ECS K7S5A. Any good?

[The_Lurker]

Well, i just got my K7S5A, and i must say it was simple to setup, and worked 100% as it hsould have. First boot into Win XP was kinda weird, but fine now, going into the installation worried me (stuck at starting windows for a few minutes), but all in all a great board. I even dropped it during installation, but it's fine. No oc'ing (i can hit 112fsb but hangs going into windows), but i'm happy, got it for only $102 CDN, cheapest mobo out there. Thx for the advice guys Helped me make a good decision.

 

[Workin']

I had 6 of them, now I have none. They ALL worked great out of the box, then failed randomly over the next 2 months. <sarcasm>luckily, they were in machines I sold to other people.</sarcasm> So it cost me nearly a grand in parts and labor to make it right, plus a ton of grief. Hope you have better luck.

And Pabster, don't be a wise guy (shouldn't be hard for you ), not every VIA board costs $150. A nice, fast, reliable, stable Shuttle AK31A costs only about $25-$28 more than your beloved ECS (even after factoring in a separate NIC) - and you can use just about any PSU with it, not only ones that have been blessed by the Pope. You spread more BS than a manure spreader. Did ECS give you a job yet?

 

[The_Lurker]

<< I had 6 of them, now I have none. They ALL worked great out of the box, then failed randomly over the next 2 months. <sarcasm>luckily, they were in machines I sold to other people.</sarcasm> So it cost me nearly a grand in parts and labor to make it right, plus a ton of grief. Hope you have better luck. >>



A SH*T! Well... pray for me Perhaps i shoulda spent the extra $49 CDN for the Asus A7V-133

 

[Duvie]

Workin, How did they fail...

Honestly I am not giving grief just asking....

I have built five including mine and all have been up for over 2 months...other friend has built 10 and no issues...out of 15 we didn't have one doa board...We both believe in sparkle power supplies and they have worked well. Out of my 5, 3 were 1.4ghz tbirds, 1 1.33ghz tbird, and 1 duron...I think his 10 were predominantly 1.2's to 1.4's with like to xp's...

 

[Pabster]

Workin' wrote:

"And Pabster, don't be a wise guy (shouldn't be hard for you ), not every VIA board costs $150."

No, but the "big three" certainly do. And the rest aren't too far behind.

"A nice, fast, reliable, stable Shuttle AK31A costs only about $25-$28 more than your beloved ECS (even after factoring in a separate NIC) - and you can use just about any PSU with it, not only ones that have been blessed by the Pope. You spread more BS than a manure spreader."

Unfortunately, AK31A has been riddled with issues -- aside from those surrounding KT266A/8233. Voltage regulation, RAM, etc.

And while I certainly agree a high quality PS is a requisite, there seem to be no shortage of people using run of the mill (read: generic) 250-300w units with K7S5A -- with 100% success.

"Did ECS give you a job yet?"

Nope.

 

[AZGamer]

Don't worry, VIA hasn't given me a job yet either.

I doubt this is something that everyone is ever going to agree on, but the ECS boards seem to have less quality control then their counterparts that use the VIA chipset.
Name one person having no problems with a generic P.S. - I have seen nothing of the sort...

 

[FrostyFlakes]

if ur not going to overclock, use the extra money to get more ram or a faster processor, it'll be more worth it. i've worked with via chipsets from the kt133 to kt266a, the 5 ecs with sis was much easier to setup, so was the 1 chaintech with the sis. the via mbs i've have used were 2 a7v, 1 k7vzm, 1 k7t turbo , 1 8kta3, 1 kk266, 1 matx that came with the andrea system deal and 1 7vtxh. the via needed much more work to get it to work properly. of the vias i've listed i still own the 8kta3, the matx, kk266 and the 7vtxh, the sis's i have the ecs and the chaintech. i only own the pervious via chipsets because the sis wasn't out yet, the 7vtxh i just bought because i hoped via had gotten better, but still not as good as my sis boards, in ease of setup and issues. until via proves to be better than sis chipsets, i will continue to buy sis, next mb will be the sis745

 

[Workin']

Duvie - YGPM

Pabster - as far as the AK31 being "riddled" with issues, don't be such a drama queen! Let's see, I had 6 K7S5A's, all are now deceased. Out of 10 AK31's, all are still working without a single problem. Which one seems "riddled" with problems? I'll give you a hint - it's probably the one with a 6 for 6 failure rate. And you certanly can't blame all the aassociated hardware - it all works fine with the Shuttle boards.

And don't forget - I'm not blaming the problems on SiS, I'm blaming the junkmeisters at ECS. I don't think they can even spell "QC".

