alright, I gave up waiting for KT266A boards and just got the ECS K7S5A. Differences in performance aren't _that_ big and since I'm not an extremely huge gamer, I don't mind the few fps of difference. And I don'T overclock, so this board is a pretty good deal for me, especially since it's half the price the KT266A will be sold at...
So here's what I got:
ECS K7S5A
Athlon 1.4GHz Retail
2x 256MB PC2100 Crucial
Creative Audigy OEM
Afreey 10X DVD-Rom (DAE speed is kickass!!!)
I popped everything in my case, plugged my Hercules Kyro2, my Plextor 8X CD-RW and IBM 75GXP 45GB and installed Windows XP for the first time...
Absolutely awesome system for a very little price!!!
Oddly, WinXP didn't detect my Video card, I would've thought that MS would've included Kyro2 drivers. But that's not a problem, PowerVR.com has WinXP drivers posted already
The only other thing I had to install in WinXP was the Audigy drivers from the CD that came with the card but unfortunately, those are only very basic drivers, I don't even have a "Surround Mixer" or anything, so I can't use the Digital Output for now... I'll have to wait.
Now, I can't wait to replace my Kyro2 by an ATI 7500 (or maybe a 8500... depends on price).
I'm also considering upgrading my burner to something that Rewrites faster... maybe a Lite-On 16x/10x/40x... Is this drive any good? I just got a regular Panasonic CD Player that can read re-writable CDs...
I might also add another HD, probably an IBM 60GXP...
What do you guys think of all this?
I sure am pleased with the results and I highly recommend the ECS K7S5A now
Thanks
Shnak
p.s. and why I settled for the ECS K7S5A and Athlon 1.4GHz instead of waiting for a nice KT266A w/ Athlon XP 1.5GHz? $$$
I figure I'd saved at least 250$CND (~160$US), money that I can then put for a Nintendo GameCube (which I just can't wait to buy, btw!!!)
So here's what I got:
ECS K7S5A
Athlon 1.4GHz Retail
2x 256MB PC2100 Crucial
Creative Audigy OEM
Afreey 10X DVD-Rom (DAE speed is kickass!!!)
I popped everything in my case, plugged my Hercules Kyro2, my Plextor 8X CD-RW and IBM 75GXP 45GB and installed Windows XP for the first time...
Absolutely awesome system for a very little price!!!
Oddly, WinXP didn't detect my Video card, I would've thought that MS would've included Kyro2 drivers. But that's not a problem, PowerVR.com has WinXP drivers posted already
The only other thing I had to install in WinXP was the Audigy drivers from the CD that came with the card but unfortunately, those are only very basic drivers, I don't even have a "Surround Mixer" or anything, so I can't use the Digital Output for now... I'll have to wait.
Now, I can't wait to replace my Kyro2 by an ATI 7500 (or maybe a 8500... depends on price).
I'm also considering upgrading my burner to something that Rewrites faster... maybe a Lite-On 16x/10x/40x... Is this drive any good? I just got a regular Panasonic CD Player that can read re-writable CDs...
I might also add another HD, probably an IBM 60GXP...
What do you guys think of all this?
I sure am pleased with the results and I highly recommend the ECS K7S5A now
Thanks
Shnak
p.s. and why I settled for the ECS K7S5A and Athlon 1.4GHz instead of waiting for a nice KT266A w/ Athlon XP 1.5GHz? $$$
I figure I'd saved at least 250$CND (~160$US), money that I can then put for a Nintendo GameCube (which I just can't wait to buy, btw!!!)
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