Does ECS make quality boards?

[rexxe]

I'm in the market for a new computer and am looking towards the nforce4 boards that are out. I'm not an overclocker, and am unclear on which board i should get. I noticed that ZZF has the ECS board for a very low price, but wasn't sure how it compared to the DFI or MSI. Is it worth the extra money to get the MSI or DFI? Anyone know anything about the Foxconn ones at Newegg?

Thanks,

Rexxe

 

[Silversierra]

Elite Crap System

I've seen this stated at some sites.
I don't really know though.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

they are not oc boards, but they work fine at stock

 

[rexxe]

I have read, however, that they are doing a lot to change their image, but I'm not sure if they are successful in making quality motherboards compared to the more well known companies.

I just found this over at Tom's Hardware:

ECS has now established itself among the ranks of high-quality motherboards thanks to its six layer construction and excellent features.

However, do you think I'm just better off getting the MSI or DFI and playing it safe?

Thanks for any help

 

[tr1kstanc3]

ECS is fine if you dont plan on tweaking or overclocking your system. They are trying to change their image with their latest boards that offer somewhat decent overclocking settings but they are still far from being considered an 'enthusiast brand'.

 

[PascalT]

Gigabyte has a cheap nf4 board out. MSI/DFI are more geared towards the OCers, and you pay for it.

 

[Peter]

Traditional ECS boards are no-nonsense, no-extras, but built to be reliable and fast at stock speeds. Now there are "Deluxe" and "Extreme" board series as well, catering to those who want to play with their hardware rather than get actual work done

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Here's a review of the board you're looking for:
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD05NjA=

As far as build quality, ECS is a lot better than they used to be. They make products for other companies too (ABIT and others).

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: rexxe
I have read, however, that they are doing a lot to change their image, but I'm not sure if they are successful in making quality motherboards compared to the more well known companies.

I just found this over at Tom's Hardware:

ECS has now established itself among the ranks of high-quality motherboards thanks to its six layer construction and excellent features.

However, do you think I'm just better off getting the MSI or DFI and playing it safe? Thanks for any help

Whoa, ECS with a six-layer board? That's nearly unheard of.

Back in the day, ECS used to be a "quality" mobo company, then PCChips assimilated them, and their products became mediocre (IMHO). Perhaps they've decided that they need to focus on quality again? The biggest problem with ECS/PCChips boards, was not so much quality, as quality-control. It was rather variable, to say the least.

They also are usually rather bare-bones in terms of features, no OC stuff, less-expensive component selection designed to minimally-support whatever the board was specced to support.

If you plan to OC, I would go with a DFI (or Abit/Asus) over ECS (and over MSI) anyday. (MSI isn't really much better than ECS in many ways, although they do advertise and design most of their boards with overclockers in mind, sometimes their components aren't so great either. Many reports of MSI boards with bad caps, and many of them have small but annoying design issues.)

That's just my biased opinion, I'm sure that there are plenty of differing viewpoints on this. Basically, ECS makes cheap, entry-level, no-frills mobos, which sometimes have QC issues. But I would rather use an FIC or a Biostar as a "budget board" over an ECS/PCChips.

 

[osage]

there was a time when I considered ECS boards to be less than top quality. However in the last 3 or so years I have had 6 or so diff ECS boards and they have all been quite good. As mentioned by others here they don't offer much if anything in the way of OC tweak settings, but work very well at stock settings.
I have also had at least 8 MSI mobos, and I doubt that I would ever again buy a another MSI product. I have had 4 MSI boards fail due to crap components, mostly caps, but voltage regulators as well.
As always mobo choice depends on what you intend to do with it.

 

[rexxe]

Awesome, thanks for the opinions guys!

 

[CraigRT]

I'd never buy ECS, I've had problems with the ONLY ECS board I've ever had the mis-pleasure of working on.

a crappy K7S5A which was one picky mofo, and then blew up a few months later.

you get what you pay for in this case, IMO.

 

[Texun]

I've wondered the same thing. I'm not an OC'r but I want a no-nonsense rock solid board that performs well. A theory that I started using several years ago for my own systems was to search out the boards that performed flawlessly with all knobs set to KILL. Simple logic seemed to indicate that if a board would run and hold up well with the knobs set to 11 there would be a good chance that I could set it to 10 and have a great and very reliable board for years. So far it's worked, except for an MSI. The biggest flaw in my logic is that I almost never keep one more than 12-18 months. That, plus the fact that a guy at work fragged me silly with a bone stock $43 ECS.

 

[hondAS2ooo170]

ecs r really good mobos for stock they r very reliable, take from a guy that is useing them.

 

[Mik3y]

ecs is very reliable. they are the perhaps the best budget of the line mobo's and many socket A ecs boards support suprisingly decent oc's, such as a mobile at 2.3ghz. i've had a few systems of my own with ecs boards and all have performed perfectly fine for me.

 

[RandomFool]

i've used three or four different esc board and never had a problem. Well ok that's not true I did manage to short out the cpu fan connector on one with a broken fan and the whole board died but that's my fault.

 

[Mem]

a crappy K7S5A which was one picky mofo, and then blew up a few months later.

I`ve the Pro version in my backup PC,has been working great for over a year now,like the others have said,ECS in general are a no frills/no OC boards that are catered for the budget/OEM builder,they are a massive OEM company(part of the EliteGroups).

In general I would say their boards are fine,they`ve improved over the years IMHO.

 

[Greenman]

Looking around at Fry's the other day I noticed that all the ECS boards on the shelf were returns. I asked the salsmen about it and he said "they have problems". All I needed to know.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

Originally posted by: Greenman
Looking around at Fry's the other day I noticed that all the ECS boards on the shelf were returns. I asked the salsmen about it and he said "they have problems". All I needed to know.

Fry's huh? I think the people who build the boards have problems.

I have seen many people return PCChips boards because they didn't move the Clear CMOS to the correct position (on PCChips boards it usually comes in the Clear position). The manual states this very clearly.

 

[desy]

Most ECS boards are good vanilla quality
Cept the K7S5A, I think that one did more to create the repuation than anything else.
Some loved, some hated it.
I hated it, but I did buy a K7S5A Pro later that seems to be worlds above the first rev 2 board I had, I dumped mine and bought an Epox with no issues.

 

[Paladin3]

Sorry to dig up this old thread, but I have a K7S5A Pro I've been very happy with. If you still have one and want to overclock with it take a look at some of the hacked bios and other tweaks Here and Here. I've been running the HoneyX bios for some time now to overclock my FSB.