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Elitegroup (ECS) Motherboards

they are nice cheap boards if you are not planning on doing anything really odd like overclocking on them. I have had some of there amd based board fail on me (particulary the k/l7vmm2's), although I did burn out a ram slot in a k7s5a, and it still working to this day, and all the ones that i've worked with for intel chips, ive never really had any issues with them.
 
The only good thing I can say about them is that they're cheap. I've seen a *lot* of problems reported with them on here; seems like their quality control is pretty bad. But, like you said, they *are* the cheapest things out there...
 
ECS motherboards only carry a 1yr warranty. Spend the extra cash and get a better board.
 
I dunno.

I'd stay away from them, & i don't think i'm alone in that.

IMO, a motherboard is the single most important part of ones computer, & while you can cheap out other parts, the mobo isn't one you should be cheap on.
 
you get what you pay for

the other boards will perform better, prolly OC better, have better warrenty, have less problems, and comes with better bundles
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
PC Chips=ECS=Matsonic=Eurone=etc.=etc. If they were any good, why so many names???
.bh.
Click to expand...
PCchips == ECS? I didn't know that. You learn something everyday.

ECS's quality control is a bit weird. I've heard they only do one check. In order to not have to discard an awful lot of fully useful, working boards, the test has to be fairly tolerant...
Some other manufacturers use a more intolerant test, to pick out the boards that need to be tested more exhaustively.

They are cheap, and if it works, - it works, even if they are cheap. IMO, ECS/PCchips is a worthwhile try, if you're trying to build a very cheap PC.

I think some of their boards may be a bit better and more useful than others. Check out the reputation of the individual board. (You should do that with the likes of Abit and MSI too, IMO).
 
If you like upgrading and it's only a temporary setup (<6months), I'd say sure, give it a try. Anything more than that and you should spend a little more. You're likely to get better performance in addition to better reliability in a more costly MB.

D.
 
Sigh lots of FUD here. ECS is the number #1 motherboard manufacturer for a reason. Offering a good matrix of Price and reliability to the OEMs and end users. Dell or Gateway does'nt want 10% of ther systems coming back.

Natually when you sell more, the price per board goes down because certain fixed costs are ammortized over more units. This explains thier low cost.

Make no mistake though, these are NOT ASUS or ABIT enthusiast boards who use high end capacitors, mosfets, and ADVERTISING😉 for extreme clcokers. But to say ESC is crap is a big mistake... thier biggest problem is PR because they don't have a enthusiast line of boards. However ECS or ASUS makes the PCB and basic circuitry for almost every brand of motherboard out there.

ECS makes ABIT and Shuttle for example.
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
Sigh lots of FUD here. ECS is the number #1 motherboard manufacturer for a reason. Offering a good matrix of Price and reliability to the OEMs and end users. Dell or Gateway does'nt want 10% of ther systems coming back.

Natually when you sell more, the price per board goes down because certain fixed costs are ammortized over more units. This explains thier low cost.

Make no mistake though, these are NOT ASUS or ABIT enthusiast boards who use high end capacitors, mosfets, and ADVERTISING😉 for extreme clcokers. But to say ESC is crap is a big mistake... thier biggest problem is PR because they don't have a enthusiast line of boards. However ECS or ASUS makes the PCB and basic circuitry for almost every brand of motherboard out there.

ECS makes ABIT and Shuttle for example.
Click to expand...

Actually, IIRC Asus would be the largest motherboard manufacturer, by far if count revenue.
Anyway, largest != best, or even good, McDonalds is the world's largest food chain, but I doubt many people would call them the best.

Me, I've had far too many issues with ECS motherboards to consider them a viable option, and I'm not talking about lack of features, but of quality.
My first ECS motherboard was a SS7 board, the L2 cache on it went bad after a few months.
Since then, I've ran into a few ECS motherboards in friends machines, most have had one issue or another.

Of course my sample size isn't nearly enough to make any kind of judgement about ECS, but with so many complaints about their quality, I tend to believe I haven't just had bad luck.
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
ECS makes ABIT and Shuttle for example.
Click to expand...

Not exactly. One ECS owned factory in mainland China produce some Abit and Shuttle boards. That's all. I would assume design, components and quality assurance testing, is entirely the responsibility of Abit and Shuttle. This is part of these companies struggle to outsource production into mainland China. Meanwhile, Abit seem to have been able to secure a mainland China factory for themselves...

But as you say, there is no reason to doubt ECS manufacturing as such. They have modern facilities and do a lot of boards for other brands. It's more a case of what goes into the ECS branded boards.

And ECS manufacturing volume is up there with ASUS. Which are the largest? Anyway, it's not the same as brand volume.

And actually, ECS = PC Chips, as was stated earlier, is also slightly false (I just checked).
There is close cooperation between PC Chips and ECS. But it's not the same brand, and it's not even the same company.

PC Chips is intended as a lowend, cheap brand.
ECS are aiming for the middle field. Design, choice of components and quality testing, as well as what factories they are being produced in, probably aims to reflect this. Whether ECS engineering is good enough to pull it off, is a different issue.
 
Originally posted by: Dahak
they are nice cheap boards if you are not planning on doing anything really odd like overclocking on them. I have had some of there amd based board fail on me (particulary the k/l7vmm2's), although I did burn out a ram slot in a k7s5a, and it still working to this day, and all the ones that i've worked with for intel chips, ive never really had any issues with them.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting, I had my DDR slot burned out in my K7AMA. It was a crappy board to begin with, had no OC options at all and it was just a plain cheap board. I have been much happier with my newer K7N2-Delta L from MSI. OP I would strongly look into others' experience with this particular board and do realize that this board is by no means an OCer or has the reliability as others do. If you want to save a little cash and expect a few problems then do what you will, otherwise I'd spend a little extra and get an MSI/Asus or such that has a good reputation. Good luck with your decision.

BTW the board you are looking at after 7 reviews only has 3 stars
 
It's really cheap compared to $75-85 abit or msi boards for the same features. I'm wondering if anyone has had any problems with ECS boards, b/c I just might buy it.
Click to expand...

When my MSI died in my backup PC(few years ago) I had to find a cheap replacement and at the time the ECS K7S5A Pro was my choice,the board is still going very strong with zero problems,like all things it does come down to money,if you can afford to spend the extra on a quality board like Asus,Epox,Abit etc.... then go for one of those etc... if it`s your main PC,for backup PC it`s not that important as long as it`s stable.

ECS are ok for cheap no frills/no overclocking boards, &amp; where your budget is tight or need a cheap replacement (like in my case).

I would normally advise the person in question to spend extra money on a quality motherboard, but then I would also advise them to buy a quality PSU,ram etc as well for the complete package.

Bottom line is you`ll probably find lots of ECS owners with both very good and bad experiences, so it really comes down to your budget and how much you`re willing to spend for your next motherboard.
 
animeba,OCWorkbench have a review of the higher model(i865PE),

n our tests, we ran the board using a P4 3.0C with HT enabled. RAM timings was set to CAS 2, 5-2-2. We ran the usual benchmarks and the Distributed Folding client which stresses the system a lot. It never fails and is stable.



Overall, the ECS PF1 is a package that you can consider if you intend to purchase a board that can serve you for the next few years.
Click to expand...
.


Review link.
 
Thanks for all your valuable advice. The OCWorkbench review is very helpful. From the comments so far, I believe ECS makes entry level/mid range boards. I think it will do just fine for a non-overclocker like me (who buys cheap ram, etc). 🙂
 
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