Are the ECS(Elitegroup) Motherboards Junk??

[cpuanom]

I was wandering because I am getting ready to upgrade the system I use now, and I was looking into an ECS board for the XP2100+....right now I am running a OCSystem modified Chieftec DX-01BD case, 11 fans total w/350w Enermax, AOpen MK7A M/B, 1.33Ghz AMD Thunderbird, Crucial 256mbDDR, AOpen 32mb Nivdia Video Card and Plextor 40/10A. (my system locks up after about 5 minutes of Quake3 Demo)..Would like to Overclock it, but not sure about the abilities of the Thunderbird line. Any Help on that would be great.
I plan on using my existing case and was going to go with an ECS M/B, Athlon XP 2100+, 1024mb OCZ PC2700 333Mhz, Leaktek Winfast A250 GeForce Ti4600w/128Mb DDR Memory, Creative Labs Live 5.1....Just needing a little help deceiding what to do...thanks to everyone who can help.

I meant Leadtek on the vid card

[Peter M]

The ECS boards are good, no doubt. There's a reason for ECS being the biggest mainboard maker (in numbers, in $$$ ASUS is top).

Pair the K7S5A with a PSU that suits the CPU's and peripherals' needs, and you'll be OK. You'll be disappointed by the amount of overclocking toys it offers - ZERO.

My advice: Clear up, cut back. In a properly built system, you don't need 11 fans, neither do you need modified cases or such.

First thing to do on an unstable system is go back to non-overclocked speed, check RAM and CPU cooling, and PSU adequacy (watts aren't everything). In that order. New mainboard is almost last on the list, not first ... 'cause if you make the same mistakes on the new board, the result will be equally unstable.

regards, Peter

[otheos]

There are modified BIOS for the K7S5A that allow high level of overclocking.

I guess you're going for the K7S6A since you mention PC2700 memory, and this board comes with overclocking features standard, including multiplier/voltage/FSB settings. Very nice board, inexpensive stable and very fast. Given it's 1/2 the price of the Asus A7V333 and performs at least as well, I guess the choice is yours: common sense of hype?

[Ifish25]

I have an ECS K7S5A that works very well. I must admit, however, that I had two bummers in a row before that and had to return them. The last one did nothing at all and Fry's confirmed it and gave me credit for it. The first one would not access drives. I purchased the 3rd board from AxionTech out of Houston. It has proved to be trouble-free, loads fast, and runs cool, after I changed the airflow path.

[cpuanom]

I do agree with Peter. Having all them fans and neat mods isn't really required, only if you do it right. I truely believe that I could get by with 4 fans and no windows w/pretty lights and the rest of the **** that goes with a modified case. But, that would be like me going out to my racecar, opening the hood and taking all the billet stuff off and the rest of the stuff that makes me stare at it in awe for 10min. And my racecar is fast regardless of how neat it looks under the hood. I feel the same way about my computer, as long as it works first, only then should you, if you desire, hack away at a perfectly working computer(or whatever else)
Thanks Peter

[cpuanom]

Just so everyone knows, I have about 15years of drag racing experience in me, so I Love to push things faster than they were built to go, if that means they break once in a while, so be it...I build race cars to pay for my racing expense and I build computers to pay for my computer expense...and the bills get paid...it works out well. I am NOT bragging in any way. Just letting people know why I choose to want to OC a perfectly good computer and chop a good case.
Thanks everyone

[cpuanom]

I think that was the board I was going to get..and nothing ever seems to be fast enough...choosing a motherboard is getting harder to do, I think.

[[ja] LoCo]

i have a ECS K7VZA and have no probs. w/ it . they are cheap and stable boards . as far as fanz go i have 13 fanz , u dont need that many but **** it looks COOL :D :p ;) :cool: ;) and thats a sweet rig ur getting there u will have the fastest comp on the block :)