ECS G31T-M Mainboard (G31/ICH7)
Info: ECS
Price: 49 USD / 45 EUR

A week or three ago we had a peek at a graphics card from ECS. Quality item for sure. But what most of you probably do not know is that ECS Elitegroup is one of the largest players in the OEM industry for mainboards. Since a year or two they are trying to slip into the retail market though. They have a keen focus on the budget minded as for good performance you really don't need to spend 200 bucks on a mainboard.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) recently announced the release of two G31 chipset series motherboards – the G31T-M and P33T-A, along with the 945GCT-M2/1333. All three motherboards support Intel processors based on FSB speeds up to 1333MHz.

• CPU: FSB 1333/1066 MHz
• Chipset: Intel® G31 & ICH7
• Graphics: Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 (GMA3100)
• Memory: Dual-channel DDR2 memory architecture, 2 x 240-pin DDR2 DIMM, socket support up to 4 GB, Support DDR2 800/667 DDR SDRAM
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, 1 x PCI Express x1 slot, 2 x PCI slots
• Storage: Supported by Intel®ICH7: 2 x Ultra DMA100/66 devices, 4 x Serial ATA2 devices
• Audio: Realtek ALC662 6-channel HD audio CODEC

LAN: Realtek RTL8101E 10/100 LAN (co-lay RTL 8111B GigaLAN)

Both these G31T-M and P33T-A mainboards offer Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo processor support and have integrated Intel GMA 3100 (Intel GMA 3100) graphics.

Our review today will focus on the ECS G31T-M, a mainboard that is ready for all the latest Intel Core 2 duo and Quad processors; including the new 1333 MHz FSB CPU's.  The ECS G31T-M motherboard we are putting to a test today features the Intel's  Bearlake G31 and ICH7 chipsets, by supporting the latest Wolfdale, Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo processors; ECS G31T-M brings (as our tests will show) very good performance for a merely 50 EUR pricetag..

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