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Thread: Assembling new K7S5A Pro Machine

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    Member Canyon411's Avatar
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    Assembling new K7S5A Pro Machine

    K7s5aPro, 40gig maxtor 7200, thermaltake dragon orb3, amd xp2100+, new case, new floppy & cdrom, sblive dolby 5.1, brand new from newegg. Any hints or suggestions for ease of assembly?

    Q1) Artic silver or thermaltake's thermal pad? I read the only benifit of silver was if the processor is going to be removed / installed often. Otherwise, use the pad....opinions?

    Q2) Any specific bios settings to enable / dissable right off the bat?

    Q3) Going to install win982nd, then windows installer (Thanks BpB) and then ecs install disk. Partitioning a 20gig fujitsu for 982nd and Winxp dual-boot. Running dual monitors with ati rage128 agp and ati raedon7000 pci. I Don't need usb 2.0 yet and read that win982nd won't support it anyway, so is it ok to use slot 1 for pci video?

    Q4) Any hints about mounting motherboard in case to avoid possible grounding problems?

    Q5) Anyone tried the cheepoman bios flash to unlock multiplier and fsb? Is this a diamond in disguise or is it useless?

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    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    1. Arctic Silver so that you can move the heatsink if necessary. Seat that thing on the mobo when it's outside the case.

    2. Disable "Spread spectrum" and set CPU/Memory speed to 133/133. If using 2 x SDRAM, enable "slew" or "slow" setting.

    3. Yes - but disable USB 2.0 in BIOS setup. If you can't, don't worry.

    4. Be gentle. Only use 5 screws - lightly. Place one at each corner and one on the middle - that's it.

    5. I have no opinion.
    MS MCP, MCSE

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    1) Careful with the silver goo, this is electrically conductive. Don't get it anywhere else but onto the CPU die (a THIN layer!)

    2) Spread Spectrum can be left enabled, no harm done, EMI emission lowered. RAM: Enable Fast Slew Rate with two DIMMs.

    3) Put the video card elsewhere, and leave the USB controller enabled ... ´cause the four rear USB ports are driven by the USB 2.0 chip.

    4) Nothing wrong with using all nine screws. But if you want to leave screws out, you must also leave the standoffs out in these spots.

    5) Use stock BIOS for a start. Don´t try to mess it up before you got it working

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    Member Canyon411's Avatar
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    ram clarification

    Thanks bpb & pm for posts .... I will be using pc133 ram to start with. I have two chips, a 256mb and a 128mb of pny to be specific. I will upgrade to a gig of pc2100 as my wallet allows. So with the pc133 memory in mind, do I want the fast or slow rate?

    I'm not planning to go flash-crazy for a while but wondered if anyone has used this update? http://www.lejabeach.com/Pro/k7s5aProBIOS.html

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    Ultimate Member Giblet Plus!'s Avatar
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    Be really careful with that orb. They have been known to crush cores. If you have a retail heatsink on hand, use it instead. It will be quieter, and perform on the same level.
    This is where my signature would go if I wasn't so lazy.

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    Re: ram clarification

    Originally posted by Canyon411
    Thanks bpb & pm for posts .... I will be using pc133 ram to start with. I have two chips, a 256mb and a 128mb of pny to be specific. I will upgrade to a gig of pc2100 as my wallet allows. So with the pc133 memory in mind, do I want the fast or slow rate?
    As I said above - two DIMMs, fast slew rate.

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    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Ive heard that both the Honey and Cheepoman BIOS work fine. Just the same, beeter get it running right first.
    MS MCP, MCSE

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    Junior Member muadib37's Avatar
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    Originally posted by BipolarBill
    Ive heard that both the Honey and Cheepoman BIOS work fine. Just the same, beeter get it running right first.
    I'm curious BpB, to know which bios upgrades (if any) you run in your ECS K7S5A's (pro ???)


  9. #9
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    My Pros came with the latest BIOS.
    MS MCP, MCSE

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    Senior Member linux_guru's Avatar
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    Drop the ORB and get a real cooler .... like a Volcano or similar. Orbs are notoriously poor performers.
    Given enough time & money,
    Microsoft will re-invent Unix.


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    Member Canyon411's Avatar
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    For all the k7s5a bashers reading this post....I just built two identical machines and each one fired up with the first turn of the key!! I used all (6) screws to fasten the board to the panel skipping the cardboard insulators. I mounted the processor and hfs assembly using a dab of artic silver. Man that dragon orb has alot of clamping pressure. Thanks to Giblet Plus for the heads-up.
    I added the ram chips and familiarized myself with the jumper and pin locations for the audio header and front panel usb header. I mounted the panel into the case, attached the atx connector, and installed my ati agp video. I attached the front panel start/reset/led leads, pluged in the monitor, confirmed the hsf was pluged in and said a little prayer!! I heard the hsf spool up and then P.O.S.T.!
    The temp was 39c and rpm at 4900. The chip was seen as an xp1500 untill I changed the cpu/ram settings to 133/133. Now it shows as an xp2100. Time to celebrate....I'm buyin! Thanks to all who posted~

  12. #12
    Member Canyon411's Avatar
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    I still want to find out more about the cheepoman and honey bios mods .... with all the 57s5a owners in here, you'd think everyone would either be using it currently, or have tried it and have some horror stories and cuss words about it....
    Back to my new machines, the orb coolers are purring along and I am using maxbast to partition and format my new 40gig drives. The smell of new electronics burning in is sweet!! Kind of like engine enamel on a fresh motor rebuild. Yeah, I find happiness in the little things in life ....

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    "I still want to find out more about the cheepoman and honey bios mods" I suggest you use the search function in the forums at: http://pub65.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum They specialize in the K7S5A boards.

  14. #14
    Senior Member Greg Harper's Avatar
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    Cheepo and Honey X bios are both very similar. The Cheepo bios offers a few more settings but the HoneyX is just as effective for the K7s5a board since it offers no multipier adjustments. I've used both and gotten similar results with both.
    K7s5a
    xp1800+ oc'd to 2000
    143/143 setting
    768 ddr2100 mem in two sticks
    one 512 and one 256 crucial brand
    windows 2000 and linux dual boot
    G.Harper
    gch306

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    I just bought a xp 2400/K7S5A pro combo at fry's. It only starts in the 100/100 mode. Its about 75 miles away from me right now, but I'm getting ready to drive there to see whats up. The memory is pc2700 128 meg. The hard drive is a 5200 rpm. When it turns on it reports a xp 1700 @1500mhz. It won't post in any other speed setting. Anybody have any ideas of what to look for?

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