Refurb OEM Gigabyte GA-7DX or ECS K7S5A

[RedWolf]

I'm looking for a cheap motherboard and was at newegg. They have a refurb GA7DX for $65 (free shipping). The K7S5A is $57 + 7 shipping.

Is there any difference between the GA-7DX and the GA-7DXR? (the dx is OEM)
Is the GA-7DX worth it as a refurb?

I don't plan on doing a ton of overclocking because I figure with the money saved on the board, I can get a faster processor and the ECS board does some minimal overclocking.
Thanks.

 

[Freewolf]

I would go with the ecs board I love the one I have

 

[Kingofcomputer]

old revision GA-7DX doesn't support 266 fsb cpu.
make sure you know what you're getting.

 

[Athlon4all]

K7S5A. 7DX had huge isses with performance, compatibilty and stability. Forget it

 

[RedWolf]

Great, thanks. Looks like everyone prefers the K7S5A. I was a little leary of the OEM/Refurb anyway.

 

[RedWolf]

Dang. Now the K7 is on backorder at NewEgg.

 

[Fruitcake77]

Beware if you will buy ECS K7S5A board, I was heavily planning to get one too, but when I found OCworkbenches forum for this board I got kinda sceptical. So take a read at : http://forum.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=4 before making final choice.

I WOULD have gotten one, but none of shops I trust/ are nearby had it and I really don't like posting broken components back to store & wait for even longer time getting new one. (which would propably be just another one someone RMA'd). It's life expectancy ratios ain't too good either.

 

[weplum]

Go to ecs web page and check their forum. I bought 2 of these ecs k7s5a 's from newegg and sent both of them back, these were not refurbs. I finally ordered another abit kt7a. I have good luck with this board with a t bird 1200/266. I recently won a ga7dx and a 1800xp I will let you know what kind of luck I have with this combo.

 

[blackhawk]

I have the GA-7DXR and its a very much improved version of the DX, not just raid added. Best to stay away unless you can get a DXR.

 

[pukemon]

Incidentally, I have both the GA-7DX and the K7S5A. I have a revision 4.3 of the 7DX, and its the most stable motherboard i've ever owned and works flawlessly out of the box running Windows XP. It has no frills, no overclocking capabilities, but hey it works. And I got it for free so hey no complaints there (thanx AMD!)

Btw the GA-7DX DOES support 266FSB processors and all the XPs. AMD used it as the reference board for testing the AthlonXP!

The K7S5A is popular but its got its share of quirks. Mine works fine under WinXP using any AthlonXP, but for some reason the standby/sleep doesn't function but hibernate does. No big deal. The build quality of of the ECS boards might be somewhat questionable, but the later/current versions seem to work well. Its a good idea to read the K7S5A FAQ at OCWorkbench before touching the board. Helped me definitely.

 

[barrybeal]

It looks like the Standby mode under Windows XP was a bug with this motherboard - checkout the latest BIOS Upgrade