• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

ECS

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
cheap, stable (depending on the chipset).

usually adequate features.

not normally the best choice for overclocking.
Click to expand...
Exactly...
 
I had a K7S5A. Couldn't overclock at all (bios had no option for oc'ing), but that mobo was rock stable. I have fond memories of that mobo.

And the pcb was purple!!
 
Originally posted by: m3rcury
I had a K7S5A. Couldn't overclock at all (bios had no option for oc'ing), but that mobo was rock stable. I have fond memories of that mobo.

And the pcb was purple!!
Click to expand...

Mine wasn't purple🙁

I think there was an updated bios that allowed OCing, but for sure it was a great board. Mine died a screwdriver-vs-heatsink death.
 
Originally posted by: jrp4277
ok thanks guys. I was just curious cause they are good for a budget it seems. "low price"
Click to expand...

whatever board you are interested, read up on the chipset it uses. ECS doesn't add stability problems, but there are bad chipsets for every processor, and they tend to be the cheaper ones, so they often end up on the cheaper boards.
 
I built up one of the ECS combo specials from Outpost. Build went completely smooth and I've had no problems or compliants from my client.
 
I have used 20+ ECS boards over the years... SiS 735, KT600, NF2U, i845, i865, KM266, etc. They have all been good boards for a basic user. If your not going to overclock, and if you arent looking for gaggles of features you arent going to use and dont want to pay for, ECS will work just fine. Some ECS boards can get finicky with RAM, but that tends to be the story from basically every mft these days.

ECS is cheap and solid.
 
I'm kinda' surprised to not see anyone pooping on ECS! Yeah they're cheap and un-fancy. ECS is probably the world's biggest supplier though so the failure rate is quite low. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: bluemax
I'm kinda' surprised to not see anyone pooping on ECS! Yeah they're cheap and un-fancy. ECS is probably the world's biggest supplier though so the failure rate is quite low. 🙂
Click to expand...

I dunno. They definitely seemed to be having some quality control issues a while back (maybe 12 months ago) -- reports seemed to be that if the boards worked, they were fine, but a LOT of people were reporting them either DOA or quickly flaking out and dying within a few weeks. YMMV. I've heard less bad things about them *lately* -- whether that's because people stopped buying them as much, or they've actually improved, I don't know.

Personally, I would go for something a little higher quality than ECS/ASRock/Foxconn.
 
ECS isn't the same kind of budget as other makers 'budget' lines. It's just no frills. Like everyone else has complete softmenu setup, and ECS will give you jumpers to select PCI dividers.

I can only speak from experience, and about 8-10 ECS boards that I or my firends have used have never had problems at stock speeds/voltages/etc.
 
my ECS KS75A gave me a bit of trouble due the fact it had double sided tape on the chipset heatsink and caused it to overheat. Once i replaced that it seemed to be ok untill one day the capactiors went bad on it :/
 
I have 4 ECS Motherboards: all K7S5A

I LOVE THEM: CHEAP & RELIABLE
I also flash the Overclocking BIOS on K7S5A to unlock hidden FSB.
There is no Voltage Adjustment however.

For Reliablity, ECS
For Overclocking Hobbist, looks elsewhere

Earliyer K7S5A v1.0 has many problem, hence the bad review.
ECS has retified the error in v3.0 and v5.0 with USB2.0
 
Originally posted by: Matthias99
Personally, I would go for something a little higher quality than ECS/ASRock/Foxconn.
Click to expand...

Isn't that a little strange to be lumping Foxconn in with ECS? I thought that Foxconn used to be one of Intel's primary OEM suppliers for mobos before Asus got that gig (often used in name-brand OEM PCs, like those SE440BX boards used in Gateways back in the day)?

Is there anything bad or sub-standard that I should know about Foxconn boards?
 
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: Matthias99
Personally, I would go for something a little higher quality than ECS/ASRock/Foxconn.
Click to expand...

Isn't that a little strange to be lumping Foxconn in with ECS? I thought that Foxconn used to be one of Intel's primary OEM suppliers for mobos before Asus got that gig (often used in name-brand OEM PCs, like those SE440BX boards used in Gateways back in the day)?

Is there anything bad or sub-standard that I should know about Foxconn boards?
Click to expand...

They *do* make a lot of parts for other OEMs (including Intel, AFAIK). However, the "Foxconn" brand boards seem to be really cheaply made, from what little I've seen of them. I haven't heard nearly as many negative things about them, but I would still be hesitant to use one myself.

That said, cheap motherboards obviously *work*, at least most of the time, or else nobody would buy them and the companies would quickly go out of business. But they may be more likely to fail (worse quality control), are unlikely to be able to overclock much (if they even have overclocking capabilities), could have bad power regulation (leading to weird instability problems later)... they're clearly cutting corners *somewhere*, given the prices.

For the (relatively) small difference between something like ECS and, say, Shuttle or a low-end Gigabyte or DFI or MSI board, I'd rather go with a more proven brand. If you're really cost-conscious, though, it's impossible to beat the ECS combo deals you can get at Fry's, and I'm sure most cheap boards work fine if you're not pushing the envelope.
 
Yep. Have had three ECS boards. Cheap, rock stable, but devoid of almost any tweaking and overclocking features. Not the board for the enthusiasts, but perfectly fine for those who want to put together a working system and just forget about it. SiS chipsets of recent years have also been competitively fast as well.
 
i had an ecs k7s5a. After two weeks wouldn't run at all with fsb at 133MHz (athlon classic 1.4GHz/133)... RMA = same issue after a week

watch out for support, ECS provides ZERO support for end-customers, not even rma. You are at dealer's disposal for help / rma there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top