Barton 2600+ in Frys combo hot ?

[AAman]

I love it when the 'senior' and 'platinum' people talk through their rears- this board if very strange,
I've built 5 systems, all my friends have built systems as well, it has problems recognizing cdroms and dvd drives
of various makes, the onboard
sound makes the entire system crash in xp and only at 100 instead of 133 on the cpu (or blame MS, either way it's a bad combo), I'm running
one right now, it always has issues with ide pci cards (whether the promise66, 100, or tx2 I've tried with it, the cards are necessary if it doesn't like your cd/dvd).

Once you've figured out its issues, it does work ok. And for $70 for an xp +2200 and board, couldn't beat the deal.
Funny thing, it loves my sony burner, which always has issues on other boards. Just be prepared to update the bios,
and turn of the onboard sound before anything else. Oh, there is also an error when installing some versions of xp,
had to pull out my xp pro to get around that (there is a workaround at MS site, but I forgot the code )

 

[Lpenguin]

I build systems for friends and family any time they need a new one. Been using Fry's ECS combos for about almost three years. I have never had a problem I could blame on the mb. And they are all still functioning flawlessly today. I have had my own Abit, Asus, Soyo die on me, of course I was playing around with them alot.

I have also told other people to get an Fry's ECS combo and I have not heard any complaints. And I always use xp, and never a problem. I think these guys that have consistant problems with ECS have other issues.

Can't beat the Fry's ECS combo deals!

 

[puppyfriend]

Here's my theory to all the people having problems. You guys use fancy schmancy Crucial, Corsair or Mushkin memory. You just run at spec and don't overclock. I get the cheapest RAM I can get at Fry's. The stuff from companies where they can't even afford to put markings on the chips. I then overclock the crap out of it. Works like a charm. I have one of the very first K7S5As. I bought it with a state of the art Athlon 900. It's running with a 2400+ XP now. It's a rock. It's the only motherboard I didn't have to throw away when I got a new chip. It runs 24/7. I occassionaly have to reboot, once a week or so, due to software lockups. Well not really lock ups but Windows Explorer dies every once in a while under XP. If only XP was as reliable as the K7S5A, what a utopia the world would be.

David

 

[Tung]

ECS K7S5A = craps

Is there a modified bios for the K7VTA3 that enable overclocking?

Originally posted by: puppyfriend
I agree that these are great boards. I've built 5 of them for myself and friends and they are rock solid. Definitely user error. Some people should only buy from Dell or Gateway. Just plug it in and go.

David

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: orion7144

Originally posted by: AkumaX

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
I've got to wait until they pair it up with a better board.

the board's pretty stable, 100000000000x better than that k7s5a crap

That board is not crap. Must be the operator. I purchased over 20 of them and never had a single problem.

No, it is crap. I've built systems for years now and the k7s5a is easily and by far the worst motherboard I've ever used.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: puppyfriend
I agree that these are great boards. I've built 5 of them for myself and friends and they are rock solid. Definitely user error. Some people should only buy from Dell or Gateway. Just plug it in and go.

David

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: orion7144

Originally posted by: AkumaX

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
I've got to wait until they pair it up with a better board.

the board's pretty stable, 100000000000x better than that k7s5a crap

That board is not crap. Must be the operator. I purchased over 20 of them and never had a single problem.

No, it is crap. I've built systems for years now and the k7s5a is easily and by far the worst motherboard I've ever used.

i've built 10 or so, about 50% failure rate w/ those k7s5a, always stability problems after initial 72 hour burn in... you just have extremely good luck

yes, and i've also had my shared successes w/ both the k7s5a and pro versions (o/ced a 2100+ to 2800+ w/ the non pro, 1800+ to 2400+ w/ pro)

the k7vta3 has fsb adjust (i'm at 181) but no mult setting.. yet

 

[s0ssos]

Originally posted by: JoyDutta

Originally posted by: teKillah
Frys has a ECS + Athlon 2600+ combo for 109.99 in this weekends ad for Northern/Southern CA.

It has been reported that folks have been getting the 2600+ Barton. If this is the case then I think it is pretty hot !!!

Anybody checked this out yet ?

There is no barton 2600+. It has to be 2500+. 1.83 Ghz, 333FSB nad 640kb cache...But this is very hot...

joydutta's on a roll with misinformation. first the "cold" comment about some pc4000 ram (saying that it was a cold deal, when in fact it was hot), now this. i think you better research before you make any more comments

 

[s0ssos]

Originally posted by: littletemple
At Renton Fry's, it is an Abit KD7A mobo plus an Athlon XP 2600+ for $109. Anybody buy this combo at Renton Fry's and what cpu did they get (barton or not)?

wow, that is HOT. is that working any place other than at renton? (where is renton btw?)

 

[mikeford]

If I had any trouble with the motherboards I would just take them back, nobody I think "really" wants them, but its a deal and if it sets up and runs fine, so much the better. Personally I have been sitting on the fence about buying a Nforce2, and these combo deals keep pushing it off.

 

[DeadBroke]

I have built 2 systems for myself and 2 for my friends with the k7s5a pro. Not even a single problem. In fact, 2 are running win me. I will repeat what many have said here, "It Must Be Operator Error".

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: DeadBroke
I have built 2 systems for myself and 2 for my friends with the k7s5a pro. Not even a single problem. In fact, 2 are running win me. I will repeat what many have said here, "It Must Be Operator Error".

Screw you "operator error" people. My degree is EE/computer option and my senior project was a parallel PC cluster which I built myself and it ran flawlessly. The ECS k7s5a is a piece of sh*t.

