The stick of memory I was using would top out around 155mhz on the 8K7A+, so I doubt I would hit any more than that on the Leadtek, but it wouldn't even do 143 with the Fastest settings. It would boot, but it would give me errors booting into XP. Also, the VR Zone review had done a voltage mod to get the Vcore up to the 2.1v + area, and they were only using a 128mb stick which might of helped their results. They are one of the few who have tested this board, so maybe they got a good one from Leadtek...who knows. I also think that putting the NB and SB into one integrated chip may make some boards not FSB overclock as well as others, but that's just a guess.

 

[Pabster]

NFS4 wrote:

"I was just sitting back and laughing to myself (I know, I'm evil) when I first saw this thread b/c I KNEW that it would end up this way. I'm sorry that you had problems with the board, but after my experiences with the chipset, I didn't think that you WOULD have a positive outcome."

I'm still laughing that the best value is still a $50 wonder called the ECS K7S5A. I realize you had issues with your board, but that isn't representative of the whole spectrum. There are plenty of satisifed SiS 735 users (like myself) who won't touch VIA with a ten foot pole and are totally satisfied with the performance, stability, and reliability.

I've now used or installed over 20 of these boards, and never once experienced a single hitch. Does that mean all of them are good? Of course not. But, similiarly, using an experience with one particular mainboard and relegating it to the entire field is ridiculous. With VIA, I've used enough of 'em to stay away.

There just isn't a better value out there right now than K7S5A.

 

[Insane3D]

One more thing, the memory scores on the VR Zone review @ 166mhz are much lower than on my 8KHA+ @ 160mhz with a Tbird. They get 2005/1837 with the new memory test, and I get 2295/2177. I realize memory scores aren't everything, but I would need some serious FSB on the Leadtek to get anywhere near that...maybe high 170's...

 

[NFS4]

<< NFS4 wrote:

"I was just sitting back and laughing to myself (I know, I'm evil) when I first saw this thread b/c I KNEW that it would end up this way. I'm sorry that you had problems with the board, but after my experiences with the chipset, I didn't think that you WOULD have a positive outcome."

I'm still laughing that the best value is still a $50 wonder called the ECS K7S5A. I realize you had issues with your board, but that isn't representative of the whole spectrum. There are plenty of satisifed SiS 735 users (like myself) who won't touch VIA with a ten foot pole and are totally satisfied with the performance, stability, and reliability.

I've now used or installed over 20 of these boards, and never once experienced a single hitch. Does that mean all of them are good? Of course not. But, similiarly, using an experience with one particular mainboard and relegating it to the entire field is ridiculous. With VIA, I've used enough of 'em to stay away.

There just isn't a better value out there right now than K7S5A. >>


Well, if you consider...

1) No multiplier adjustments
2) Limited bus adjustments
3) 5 PCI slots (somewhat made up for by the included NIC)
4) Screwy positioning of floppy and IDE connectors
5) Only TWO fan headers
6) Only TWO DDR SDRAM slots
7) Some issues with ACPI (I've heard this on more than one occassion)
8) Limited BIOS

Considering that the next best thing up from the ECS K7S5A (which is just a vanilla board) is the $103 Leadtek board, the best performance/feature/stability/value Athlon boards on the market are the MSI ($104), Epox ($105), Gigabyte ($99, and it's the board that AMD uses in its Athlon XP demo systems so we KNOW that it is stable), and Shuttle ($80) KT266A boards.

If all you are looking for is cheap system, then the ECS will do just fine. But if you want more features/performance, then KT266A and nForce are your only other options. And since nForce is INSANELY expensive, then that leaves the KT266A. And the KT266A boards have no more issues (most likely less) than the SiS735 boards. And the extra $25 spent on the Shuttle vs the ECS board are EASILY worth the additional money...but that's a different story

 

[spazntwich1]

Insane3D, this board still WORKS at stock speed, correct? I just told one of my friends to buy one for their dad's computer (thus, no OCing) because it seemed like a cheap, effective, integrated mobo.

If it's buggy at stock speeds, I'm gonna look like an idiot.