ECS Z77H2-AX Golden motherboard preview - Page 2

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 04/09/2012 02:00 PM [ ] 0 comment(s)

Product Showcase

ECS z77h2-ax PREVIEW

Alright, I wanted to show you the packaging as well, as really .. it's all gold colored as well :)

ECS z77h2-ax PREVIEW

The Z77H2-AX is to be considered a mainstream to high end product and falls within the ECS Black Extreme series of motherboards.

As you can see all the metallic parts of the motherboards including capacitors, chokes, the PCH and VRM heatsinks, CPU socket frame and even the back panel have a golden-colored finish that definitely make the product look good.

CPU SUPPORT:	3rd Gen Intel Core i7 processor family for the LGA 1155 Socket
POWER DESIGN:	CPU Power: 12+2+1 Phase PCH Power: 1 Phase Memory Power: 1 Phase
CHIPSET:	Intel Z77 Express
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS:	Dependant on installed CPU
MEMORY:	4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB, DDR3 1066 to DDR3 2400
BIOS:	AMI EFI BIOS with 64 Mb Flash ROM
SLOTS:	3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots 2 x PCI slot 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots
HDD CONNECTIVITY:	2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Intel Z77) 2 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (Intel Z77) 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Asmedia ASM1061) 2 x eSATA 6.0 Gb/s (Intel Z77)
NETWORKING:	1 x Realtek RTL8111E PCIe Gigabit LAN
PORTS:	6 x USB 2.0 ports (4 at back panel, 2 at front panel) 6 x USB 3.0 ports (4 at back panel, 2 at front panel) 2 x eSATA port 1 x RJ45 LAN connectors 1 x Audio port with 5 audio jacks 1 x SPDIF Output(Optical) 1 x BIOS Button 1 x WiFi Connector 1 x Bluetooth Connector
AUDIO:	Realtek ALC892 HD CODEC
FORM FACTOR:	ATX Form Factor (305 mm x 244 mm)
EXCLUSIVE FEATURES:	eBLU eOC eDLU eSF QoolTech IV Virtu MVP 15u Gold Contact Gold4Ever Nonstop Technology

The PCB is deep piano-black, and so are all the expansion and DRAM slots, the gray and white colored slots are replaced. Most other plastic parts, such as SATA ports, ATX/EPS power connectors, are colored black. Two tones, we love it.

ECS z77h2-ax PREVIEW

The Z77H2-AX also includes all of the standardized Z77 enhancements like mSATA, Lucid Virtu MVP, Quicksync, 3D BIOS; as well as support for 2-way SLI and Crossfire. Included are a USB 3.0 bracket as well as gold plated rear IO panel, WiFi Antenna, 6 SATA cables, SLI bridges, drivers and manual.

ECS z77h2-ax PREVIEW

The I/O panel of the Z77H2-AX looks very luxurious. We spot four SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports with another four USB 2.0 ports. The motherboard features three PCIe x16 Gen 3.0 expansion slots and two PCIe x1 slots. There are also two legacy PCI slot. A 7.1 realtek ALC892 audio codec is the source for audio, and we spot a Realtek (RLT811E) 10/100/1000 fast Ethernet controller. But lets zoom in a little:

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ECS Z77H2-AX motherboard review
We review the ECS Z77H2-AX motherboard which screams gold and features. The Z77H2-AX is gold plated everywhere. The changes for Z77 primarily can be found in native USB 3.0 support as well as an upgrade towards PCie gen 3 PCIe x16 slots. ECS however really pimped out the motherboard with a lot .. seriously LOT of extra's with even embedded WIFI and Bluetooth.

ECS Z77H2-AX Golden motherboard preview
ECS of course will offer a good variety of Z77 products as well, today we preview the Z77H2-AX, a board that is going to surprise you. Dr. Evil's 'GOOOOOOOOOLD' will continuously pop into you mind whilst browsing through this review. The Z77H2-AX is gold plated everywhere. The motherboard of course is intended for Intel's 22nm processors that will be coming out later this year based on Socket LGA1155 however the motherboard also supports Sandy bridge processors like the Core i7 2600K. With this preview we are able to give you a closer look at the motherboard itself -- and really the pictures alone are worth it.