ECS 755-A2: Performance and Value for the Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on January 30, 2004 8:51 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ECS 755-A2: Tech Support and RMA
For your reference, we will repost our latest support evaluation procedure here:The way our Tech Support evaluation works is first, we anonymously email the manufacturer's tech support address(es), obviously not using our AnandTech mail server to avoid any sort of preferential treatment. Our emails (we can and will send more than one just to make sure we're not getting the staff on an "off" day) all contain fixable problems that we've had with our motherboard. We allow the manufacturer up to 72 (business) hours to respond, and then we will report whether or not they responded within the time allotted, and if they were successful in fixing our problems. In case we don't receive a response before the review is published, any future responses will be added to the review, including the total time it took for the manufacturer to respond to our requests.
The idea here is to encourage manufacturers to improve their technical support as well as provide new criteria upon which to base your motherboard purchasing decisions. As motherboards become more similar everyday, we have to help separate the boys from the men in as many ways as possible. As usual, we're interested in your feedback on this and other parts of our reviews, so please do email us with your comments.
To access ECS Technical Support, you can fill out a Technical Support form on-line at ECS' Support Center. You can also email your request to support@ecsusa.com, and ECS also lists telephone contact numbers at the their web site. ECS replied to our tech support request very quickly. After sending off our online request to ECS' tech support team, we received a response from ECS in just 32 hours. This is a decent response time, and the reply was accurate in diagnosing the problem. From the perspective of a new system builder, we believe the reply would have been very helpful in diagnosing the problem. Additional contact information was also provided to contact ECS if we had any other tech support questions. This type of information can be very helpful in getting quick answers to technical support questions.
ECS' RMA policy and warranty are listed below; their motherboards are covered by a relatively standard 1-year warranty. The 1-year warranty is fairly standard with motherboards, but some other manufacturers offer up to a 3-year warranty on their motherboards, or at least on their premium-priced boards.
The ECS RMA policy is clear and easy to follow, but ECS' RMA policy is pretty restrictive compared to other motherboard manufacturers. Basically, ECS only offers Warranty Repair to the Company that purchased the board from ECS, since an original ECS invoice is required. While this is often the method preferred by other motherboard manufacturers, there are usually exceptions for direct RMA replacement by the manufacturer. Keep in mind, it is the only acceptable method for ECS, and you will have to return your board to the vendor from where you bought it for warranty service. Since you are only allowed to RMA a board if you purchase directly from ECS, you need to be careful to ask the vendor who sells you the ECS board how they handle warranty repairs and replacement.ECS RETURN (RMA) POLICY
Warranty Period
* ECS Warranty is offered to direct customers with valid ECS invoice only.
All ECS motherboards are covered by a one (1) year warranty on parts and labor against defects in workmanship and manufacturing. The warranty is effective from the date of ECS' original invoice, unless stated otherwise in writing.
Contacting ECS for Warranty Service
To return products for warranty service you must first obtain a return merchandise authorization ("RMA") number by entering the RMA Request and click the submit button above. A RMA number is valid for 30 days from date of issuance. RMA returns will be thoroughly tested as to all complaints and sent back to customers within 10 working days following receipt of the products by ECS. In the event a defective board cannot be repaired, ECS reserves the right to replace it with like-new refurbished product.
Please Note:
- Do you buy from our authorized distributors?
- If not, we recommend you buy from our authorized distributors to ensure the warranty coverage. We have experienced some websites are selling phase out products, out-of-warranty products, and refurbished products at a below market price. Please be aware that it is to your own risk if you purchased any of the above-mentioned products.
- We, as a Manufacturer, will support products that are under Manufacturer warranty. If products you have are out-of-warranty, phase-out, or damaged and you choose to have us service you, the cost of service is $50 to repair/refurbish and one-way ground freight. Usually product will ship within 10 business days. Please send money to esales@ecsusa.com via www.paypal.com and clearly specify your request on the SUBJECT line and NOTE section including your motherboard serial number. We will email you a RMA# with detail how-to and where-to ship to instruction upon receiving your payment.