 

[Pabster]

Workin' wrote:

"And don't forget - I'm not blaming the problems on SiS, I'm blaming the junkmeisters at ECS."

Which, in all likelihood, also manufactured your Shuttle boards. It's been reported recently that ECS and Shuttle are set to merge, and that ECS has been manufacturing boards under the Shuttle badge for quite some time now. Which makes perfect sense, seeing as how the AK31A has dropped to the $80 price point. Shuttle boards have never been that cheap. They're too small for that. ECS, on the other hand, has incredible production capacity.

I'm a little tired of the ECS bashing. Like I said, everyone gets a bad board. If you had 6 fail, you probably got a bad batch or perhaps lack the technical competence I've had "bad" boards from every manufacturer out there -- anotherwards, if I just said "They're all junk", I wouldn't have a board to use. What's even more hilarious is those who tried one board, perhaps got a lemon, and based on that one experience have declared ECS "garbage". Ah well, more power to them. It leaves more cheap, speedy boards for me

 

[Workin']

<< If you had 6 fail, you probably got a bad batch or perhaps lack the technical competence >>

2 different board revisions were used. I'm willing to bet my technical competence is not an issue. Going back to 1987, I was a bench tech for several years, experienced in using and teaching Milspec procedures and techniques, have 2 engineering degrees, and my own IT consulting firm. All my machines are assembled at an antistatic workstation with lots of TLC. Please tell me where I went wrong, besides using those stupid boards.

And if the ECS boards are not the problem, please tell me WHY they did not work but the exact same systems work perfectly after a Shuttle board was substituted? YOU CAN'T. Well, you can, but you won't. It's because the ECS boards are garbage.

Pabster, we've hashed this so many times it's starting to get funny. Or not funny, depending on the point of view

 

[Pabster]

Workin' wrote:

"And if the ECS boards are not the problem, please tell me WHY they did not work but the exact same systems work perfectly after a Shuttle board was substituted? YOU CAN'T. Well, you can, but you won't. It's because the ECS boards are garbage."

And how do you explain the umpteen thousands of people running happily with K7S5A? I've got 3 here with 60+ day uptimes. They crunch SETI 24/7 and also encode audio/video on a regular basis. They're all overclocked. Not one glitch.

What I'm saying is that bad boards are a reality, no matter the manufacturer. I've had the most expensive boards be "POSes" and the cheapest of the cheap (ala K7S5A) be true wonders. It's luck of the draw. Evidently, you got shafted

 

[AZGamer]

<< And how do you explain the umpteen thousands of people running happily with K7S5A? I've got 3 here with 60+ day uptimes. They crunch SETI 24/7 and also encode audio/video on a regular basis. They're all overclocked. Not one glitch. What I'm saying is that bad boards are a reality, no matter the manufacturer. I've had the most expensive boards be "POSes" and the cheapest of the cheap (ala K7S5A) be true wonders. It's luck of the draw. Evidently, you got shafted >>



Simple - 10% of a 100,000 (generic figure) is still 10,000 - and that group can be an extremely vocal minority.

 

[cavemanmoron]

i have an ecs k7s5a its is OK but ehhhh ;
i like my Epox 8kha+ ;

 

[HappyPuppy]

Get real. If ECS sold 100,000 K7S5A boards and 90,000 of them were bad or inoperable they would have pulled them from the market long ago. Your generic figures. Is the 10% a generic figure, too? How many other bogus "generic" figures have you and others manufactured in your crusade? They keep selling them because the vast majority of builders have few or no problems, just like most other motherboards.

 

[osage]

"Name one person having no problems with a generic P.S. - I have seen nothing of the sort"


samyboy
Member

Posts: 38
Joined: Apr 2001
Monday, December 31, 2001 12:23 PM (NEW!)



I am not proud about this but I am running K7S5A + XP 1600 on 250W PS. I have 2 HDs, CD, CDRW, Firewire card. It's just a generic PS. I plan to upgrade to better case/PS once I have some money but to answer your question I think it will work.


-------------------------
- To Engineer Is Human -

I setup and tested my first K7S5a with a Deer 250 watt PSU

 

[Pabster]

Yeah, some people here are just on an anti-ECS crusade.

If you want to talk about high RMA percentages, we ought to be focusing on ABIT.

 

[CAK]

<< as far as the AK31 being "riddled" with issues, don't be such a drama queen! Let's see, I had 6 K7S5A's, all are now deceased. Out of 10 AK31's, all are still working without a single problem. >>




I have had 4 out of 6 AK31's go bad, and 1 out of 17 K7S5A's go bad. Don't be such a drama queen.

