ECS Z87H3-A2X Extreme Motherboard

Main Specifications

The main specifications for the ECS Z87H3-A2X Extreme include:

• Socket: LGA1150
• Chipset: Intel Z87 Express
• Super I/O: ITE IT8732
• Parallel ATA: None
• Serial ATA: Five SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset (RAID 0, 1, 10, and 5) and two SATA-600 ports controlled by an ASMedia ASM1061 chip
• External SATA: Two eSATA-600 ports controlled by another ASMedia ASM1061 chip
• USB 2.0: Eight USB 2.0 ports, four on the motherboard’s rear panel and four available through two headers on the motherboard
• USB 3.0: Six USB 3.0 ports, four available on the motherboard’s rear panel and two available through a header on the motherboard
• FireWire (IEEE 1394): None
• Thunderbolt: None
• On-board video: Controlled by the CPU; DisplayPort and HDMI connectors
• On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with a Realtek ALC1150 codec (7.1+2 channels, 24-bit resolution, 192 kHz sampling rate, 115 dB SNR for the outputs, and 104 dB SNR for the inputs) and a Realtek ALC5505 digital signal processor (DSP), on-board optical SPDIF output, and audio amplifier for analog headphones (Texas Instruments NE5532 chip)
• On-board LAN: Two Gigabit Ethernet ports, controlled by two Realtek RTL8111G chips, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11/a/b/g/n adapter, and Bluetooth 2.0 adapter
• Buzzer: Yes
• Infrared interface: No
• Power supply required: EPS12V
• Slots: Three PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slots (working at x16/x0/x0, x8/x8/x0 or x8/x4/x4), one PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot, one PCI slot (ITE IT8893 bridge chip), and one Mini PCI Express/mSATA-600 slot
• Memory: Four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to DDR3-3000, 32 GiB maximum)
• Fan connectors: One four-pin connector for the CPU cooler, one four-pin connector for an auxiliary fan, and two three-pin connectors for auxiliary fans
• Extra features: Two BIOS chips, POST diagnostics display (also monitoring voltage, temperature, and power), voltage monitoring points, and legacy serial port
• Number of CDs/DVDs provided: One
• Programs included: Motherboard utilities
• More Information: https://www.ecs.com.tw
• Average Price in the U.S.*: USD 240.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this First Look article.