Anyone have any experience with ECS KT600-A for AMD Socket A

[JacinTexas]

I've been using the ECS K5S7A boards in low-cost, non-overclocked systems for a couple of years with no problems. I'm looking to upgrade to a board with SATA and was wondering if this board might work.

ECS KT600 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "KT600-A" -RETAIL ($57 at Newegg.com)

Specifications:
Supported CPU: AMD Athlon XP/Athlon/Duron Processors(Socket 462)
Chipset: VIA KT600 + VT8237
FSB: 400/333/266/200 MHz
RAM: 3x DIMM for DDR333/266 Max 3GB, DDR400 2GB
IDE: 2x UltraDMA 66/100/133 up to 4 Devices
Slots: 4x PCI, 1x AGP 8X, 1x CNR
Ports: 2xPS2,2xCOM,1xLPT,1xLAN,8xUSB2.0(Rear 4),Audio Ports
Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC655 6-Channel Audio CODEC
Onboard LAN: VIA VT6103 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet
Onboard SATA/RAID: 2x Serial ATA devices, RAID 0/1
Form Factor: ATX

[BipolarBill]

Four PCI slots? Waaaah? Is that OK for you? If it is, go ahead. I'm sure it will work.

Still, this is nice for $18 more:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...alog=22&depa=0

[Peter M]

Who uses five PCI cards? Raise your hands! Do not count SATA/RAID, extra USB, LAN, or six-channel sound cards please!

[Dennis Bacon]

Who uses five PCI cards? Raise your hands! Do not count SATA/RAID, extra USB, LAN, or six-channel sound cards please!

how can you not include those cards... those are the only ones that go in pci other than a modem? lol and do 5.1 channel sound cards count? :P

[Rob R.]

Plus it's a good idea to write off the PCI slot directly under the AGP slot unless it's a really small card like a NIC card.

[sm8000]

Originally posted by Dennis Bacon
how can you not include those cards... those are the only ones that go in pci other than a modem? lol and do 5.1 channel sound cards count? :P

Because those cards have the potential to either nearly or fully saturate a 133MB/s PCI bus. Besides, those technologies are more commonly becoming chipset-integrated - thus a faster bus and no need for cards.

[fishybawb]

Originally posted by Dennis Bacon
how can you not include those cards... those are the only ones that go in pci other than a modem? lol and do 5.1 channel sound cards count? :P

Because all the functions of those cards are included onboard the ECS KT600 - look at the first post

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by Peter M
Who uses five PCI cards? Raise your hands! Do not count SATA/RAID, extra USB, LAN, or six-channel sound cards please!

I use a SCSI card (scanner), TV card, SB Live (due to MCP-T sound issues), Firewire card and a Highpoint card for additional PATA drives. Note that there's no modem in there. I may need to add one later. I have 6 PCI slots and it may not be enough!

[Peter M]

On the KT-600, you'd be minus two (IDE, sound). Modem should be CNR or external USB. (OK, CNR blocks the last PCI slot, but at least it's off the PCI bus!) Furthermore, there is an empty spot between AGP and PCI slots that looks like it's for an optional FireWire controller chip.

Sound on KT-600 is 5.1 right out of the box, there are plenty of USB ports, and SATA RAID is chipset integrated as well. That's why you don't need all that on PCI.

[crapyking]

for $5 more u can buy a gigabyte or better brand name, go the extra few bucks @ newegg

[causticVapor]

Nah, ECS is always the best no matter what.

[Peter M]

At least they never (so far) had any cheapo capacitors on. Unlike "better" brands like Epox, Abit, and, most recently, ASUS.

[jriker1]

I too have used the K7S5A and just bought the KT600-A by ECS and have no qualmms about it. The Abit looks good, and it is on sale for $59 now at newegg, but I chose ECS again. All i use in the back of the case is the slot for AGP and the USB header. I have no need to fill PCI slots with junk, especially when you have a gaming machine. All you want is the necessities. Run a nice 80gig SATA drive and you will have plenty of room and spped for everything, no need for SCSI.
But it DOES depend on how you use your machine. My P4, w/ 1gig of ram etc does all my other stuff. (Just an opinion)