- Physical damage, mishandling, mis-use, illegal modifications, no serial number and missing parts will automatically void the warranty. All items MUST be returned properly packaged & protected. Any item(s) returned in envelopes will VOID THE WARRANTY, NO EXCEPTIONS!
- Packaging / Shipping Procedures
- Returned items must be packed properly and safely, preferably in their original box. Shipment of returned items should be prepaid and insured by customers via a carrier of their choice. A packing list together with a copy of the RMA Control Sheet should be attached on the outside of boxes. The RMA number should be clearly marked on the outside of the package.
- ECS will pay for the return of items to the customer via UPS, FedEx or trucking company. Any special delivery required may be available upon request as additional cost. Items damaged in transit are not covered under warranty and ECS is not liable for delays or errors on the part of any carrier. Any item shipped to ECS without RMA numbers printed on the boxes will be returned to senders.
- Please return ALL accessories such as cables, diskettes or manuals to ECS.
- Discrepancies in Shipments
- ECS Customer Service representatives will inform customers if any discrepancy is found in category and/or quantity of items received. All non-ECS products will be sent back to customers without further notice.
- Ship returned products to:
45401 Research Avenue, Fremont CA 94539.
Our business hours are 9am-5pm PST, Monday-Friday.
We are CLOSED Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays.
ECS reserves the right to change this policy without advance notice.
All-in-all, the ECS RMA procedure is much less friendly to the end-user than the excellent Technical Support from ECS. The moral is this: be sure to ask about warranty and return policies when buying an ECS board. While the RMA form asks for the usual information, such as personal info, system specifications, etc., only the direct ECS customer can receive warranty service, at least in the US.
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14 Comments
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Glenngalata - Saturday, June 5, 2004 - link
While the review on this board is well written, the overall statements made on the quality of the motherboard and the RMA process is extremely generous to say the least.ECS motherboards (and the company) are by far the most difficult to work with due to the total lack of reasonable support the company gives to its customers.
All top tier manufacturers are moving to 3 year warranties unlike ECS whose 1 year offering is a clear indictation of "buy at your own risk" marketing.
Asus allows the end user to deal directly with the company for RMA purposes and this feature alone is worth any price premium over a throw away prodcut line.
The author is being very kind in many areas of the ECS/Customer relationship and at this point in time i have spent more time, frustration and money on long distance phone calls trying to deal with a manufacturer who simply does not acknowlege its own shortcomings product and service wise.
You get what you pay for and if the manufacturer does not give a direct end user oriented,3 year warranty deal, stay clear and spend the extra for some peace of mind.
Memn0ch - Monday, April 26, 2004 - link
Do you want ECS 755-A2 as a freebie?http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwb/ultimatebb.php?ubb...
gglawits - Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - link
I saw the 755-A2 at Newegg yesterday. For $90, if memory serves.Cheers,
Greg
justly - Sunday, February 1, 2004 - link
I do understand your aggravation with the 755-A, the thing is this article is not about the 755-A is it.If you want to call the 755-A2 a POS then lets not stop there, lets also claim ATi drivers are just as bad now as they ever where, or that AMD will always be subpar to Intel in performance.
Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning ECS for putting out a product that obviously did not have enough testing, or for changing their website.
As for the claim that the 755-A does not support DDR 400, that may be true, but as long as the possibility exists that it can work with at least one brand of DDR 400 at DDR 400 speeds that conclusion can only be considered theory not fact. Does that mean that the 755-A is a good product, absolutely not.
Since you brought up a car analogy I will try to use it even though I normally try to avoid them since they often use bogus/exaggerated information. With that in mind you need to consider that Chevy may do their testing to get the best HP rating possible. This means Chevy could test using a new air filter, premium gasoline, new oil and filter and even at a specific ambient temp and relative humidity ect.ect... so unless everything is configured exactly the same a lower HP will result, it may not be much, but if Chevy does this they can make the HP rating accurate, but never obtainable in real life.
