K7S5A to ?

[own]

I've been using the K7s5a for a couple years now, but I'm going to upgrade it. I'm not looking for a huge upgrade though, just something a little better.

I'm also only going to spend around 50 dollars because of Christmas...

I was looking at two different motherboards that fit my criteria. The 7NF-RZ (http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_7NF-RZ.htm#) and the
AN35N (http://us.shuttle.com/specs.asp?pro_id=280).

Both right around $50. To me they both look like a decent step up, and both look very similar.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out here at the best tech discussion forums on the net ;)

[Peter M]

Unless you're after a FEATURE that the K7S5A doesn't have, you'll be surprised at how little faster a current board of the same platform actually is. There isn't that much gained from faster front side busses, AGP 8x, or faster RAM - particularly when you aren't replacing RAM or CPU.

Save those $50 for a real upgrade to be done later, like to Socket-754.

[krazefinn]

You might be better off upgrading your video, or if still using sdram, to switch to ddr, or increasing amount.

Why don't you post full system specs? We'll be able to help ya make your eventual upgrade more specifically.

That mobo you have now was during its heydey they fastest AND most popular selling board for a time, and still holds its own admirably. I still have one, running a 200fsb tbird at 33% oi/c @ 266/266. Surprising stable and speedy still.

For once I actually agree with above post...little gained from upgrade to newer mobo, without going to an AMD 64. Even an nf2 dual channel memory motherboard will not net you much, if anything, in noticeable performance boost.

If you are running a duron or tbird, you might even consider faster chip instead, provided you already have ddr memory. Another boost might be a 8mb cache and 200gig or higher hd. With apropriate choces here, you should be able to incorporate these upgrades in your eventual upgrade. Use 400 ddr, instead of 266, although the ECS wont run it faster than 266. Get an agp8x, although that board will not run beyond 4. Use a cpu that later will o/c on new build, like a large cache barton.

[Canyon411]

Which revision of the k7s5a do you have?? ie;1.0, 3.0, 5.0

I feel the same as peter, but if you do decide to upgrade to another board, make me a deal on the old one:t

[own]

Sorry, I guess I was pretty vague. I had another thread in the tech discussion area about either my PSU or mobo dying on me. I determined it was the Mobo.

So when I said "upgrade" I meant get a better mobo this time around, not just just a working mobo for something better. I figured since I'm buying a new one, I might as well get something a little better instead of another K7S5A.

[krazefinn]

Ok then, if you want to reuse your chip, then an nforce 2 based mobo won't let ya down, however if upgrading chip too, go amd64.

[Rocketmech]

Shuttle has done good with its NF2 mobo's, IMO. I've used both the AN31N and AN35N , with success.
A better mobo is an Abit NF7-S v2 or Asus A7N8X Deluxe , both have the MCP-T southbridge ... Soundstorm and firewire , and SATA . All these boards are nice , you wont be disappointed. :cool: