Because this board is intended to be a budget motherboard the overclocking options are scarce to none. Like we saw in the BIOS there are no voltage options and the FSB is only able to be increased to 140MHz and 157MHz. Also with the multiplier being locked to 15 the system will become unstable faster than if it had the ability to go lower. So began the overclocking process which wasn’t fun at all to say the least. I was able to get to the 140MHz overclock with few issues however 157MHz was impossible due to the limited features that the board had. Keep in mind of course that this is a budget motherboard and not intended to be a top overclocker.
Conclusion
I believe that this board fits well within the market space it is aimed at, mainly the budget builder market. While not a stellar performer, it does support many of the newer technologies that many older boards with similar prices may not. The ability to use the 400MHz front side bus Athlons is a big plus, as is support for PC3200 memory. I would recommend this board to someone looking to build an entry to mid level gaming PC, but not to the budget overclocker as the lack of overclocking options make it a very poor performer in that respect. If the price is right, and you are looking for a replacement for the aging ECS K7S5A with support for newer features then this is the board to buy, at least for the moment. I give this board a 7.5, and would like to thank FIC for sending it out to us.
Pros
- Good Price
- Decent performer
- Supports newest 32-bit AMD processors
- Supports PC3200 and AGP 8x
Cons
- Lack of overclocking options
- Problems with AGP 8x not being enabled in Windows