Does Chevy do this, it wouldn't surprise me if they did. Did ECS do something similar with the 755-A, maybe. Was it done on purpose, I doubt it. Was it poor judgment on ECS part, yes. Do I think this is user error, definatly not, its obvious you have a lot of experiance. Did you get duped into buying a subpar product, yes. Do I think all this talk about the 755-A belongs here or on the regular fourms, considering this is a direct link from a article about the 755-A2 I would say most if not all the comments about the 755-A belongs on the regular forums, at least that is my opinion.
NFS4 - Saturday, January 31, 2004 - link
Justly, the point is not that board was just "buggy", it simply doesn't have what they EXPLICITY stated was a supported feature of the board.(1) They said that the 755-A supported DDR400 memory on their website.
(2) Vendors and other venues stated that the board supported DDR400
(3) The BIOS had setting for DDR400 memory speeds.
(4) The motherboard box says RIGHT THERE IN PLAIN ENGLISH that it supports DDR400.
Then when you try to test the board, it's only running at DDR333 speeds despite if you're using DDR400 or higher memory. And the only thing that ECS does is drop the specs down to DDR333 on their website instead of issuing a statement saying that their board doesn't work as advertised.
It'd be all the same if Chevy announced that their C6 Corvette has 400 HP at the wheels. The dealers list that spec as well. Customers go and buy a C6 and notice that performance is down a bit. They put their car on a dyno and it's making 350HP at the wheels instead. This result is then repeated by countless others that have purchased C6's.
And I SHOULDN'T have to use a hacked BIOS to get it to work either.
justly - Saturday, January 31, 2004 - link
I don't see the reason to bash the 755-A2 just because of the troubles that people had with the 755-A. The 755-A was the very fist production board that used the SIS chipset.Since when did first production run of anything not have quirks or room for improvement. Granted, the 755-A may have had more quirks than most. The thing is you can argue this from both sides. My take on the 755-A is that any enthusiast that expects top of the line, trouble free performance with the least expensive motherboard available (and the first production run of that board to boot) is betting on a long shot, and is bound to loose in most cases. Sorry if I offended anyone.
As for the 755-A2 it looks like a decent option IMO, although it maybe never be the perfered choice for the hardcore enthusiast.
Wesley Fink - Saturday, January 31, 2004 - link
AMDMB and others have flashed the A2 BIOS to Rev A boards and found that DDR400 then works fine. The mod in the ECS Forum there has his basic Samsung memory now running at DDR432 after the flash. He also reports the memory timings from the 12/25 A2 are now on his Rev A and they work fine.In addition a BIOS modder has uncovered hidden vCore adjustments and additional options in the 12/25 A2 BIOS. You can find tne 12/25 BIOS at the AMDMB Forums ECS Forum at http://forums.amdmb.com/showthread.php?s=&thre... I am told the modded BIOS will also post there soon.
NFS4 - Saturday, January 31, 2004 - link
KillaKilla, I got a Biostar NF3 board from ZipZoomFlyTrogdorJW - Saturday, January 31, 2004 - link
This board is a perfect example of why 64-bit is really meaningless for the most part. Two DIMM slots? Not that it really matters, since pretty much all of the other A64 motherboards have issues with populating all three DIMM slots anyway.The reason to buy Athlon 64 is that it's faster (and cheaper, relative to the 3.0 and 3.2 GHz P4 chips) in 32-bit software. (Just purchased parts for a 3000+ for a friend - I'll be building it this weekend.) 64-bit software will come during the life of the PC, sure, but you definitely won't need to switch to 64-bit anytime soon. Unless youre running into memory limitations, in which case you better be prepared to pony-up for the Opteron or Athlon FX!
As for ECS, I've only used two of their motherboards in my PC building life, and neither one impressed me. They may work okay, but I question the long-term choice of their boards over MSI, Asus, A-bit, etc. The 755-A was a prime example of why I no longer consider ECS boards an option. On the bright side, they're usually hella cheap. (And you get what you pay for....)
KristopherKubicki - Friday, January 30, 2004 - link
Unfortunately since we have labs all over the country we try to standardize as much as possible. Even though Wesley used a 9800 Pro, he used the same testbed that Anand, Derek and Evan use - we eliminate as many variables as possible.Kristopher