Affordable Adaptability
Written: Jan 29 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable, adaptable, reliable; it's easy to set up and it holds its value well.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: The K7S5A is an affordable motherboard offering impressive features, reliability and adaptability. It is a perfect bridge between older and cutting edge technologies, without any sacrifice to performance or quality.
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| falderal's Full Review: EliteGroup K7S5A Motherboard |
I graduated in computer electronics in 1983. I was quickly disappointed in the lack of forethought in the field - software and hardware that became outdated before it was on the store shelves. This disposability may be profitable, but it is certainly not good product engineering, I thought.
Fast forward to January 2002. After nearly two decades away from the inside of a computer, I must catch up with the industry, then build a new system for myself - something capable of handling everything from high-speed Internet through video and sound editing through 3-d graphics modeling. I had much to learn.
Nearly all the boards available had at least some desirable aspects, but to decide among these mobos would take a greater understanding of my wants and needs.
I needed a board that was affordable and reliable. A board that was common enough to have lots of available resource material on the net. A board that did its job with no complaints.
I wanted a board that could expand to meet my processing needs for at least two years - that is, I wanted to keep adding power and devices to the same motherboard for two years without needing to relearn a bunch of stuff.
The K7S5A blew me away. I will soon replace the Athlon 900 I bought last year for $60 with an Athlon XP 1700 for the same price - if you are technically inclined, you are best to read the specs from ECS and AMD, and recognize how much more power this means (http://www.ecsusa.com/products/k7s5a_v3.html). If I wanted to, I could as easily add the more recent AMD Socket A processor instead (the XP 2600), as this motherboard was built to handle that much power! Since the price of a processor drops considerably in a year, the K7S5A allows the prudent to keep a little behind the cutting edge for a savings of a lot of money. This "affordable adaptability", I feel, is the true value of this motherboard.
The built-in sound, USB and Ethernet (yup! - high speed Internet ready!) help make this unit affordable; the Ultra DMA 33/66/100 capabilities help make your drives screaming fast! You'll need a graphics card, and the K7S5A gladly accepts a wide range of cards - including some of the most affordable on the market.
This motherboard accepts both PC-100/133 and DDR-200/266 rams - which means you may be able to re-use the RAM from your previous board, then wait for better prices on DDR before upgrading. The K7S5A holds up to 1 Gig of RAM, which is more than enough for most home and office settings.
The BIOS is updated frequently and is readily available on the net. With plenty of settings options, from the most essential to the handiest, one can customize their system to suit a wide variety of hardware and software environments.
The K7S5A comes complete with IDE/floppy cables, illustrated step by step instructions and installation CD. It was a breeze getting this motherboard running.
It has been a year since I purchased this motherboard brand new. The price I paid is only $6 more than than the current price - the K7S5A holds its value far better than most computer parts, quite simply I feel, because it is actually built to adapt to our rapidly changing computer environment. How many other motherboards can do all this, let alone for under $60 ?
One year after purchasing this hardware, I feel that I really got my money's worth: something I feel I never could've said over these past twenty years.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 65
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Epinions.com ID:
falderal
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Location: Canada
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
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