Going back to Socket A

[MrCodeDude]

I've had two ECS K7S5A rigs (each about 4-5 years old) go bad on me in the past 4 months. One had leaky caps, the other I'm not sure, but I'm fairly sure it has a failing IDE controller on it.

I replaced the first K7S5A with an Epox 8K3A+ (KT 333) because I had it laying around. But the other rig is my uncle's who lives across the country in Ohio (I live in California), so I want to send him a board a bit more recent that has a better track record.

I've been looking at the nForce2 400 based Abit NF7-S and Epox 8RDA, but it's been awhile since I looked at Socket A, so if anyone has any recommendations, they'd be appreciated.

 

[Iron Woode]

your best bet is a 741GX based board.

I am using a ECS version as my budget HTPC and its extremely stable.

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/P...il.aspx?DetailID=422&MenuID=24&LanID=9

If you don't need a lot of expansion slots, then this would make a nice upgrade.

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
I've had two ECS K7S5A rigs (each about 4-5 years old) go bad on me in the past 4 months. One had leaky caps, the other I'm not sure, but I'm fairly sure it has a failing IDE controller on it.

I replaced the first K7S5A with an Epox 8K3A+ (KT 333) because I had it laying around. But the other rig is my uncle's who lives across the country in Ohio (I live in California), so I want to send him a board a bit more recent that has a better track record.

I've been looking at the nForce2 400 based Abit NF7-S and Epox 8RDA, but it's been awhile since I looked at Socket A, so if anyone has any recommendations, they'd be appreciated.

Both of those boards are excellent, I'd put the ABIT a little ahead of the Epox though.

 

[Peter]

I'd replace (and I have done so) the K7S5A with a PC-Chips M848. This will save you from power supply surprises since it too doesn't need the extra 4-pin power connector, and will boot your existing XP installation right up, thanks to using a (later) SiS chipset as well.

 

[o1die]

Newegg had a biostar nforce2 board with video for $18.99 last Friday which I ordered before they were all gone. They frequently have good deals Friday night on customer returns.

 

[Stumps]

the Gigabyte NF2 series were always good boards, I still use a AXP 3200+ and GA-7N400PRO combo in my back up PC, it's done the job since early june 2003 and has never missed a beat.

 

[pepsimax2k]

for socket a, the Asus A7N8X Deluxe is probably the best, if only for the amount of people with one and therefore the mods for it. OTherwise, the Gigabyte GA7NNXP is great (though loose the add-in power board thingy) or the 7N400 Pro (slightly lesser features than the nnxp. Be sure not to get a 7N400 Pro2 - totally different bord with worse sound chip thing than the Pro (1) and other random stuff. That said, I have a Pro2 and it's fine. Also check out the Epox 8RDA+ if you want, but it's generally a mixture of the above two.

 

[ForumMaster]

Originally posted by: pepsimax2k
for socket a, the Asus A7N8X Deluxe is probably the best, if only for the amount of people with one and therefore the mods for it. OTherwise, the Gigabyte GA7NNXP is great (though loose the add-in power board thingy) or the 7N400 Pro (slightly lesser features than the nnxp. Be sure not to get a 7N400 Pro2 - totally different bord with worse sound chip thing than the Pro (1) and other random stuff. That said, I have a Pro2 and it's fine. Also check out the Epox 8RDA+ if you want, but it's generally a mixture of the above two.

indefinently. in fact, my main rig is with an XP-M 2400+ with an A7N8X Deluxe. it's fast and does everything i need from it. It won't play UT2k7, but is fine for the work i do.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode
your best bet is a 741GX based board.

I am using a ECS version as my budget HTPC and its extremely stable.

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/P...il.aspx?DetailID=422&MenuID=24&LanID=9

If you don't need a lot of expansion slots, then this would make a nice upgrade.

I've always been a supporter of ECS, but after having two boards die within a couple months of each other, I'm not ready to go back to them quite yet. (My current board is the KN1 SLI though).

Thanks, I'll look at the A7N8X too.

 

[Peter]

Pretty much everything from that timeframe died of capacitor disease (and/or problems following in their wake, like blown components on the board). You can safely expect that none of the forged-electrolyte capacitors are now found on new product.

To someone building lots of computers, it's blatantly obvious - I have stuff dating back to 1997 that runs fine and well (including pre-merger PC-Chips and ECS boards), stuff from 2000, from 2002, all fine and well. The only board failures I had were from the 2000..2001 timeframe - not counting those killed by user DIY clumsiness, of course.

 

[Conky]

I have a Barton 2500+ I can sell you cheap... runs perfect.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Beachboy
I have a Barton 2500+ I can sell you cheap... runs perfect.

I don't need a processor, thanks though.

