ECS K7S5A. Any good?

[The_Lurker]

Hey, was wondering what kind of experiences have ppl had with this motherboard? In terms of stability? Features? Are there any oc'ing features? (e.g. FSB adjustment, multiplier, core voltage, i/o adjustment, etc). Thx!

 

[Freewolf]

It's been a great board for me. I've had no problems with it and was the easiest install I have did. It isn't a oc board I'm told but I don't oc.

 

[jfunk]

Do a search on the board. There are tons of people arguing back and forth on this in many different threads.


j

 

[hwstock]

<< Hey, was wondering what kind of experiences have ppl had with this motherboard? In terms of stability? Features? Are there any oc'ing features? (e.g. FSB adjustment, multiplier, core voltage, i/o adjustment, etc). Thx! >>



Do a search on "life/death" and follow the threads for the K7S5A (and the Shuttle, for comparison).

Also check the ECS forum on www.ocworkbench.com .

 

[AZGamer]

<< Hey, was wondering what kind of experiences have ppl had with this motherboard? In terms of stability? Features? Are there any oc'ing features? (e.g. FSB adjustment, multiplier, core voltage, i/o adjustment, etc). Thx! >>



Let me answer that question step by step:

1) Stability - Terrible on 1.4 ghz processors and some others due to memory interface issues, can be somewhat remidied by fusing a capacitor to the board, but not an overall strong area of the board.

2) Features - The built in NIC works acceptably, and sound seems AC'97 quality, but nothing too special here.

3) OC-ing features: There are none. Nil FSB adjustments other then 100,133,150; multiplier changing unsupported, you get the idea.

I have had no positive experiences with this board. Newegg has the ECS KT266A solution for $67, which is what I would reccomend in that price range.

 

[Daniel]

I just got one of these boards and am using winXP pro, can anyone suggest what would be good to use to monitor the voltage and temps on the board cause MBM seems to be giving me blank readings no matter what I do?

 

[HappyPuppy]

You have to set MBM up. It doesn't monitor anything just because you have installed it. Read the help files.

Works fine on my K7S5A.

BTW. What AZGamer says about lack of stability with 1.4 processors is not true. Mine and many others, probably thousands, have this board running rock steady with 1.4 Tbirds. I know what he's referring to and that problem may have existed early on with revision 1.0 of the boards, but it certainly doesn't present any problems now.

 

[darth maul]

I have a 1.4GHz T-Bird and its running fine on the K7S5A...so I don't know about terrible, LOL.

And you can't say NIL on the overclocking, cause with a bios update it is possible to up the FSB. Ya know, way back when us overclockers ONLY had the FSB to play with, you young punks want your cake and eat it too. (don't get me wrong, I would love 1MHz adjustments, voltage adujustments and multiplier adjustments)

 

[osage]

both of mine are very solid. use good components and pay attention to your setup.

MBM 5 works great, but you must configure it. Good help file is included, and a list of the various sensors on the web site.

 

[SilverBack]

I got this for my wife for Christmas. The ECS K7S5A was inexpensive and uses DDR memory, so I thought I would give it a whirl.

Installed without a hitch. Default Sisoft Sandra scores were also very good. 831/760 memory scores using a 1.4 TBird and Crucial DDR at CAS 2.5.
I noticed the disk score wasn't that good so I went looking as to why.
The SiS drivers don't enable DMA, it had to be manually done. So I checked DMA in the disk properties of the device manager.
A 20gig WD ATA100 7200 rpm drive scored 24300 as compared to a 30 gig ATA100 at 24000, very good

If you aren't planning on overclocking, this board seems stable as h*ll.

 

[SilverBack]

AZGamer
I was told and believe that memory isn't really the issue with the K7S5A.
You do have to have a very good power supply. That is essential. The ECS board seems to be quite partial to the quality of the power supply.
I'm using an Antec 300W. It seems to work great.

 

[beaver]

I got the motherboard about $40 at Frys. My PC system config as 1.4GHz AMD T-bird, SDRAM PC133 256MB (not DDR as expected), Antec 300W, WinME OS and Vision TNT2 AGP 2D/3D and ATI TV card, plus built-in AC97 and NIC.
It runs fine so far.
Issue?
1. the motherboard made too cheap. It has chemical smell (like plastic burning smell) when in use.
2. the AMD fan is too noisy. My P800EB (same Antec case) is not so fast as AMD1.4GHz but much silent.
3. In standby mode, my P800EB totally idle (you feel it 'standby') but the AMD1.4GHz looks keep running (so I don't know if it's in 'standby').
In general, for what you paid, it's a very very good motherboard. no problem to run AMD 1.4GHz.

