Truth be known, the K7S5A is not a totally bad board. HOWEVER, I have had a few issues with it that I would like to make others aware of.
#1.) since DAY ONE, I was unable to get a floppy drive to work with it. Turns out, all it needed was a bios flash.
#2.) After a few months of use, I ALSO had trouble with IDE detection. Everytime I shut the unit completely down and then restarted it, I had to MANUALLY redetect my hard drives. But I found a solution -> Bios flash. Yet again.
As far as being cheaply made, I have trouble agreeing with that. My board arrvied via UPS and I think we all know their reputation for packagte handling. The box was uttelry and horribly mangled, but I have yet to experience any issues with it.
Some other points of note about the board :
On ECS's homepage they have a special AGP driver for WinXP that ISN'T included on the cd, or installed properly by WinXp. After installing it alone, I gained 15 fps in Mohaa:SH.
I have run this board with Infineon pc 133 sd ram and the sd ram sockets worked great. I have also tried corsair pc 2700 in it (which is still in it) and that, too, runs fine. (Cannot run sd ram and ddr at the same time)
Before going to AMD in general, I was an avid user of A-Bit motherboards, and enjoyed much success with them (bh-6 and be-6 rev. 2) I will have to say, that even with OUT the overclocking options, I have really enjoyed this board. It's been stable and worth every penny.
But I also need to say this to make the arguement fair. The newer SIS 746fx chipset is a MUCH better chipset for only a fraction more. There are also SEVERAL manufacturers who use that chipset as well. Asrock being a newcomer with a lot to offer in the overclocking and stability arenas.
Just food for thought...
