Good, cheap socket A motherboard...what to buy?

[Twerpzilla]

OK, I asked this question a few weeks ago, but have not had time to do this, but now I am putting together a computer for my son, and I need a good, cheap socket A MB. I have not been keeping up on the new chipsets that are out, so I am a little lost. Are the Sis chipsets good compared to the VIA chips? It would be cool to see Sis having a truely competative chipset for once. I have been looking at the ECS boards, but then I see alot of people complaining about them. The question is, do the complainers know what they are doing, blaming the board for there own mistakes, or are the boards that bad? Any ideas for cheap motherboards besides ECS/PC Chips?

Thanks for the helping hand fellas!

 

[Pabster]

K7S5A all the way. You can't buy more performance for anywhere near the price, with rock solid stability.

Some forum members' go to great lengths to bash both ECS and SiS. In reality, as with any manufacturer, some people get stuck with a bad board.

 

[Athlon4all]

Beware: There are SiS and VIA Zealots out there (Pabster's a SiS).

Anyway, I have not used the K7S5A personally, but from what I've read, it is enough for me to instead of getting K7S5A, I'd get Shuttle AK31A using KT266A for $80. It is feature loaded, 4 DIMM's, loads of overclocking options, 5 PCI. It is a great board, and many have had great experiences with it. So u really will make the call because I wouldn't take what people recommend because they're probably zealots for one or the other. I personally would take AK31A but go for the K7S5A if u want to. You will probably get it working, I dunno. Like I say I haven't used it. So.

 

[AZGamer]

<< K7S5A all the way. You can't buy more performance for anywhere near the price, with rock solid stability. Some forum members' go to great lengths to bash both ECS and SiS. In reality, as with any manufacturer, some people get stuck with a bad board. >>



Yes, but unlike other manufacturers, a high percentage of buyers get either a DOA board or a board that dies after a few weeks. In addition to that, there are compatibility issues with the SiS 735 chipset, and whatever money is saved over buying a KT266A solution is taken back in the fact you need a high quality (read: expensive) power supply.

I reccomend a KT266A solution, preferrably the Epox 8KHA+, although good things have been said about the Soltek and Shuttle boards, which are also at the <$100 price level.

 

[Mem]

<< Some forum members' go to great lengths to bash both ECS and SiS. In reality, as with any manufacturer, some people get stuck with a bad board. >>




LOL.. Pabster you are the no.1 VIA basher however I don`t flame other chipsets but I will talk about the Epox 8HKA+ board from experience anyway it`s rock stable & very easy to setup and should be on your short-list of options Twerpzilla.

.

 

[Pabster]

AZGamer wrote:

"Yes, but unlike other manufacturers, a high percentage of buyers get either a DOA board or a board that dies after a few weeks. In addition to that, there are compatibility issues with the SiS 735 chipset, and whatever money is saved over buying a KT266A solution is taken back in the fact you need a high quality (read: expensive) power supply."

LOL You just don't give up, do ya? Either provide some evidence of a "high percentage" DOA or... K7S5A has no higher RMA rate than some of the tier-one vendors. I always laugh when people exaggerate this ... I believe it was you who said only 10,000 of 100,000 were good? Do you really think they'd keep selling them if that were the case? Back to reality. And, as usual, you are quibbling about supposed SiS 735 "compatibility issues". I'm still waiting for a list of them.

"I reccomend a KT266A solution, preferrably the Epox 8KHA+, although good things have been said about the Soltek and Shuttle boards, which are also at the <$100 price level."

How about you look around for 8KHA+ threads I'd say they have an unusually high DOA rate.

 

[AZGamer]

<< I believe it was you who said only 10,000 of 100,000 were good? >>



As usual, you totally misconstrued my statement. I said a vocal minority can make themselves seem larger then they really are.



<< How about you look around for 8KHA+ threads I'd say they have an unusually high DOA rate. >>



The Epox has a low DOA rate, rather, most problems are fixed with a simple BIOS flash or making sure your power supply is AMD approved for the speed of your processor.

With ECS, even an AMD approved power supply may not work. And there is no simple solution to the high rate of DOA boards or those dying within weeks.

 

[Olias]

I used the ECS K7S5A for 6 weeks without a single problem. I sold it to a friend and I bought an EPoX 8KHA+ (KT-266A). I have the soft boot problem with the EPoX using a Antec 300W power supply. I was so impressed with the ECS board at half the price, I built 2 more for other friends... no problems there either. So if you want that extra 3% speed then be prepared to spend big dollars and you will need a 400-watt PS on that list of stuff to buy.

