You know, sometimes when a product is not so extravagant as say the ASUS products like the X58 Rampage II Extreme, it can totally work out. This is the case with the ECS X58B-A motherboard. Here we have a motherboard that performance wise is fine, looks fantastic, has a pretty good design, yet does not have the overgenerous features that the ASUS or Gigabyte motherboards we tested offer. The result is still a top notch and feature rich motherboard, it's SLI and CrossfireX compatible, a total charmer when it comes to aesthetics, yet a third to even a half cheaper compared to the more high-end competing products.

The motherboard, in our CPU tests, was as fast as the competition (in baseline configuration). The disadvantage of the motherboard needs to be found in fairly average tweaking and overclocking options, the BIOS. None the less, say you purchase a Core i7 965 XE. Just enable the EIST function in the BIOS, and set the four CPU cores at say, a 27 Multiplier. That's an overclock at 3600 MHz on the fly, it worked flawlessly. For the none unlocked CPU savvy ones, you should be able to yield some decent results with that 133.33 MHz "FSB", 150+ MHz should be doable depending on your CPU.

I would like to ask ECS to open up the memory multiplier in the BIOS, as 1333 MHz is selling it a little too short... but that is the JEDEC specification for this processor series, and by raising that 133.33 MHz FSB you can also increase the memory frequency. ** Update - a new BIOS allows support for 1600 MHz now as well **

But the reality is simple, for seriously hefty overclocking, you need to look elsewhere. My advice to ECS is simple, focus on exactly this item, the BIOS versus tweakability. Once that improves, the stigma as an OEM manufacturer will be abolished.

Anyway, you have to agree with me, there's got to be a good market for both. Because not everybody would want to or can afford a 300 to 400 USD motherboard. So while the ECS overclocking BIOS features were a little sober, there's just nothing else wrong with the mainboard, from ground up you'll get all the X58 chipset features and a whole lot more than say, Intel's own X58 motherboard. So if the baseline performance of a Core i7 product is good enough for your humble self, I say why not? Really... it's fast... there is nothing, absolutely nothing I'd do or can say to get in your way to prevent you from purchasing this motherboard.

ECS addressed a lot of the remarks we made with regards to their previous high-end series motherboards. They clearly listened and adapted, we now see a proper heatpipe cooler, you get the six DIMM slots, the SLI certification, dual Gigabit Ethernet, optical TOSLINK, micro-switches, the black design PCB, good color scheme, eSATA connector next to six SATA II connectors, diagnostic LEDs and on and on.

At 250 USD, this is among the cheapest X58 based and feature rich motherboards you'll ever find. And sure it's not at the level of the ASUS X58 Rampage II for that matter, but guys, you know what? That motherboard will cost you 399 USD / 360 EUR...  and this ECS board 250 USD / 199 EUR, surely you can understand the point I'm trying to make here.

Yeah, if this product suits your budget, Guru3D can recommend it very much.

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