Pretty much everything from that timeframe died of capacitor disease (and/or problems following in their wake, like blown components on the board). You can safely expect that none of the forged-electrolyte capacitors are now found on new product.

That's what I figured, so you're saying even getting a quality board from that time will result with blown/leaky caps?

 

[Peter]

Probably that's a Yes. I wouldn't. No matter what (perceived) "quality" mainboard, if it was from that timespan, it has its probability for bad capacitors.

Just look at the stats - from (again, perceived) bottom feeds like PC-Chips all the way up to Intel branded server mainboards, they all had their share of capacitor leaks.

 

[deadken]

Who is gonna do the Mobo install? Your Uncle (you said he lives across the country IIRC)?

Well either way, I would suggest the Abit NF7 (non-S) over the NF7-S. The non-S is way less cluttered and uses the same BIOS. The only 'real' thing that you will be giving up is the lack of Sata support (it sounds like your Uncle won't need it anyway). The price difference used to be about $20. I still own a NF7 and I will tell you that it runs perfect even today and all of my PC's run 24/7/365 @ close to %100 load (I run F@H on all 4 of my rigs).

I would also consider a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra. Again, that is a SUPER clean layout and they run FLAWLESSLY. You will again lose out on Sata, Firewire, etc... But I doubt Uncle will need those. The only drawback to the Shuttle AN35N-Ultra that I have found (I owned 3 of them at one point) is that they can be 'finicky' with expensive memory (Corsair 2,2,2,5). You can get around the issue if you boot up with cheaper memory and then set the timings manually and then replace the cheap memory with the good stuff (as I have said, I played with 3 of these). Anyway, I doubt that your Uncle is running Corsair 2,2,2,5 memory, so it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: Peter
I'd replace (and I have done so) the K7S5A with a PC-Chips M848. This will save you from power supply surprises since it too doesn't need the extra 4-pin power connector, and will boot your existing XP installation right up, thanks to using a (later) SiS chipset as well.

Alright. Going with the M848A, you sure the transition from SiS 735 to 748 won't present any problems?

 

[Steve]

I've done similar transitions myself which is why I've used SiS chipsets in all but one of my builds. It can't hurt to check if any devices are different first so you can uninstall their drivers before the transition. I did that when I moved from my SiS 530 to a SiS 746 with a Xabre 200, uninstalled the 530 video driver first to avoid any conflict.

So long as the IDE driver is the same (and I think SiS uses the same for a lot of products) you'll be able to at least boot, and any driver differences can be resolved in under five minutes.

 

[Maverick1]

I HIGHLY Reccommend the MSI kt400a ultra mainboard if you can get one if not the KT400 standard board will work just fine. the MSI KT400 series of boards were the BEST boards from 3 years ago. and IMHO are still the best socket A boards around. Gah LOL forgot to mention it's an NF2 mainboard so will work best with Nvidia video cards.

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDudeAlright. Going with the M848A, you sure the transition from SiS 735 to 748 won't present any problems?

I've done exactly this swapout with Windows XP. I didn't even have to do any driver replacements or repairs, except for the onboard audio - and even that only if you don't use the generic SiS driver but the specific one from the audio codec manufacturer (Realtek or C-Media).

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Maverick1
I HIGHLY Reccommend the MSI kt400a ultra mainboard if you can get one if not the KT400 standard board will work just fine. the MSI KT400 series of boards were the BEST boards from 3 years ago. and IMHO are still the best socket A boards around. Gah LOL forgot to mention it's an NF2 mainboard so will work best with Nvidia video cards.

Maverick, you got a couple bogeys on your six. First of all, KT400 and 400a were Via chipset boards. Second of all there are plenty of people who run Radeon cards in nForce2 boards just fine. I'm one of them, with an X1600 Pro in an MSI K7N2G-ILSR, for my HTPC.

 

[Maverick1]

