Is this retro rig enough for watching the "Pair of Kings"show on internet? \ VOGONS

Is this retro rig enough for watching the "Pair of Kings"show on internet?

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First post, by PcBytes

Posted on 2013-03-11, 16:35

PcBytes Offline

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Posts: 1981
Joined: 2012-12-31, 08:32
Location: Bacau, Romania

Since yesterday was Sunday and I had 20 bucks in handy I thought upgrading to an Athlon XP rig.Got a old Delux MT375 case(Romania)and began building it.It works but right now I don't have any battery slot (coin slot if you remember)but that's not a problem,can live without it.
Here are the specs:
Board:ECS K7S5A V3.1(I won't update the bios)
RAM:(it takes both PC66-PC133 RAM and DDR266 RAM)256MB RAM
Video Card:S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB AGP
Sound Card:Onboard C-Media CMI8738/Avance Logic AC'97 clone.
Network Card:Realtek 8139A
IDE drives:
-1.7 GB Seagate HDD (unknown model)
-TSSTcorp DVD-ROM (unknown model)
-NEC DVD-ROM (unknown model)
BIOS:AMI BIOS
Operating system:Windows 2000 Pro SP4,probably going for some lite XP if its flash support is not good.
PSU:Delux ATX-400W P4,came with the case.
The GPU (video card) and RAM are going to be upgraded as the following:
GPU:what i'll find,probably nVidia or ATI.
RAM:2x256 DDR.Most of 256MB DDR are compatible with the board,right?

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 1 of 7, by ProfessorProfessorson

Posted on 2013-03-11, 17:44

ProfessorProfessorson Offline

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The K7S5A was actually a well built board back in the day. I never heard to much bad about them and they got solid reviews. The couple i have used myself were both very solid performers. As far as it being fast enough, will depend on cpu and graphics card chosen, along with what media player you plan to use and what video file type you are trying to play. Lower resolution xvid/avi files should playback fine in VLC player.

Reply 2 of 7, by PcBytes

Posted on 2013-03-11, 17:56

PcBytes Offline

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Posts: 1981
Joined: 2012-12-31, 08:32
Location: Bacau, Romania

For internet,is it fine for loading 240/360p or maximum 480p HD videos right now?I ask that because I'm going for XP lite,and when I get a new HDD I'll turn around for Windows 7.Another question,does it take 256MB DDR memory?

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 3 of 7, by swaaye

Posted on 2013-03-11, 20:17

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It can run up to 512MB DIMMs.

Out of curiosity - are any capacitors on the motherboard leaking or bulging? K7S5A often has defective capacitors.

Reply 4 of 7, by PcBytes

Posted on 2013-03-12, 06:18

PcBytes Offline

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Posts: 1981
Joined: 2012-12-31, 08:32
Location: Bacau, Romania

No there aren't.I'm questioning if PCChips M830LR bios works on it.Basically the 830LR is a trimmed down K7S5A.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 5 of 7, by bushwack

Posted on 2013-03-16, 02:09

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Posts: 722
Joined: 2009-09-17, 18:38
Location: USA

What CPU are you running with the board?

I have a K7S5A that has ran forever and finally put it out of commission (last year?) because of a new added machine in the loop, not because of instability issues. I loved board, though it was never in my main rig.

With a decent CPU I don't see why it couldn't process video. But I dunno, how old is this thing again? 🤣

Reply 6 of 7, by fillosaurus

Posted on 2013-03-16, 10:22

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Joined: 2007-09-03, 21:47
Location: Banat

I have one of these boards. Last time I checked it still worked, but it does have 2-3 bulging caps. One day I will replace them, for now I have plenty of socket A boards to toy with, and only 3 CPUs.
Is a decent board, but only supports 100/133 FSB cpu. No official support for 166, and the highest frequency I was able to run it was 150.

Y2K box: AMD Athlon K75 (second generation slot A)@700, ASUS K7M motherboard, 256 MB SDRAM, ATI Radeon 7500+2xVoodoo2 in SLI, SB Live! 5.1, VIA USB 2.0 PCI card, 40 GB Seagate HDD.
WIP: external midi module based on NEC wavetable (Yamaha clone)

Reply 7 of 7, by PcBytes

Posted on 2013-03-21, 18:59

PcBytes Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1981
Joined: 2012-12-31, 08:32
Location: Bacau, Romania

Some new specs:
HDD:40GB Maxtor w/ XP SP2
Video Card:Radeon 7000/Radeon VE

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

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