 

[s0ssos]

Originally posted by: DeadBroke
I have built 2 systems for myself and 2 for my friends with the k7s5a pro. Not even a single problem. In fact, 2 are running win me. I will repeat what many have said here, "It Must Be Operator Error".

explain why the usb 2.0 ports on the back don't work

 

[AnyMal]

The reviews at Newegg indicate a stable 20%-30% problem rate, that's pretty high if you ask me. Link

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
The reviews at Newegg indicate a stable 20%-30% problem rate, that's pretty high if you ask me. Link

Take out the "Operator error" problems and that percentage would significantly drop. I didn't have any problems with the USB or sound. There are probably 6 or 7 left that I have built that friends are still using with no problems the rest have upgraded to the P4C's.

 

[dc]

1800+/mobo for $60 deal is back

 

[weepul]

wow, getting a barton combo for $110 is sweet!

//krunk (^_^x)

 

[uberdork]

Is this deal available online at all??

 

[littletemple]

Originally posted by: s0ssos

Originally posted by: littletemple
At Renton Fry's, it is an Abit KD7A mobo plus an Athlon XP 2600+ for $109. Anybody buy this combo at Renton Fry's and what cpu did they get (barton or not)?

wow, that is HOT. is that working any place other than at renton? (where is renton btw?)

In Washington State. About 15 minutes from Seattle

 

[puppyfriend]

Where and how? The new ads don't come out til Wednesday.

David

Originally posted by: dc
1800+/mobo for $60 deal is back

 

[auto]

Originally posted by: s0ssos

Originally posted by: littletemple
At Renton Fry's, it is an Abit KD7A mobo plus an Athlon XP 2600+ for $109. Anybody buy this combo at Renton Fry's and what cpu did they get (barton or not)?

wow, that is HOT. is that working any place other than at renton? (where is renton btw?)

so anyone got any bartons at renton ?

thanks

 

[dc]

Originally posted by: puppyfriend
Where and how? The new ads don't come out til Wednesday.

David

Originally posted by: dc
1800+/mobo for $60 deal is back

http://latimes.p2ionline.com/shoppingchannel/rop/
menu on the left, under technology.

 

[Marauder-]

You guys are full of it if you think that its just User Error for all of the mess ups. I would probably attribute a good portion of the problems to Fry's repackaging their garbage and re-peddling it.

I've purchased 6 of these things and had to return 1 or 2. It's been pretty well documented that the ECS K7S5A has a whole slew of problems. Are the people that are touting their great pc skills using the newer K7S5A Pro boards instead? I personally have been building / upgrading comps since my first 286 eons back and from experience, EVEN w/ AMD's finickiness on parts, this one was by far the worst AMD board I've come across. I highly doubt there's "user error" on my part seeing as how I used the same memory, case, processor, etc etc for most of those systems.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: Marauder-
You guys are full of it if you think that its just User Error for all of the mess ups. I would probably attribute a good portion of the problems to Fry's repackaging their garbage and re-peddling it.

I've purchased 6 of these things and had to return 1 or 2. It's been pretty well documented that the ECS K7S5A has a whole slew of problems. Are the people that are touting their great pc skills using the newer K7S5A Pro boards instead? I personally have been building / upgrading comps since my first 286 eons back and from experience, EVEN w/ AMD's finickiness on parts, this one was by far the worst AMD board I've come across. I highly doubt there's "user error" on my part seeing as how I used the same memory, case, processor, etc etc for most of those systems.

the k7s5a was something that randomly died. i mean i know people, they just turn on their machines and the k7s5a would die. it was already installed for months.


the pro version was better, from what i've seen. the kvta3 is a much better board especially with 333bus

 

[woodscomp]

I use ECS boards for anyone who wants a cheaper system and I build close to 350 a year. Ok so the K7S5A was not a perfect board, but it was sucsefull enough to keep it around for three years. What other motherboard can you think of that has enjoyed this sucsess? I can not think of one board besides the S5A. However I have had my share of bad batches as well. I remember getting a case of these with bad BIOS chips. The entire case of twenty had to be returned because not one board would hold the BIOS for longer than a day without resetting itself to default values. On the other hand I have the first generation running a 2100+ (changed CPU three times) that I paid $65 for it new and it has been rock solid.

S5A=Simple board that anyone can afford and if you screw it up then it is cheap enough to replace without going broke. I like how ECS charges half the price of this board for a replacement BIOS. That still boggles me.

Oh and as a side note I have as of today replaced four of those boards. Now on the other hand I have had to replace 15 ECS K7VTA3 boards in the past two years, of course these were all first gen boards with the KT266 chipset. Gotta love ECS, good profits for a decent board, even if you have to replace one it is not near as expensive as replacing the ever failing Gigabytes that I went through last year. Those cost an arm and a leg when I had 6 fail and Gigabyte takes 5 weeks to honor RMA's. ECS rma process turn around is about 3 weeks total. That is damn good in the PC building world. Next to Asus and Abit I put the ECS boards. No more Gigabytes for me.

 

[vanln]

Anyone o/c this combo yet? I got ddr 2700 , I don't think I can o/c fsb with ddr2700 . Please let me know what is the max multipler I can safely o/c this combo
Please give me the most detail method that i can o/c this combo. I don't have enough time to do research
By the way I need to flash the latest bios to get the mobo V5 work correctly. Most mobo had bios date 2/2003 will show cpu 1952, not 2600+

 

[NorCalSci]

Originally posted by: AkumaX

the k7vta3 has fsb adjust (i'm at 181) but no mult setting.. yet

With your FSB at 181 does that mean your PCI clock is running at 45+ MHz? Is that a problem for you, or is there another divisor that you hit beyond 4?

I'm just running at 166 FSB here, and SISandra tells me my PCI peripherals are in danger at 42 Mz. I would like to see how high my 1800+ will go, but I don't want to start corrupting data. Any advice?