I hate to tell you this but SIS chipsets are the worst to have anyways. it's the main reason why he has performance problems. VIA and Nforce chipsets work best. SIS is the SLOWEST chipset around, that's why it's not showing up on many mainboards these days. and to match your comment about Nforce you may be running an AGP x1800 radeon in your machine but it suffers performance loss because it's not taking advantage and will NEVER take advantage of the extra acceleration provided by the NV chipset. I've been dealing with the NV chipset since the Nforce 2 came out and love it because of the fact that coupling it with an NVidia based graphics card gives a boost of performance only seen with that combo. and there ARE ATI radeon based cards out there that will NOT run with any of the Nforce boards including the newest Nforce 4 and the new AM2 Version of the Nforce chipset, someone can remind me of that as it's so new the number isn't sticking I'm thinking it's 590. also Please keep in mind that if you take an SIS chipset, VIA chipset AND a NV chipset as current as possible you'll notice that the SIS will be the slowest follwed by VIA and NVIDIA being the fastest of the 2 more popular chipsets. SIS chipsets will never be as strong as VIA and will NOT perform as well no matter what you do to tweak them. SIS was originaly designed as an INTEL alternative chipset and actually was slower than the intel based chipsets, even though at first they were only slightly faster. Intel made improvements and SIS backed off because intel made it so that SIS couldn't copy any of the code by severing all ties to the SIS chipset company. VIA slowly has been able to purchase usage rights but SIS ended up frying so many intel chips due to faulty code that intel has blocked them legally from purchasing usage again. Unfortunatly none of this information is currently available for viewing that I know of on the web and so NO links except for comparison between all 4 chipsets. I've been dealing with this stuff since the early 90's. I know some people have been doing this stuff longer than I have but there's ****** that some people would only DREAM of having experienced with computers that I have been able to do. I started with a 2400baud modem and on the REAL BBS's before what was trying to become the replacement and will NEVER be the replacement for them.... THE FORUMS! I can rant about my background all day if you wish. but I only bring this up as a point. and BTW SM8000 I too have the exact same board. as well. which replaced the kt400 while it was being RMA and will be used for a multimedia PC.

 

[Peter]

What a load of bull. "originally designed as an Intel alternative chipset".

Dude, if you actually were half as seasoned as you claim to be, then you'd know that SiS have been making chipsets many years before Intel even considered it.
I won't comment on the rest of your unsubstantiated (look it up) rambling.

 

[Zap]

FUD

Reminds me of all those people who say "I've been doing this for 15 years and I've never..." Anytime I hear that, I just have to shake my head and go "tsk tsk."

IMO most of the problems I've seen have more to do with motherboard manufacturers cutting corners instead of any lack in the chipset. These days, chipset choice is all about budget, overclocking, popularily and multi-GPU support (or as I see it, throwing money at a non-existant problem to increase e-penis size).

 

[Iron Woode]

LOL @ Maverick1

I haven't read anything so ridiculous in a long time.

KT400 best chipset evar!!!!111!!!OMG!!!!!. Give me a break.

It had the worst memory performance compared to SIS735 based boards.

There is nothing wrong with SIS chipsets.

As for NV video cards having better performance than ATI cards in a NF2 MB, nonsense.

in closing I would like to say: anyone with 6 posts and who joined just to spam a forum has no credibility.

 

[Maverick1]

Do not try to tell me that because it is NOT nonsense. if you sincerely think it is then find a link that says it is! I used a Viper v770 in my motherboard, placed a GF4 mx440 in there and I DID see a performance increase. I've also tried other cards that are supposed to be equal to with a nearly exact setup the only difference was the HD as I recall, was smaller. and I saw the results myself it's too bad I don't have the screenshots anymore they were lost in a HD crash on my 40 gig HD. LOL it's too bad you don't think I have any credibility. and I'm not spamming the forum, if you think I am spamming then turn me in to an admin. and DON'T Flame ME just because I only have a few posts. RE READ your LIT too! the same KT400 board got the best reviews even after the 735 chipset came out! and NOTE I DID SAY FOR THE SOCKET A platform! and that was BEFORE the newer chipset cameout with the Nforce chip. which I PROUDLY own. CHOOSE YOUR FLAMES CAREFULY IRON! I dont' care if you have over 11,100 posts! I've frequented the anandtech site more times in the last 4 years than you have posts! I admit I may have gone a bit overboard in my point, but If you think really hard about it and check more on your information you will see I am right. I don't care if I'm wrong about the intel bit, but I do have quite a bit of credibility. I've been posting on forums for several years on and off. I even have posts on the amd forums from earlier this year late last year. NOBODY there seems to question my credibility. I even have posted on some of the mod sites. which ones, I'll get a list and post it somewhere that's appropriate!
The KT400A Ultra mainboard was posted here on anandtech as the highest rated kt400 mainboard when it first came out. Toms hardware had it posted also as one of the highest marked kt400 series boards. you are confusing the MSI KT400A ultra board with the previous line of boards, unfortunatly I can NOT remember the model chipset. I do know for a fact that the NForce chipsets were designed as and do in FACT help with graphics. I had a couple friends that had the exact same video card and non Nforce chipsets we did tests with the same software also they had the same memory and same HD as I did at the time. the tests showed that the Nforce chipset WAS faster. Mind you it WAS not that noticable but it was faster.

Best regards,

Maverick

 

[Steve]

Maverick, it's not your flying, it's your attitude. The enemy's dangerous, but right now you're worse than the enemy. You're dangerous and foolish. You may not like the guys flying with you, they may not like you. But whose side are you on?