 

[The_Lurker]

Alright! This kicksass I've read a lot of info and it seems pretty good I have a Enermax 300 Watt so it should run fine... right?

 

[AZGamer]

Enermax seems like a high quality supply, so if you believe the experiences of others, it should.

If you wind up getting an early revision of the board or are going to be doing heavy overclocking, you will be dissapointed.

Otherwise, there seems to be a love/hate relationship with the board: Half of AT loves it, half of AT hates it.

 

[zzzz]

I have got two which work very well. (One is about 3 month old, other is one week.) and I am getting another one.

 

[MrChicken]

Do yourself a favor and buy a power supply rated much more than you need. Read the threads, by far and away most problems are with people trying to get by with 300 watt or less supply.

Being AMD certified isnt good enough, being AMD certified for your CPU is what you need. There are many "certified" supplies, but what the box doesnt tell you is that is AMD certified for a 1 ghz or less.

At a minumum I would go for a good brand, Enermax or Antec IMHO, and get at least a 350 watt version. I actually opted for the 400 watt Antec, it came with my case, a SX840.

I didnt have problems with my Antec 300 watt running this 1.4ghz on the ECS, but the -voltages were too low. -12 was almost down to -11 and -5 was in the low 4's.

For me, this setup with W2k Pro has been the most stable of any config I've had.

 

[drake6]

Ive got and like the mobo alot. If you run windoze xp its a snap install. Do you re self a favor and ignore az gamers posts he has a real irrational hate for anyhting sis. It is true the sis mobos dont like ati video cards but so do 2/3 of the worlds mobos due to ati's crap ass drivers it not the mobo fault(and most games are a crap shoot to boot again due ati crap drivers). Personally I would not buy any ati video card due to their lousy drivers. Any decent nvidia card will work fine with this mobo. Get any amd xp, windoze XP and any nvida video card any you'll have zero problems with this mobo. If your a serious over clocker you should consider other mobos like shuttle's ak31a or maybe asus a7a266 ali mobo (i got friend who has new asus ali mobo (rev c) and after the bios flash he's Oc'n the crap out of his amd xp) But if you like me , someone who want a Fast , stock spec system thats STABLE RePeAt STABLE this is a great easy to install and speed mobo for a very reasonable price. Oh reguardless what az gamer say all mobo companies seem to have a zero comitment to quality build (asus, abit, ecs, epox.....etc ) so there seem to be a industry wide average of about a 20% doa /problem that lead to rma's out of the box . So alway buy your mobo somewhere with a good return policies so if you due get a out of the box pos or it clash with your hardware/softeare setup your not stuck suffer with a bad mobo. I really like my new system (in my sig) and it very very stable. Have fun building your new system and good Luck and a happy new year.

 

[Bovinicus]

I have read a lot of people's opinions on this board. I say more people have enjoyed their experience with this board than hated it. If you are overclocking, this is not a board you should really bother with. If you want a cheap system, especially one to go from SDRAM to DDR in the future, then this is a good board.

 

[AZGamer]

<< Ive got and like the mobo alot. If you run windoze xp its a snap install. Do you re self a favor and ignore az gamers posts he has a real irrational hate for anyhting sis. >>



Irrational? I think not. I have set up systems with the SiS chipsets and found they have many flaws, especially with ECS's implementation of the SiS chipset.



<< It is true the sis mobos dont like ati video cards but so do 2/3 of the worlds mobos due to ati's crap ass drivers it not the mobo fault(and most games are a crap shoot to boot again due ati crap drivers). >>



Sounds like someone is pushing a personal agenda, not actually debating the merits of the chipset. The K7S5A is the only recent motherboard that does not support the Radeon 7500 in most cases. So you have just invalidated your claim above that I have an irrational dislike of the chipset : I dislike it because it has many problems, one of which you mentioned above.



<< Personally I would not buy any ati video card due to their lousy drivers. >>



How does this relate whatsoever to the issue at hand?



<< Oh reguardless what az gamer say all mobo companies seem to have a zero comitment to quality build (asus, abit, ecs, epox.....etc ) so there seem to be a industry wide average of about a 20% doa /problem that lead to rma's out of the box . >>



This is why there are "tiers" of manufacturers. Regardless, most thought in this area is anecdotal. Read the forums here and on OC Workbench, and then honestly see what seems to have a higher rate of defective motherboards: The Asus A7V266-E or the ECS K7S5A?

 

[Dan]

I used this board last weekend to upgrade my 13-year-old grandson from a Celeron 466MHz to an Athlon 1.33GHz. (Nice Christmas present, eh?) With 512MB PC-133 SDRAM and a Voodoo 3 video card the system is extremely stable. It was very easy to setup, using WinXP Pro for the OS. As others noted, this mobo isn't for overclockers but then I paid something like $57 for it (from newegg) and you can't beat that.

