K7S5A What do you think?

[kreno]

I am building a low cost system for my dad, I was wondering what experiences all of you have had with them. Good, bad? Issues? Fixes?

 

[Jerboy]

KEWL! How do you set up a poll like that?

 

[kreno]

start a new topic, then check the box that says "Add Poll to Thread" lol

 

[DieHardware]

It was hard to decide between the second and third choices in your poll. It is a great bang for the buck board...and for what it costs, you can afford to buy two!

 

[Workin']

I've built 6 systems around this board. All went together with no problems. After about 2 weeks of use, 2 of them failed with various weird problems that could not be fixed. Only time ever in my life of building PC's (since the glorious days of the 80286) that I've had a motherboard just die. And for 2 of 6 to go, well, that doesn't bode well for future reliability.

Needless to say, I wouldn't use this board again...

 

[flambus]

this is a rock solid board. for me its a tossup between this and the ECS K7VZA (has build in sound, but no DDR suport)

 

[Sabs]

Replacing my Via133 board with the K7S5A seems to have solved the problems I had. Good board at a great price.

 

[hwstock]

<< I've built 6 systems around this board. All went together with no problems. After about 2 weeks of use, 2 of them failed with various weird problems that could not be fixed. Only time ever in my life of building PC's (since the glorious days of the 80286) that I've had a motherboard just die. And for 2 of 6 to go, well, that doesn't bode well for future reliability.
Needless to say, I wouldn't use this board again... >>



I'm curious, when did you buy the boards (obviously, at least two weeks ago!)? What revision bios did they come with? Did you use boxed or OEM processors?

How do you protect against static discharge when you assemble systems? I'm not trying to be snide -- I haven't used a wrist strap myself in 16 years. But I notice that static protection has gone from prime boogeyman to a ho-hum annoyance in recent years. (I just ground myself and the case periodically, turn on a humidifier, spray anti-static in the area, work on a cotton towel, and handle everything by the edges, if possible.)

I've noticed that there were lots of horror stories about these boards in August, fewer in September, and fewer still in October. Mine's been running for 2 days now, and I'm hopeful that either (1) I'll continue to be one of the lucky ones, or (2) the quality control has been improved.

 

[Workin']

<< I'm curious, when did you buy the boards (obviously, at least two weeks ago!)? >>

The oldest was about 5 weeks ago, the newest about 3 weeks ago.

<< What revision bios did they come with? >>

They all had the August 16 BIOS, I think. All 6 had the rectangular BIOS chip, 3 had "103" on a sticker on the BIOS chip and no stickers around the CPU socket, 3 had "104" on the BIOS chip and "XP" stickers next to the socket. 1 of each failed. The other 4 have been truoble-free so far.

<< Did you use boxed or OEM processors? >>

All were OEM 1.4GHz tbirds.

<< How do you protect against static discharge when you assemble systems? >>

I'm a static freak. I have a grounded antistatic mat and I use a wrist strap. Years of Milspec training I just can't forget!

I still think this board offers great performance at a great price. It just seems to (no, DOES) have more "issues" than I really want to deal with. I quit using it in systems I sell because it simply has not been reliable enough (and the profit margin is so thin that just one repair call more than wipes out my profit). And I certainly can't afford to lose any more hair worrying about whether the systems are going to boot in the morning or not or if my weekend will be shot replacing someone's failed board.

 

[hwstock]

Workin':


<< HWS:What revision bios did they come with? Workin': They all had the August 16 BIOS, I think. All 6 had the rectangular BIOS chip, 3 had "103" on a sticker on the BIOS chip and no stickers around the CPU socket, 3 had "104" on the BIOS chip and "XP" stickers next to the socket. 1 of each failed. >>



Mine came with Sept 20th (since flashed), and the BIOS chips itself had a "105" sticker on it. I took about 10 photos of the board before it went in, so I could later pick out the chip specifics.

I still haven't figured out if the d*mn thing has busmastering turned on -- sure doesn't seem that way. The ecsusa site has nothing sugnificant on busmastering, except in the questions and complaints lodged by the buyers.

 

[Stanman]

I just threw mine in the trash.

 

[Workin']

<< I still haven't figured out if the d*mn thing has busmastering turned on -- sure doesn't seem that way. The ecsusa site has nothing sugnificant on busmastering, except in the questions and complaints lodged by the buyers. >>

I think it's hilarious (well, not really) that people have issues like these and are willing to put up with never ending hassles doing ECS' QC work for them, all to save $30. I know of people who have spent weeks dorking around with this board and still can't get it to work correctly, I guess their time is worth nothing to them. Yes, it might be a "learning experience", but after about the 3rd solid day of pulling out your hair the only lesson you haven't learned is when to call a spade a spade and trashcan (or RMA for refund) the thing.

I had flashed a few of the boards to the latest BIOS but it didn't help anything. Didn't hurt anything, either, so I suppose it could be worse.

 

[Rockman2001]

I'm a newbie who read all he could before buying. I bought the K7S5A and my build went completely trouble free. Maybe I just got lucky, but it couldn't have been any easier for me.

1.4 Tbird
256 mb Crucial DDR ram
Visiontek GF3 Ti200
Enlight 7237AZ w/340 watt ps

 

[bevo]

My system runs dead solid perfect...Took some work, but that's a given for a new chipset.

 

[Rockman2001]

I'm a newbie who had absolutely no trouble building my first computer with that board. Maybe I just got lucky.

1.4 gb Tbird
256 mg Crucial pc2100 DDR ram
Visiontek GF3 Ti 200
Enlight 7237AZ w/340 watt ps

 

[teletaz]

i just built my first sysyem using this board and it did give me problems at first but got new bios and agp video card now running rock solid.