 

[Tom]

"I was a bench tech for several years, experienced in using and teaching Milspec procedures and techniques, have 2 engineering degrees, and my own IT consulting firm."

It is very hard to understand why someone with this background would have 6 systems fail, and not be interested in figuring out why they failed, but rather just jump to the conclusion that the motherboard is garbage.

It is very obvious to any rational person who looks at the number of vendors who have been selling the ECS K7S5A for several months, that there must be tens of thousands of them that work fine. Companies like Newegg wouldn't keep selling them if they had overly high return rates.

I've put together 2 systems based on the K7S5A, both work fine; I've also put together 2 systems using Ak31's, one worked fine, the other stopped working after a week.

What conclusion do I draw from this ? None, because the sample size is much too small to be meaningful, and I would say that your conclusion about the K7S5A is also meritless, given the small number involved and no explanation that I've noticed of what was wrong, other than the motherboard must be garbage.

Your actions are more like a "parts swapper" than someone with two engineering degrees.

For instance, based on your comments I assume you were building the 6 system for others, before you sell systems don't you bother to assemble a test unit to evaluate component compatibility, reliability, and performance ?




BTW, I think it was azgamer who made a reference to generic power supplies and the K7S5A, I used generic power supplies in the 2 K7S5As I mentioned above and didn't have any problems, but as I mentioned before this information isn't worth much since I only built 2 systems.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have both the K7S5A and AK31A and Both are IMHO, great budget boards ! I have had the K7S5A since August and the only complaint I've had with the board is the POS KTS battery going bad in 2months(not really a problem since I have many extra lying around) I've run a 1.4T-Bird in it@146.6x10.5=1.54ghz and ran great. I now run a Duron700@133fsb for a 231mhz O/C(Deer300w AMD approved) and it's super stable crunching Eccp 24/7 and all the usual gaming,ect... I've had my AK31A about 2weeks now running a XP1500+@ 150FSB(Sparkle300w AMD approved) and it's also super stable running Eccp 24/7 plus it's my main rig for FlaskMPEG conversions which it does impressively well at. The only complaint I have with my AK31A is that I couldn't find it with on-board LAN(My K7S5A has it and I find I prefer it to adding a card) Ofcourse my AK31A is more fun to play with as it has all the bios tweaks available but the K7S5A is proving to be a good workhorse. Personal expierence's obviously vary and some have had horror stories with either, while others like my self are majorly STOKED by the price, stability,performance and ease of set-up offered by both boards! I personally will eagerly peruse future offerings from both Shuttle and ECS based on my expierences with these 2 most excellent boards.

 

[IFICUDIWUD]

I have been watching with interest the flame war between az gamer.. who obviously would be anti ecs if they gave him half the company, and others who are just as stalwart in their support of ecs..Basically IMHO... as in instrument technician employed in a nuclear power plant.. You can have 10 engeneering degrees and still be a dumba$$ that cant open a door without tripping over your shoe lace.. I don't have alot of exp. building systems but I just finished my 1st one.. It was a flawless start up and has been running 24/7 for the last 2 wks.. Am still studying and learning and fine tuning bios// ddr latency and timing etc.. I built around the k7s5a board but after almost 3 months of study about the supposed quirks of the board...PSU/ seating problems etc. To infer that ecs is garbage because of some failures without any hard facts, such as legitimate numbers is typical engineering psychobabble.. I hear it everyday.. Perhaps despite the engeneering degrees.. some simple mistakes in assembly could have been involved. Maybe a tweaker slipped of of a hs clip?? Maybe a static problem??? ALL I repeat ALL electronic components are subject to initial pwer up failures.. I see them daily on cmponents that cost thousands of $$ not just 65 or 100.. And If those were Q.A. problems I promise the NRC would be all over somebdy's butt and there would be no operating nukes anywhere in the country.. In conclusion I would just like to thank those in these forums that I honestly learned from and helped me build my first box sucsesfully. Opinions like those from flamethrowers don't help anyone and tend to discredit you in the eyes of those of us who are just starting to learn the ins and outs of computer building.. :disgust:

 

[Workin']

<< It is very hard to understand why someone with this background would have 6 systems fail, and not be interested in figuring out why they failed, but rather just jump to the conclusion that the motherboard is garbage. >>

I'm not paid to do ECS' quality control. And because time is money and there are hundreds of alternate products and manufacturers that make boards that usually work it is easier just to get one of those. Some people don't live with their parents and have to spend their time earning a living.

As to the people who are unaware of the nearly legendary give and take between me and Pabster, and are so willing to jump on our ribbing of each other as evidence of either one of our inadequacies, get a life.

