need cheap athlon mobo reccomendations

[xSauronx]

well...not "cheap" but budget

bro has a k7ama

hes an idiot, and lost his ornder number and paperwork, so i cant rma it, but its flaky in general

anyway, need a reccomendation for a mobo under 60 bucks

the k7ama's are a pain in the ass with modems, are all ecs boards like that? say the k7s5a?

anyway, please give me a few good ones to choose from, its an athlon xp/ddr setup hes got, onboard lan is a plus but not necessary, and he has video and sound already

thanks

 

[Peter]

K7AMA is a very stable board - at its time, it has been on AMD's Recommended Stuff list. If it's flaky, look at its peripherals: Power supply, CPU cooling, RAM. You wouldn't believe how many crap PSUs, poorly mounted or completely clogged CPU fans, and bad DIMM sticks are out there. Bad mainboard units is something that - in comparison - happens quite rarely. www.memtest86.com

regards, Peter

 

[Peter]

 

[chizow]

Shuttle AK32A for $56 shipped from NewEgg

I'll not comment on ECS or the K7S5A (there's enough of that going around these forums...24/7/365 since its release), but this mobo is based on the KT266A chipset and offers modest OCing ability.

Chiz

 

[Peter]

Yeah. Badmouth ECS and then recommend something built and possibly even engineered by ECS.

Again, a new board won't cure the problem, because there's a 99 percent probability it isn't the mainboard's fault anyway.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Peter
Yeah. Badmouth ECS and then recommend something built and possibly even engineered by ECS.

Again, a new board won't cure the problem, because there's a 99 percent probability it isn't the mainboard's fault anyway.

So I guess ECS boards are where bad components go when they want to die? I don't think so. They worked fine at some point in time, and chances are they worked fine up until the point they were pulled from their old system. If placed back into their old configuration, they work fine as well. Majority of the posters were reporting problems AFTER "upgrading" to an ECS board, going further to say the components worked fine in the system they were pulled from.

Granted, a lacking PSU will be a problem on any recent mobo, but to say a 300W no-name PSU is insufficient tells me the board has issues. This time last year 300W was considered plenty, but suddenly its not good enough. I've run 2 different mobos on a 300W Enlight, both DDR and SDR based; I also ran an A7V133 with a 250W no-name PSU with 1.3gb of SDR of all types including 2 512 generic sticks used as a RAM drive (still managed a nice 140FSB). ECS' whole marketing strategy around the K7S5A was to be a budget board offering excellent performance. But instead, you find yourself saving $50 up front and sacrificing some performance only to spend $100 for new RAM and a new PSU.

Your argument comparing Shuttle to ECS is ridiculous. Its no secret that distinguishing fabs and mfgs in Taiwan is like trying to plot a family tree at a Kentucky BBQ, the difference is different brands/companies carry different levels of quality control. What goes on the board reflects the final price of the board, so again, you get what you pay for. Honda manufactures and engineers the Civic, but I'd be hard pressed to compare it to an NSX. If ECS does make the AK32A, they should learn a lesson from themselves on how to make a board that works (btw, don't you work for ECS?).

Chiz

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: Peter
Yeah. Badmouth ECS and then recommend something built and possibly even engineered by ECS.

Again, a new board won't cure the problem, because there's a 99 percent probability it isn't the mainboard's fault anyway.

Of course! That is the official sport of ATMB.

Never mind that no-one posts that they had a successfull installion. Lets just point out those that had problems (for various reasons) as proof that ECS/PCCHIPS/Shuttle/Amptron/etc... make crappy boards.

Don't ever suggest that mediocre ram that works fine in a less tolerant board might not pass muster when stressed.

Heaven forbid a cheap a$$ 300 watt PSU may not survive when a board is demanding more than what the PSU can adequately deliver.

As for ECS's marketing strategy; the K7S5A became the best selling MB in the world. It also out performed the KT133a, KT266 and equalled (if not surpassed) the KT266A in many tests.

So the board wants a good PSU and ram? What's wrong with that? If you cheap out on components then buy a budget board like the K7S5A and when the marginal equippment fails to work right it must be ECS's fault, correct?

The only real advice is to just buy excellent components to start with, no matter what board you choose. So go ahead a buy a budget board but don't skimp on the rest of the parts. This way they can be reused for future upgrades and it makes a much wiser investment. Trust me: it is worth the cost.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: Peter
Yeah. Badmouth ECS and then recommend something built and possibly even engineered by ECS.

Again, a new board won't cure the problem, because there's a 99 percent probability it isn't the mainboard's fault anyway.

