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ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden Motherboard Review
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Back in the 1990’s the Elitegroup Computer Systesm, or ECS wasn’t a name that one would associate to high end motherboards. Typically during that time ECS was an OEM manufacture as well as provided budget motherboards to consumers. Over the decade, ECS has released a slew of products designed to compete in all market segments budget, mainstream, and enthusiast. The ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden motherboard is a good example of their progress from low-end OEM products to top tier Z87 enthusiast motherboard. The ECS Z87H3-A2X offers almost every option under the sun for a Z87 board as well as the promise of good performance.
[sc:sponsor sponsor=”ECS” product_link=”http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSite/Product/Product_Detail.aspx?DetailID=1476&CategoryID=1&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=181&LanID=0″ product_name=”Z87H3-AX Golden” product_price_link=”http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135358″ product_price=”289.99″ ]
| CPU | º Supports new 4rd gen Intel® Core™ family, Pentium, Celeron series processors in LGA1150 socket º DMI 5.0GT/s º 12 Phase Thermal Design Power º VRD 12.5 º 100% Solid capacitor design º Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology º Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology º Intel® K Series Unlock CPU Support º Please refer to CPU support list for details |
| CHIPSET | º Intel® Z87 Express Chipset º Intel® Smart Response Technology, Intel® Smart Connect Technology & Intel® Rapid Start Technolog |
| GRAPHICS | º Support Intel® HD Graphics 4000(Intel 4th gen CPU) º Supports DirectX® 11 .1 º *DirectX 11.1 – Only supported with the 4rd Gen Intel processors for LGA 1150 socket º Supports Intel® HD Graphics, InTru™ 3D, Quick Sync Video, Clear Video HD Technology, Insider™ º Supports HDMI 1.4a & Premium Audio º Supports LucidLogiX® Virtu™ MVP º Supports NVIDIA® 2-Way SLI º Supports ATI® 3-Way CrossFireX™ º Supports Full HD 1080P Blu-ray / HD-DVD Playback |
| MEMORY | º Dual-channel DDR3 Memory architecture º Supports DDR3 1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, Un-buffered SDRAM Memory º Supports up to 3000(OC),2933(OC),2800(OC) º 4 X 240-pin DDR3 DIMM socket º Support up to 32 GB* º Intel® extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 1.3/1.2 Memory Modules º Note:Please refer to the latest Memory support list for details º Note: DDR3_1 with DDR3_3 are the same channel, DDR3_2 with DDR3_4 are the same channel by Intel® Specification |
| EXPANSION SLOT | º 3 X PCI Express X16 Gen 3.0 slot(s) º 1 X PCI Express X 1 Gen 2.0 slot(s) º Supports NVIDIA® SLI Technology º Supports ATI® CrossfireX Technology º 1 X Mini PCI Express X1 slot(s)( Mini SATA supported) º 1 X PCI slot(s) º *When using two VGA cards, the bandwidth is @8 badnwidth; when using one VGA card, the bandwodth is @16. |
| Storage | º Support by Intel® Z87 Express Chipset • 5 X Serial ATAIII 6Gb/s Located in SATA3_1/2, SATA3_3/4, SATA3_7 Port º Support by ASM1061 Controler • 2 X Serial ATAIII 6Gb/s Located in EXSATA3_5/6 Port • 2 X eSATAIII 6Gb/s • RAID0, RAID1,RAID5, RAID 10 configuration º Supports Intel® Rapid Storage Technology º Supports NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions |
| Audio | º 8-Channel HD audio CODEC º Compliant with HD audio specification º Realtek ALC1150+ALC5505 8-channel High Definition audio CODEC º BluRay DVD/HD DVD support |
| LAN | º Dual Realtek 8111G Gigabit Fast Ethernet Controller º Wake-On-LAN º Dual LAN with Teaming function º Ultra low power consumption |
| Wireless | º Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN |
| Bluetooth | º Supports Bluetooth V2.0 |
| USB | º Support by Z87 Express Chipset • 6 X USB3.0 port(s) up to 5Gb/s Back Panel 4 port(s) Onboard 2 port(s) • 8 X USB2.0 port(s) Up to 480 Mb/s Back Panel 4 port(s) Onboard 4 port(s) º ECS EZ Charger (Gray USB header) |
| REAR PANEL I/O | º 1 X Audio port (Line-in,4x Line-out, SPDIF out) º 2 X RJ-45 port with teaming function º 1 X HDMI port(s) º 1 X Display port º 1 X Wireless LAN Dongle º 1 X Bluetooth Dongle º 2 X eSATA 6Gb/s port(s) º 4 X USB3.0 port(s) º 4 X USB2.0 port(s) º 1 X Clear_CMOS Button |
| CONNECTORS & HEADERS | º 1 X 24-pin ATX Power Supply connector º 1 X 8-pin ATX 12V Power Connector º 1 X 4-pin CPU_FAN connector º 1 X 4-pin SYS_FAN connector º 1 X 3-pin PWR_FAN connector º 1 X Power on button º 1 X Reset button º 1 X Clear_CMOS button º 1 X Front Panel switch/LED header º 1 X Front panel audio header º 1 X Onboard Buzzer º 1 X USB 3.0 header • Support additional 2 USB ports º 2 X USB 2.0 header • Support additional 4 USB ports º Support EZ charger (gray color) º 1 X CLR_CMOS header º 1 X Serial port header (COM) º 1 X mSATA connector º 1 X 7S-LED Display º 1 X ME_UNLOCK header º 1 X Chassis intrusion header º 1 X Voltage measure points º 1 X 80P Switch button º 1 X Quick OC button º 1 X BIOS set button º 1 X ROM Backup button |
| SYSTEM BIOS | º AMI BIOS with 64×2 MB SPI Flash ROM º Supports M.I.B X Utility º Supports ACPI 3.0 & DMI º F7 hot key for boot up devices option º Over-Clocking º Graphic OC Support º Dual Display º Support ECS EZ BIOS º Plug and Play, STR (S3) / STD (S4) , Hardware monitor, Multi Boot º Multi-Language BIOS º Audio, LAN, can be disabled in BIOS º Dual BIOS º Dual-Monitor function |
| FORM FACTOR | º ATX Form Factor º 305mm(W) X 244mm(H) |
| OS Support | º Windows 7 32-bit º Windows 7 64-bit º Windows 8 32-bit º Windows 8 64-bit |
| Certifications | º CE/FCC Certification º ErP/EuP Certification º WHCK Certification |
| Bundled Software | º ECS Intelligent EZ Utility : eBLU, eDLU, eOC, eSF º Free Bundle: Norton Internet Security ,CyberLink PowerDVD, CyberLink PowerDirector 9, Muzee with trial version º Creative Sound Blaster Cinema software |
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this board is funky. i like that it splays GANK proudly on the cover. so many connotation. then the heatsinks remind me of a waves and a waverunner. its like the motherboard a middle east dictator would use.
Thanks for the excellent review Tom. Those are my thoughts exactly Vajoiner. lol. GANK is an unfortunate name for a motherboard. There’s plenty of great ideas on this board but the price tag is certainly extremely high (although affordable to mid-east dictators. lol)