What cpu to use with this mobo?????????

danger47

Senior member
Jul 1, 2004
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Hello all

I bought this mobo from a member here on the For Sale Forum: ECS K7VTA3 v8.0
http://www.ecsusa.com/products/k7vta3_8.html

And in the manual and online I can't figure out what the smallest cpu it will use.

I tried a Duron 1.3 and an Athlon XP 2000 but it would not post with either cpu. I cleared the cmos and took the battery out, just in case the guy I bought it from hadn't cleared it from his previous setup. But it didn't seem to matter.

Maybe I'm wrong, but according to the website, it looks like I have to use at least an Athlon XP 2100 and up. Can someone tell me if this is right or not???

I'm fairly new to this stuff so please be patient and kind with the computer terminology please :):)

Also, can someone PM me for an answer because I'm not getting the response thing properly by email and the mod's keep trying to fix it.

Thanks in advance, Peggy.
 

o1die

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
4,785
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71
I tried that mobo, and it gave me alot of problems (version 6.0, which is similar). Your board should work with any socket a cpu up the barton 3000 (at 333, with the jumpers set at 166). I would try a different video card or power supply. I had the same problem as you. Mine wouldn't post unless I hit the reset button, then it would post on the second try. I swapped it 4 times at Fry's before getting a good board that posted every time.
 

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
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Any socket-A processor w/ 100, 133, 166 MHz are supported, so you're free to implant any Duron, Athlon, Athlon-XP or Sempron, except the top two Athlon-XP models 3200+ and 3000+ that use a 200 MHz CPU bus.

By the way, the ECS web site at www.ecs.com.tw has a CPU compatibility database in the "support" section.

Also, Fry's seem to have an exceptionally high defect rate at the moment. YHBW.
 

Odeen

Diamond Member
Aug 4, 2000
4,892
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That's odd. I've used a bunch of K7VTA3's in my budget builds for family/friends and I've yet to run into a problem that doesn't stem from stupid BIOS settings (i.e. "Enable power-on by PCI card" made one of the builds not shut down properly because of the modem)
 

Odeen

Diamond Member
Aug 4, 2000
4,892
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Actually, they all came from Fry's.

Even sold a couple on the FS/FT forums here, and got positive heatware evals for all my transactions. Used Palomino, T-bred A, T-bred B, Barton and Thornton core CPU's, mostly decent quality memory, but a few Centon and even more off-brand stuff.

I'm actually a big fan of ECS for non-OC'ing builds. The boards are inexpensive, they're pretty smartly designed (i.e. no superfluous PCI-bound devices built-in) and they're reliable at stock speds.
 

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
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I like to use them too. In fact, I haven't used anything else for a long time - for exactly the same reasons. They're solidly engineered, no-nonsense, good value for plain normal computers that are supposed to WORK. And I have reliable retailers to buy from ;)
 

RbHawk

Member
Oct 8, 2003
108
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Built a couple of these-no problems-but need to make sure the FSB jumpers are in the correct positions if I remember correctly..