ECS Z87H3-A2X Extreme Motherboard

Conclusions

The ECS Z87H3-A2X Extreme is a lot of motherboard for the money. It costs less than its main competitors (such as the ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional) and yet it brings more features.

One of the strongest features of the product is its audio section, using the new Realtek ALC1150 codec, which provides superb signal-to-noise ratios, and a Realtek ALC5505 digital signal processor (DSP). This motherboard also features an amplifier for analog headphones.

The third PCI Express x16 slot of the ECS Z87H3-A2X is controlled by the CPU and therefore follows the 3.0 specification, and can be used to build CrossFireX arrays (the other two slots are also compatible with SLI). Other highlights include a Mini PCI Express slot supporting mSATA SSDs with a SATA-600 interface (several motherboards use SATA-300), two independent eSATA-600 ports, seven SATA-600 ports, and six USB 3.0 ports.

One of the additional features we liked the most on this motherboard was its three-digit display, which can be used not only to indicate an error code when the computer doesn’t turn on, but also to monitor the temperature of the CPU, the main voltage of the CPU, the total amount of power drawn by the CPU, and the temperature of the voltage regulator circuit.

Even though ECS has been improving a lot at each new motherboard the company releases, a closer look reveals where they saved money. In the case of this motherboard, the use of a Bluetooth 2.0 module instead of 4.0 as the competitors, the use of Realtek Gigabit Ethernet chips (while competitors use chips from Intel, which are more expensive and provide higher performance), and the use of a low-end Wi-Fi module with a maximum transfer rate of 150 Mbps.

Also, the lack of information on the product manual and the manufacturer’s website is simply ridiculous. For instance, there are no technical specifications for the audio codec and DSP, and these are probably the most important features of this motherboard. The configuration of the SATA ports is not clear. Also, there is no information about the Wi-Fi module that is used. This is very important to know, since the IEEE 802.11n specification allows several different configurations. As the Wi-Fi module supports only one antenna, we have to assume it only supports up to 150 Mbps, instead of 300 Mbps as on the modules with two antennas used by competing products.

And, finally, why can’t ECS choose easier-to-memorize names for their products? It was already confusing before, and now with the new L337 Gaming brand it is simply ridiculous. (“ECS L337 Gaming Gank Machine Z87H3-A2X Extreme?” Give us a break!)