Power Spply with ECS K7S5A SiS® 735 and Mobo suggestions

[Mohammad]

I am thinking of upgrading my system from a P3 450 to Athlon XP 1600. Right now i am a bit tight on my budget so i am stickting with ECS K7S5A. I was wondering what kind of power supply would i need. Currently i have 300 ATX would that do or do i need a better supply. If yes then what are the reasons behind it. I was wondering if based on a tight the Mobo choice is suitable or not. I have been researching on a good mobo for the last couple of days and this seems like a decent choice

 

[mechBgon]

I had great results with my K7S5A. If your power supply has at least 180W of combined power on the 3.3V + 5V lines (check the label), then give it a try. If not, you can get a new Sparkle Power 300W unit with 200W on the 3.3V + 5V for about $33 shipped from Newegg.com, or there are other good ones out there too. Just don't go by the overall wattage, make sure to check the particulars. You will definitely like what your 1600+ does for your performance level.

By the way, if you plan to re-use your RAM, it should be PC133. I found that the performance differences between PC133 and PC2100 DDR were between 0% and 10% with my old Thunderbird 1.4GHz, so PC133 should be a good start. Kingston has some attractive prices on PC133 if you need to buy some: $28 shipped + tax for 256Mb PC133 Or here is Crucial's page for the K7S5A: Crucial

 

[Buz2b]

Dittos to what mechBgon advised you. The Sparkle unit he linked to is an excellent choice for this board. I have used that combo on systems several times with no trouble at all. Don't hesitate.

 

[bigtimmn2]

I have that Sparkle Power supply, in my k7s5a system, but i am still having issues.

I cant run it in 133/133 with my xp1700. I can only run it at 100 mhz.

It could be my other items that are doing the draining, or could it be another issue?


I have the following

k7s5a
Sparkle 300W PS
Sound Blaster Audigy
GeForce 3 200Ti Vid card
Toshiba DVD
Sony CD-RW
20g Maxtor 7200 RPM Harddrive.
256 MB Samsung PC2100 DDR

I get blue screens on startup when regularly when i start up my system at full power, and once i get it up and running it will crash out on occasion as well.

I was assuming that it was the PSU, and am planning on upgrading it to AT LEAST an Antec TruPower 330W, maybe more.

What are your guys opinions?

Also, when the Thermal tape is used to connect the CPU tot he Heat sink, how hard is it to remove the Sink/fan?

I have a noisy crappy fan in the system, and want to replace it with something better and quieter.


thanks!


BigTim

 

[Mohammad]

i have yet to try my system with the 300 watt power supply that i have with my antec case. I will give you in put as soon i build the system which will be in the next two days at max. However, i do have a question regarding the system power. How can one run the system at 100 when it is a 133 sytem. Do you mean the hi and low thing on the case. I am not sure that i get you.

Another problem that i was not able to get a reading from the power supply regarding the combined output. I will unscrew and i hope that it is 180 w.

 

[bigtimmn2]

In the Bios you can adjust it to run at 100/100. 100/133 or 133/133.

Mine is only stable at 100/100.

 

[Mohammad]

okay got you ...

 

[Buz2b]

bigtimmn2,
What have you done to troubleshoot this problem? Yes, a better/different HSF will help things (especially if you use some decent thermal paste instead of that thermal tape), but not sure how much it will help with the current situation you have. BTW, the tape can be a pain to remove but it is worth it. Use a piece of plastic, like an old CC or similar item to gently scrape the stuff off. Then use nail polish remover and/or Isopropyl alcohol with a lint-free cloth to get the rest. Not really too bad; just take your time and don't "gorilla" it.
I also doubt that the PS is the issue either. What about case cooling? How are your settings for the memory timings? Have you tested your RAM?

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

I have a Duron 1.2 , pc2100 ddr, and this MB. Why does ECS give you a 100/133 setting if it will only run stable at 100/100? I'm in the same boat...

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: BigEdMuustaffa
I have a Duron 1.2 , pc2100 ddr, and this MB. Why does ECS give you a 100/133 setting if it will only run stable at 100/100? I'm in the same boat...

Not quite the same. His cpu is expected to run at 133/133; you're trying to get the Duron to run at 100 and the memory at 133. The ECS board does not like this in most cases. Try 133/133. You might have to unlock the CPU though.

 

[Peter]

Oh, I've been running the K7S5A at 100/133 everywhere I put Durons in ... including the system I type this on right now. However I've found that plenty of SDRAM DIMMs that people kept from their old boards aren't really up to 133 MHz bus operation.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

Originally posted by: Peter
Oh, I've been running the K7S5A at 100/133 everywhere I put Durons in ... including the system I type this on right now. However I've found that plenty of SDRAM DIMMs that people kept from their old boards aren't really up to 133 MHz bus operation.

100/133 locks up my system. Like I"ll set it at that, and then partway through a game or if I leave the computer and the screensaver comes on, I come back and it's frozen. I have to reboot and reset to 100/100 and all is well again.

 

[Mohammad]

just wondering , i think on my SDRAM stick is cas2 and the other one is not and it might even be at 100. My CPU is running at 133/133 , and was wondering if that would affect the system in anyway. I was wondering how can I overclock and extract more from the CPU.