 

[gcy]

work great for me. used the unofficial bios and been running with no prob.

 

[jsmckenna45431]

I'll admit that the K7S5A has issues with the new Radeons, but my old 64MB DDR VIVO works like a champ. My Iwill KK266-R and my Asus K7M absolutely hated my GF2. This is the kind of thing that you will run into with almost any chipset. If you are planning on using a new Radeon, don't go with a SiS board. If you want to use a SoundBlaster sound card, dont use a KT133a board. When I buy components, I don't always jump on the latest trend. Do some research and see which components will work together the best as a complete system to meet your needs.

Just my .02,
Jeff

 

[joe4324]

AZgamer:

This is why there are "tiers" of manufacturers. Regardless, most thought in this area is anecdotal. Read the forums here and on OC Workbench, and then honestly see what seems to have a higher rate of defective motherboards: The Asus A7V266-E or the ECS K7S5A?

How many A7V266-E do you think they are selling compared to the k7s5a? Its simply not a fair comparasion. Also, Being as objective as possible How many "hardcore" people do you know buying up the k7s5a incomparasion to the casual system builder? (hardcore being the extremely well educated crowd who often times build pcs in masse, or just rebuild there own every 3 months, Casual being the person who doesnt have a whole lot of hardware experience. generally just plugs things in and turns power on without double checking instructions and the such)

I'm willing to bet for every A7V266-e board sold, there are 10 K7S5A's Sold and sold to more casual/less experienced builder.
see were I'm going with this? I've been at computer shows and literally watched vendors unload CASES of K7S5A's from there trucks into customers cars. They are simply SO cheap people who never thought of messing with hardware and people who never used to be able to afford it are jumping into the ranks of system builders....

when you price a board at $52 online that has the benefits/features and performance of the k7s5a (its cheap but sometimes thats what you want/forced into buying) your going to get alot of people who shouldnt be swapping out mobos doing just that. And that will translate to alot of the anti-[insert company here] spam we all see on a daily basis.


I'm not going to say that ECS produces higher quality boards then ASUS. I've had many from both companies and you simply cant compare the two they both target the completly polarized markets. and I think they each serve them VERY well.

 

[hwstock]

<< This is why there are "tiers" of manufacturers. Regardless, most thought in this area is anecdotal. Read the forums here and on OC Workbench, and then honestly see what seems to have a higher rate of defective motherboards: The Asus A7V266-E or the ECS K7S5A? >>



It is hard to interpret anecdotal evidence; that's why we set up this poll on anandtech:
K7S5A + AK31A life/death stats

...you can go to the threads, where the polls have subsequently collected more votes, pushing results slightly more in the K7S5A's favor (do a search on "life/death" from this forum).

To quantify your speculation, we need the analogous poll for the asus A7V266-E. The prior polls showed us that both the K7S5A and AK31A had problems, particularly with DOA and early death. It is hard to determine how many of those problems result from ESD and retailer recycling.

The stats at ocworkbench are rather remarkable -- 40 times as many ECS posts as posts for any other manufacturer. However, that site has become known as an ECS knowledgebase, and offers more for ECS users, than, say, asus users (OC BIOS, faqs, etc.). The bulk of the ECS posts are actually along the lines of, "have you tried this? what temps are you getting?"

Do a search on A7V266 in this forum -- I notice quite a few threads reporting systems that won't boot, and one thread entitled "Asus A7V266-E & KT266A - in short, it's crap!".

By the way -- I've owned 3 asus boards -- K7V, CUSL2 and P4T-E. For me, they have been largely trouble-free, but each has had a bizarre and annoying quirk. Were it not for help from forums like this one, those quirks would have had serious consequences. The problems turned out to be well-known, and had solutions documented on the web; but the solutions were not documented on the asus web site. My latest is a P4T-E, which can be very fussy about mice. If you track the asus USENET posts, you'll discover that the mouse/keyboard problem -- which cripples the system until the user gets the correct magic formula-- is a common "issue" with this board. So even first-tier manufacturers fall down from time to time.

 

[kmike75]

Ok, to answer your original question "overclock well", I'd say no to the average user. The bios used to overclock is too large to fit on a floppy, and it's not from ECS. I have one in my kid's machine running an duron 800. It's stable, and aside from it's average "on board audio", it works well. This is a no frills motherboard that can run many processors, and it's stable in Windows 98SE (I have no other operating systems other than 98SE so I don't know about the others). There was a memory question about this board, but I'm running PNY PC133 cas3 without problems.

good luck,
kevin