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Reviews Around The Web
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Choose Web Reviews from this Maker:
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Wednesday, September 21, 2005
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The ECS PF5 Extreme is an LGA775 motherboard based on Intel's popular 945P Express (945P + ICH7R) chipset. Although Intel positions this chipset as a value desktop part, it in fact boasts some high-end features including 1066, 800 and 533 MHz system bus support, PCI-Express x16 graphics, dual-channel DDR2, SATA RAID and high definition audio to name but a few...
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Sunday, September 11, 2005
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ECS finally releases an nForce4 SLI motherboard and the KN1 SLI Extreme boasts high-end features that was lacking in the KN1 Extreme (nForce4 Ultra) including extra SATA II, eSATA and dual LAN. ECS even managed to surprise us with their stance on SLI switching. Read on...
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Tuesday, September 6, 2005
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The 'New ECS' is entering the enthusiast arena with their Extreme line of mainboards. The KN1 SLI is no exception having great features that are found on much more expensive boards like dual lan, SATA2, PCI express SLI, and 8 channel audio, and many more all for around $130. ECS has done a lot of R+D on their new products and they have been able to get a full featured board at a budget price...
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Friday, August 12, 2005
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In the first salvo we find the ECS KN1 Extreme nForce 4 Ultra motherboard, a concise example of how far ECS is willing to go to win over consumers. Hardware features on the socket 939 AMD Athlon64 ECS KN1 Extreme include an additional Serial ATA/IDE RAID controller, IEEE 1394a, a 5.1 channel audio codec and two network cards (one Gigabit, one 10/100). To top things off, ECS also throws in a decent software bundle and a little I/O slot exhaust fan. The board itself is based on the nVidia nForce 4 Ultra chipset, which means that one PCI Express x16 videocard is supported, but not SLI. Expansion comes care of the three PCI slots, and two PCI Express x1 sockets...
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Thursday, August 4, 2005
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The performance of the ECS PF88 Extreme when using a Pentium 4 540 was mediocre at best, often coming in last in the various benchmarks. To be fair though, the board is targeted towards the mid-level desktop market and in that case I'd say the PF88 Extreme did pretty well. On the AMD side of things, performance was much closer since AMD integrates the memory controller onto the processor. In fact in many of the benchmarks, the ECS PF88 Extreme performed on par or slightly faster than its nForce4 Ultra/SLI counterparts!
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Wednesday, August 3, 2005
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In summary, the ECS RS400-A turned out to be a middling board. Its greatest highlight is backward compatibility with older graphics and memory technology that promotes reuse of existing parts. With DDR, DDR2, AGP Express, PCI Express, SATA, RAID and built-in graphics, the list sure seems impressive and we do not doubt that the board would fit in nicely in an entry-level market. Sadly, this is where the board firmly stays and though it is flexible by nature, board layout was left wanting and performance was hampered no thanks to ATI's Xpress 200 chipset for Intel processors. Despite it all, the US$82 price for the RS400-A seems to compensate for most its shortcomings...
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Wednesday, July 27, 2005
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ECS' PF5 Extreme has its fair share of good and bad points. Let's take the good first. The company's Scalable D.G.E. technology offers up a possible quad-display setup that's run off two PCI-Express cards. No, it's not SLI or CrossFire, so don't expect true dual-card 3D performance, but it's handy for those that need the screen real estate and a step up from mixing onboard graphics displays (i945G) and discrete cards'. The layout and feature-set for a £90 board are both good, too...
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Monday, July 11, 2005
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ECS KN1 Extreme feels like a product unsure of its place in the market. It offers more than what you'd expect from the average board at a price that you just can't beat. On the flip side of that, since price appears to have been a main focus of its design, there are areas that are lacking in what one would expect form an enthusiast grade product. With a little bit more time spent back at the drawing board, ECS can smooth out some of the rough edges of the KN1 Extreme and transform it into a star...
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Monday, June 27, 2005
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Feature-wise, ECS has done a great job out-fitting the board with some of the better components available. Multiple RAID and LAN motherboards are not so uncommon these days, but not every board will provide PCI Express based controllers for both Gigabit Ethernet and SATA II RAID, especially not a board that already features dual PCI Express graphics slots. To pump up the value proposition, ECS has incorporated their Dr. LED feature that helps diagnose expansion slot functionality and Top-Hat Flash BIOS recovery. We also believe that ECS has nailed down the basics of a functional design with the PF5 Extreme. Components were ideally located, thoughtfully grouped and well spaced out for better airflow.
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Thursday, June 9, 2005
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The ECS RX480-A is a new entry-level board from ECS that is based on the lesser known ATI RADEON EXPRESS 200P chipset for the Socket 939 Athlon 64s. We take it for a spin and find its huge overclocking potential a surprise feature that will definitely entice budget overclockers.
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Thursday, May 12, 2005
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ECS has brought something very new to the table - a motherboard that carries a number of modern features and one that opens up the way for multi-CPU support. In the oft-boring, stagnant world of motherboard design, the ECS ELITEGROUP PF88 Extreme is a breath of very fresh air.
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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
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The ECS RS400-A is an excellent entry level motherboard, and while we were not able to track down a price, we're sure that the motherboard will be affordable - a hallmark of ECS. The list of extras is pretty short; a 10/100 NIC, 5.1 channel AC'97 audio, onboard video, and that's about it. Should you need to upgrade, the motherboard has two PCI Express x1 slots, the AGP Express slot and the PCI Express x16 slot, as well as two traditional 32 bit PCI slots...
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
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...in addition, ECS has also added two DDR memory slots. Moving to PCI Express normally means dumping your AGP card and switching to DDR2. However, thanks to AGP Express and the DDR sockets ECS is proving a cost effective upgrade path. If you're desperate to upgrade your computer, but can't afford to get all the components at once, then this might be a suitable option for you...
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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
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Use of the Intel i915GV core logic is what really defines the 915-A's feature set. At first glance, it's hard to spot the difference between 915G and 915GV. 915GV doesn't support a 16 lane PCI Express bundle for routing to a PEG16X electrical slot, for graphics. With that electrical slot physically present on the 915-A, you'll notice the lanes routed to the slot, of which there are only two, are provided by the ICH6 I/O southbridge processor rather than the 915GV northbridge.
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