Of course! That is the official sport of ATMB.

Never mind that no-one posts that they had a successfull installion. Lets just point out those that had problems (for various reasons) as proof that ECS/PCCHIPS/Shuttle/Amptron/etc... make crappy boards.

Don't ever suggest that mediocre ram that works fine in a less tolerant board might not pass muster when stressed.

Heaven forbid a cheap a$$ 300 watt PSU may not survive when a board is demanding more than what the PSU can adequately deliver.

As for ECS's marketing strategy; the K7S5A became the best selling MB in the world. It also out performed the KT133a, KT266 and equalled (if not surpassed) the KT266A in many tests.

So the board wants a good PSU and ram? What's wrong with that? If you cheap out on components then buy a budget board like the K7S5A and when the marginal equippment fails to work right it must be ECS's fault, correct?

The only real advice is to just buy excellent components to start with, no matter what board you choose. So go ahead a buy a budget board but don't skimp on the rest of the parts. This way they can be reused for future upgrades and it makes a much wiser investment. Trust me: it is worth the cost.

I've used five of these boards, three of which did not run 133/133. I have a 431 watt enermax, I tried 4 sticks of namebrand dimms.

Oh yeah, 2 of them lost their cmos within the first 24 hours of use.

performance is useless if it's not solid.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: Peter
Yeah. Badmouth ECS and then recommend something built and possibly even engineered by ECS.

Again, a new board won't cure the problem, because there's a 99 percent probability it isn't the mainboard's fault anyway.

Of course! That is the official sport of ATMB.

Never mind that no-one posts that they had a successfull installion. Lets just point out those that had problems (for various reasons) as proof that ECS/PCCHIPS/Shuttle/Amptron/etc... make crappy boards.

Don't ever suggest that mediocre ram that works fine in a less tolerant board might not pass muster when stressed.

Heaven forbid a cheap a$$ 300 watt PSU may not survive when a board is demanding more than what the PSU can adequately deliver.

As for ECS's marketing strategy; the K7S5A became the best selling MB in the world. It also out performed the KT133a, KT266 and equalled (if not surpassed) the KT266A in many tests.

So the board wants a good PSU and ram? What's wrong with that? If you cheap out on components then buy a budget board like the K7S5A and when the marginal equippment fails to work right it must be ECS's fault, correct?

The only real advice is to just buy excellent components to start with, no matter what board you choose. So go ahead a buy a budget board but don't skimp on the rest of the parts. This way they can be reused for future upgrades and it makes a much wiser investment. Trust me: it is worth the cost.

I've used five of these boards, three of which did not run 133/133. I have a 431 watt enermax, I tried 4 sticks of namebrand dimms.

Oh yeah, 2 of them lost their cmos within the first 24 hours of use.

performance is useless if it's not solid.

Bad boards do happen. No matter what brand it is. I had a bad Epox. Exchange fixed that. Same with a bad MSI and a bad PCChips. But I don't go and bad mouth an entire company because of it, either. I felt like it when I got an Asus P5A. What a POS that board was/is. But I don't bad mouth Asus because of it. I just dealt with it (I managed to get a beta BIOS for it .005. Very hard to find but it solved my problems and that board works great now.).

Look at how much whining there is about VIA. So someone has a problem with a VIA chipset. Does that mean that VIA is a crappy company because of some bad batches a of chips?

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Bad boards do happen. No matter what brand it is. I had a bad Epox. Exchange fixed that. Same with a bad MSI and a bad PCChips. But I don't go and bad mouth an entire company because of it, either. I felt like it when I got an Asus P5A. What a POS that board was/is. But I don't bad mouth Asus because of it. I just dealt with it (I managed to get a beta BIOS for it .005. Very hard to find but it solved my problems and that board works great now.).

Look at how much whining there is about VIA. So someone has a problem with a VIA chipset. Does that mean that VIA is a crappy company because of some bad batches a of chips?

Dunno, 3 out of 5 is a heck of a bad board rate. . .

 

[Iron Woode]

I find ususally that bad boards are made in batches and these batches tend to be shipped to suppliers. So it is no surprise when I get a bad board that there are usually many more in stock that are bad too. My supplier removes whole batches if more than 3 boards from the same order and the same boards are bad.