Good luck... this is more than my opinion, it's my experience.

 

[IFICUDIWUD]

:disgust: My 341 watt psu that came in my enlight case cost $78 shipped from newegg.. wasn't to terribly expensive and my board was not doa and have had no compatability problems w/ my chipset and my board has been running 24/7 for over 2 wks with no problem.. like anything else you but... investigate you options and make your decision based on your findings not someone elses opinion.. you might find it slightly jaded..

 

[HappyPuppy]

AZGamer wrote:

"Yes, but unlike other manufacturers, a high percentage of buyers get either a DOA board or a board that dies after a few weeks."

As usual I'm waiting for the facts to back up yet another of your unsubstantiated claims. What is the approximate percentage you refer to? What are your sources? Can you list this percentage alongside the percentages of other motherboard manufacturers?

Looks like another manufactured bogus fact with no basis in reality.

 

[Twerpzilla]

Chil fellas, ya all are cackleing like a bunch of PMSing red heads. Since I am not interested in overclocking or other featyres, I have decided that ECS sounds like the way to go. I am going to get either a ECS k7s5a or the ECS k7vta3. Not sure which chipset is the best, so I will probably go with whatever is cheaper. Either way, my 3 1/2 year old son won't have a clue or a care as to whats in the box, only that he is having fun playing on his computer.

 

[Tummy]

I have both an 8kha+ and an ecs k7s5a. Both boards suffer from all the problems you can find in various message boards but I still like both, as there's not such thing as a board without problems (somebody somewhere will always have a problem if you ask me).

In terms of price, it's hard to beat the k7s5a, i mean it's so cheap. And it works well, too, if you get past the problems. But that's the same as the epox, once you get past the problems, it's a great board. If you want to overclock it's much harder to do so on the ecs.

Some of the problems with each :
ecs: - couldn't use 2 dimms unless my vio was > 3.3V. Solved this by using a 300W powerwin (had adjustable pot for 3.3v line). Once that was done, stable as heck (note there was no problem with 1 dimm)
epox: - soft reboot > 150fsb (may not apply to you). Random reboots when using any sort of software cooling register-modding program.

 

[Pabster]

Twerpzilla wrote:

"Chil fellas, ya all are cackleing like a bunch of PMSing red heads."

LOL I might have to save that for a signature.

"Since I am not interested in overclocking or other featyres, I have decided that ECS sounds like the way to go. I am going to get either a ECS k7s5a or the ECS k7vta3."

I'd highly recommend K7S5A. If you still decide to go with the K7VTA3, make sure it is V2 with KT266A -- not KT266. It's about $10 more than K7S5A. Gives you an extra DIMM. You don't get on-board LAN, however. And, while I'll save you a rant about VIA, I'll only say that I can't recommend it.

 

[Twerpzilla]

I guess my only concern with the Sis chipset is the need for 3.3v on the nose. To get a high quality power supply that MIGHT insure proper voltage will negate any savings that I can get from buying a cheapo motherboard. So then..is there a el cheapo PS that anyone has had good luck with giving proper voltage?

 

[duuuma]

<< I guess my only concern with the Sis chipset is the need for 3.3v on the nose. To get a high quality power supply that MIGHT insure proper voltage will negate any savings that I can get from buying a cheapo motherboard. So then..is there a el cheapo PS that anyone has had good luck with giving proper voltage? >>




What do yo mean by 3.3v on the nose? I'm sorry for this digression. I'm looking to get one of those ECS ks5a boards too but I'm afraid the Deer (AMD recomm) psu i get won't be good enough.

 

[Twerpzilla]

From what little I have read, the Sis chipset seems to be sensitive to the 3.3v and 5v input. Cheap power supplies, even my Antec 300w, are not right on. My Antec is at 3.3v and 4.91v. Not sure if this is to out of spec to work with the ECS k7s5a or not.

Looking for a recomendation on a good inexspensive PS that will work with the Sis board...

 

[osage]

It can happen, the important thing is to use a PSU rated for the cpu you are running.

that being said I use an Antec PP 303 on one of my K7S5A with 1.2 T-bird, never had a problem with it.
I have also used not rated 250 and 300 watt units with this same board and chip, maybe it's just an eazygoing chip..........