<< as in instrument technician employed in a nuclear power plant.. You can have 10 engeneering degrees and still be a dumba$$ that cant open a door without tripping over your shoe lace >>

Engineers hear that all the time from stupid, bitter, techs who were either too dumb or lazy to earn a college diploma and are envious of the obviously superior engineers who tell them what to do. Obviously, an education is completely worthless. Maybe the radiation has shriveled the part of your brain (if any) that used to be capable of independent critical thought. But that's not really necessary here anyway, since whenever someone disagrees with anyone they can just start a flame war and forget about any facts.

<edit> I was a tech for more than a few years, so please take that with a grain of salt

The point is I don't really care what anyone else buys, and I don't care if some loser thinks I am credible, and I don't care if I hurt some momma's boy's feelings or answer too rudely or forget proper punctuation. I'll post my experiences and opinions, and if the only way you can refute them is to try and belittle me, then so be it. I don't know you and you don't know me. Respect me and I will respect you. Insult me and don't be surprised when you get it back in your face.

 

[IFICUDIWUD]

The back and forth between you and pabster has been educational as well as entertaining to me in the last few months. My comments were directed to those who call things garbage and provide no basis in fact to prove their point.. They merely spout out there jaded opinion and benefit no one

 

[Tom]

There is an important distinction between making a rational decision to replace one motherboard with another, without being sure what the problem was with the first motherboard, or even if there was a problem with it, because it saves time and money..

and publicly and repeatedly labeling the first motherboard as garbage, saying it s*cks d*nkey d*cks,etc.

Personally, I would be interested in knowing more details about the 6 failures, in order to better understand the problem. Were all 6 computers being used in the same way or were they all being used for different purposes ? Were all the components in all 6 systems the same ? Did they all fail at roughly the same time ? Were they returned to ECS for their opinion about the problem or just discarded ?

Of course you don't owe me or anyone else answers to these kind of questions and I think it's fine for you or anyone else to express their opinions in any way they see fit.

But don't be surprised to get responses from people who don't agree..

 

[AZGamer]

<< I have been watching with interest the flame war between az gamer.. who obviously would be anti ecs if they gave him half the company, and others who are just as stalwart in their support of ecs.. >>



My opinion could not be bought, and has nothing to do with employer, but I agree that open debate is the best way to learn.



<< I don't have alot of exp. building systems but I just finished my 1st one.. It was a flawless start up and has been running 24/7 for the last 2 wks.. >>



Again, some problems have to do with novice system builders, but many problems cannot be chalked up to user error. For these, ECS's quality control is the culprit, along with a couple general issues with the SiS 735 chipset.



<< Maybe a tweaker slipped of of a hs clip?? Maybe a static problem??? ALL I repeat ALL electronic components are subject to initial pwer up failures.. >>



However, the large number of problems with ECS cannot simply be blamed on normal issues - most of it boils down to ECS having no quality control.



<< . Opinions like those from flamethrowers don't help anyone and tend to discredit you in the eyes of those of us who are just starting to learn the ins and outs of computer building.. >>



I second this. One of the problems is there is strength in numbers, and it seems that the pro-ECS zealots outnumber the pro-VIA zealots, and this is somehow supposed to put ECS in the right all the time, while making VIA the spawn of Satan? Opinions like those are what can ruin this forum sometimes. This makes it hard to convey correct information to those seeking it.

 

[MrChicken]

"<< It is very hard to understand why someone with this background would have 6 systems fail, and not be interested in figuring out why they failed, but rather just jump to the conclusion that the motherboard is garbage. >>

Because time is money and instead wasting expensive time figuring out why something like a motherboard where there are hundreds of alternate products and manufacturers that make products that usually work it is easier just to get one of those. I'm not paid to do ECS' quality control."

I'm surprised that you dont want to spend the time to figure out why the systems built with the ECS mb's have issues, but you spend lots of time saying that it is the fault of the ECS mb. You even go to lengths to warn people away from the ECS mb's, without really knowing what the issue is. This may drive people away from a low priced mb that may very well work excellently for them, as long they do not have the same circumstances that caused the failures you encountered.

Without knowing the root cause of the failures, others may believe that you simply did the same thing incorrectly for all of the ECS systems you assembled. Perhaps you do this same thing incorrectly for every system you assemble, but it is only critical with the ECS mb's.

I would actually be interested in what caused your failure, I'm not just flaming here. I do have an ECS and plan to build another system with the ECS. My configuration or the new system may run up agaisnt the same failures as you experienced, and knowing what was wrong with your system could help me and others.