 

[xSauronx]

christ, i wasnt expecting an argument....ill ask general hardware next time

ive tried different ram, original was bad, replaced it
hard drives...original was bad, rma, good drive now
video, agp was ok, then flaky, then the port was broken (long story)
pci is flaky

all worked fine in other boxes, and the whole time this system has been flaky
windows installations go weird, have problems with software, drivers, other things
switched to another k7ama mobo in my young brothers system, and it ran fine in that box, but with this one....like i said, if im getting one, id like to get somethning besides an ecs because its a total bitch to get a modem working, at least with the k7ama

anywa, ive used half a dozen ecs boards in recent years, and have been very pleased with what i got for price and features, and theyve all been stable

but, the 2 k7ama's ive built a couple months ago, one is flaky all the time, the other i cant even get an amr modem to work with, and by mere chance i once got a pci modem running....

but, ive been playing with this sytem, ordering and trying different things for a couple months on and off, all parts are good, the only constant is the mobo and psu, so, im getting a psu this week, ill let him try it on that and a new hard drive when they come in before i fix my own system, and see if its either of those

otherwise i may go with the shuttle, the system im on now is using one and it hasnt had any problems, and the freakin modem works on it

umm....thanks guys

 

[Peter]

Just a final note to chizow ... Shuttle and ECS have officially announced that Shuttle has started outsourcing their entire manufacturing to ECS/PC-Chips. No guessing required. Besides, some of their boards are engineered by ECS, and some are even mere rebadge jobs of existing ECS boards. Just compare an AK12 with a K7VZA. Even the BIOS is the same, and so are the typos in the BIOS history ...

 

[KiltedFool]

Just to completely change directions on you, the Asus A7N266-VM is right now considered one of the very best "boards for cheap arses who fear ECS", though it's $71 at newegg right now.

nForce chipset, onboard goodies, take a look at it and at some threads on this forum. mechBgon has a lot of experience with them, all of it good.

This completely avoids the ECS quality control fight, as Asus has a pretty solid quality rep (though cust service and RMA may be sketchy at times if I remember correctly).

KF

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Peter
Just a final note to chizow ... Shuttle and ECS have officially announced that Shuttle has started outsourcing their entire manufacturing to ECS/PC-Chips. No guessing required. Besides, some of their boards are engineered by ECS, and some are even mere rebadge jobs of existing ECS boards. Just compare an AK12 with a K7VZA. Even the BIOS is the same, and so are the typos in the BIOS history ...

Duly noted,

Note to self: Avoid AK12 and research Shuttle boards thoroughly from now on.....

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Chiz

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: chizow


Duly noted,

Note to self: Avoid AK12 and research Shuttle boards thoroughly from now on.....

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Chiz

lol, seriously, I guess shuttle is on my semi-sh*t list now. :Q

 

[Peter]

You two might think whatever you want ... the majority of OEM system integrators think differently. ECS/PC-Chips have been #1 in shipped units for quite a while now. For a reason. Not even counting Shuttle and Abit contract manufacturing. (You know, in the large volume OEM business, nothing makes you lose a contract as quickly as quality problems.)

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Peter
You two might think whatever you want ... the majority of OEM system integrators think differently. ECS/PC-Chips have been #1 in shipped units for quite a while now. For a reason. Not even counting Shuttle and Abit contract manufacturing. (You know, in the large volume OEM business, nothing makes you lose a contract as quickly as quality problems.)

You never did answer the question of if you work for ECS. . .

At anyrate, I never really liked abit anyways. . .

 

[natopotato]

the biostar M7VIG and M7VIQ are nice boards. both based on the km266 chipset(think kt266a+prosavage graphics core). biostar also has a fairly cheap kt333 or 400 board that's name escapes me now. biostar boards are some of the most stable boards you'll find, and they're priced to move.

 

[Peter]

Just for the record, I completed bro's new machine today.

After going through a bad maxtor HDD, and after having the local shop admit they didn't have one single actually working 512-MByte SDRAM DIMM, I resorted to using two 256-MByte DIMMs. Works like a charm, at 133/133 bus speed of course.

Full spec:
K7S5A v3.1
Athlon XP2100+
arctic cooling pro heatsink/fan
H.I.S. Radeon 9000pro VIVO
Epox AMR modem
Maxtor 60GB fluid bearing 7200rpm HDD on primary
Yamaha CRW-F1 CDRW sec slave
Toshiba 1712 DVD sec master
Disk drive
USB mouse
generic case w/ front USB and really-400W-type power supply

 

[Peter]

Ah, and no, I don't work for ECS. I just happen to have used a real pile of their mainboards (approaching 100) with not a single one of them failing to do what I wanted them to ... not even that dozen that were brought to me for diagnosis after many attempts of making them work right. I ripped the systems apart, reassembled properly, identified and threw out unsuitable or plain broken items, and returned working systems. Perfectly stably working systems. Every single one.