 

[Evadman]

I have built many computers around the K7S5A. This is not an opinoin either, it is real. I do not have an exact number, as some were upgrades, some were whole computers and I am not going to check. I never once got a dead board. I never once had a single problem that I traced to the ECS k7s5a mainboard.

I even built a system baised on the K7S5A in a briefcase. That computer was powered by the power supply in the Genica case that CompGeeks sells Here In addition to that, I built one more computer in that case with that power supply as well. I also have a Deer 250 watt PWS on the computer I am typing on now ( but that is only powering the mainboard, I have a nother power supply that powers the hard drives and fans, and that is the kk266 from Iwill )

I have only built one computer with the other chipset from SiS ( SiS 705 I think. The one with only PC 133 support, with video on board, also from ECS )

I have heard horror stories about this board, most of them posted here in the tech help section. It does seem that the board does not like some power supplies, and that sometimes you may need a PCI video card for the first boot up ( think they have that solved now, and I never needed it )

Also, I have not updated the Bios on any of the boards. Only one of them is overclocking for me, and that is a duron 600@800 ( 133 bus ) That computer actually has a 200 watt power supply from TigerDirect that I got for $4. Keep in mind that all these computers that are on 200 and 250 watt pws's only have the bare minimums installed. The duron 600@800 only has the board, video hard drive and floppy. That is my web server.

If you need or want more info, please PM me.

 

[Loba]

or you could get one for nothing

AMDWORLD Hardware Competition

¤The question ??????...

In the picture shown (at the competition page) there are 5 motherboards cloned together in the picture, now you have to name those five motherboards.


¤ AMD 1.4GHz ATHLON Processor (266MHz Model)
¤ EPOX 8KHAL KT266A Motherboard
¤ 256MB PC2100 DDR Ram from Crucial
¤ Swiftech MCXC370 Heatsink cooler with Rheostat controller
¤ Macron MPT401 400watt Power Supply
¤ EC2 Thermal Sensor Controller
¤ 80MM Delta Focused Fan
¤ 60MM Delta Focused Fan
¤ 80MM YSTECH Case Fan
¤ One Tube of Artic Silver II thermal paste
¤ 52x CD-ROM Drive
¤ Two rounded IDE Cables



http://www.amdworld.co.uk/comp.htm

 

[Twerpzilla]

Well Well Evadman, you bring a new light to the fray! Here I have been looking for a cheap price on a brand name PS, and here you come along and make me feel OK about ordering a elcheapo ATX 2.03 PS. Heck, I may even just try a power supply I have here already. Can't hurt, eh?

 

[skyking]

About voltage and the SiS 735 chip: I have a chaintech 7SID, 1600+ Athlon, two 256mb micron ddr's, and an inexpensive powerman 300w. this is an approved p.s., but has NEVER put out 3.3 volts, according to the BIOS pc health screen. It works fine at 3.2, and runs between 3.2 and 3.24. Is it possible that the finicky behavior is motherboard specific, and not chipset specific? 3.2 volts is well within +/-5%. No problems yet with this setup.

 

[Evadman]

I just had to go and shoot my mouth off I think I killed the PWS in the briefcase computer I knew that it was running hot, and I was actually going to add a few fans when I got home today ( just got home a few minutes ago ) and lo and behold, that system was down. I tried to re-start it, only to have the fans spin a few rev's. I think the heat finaly killed the PWS. Now I have to get another, and do all the modding all over again.

I think the reason it died was because of the low amount of air that was moved. I was getting worried, and was going to add 2 80mm fans today, but now it is to late I will keep ya all updated ( just incase anyone cares )

 

[Evadman]

Yep, that PWS is totaly Dead. One of the heatsinks on the Voltage Regulator hits 150 Degrees F in under 4 seconds. time for a new one.

 

[Twerpzilla]

Evadman, chalk it up to a leason learned

Skyking, your words made my evening! I am defintly going to try the spare el cheapo power supply that I already have...cross the 'ol fingers that it works!

 

[Evadman]

Ok, I have it back up and running, but this time I only had a 200 Watt lying around The wierd thing is that it is running cooler now than it did with the 250 watt. It seems that Sparkle 200 watt can put out more than 200, all while staying cool

<edit>
Oh, and that PWS only cost me $4 Got it from Tigerdirect ( pickup, as they are down the street from me )