 

[hwstock]

<<

<< I still haven't figured out if the d*mn thing has busmastering turned on -- sure doesn't seem that way. The ecsusa site has nothing sugnificant on busmastering, except in the questions and complaints lodged by the buyers. >>

I think it's hilarious (well, not really) that people have issues like these and are willing to put up with never ending hassles doing ECS' QC work for them, all to save $30. I know of people who have spent weeks dorking around with this board and still can't get it to work correctly, I guess their time is worth nothing to them. Yes, it might be a "learning experience", but after about the 3rd solid day of pulling out your hair the only lesson you haven't learned is when to call a spade a spade and trashcan (or RMA for refund) the thing. >>



The ECS K7S5A was actually the easiest install I've ever done -- essentially, I just popped out the K7V, and popped in the K7S5A. After a few windows 98 cycles to install drivers, I was up and running with all my old software -- it couldn't have taken more than 2 hours, even with all my f*rting around. It could be that I have just gotten adept t this upgrade process, but...

Previously, I mainly bought quality-name boards (Asus and Intel), and then only after they had been out and beaten by the masses for a while. What follows is my take on the benefits of the more expensive boards.

I'm picky about the busmastering, because of my previous experience with Asus. I didn't get my K7V to behave properly until 15 months after I bought the thing (and two months before I replaced it with the K7S5A). Anyone who fell victim to the Asus/Via travan tape problem will empathize (strangely, most overclocking enthusiasts don't seem that concerned about backups, so it was hard to find anyone who even had a tape drive in a K7V system). The Asus site had nothing on the problem; only by doing web searches on keywords, did I finally find out what the problem was, and then the updated drivesr came from Via, not Asus. In short: the busmastering drivers for the Via chipset were buggy, so the tape drive rebooted the system randomly. In contrast, at least the tape drive *worked* when I connected it to the K7S5A. Remember that the K7V got absolutely glowing reviews when it was introduced, and the initial price was something like $160.

In addition, the ECC Ram feature of the K7V board -- though advertised in the manual, and on the web site -- simply did not work until a BIOS update about 4 months after the board came out. I had similar experiences with the CULS2; after the second BIOS update, the board constantly gave a "no video card" post code, if one had a card in the AGP slot. The solution (found by perusing the net) was to pull out the battery for 20 seconds -- this problem was not documented for some time, and left the user to wonder what horrors had befallen; the problem disappeared on subsequent BIOS updates. The CUSL2 was out of commission for 2 days, during a time when I was running calculations day and night.

In short, you can buy a 1st-tier board, and still be sucker-punched by time-consuming problems.

 

[Workin']

All my builds went completely trouble free. It's the random failure of the boards that previously had been working fine that bothers me. NEVER had that happen with ANY other board. Not a single one out of hundreds. If it was working right when it went together, it kept right on working. That hasn't been the case with the ECS K7S5A.

And doesn't anyone find it ironic that lots of folks who bought the board because it was cheap then had to go out and buy expensive new power supplies, new video cards, etc. to get the pig working? That's a helluva way to save money!

 

[hwstock]

<< All my builds went completely trouble free. It's the random failure of the boards that previously had been working fine that bothers me. NEVER had that happen with ANY other board. Not a single one out of hundreds. If it was working right when it went together, it kept right on working. That hasn't been the case with the ECS K7S5A.

And doesn't anyone find it ironic that lots of folks who bought the board because it was cheap then had to go out and buy expensive new power supplies, new video cards, etc. to get the pig working? That's a helluva way to save money! >>



Yep, that is ironic*. If by "random failure" you mean that the board is now dead as a doornail, won't post, etc... then a 33% kill ratio is indeed pretty gruesome, since by all indications you are a careful and experienced assembler.

But a buggy busmastering problem, that causes random reboots (the K7V story above), can look a lot like general random failure of the motherboard.


* more ironic: buying an Athlon board to avoid buying expensive rdram; then spending $117 for 256MB of super-duper CL=2 PC2400 DDR.

 

[Mecheater]

I have the same question "What do you think of the K7S5A?" I'm building a system for my friend and I personally always buy abit or asus, but they would like to go as cheap as they can on the hardware. Would it be better to spend the extra $$ towards a better board to ensure that it will work fine?

 

[hwstock]

<< I have the same question "What do you think of the K7S5A?" I'm building a system for my friend and I personally always buy abit or asus, but they would like to go as cheap as they can on the hardware. Would it be better to spend the extra $$ towards a better board to ensure that it will work fine? >>



Well, you've probably done this already, but consider signing on with
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus and
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit ...for the latest horror stories, bearing that "in any age, contentment is silent."

Also check www.ecsusa.com, and their knowledgebase (you have to give them some credit for putting potentially defamatory material on a public web site), and check the ECS FAQ at www.ocworkbench.com.

The problem: you won't find much info to help you judge the longevity of the K7S5A. From Workin's responses, you should be wary. Is your friend a gambler? Is he moving out of the country soon? Did he ever borrow your tools, and not return them?

Seriously, it would make most sense to check the reputation of Elite motherboards in general. Hands down, their history is one of the lower tier. But, it is a little like trying to judge the reliability of one Ford vs. another: each new model tends to contain significantly new parts, or is made at a completely different factory from the last.

 

[Workin']

<< If by "random failure" you mean that the board is now dead as a doornail, won't post, etc... then a 33% kill ratio is indeed pretty gruesome... >>

Dead as a doornail. I keep a'knockin' but no one's home. Very disappointing, given the "giant slayer" potential of this board. By the time ECS gets it fixed up (if they ever do), it will be too late. Opportunity lost.

Nothing is worse than building a PC for a friend or family member and having it turn to crap. Well, there is something worse - building it for a stranger who pays you good money, and having it turn to crap.

You pays your money and you takes your chances....