reliable MB better than the ECS ks75a

[substance12]

I need to get a new mb but I wanted to get a more reliable one than my old ECS one that costs about $50. The ecs has worked fine for me but i've heard so many stories about how people have bought shotty ones.

which are the more reliable companies? asus and abit are the only ones I know of. Do any of those brands make a budget board that is sub 100?

I don't need to OC nor do I need many fancy options. I'd like usb 2 and onboard network card. and for AMD processors.

 

[soni]

Epox is great

Their 8RDA+ have it all for 85$ (I think)..

 

[Peter]

Are you saying you want to replace your perfectly fine board because others have been badmouthing it?

Now here's a really stupid move.

 

[yak8998]

K7S5a Pro

but no - really. It has USB 2.0, and onboard 10/100 LAN. You can get them on sale for ~$50. I have heard no complaints about them as of yet (nor had any problems).

 

[substance12]

my perfectly good board doesn't have a working usb port. which is fine cuz I can get a pci usb 2 card. however this new mb I'm looking into isn't for me.

I will look into the epox and the ecs pro board. thanks for the input.

 

[yodayoda]

Originally posted by: substance12
my perfectly good board doesn't have a working usb port. which is fine cuz I can get a pci usb 2 card. however this new mb I'm looking into isn't for me.

I will look into the epox and the ecs pro board. thanks for the input.

hmmm, everything else works fine except for USB? i would be inclined to say just get a USB card. but the Epox nForce2 board for $85 is probably then best bang for the buck anywhere. awesome overclocker, builtin LAN and USB2, very good nForce audio (not Soundstorm, but still very decent), and dual channel DDR.

 

[RedRonin]

I would suggest the ECS L7S7A2 might be worth consideration. ;-)

 

[pspada]

The ECS bothermoards are generally an ok but VERY cost effective motherboard - that usually allows no real upgrade path. Of course it's so cheap that buying one as a fry's deal w/processor for someone on a very limited budget can work, but do expect spectacular performance or overclocking ability. I personally would never have one in my main box, I blew the extra few bucks on a 8RDA+ which now supports up to the 400fsb. So I could if need be move from a current 266fsb processor to a 333fsb and/or then a 400fsb chip with virtually no pain whatsoever. Not to mention the enhanced performance inherent in running a better board over the course of time, and the extra stuff like Soundstorm mentioned by ^ yodayada .

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: substance12
my perfectly good board doesn't have a working usb port. which is fine cuz I can get a pci usb 2 card. however this new mb I'm looking into isn't for me.

I will look into the epox and the ecs pro board. thanks for the input.

I see. So for a new system, you should move onto a more modern chipset, and use e.g. the ECS L7S7A2 or its forthcoming successor ECS 748-A, using the brandnew SiS 748 chipset. That gets you support for 200 MHz CPU and RAM busses as well as USB 2.0 support from the chipset itself.

 

[substance12]

the ECS L7S7A2 is fairly cheap from newegg. What is the overall consensus on ECS as a manufacturer?

I may tell my friend to opt for the EPOX board suggested above for $85. A friend of mine suggested that as well. I'm looking for a no-hassle install. While this new box isn't for me, it's gonna be me who's putting it together. This may sound very newbish, but for instance I don't know how to upgrade BIOS or know how to check if I have the latest version.

 

[Peter]

You'll never get a consensus. There are plenty of people who are experienced system builders and use them by the dozen without any problems, and you'll find just as many DIY folks who didn't get their stuff to work right ... but that's hardly ever the mainboard's fault, although bashing the "cheap crap" always is the first thing you hear, admitting to the mistakes made comes way after that.

This is the one big advice: Know what you're doing. If you don't dare update a BIOS, don't know about the perils and difficulties of mounting a CPU fan/heatsink correctly and without breaking the CPU, if you can't tell a good power supply unit from a bad one, then don't do it. You won't make anyone happy.

 

[DieHardware]

Originally posted by: Peter

Originally posted by: substance12
my perfectly good board doesn't have a working usb port. which is fine cuz I can get a pci usb 2 card. however this new mb I'm looking into isn't for me.

I will look into the epox and the ecs pro board. thanks for the input.

I see. So for a new system, you should move onto a more modern chipset, and use e.g. the ECS L7S7A2 or its forthcoming successor ECS 748-A, using the brandnew SiS 748 chipset. That gets you support for 200 MHz CPU and RAM busses as well as USB 2.0 support from the chipset itself.

USB2 is embedded in the SIS 963 southbridge used in the L7S7A2 v1.1A already.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: substance12
the ECS L7S7A2 is fairly cheap from newegg. What is the overall consensus on ECS as a manufacturer?

28 K7S5As (26 from Newegg), 1 dead after almost 2 years (rev 1.1 from a random guy at a computer show), no other problems. My dad (who's machine it was) has three machines right up against one another under a shelf against the wall...I think it was overheating significantly.
3 L7S7A2s, 1 RMA that should soon be shipped back; the other two worked flawlessly (save that the board layout is a bit of a pain, especially for the front USBs), and another is about to be used on a matter of days.

I may tell my friend to opt for the EPOX board suggested above for $85. A friend of mine suggested that as well. I'm looking for a no-hassle install. While this new box isn't for me, it's gonna be me who's putting it together. This may sound very newbish, but for instance I don't know how to upgrade BIOS or know how to check if I have the latest version.

Shouldn't be anything wrong w/ the Epox 8RDA+ by any means.