ECS X79R-AX (Black Extreme) Review
by Ian Cutress on January 13, 2012 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- ECS
- X79
Every time I come across an ECS board, I'm not sure what to expect. ECS is a company with roots firmly in the pan-Asia OEM market, and their consumer/enthusiast lines account for a small percentage of their total revenue. One would assume therefore that their consumer lines aren't perhaps top priority when it comes to production. Nevertheless, they are pushing more at consumer lines with products like the X79R-AX.
In summary, the good - three year warranty (3 years parts, 2 years labor), on board WiFi, twelve SATA ports, dual NICs, Bluetooth, Power/Reset/Debug LED, working fan controls, one-button OC results, in-the-box bundle contains a lot of SATA cables and a USB 3.0 front panel.
The bad - NICs are Realtek and I'm sure some users would have preferred Intel, only 4 DIMM slots rather than 8, Realtek ALC892 audio rather than the ALC898 used by other products in this price range, most overclocking methods with the 12/26/2011 BIOS are not working, runs a little hotter than its competitors, software hasn't changed much in a few years, limited failed overclock recovery.
Personally, I like the feature set of this board, and if you're reading in January 2012, ECS currently have a mail-in rebate scheme in place making this board a penny under $260, which could positively be eyed as a bargain. Wifi, dual NIC, twelve SATA ports, working fan controls, nice OC - if I had a spare Sandy Bridge-E processor, this would probably be my home system right now. At its usual MSRP of $309.99, I can compare it to a couple of boards I've already tested - the Intel DX79SI (MSRP $300) and the ASUS P9X79 Pro (MSRP $330). Without going into significant detail, the ECS board is preferential to the Intel board I tested, both in terms of features and performance. If you read my ASUS review, I gave the P9X79 Pro a rare AnandTech Silver reward, due to innovation of the X79 concept. Pitching the ECS against the ASUS at $310 vs. $330 results in a win for the ASUS - but at $260 for the ECS with the current rebate scheme, it's a tough choice and down to the individual and how they feel about each manufacturer.
If this ECS board was rock solid out of the package, I'd have to give it a Silver Award for the combination of features and price, without a doubt. Unfortunately, the BIOS still needs work on the OC, the software could do with an update, and some of the more premium onboard features were cut down (Audio, DIMMs, Ethernet controllers), presumably for market segmentation and to save on board cost. But stick in 16 GB, put it on the working auto-OC setting, a couple of GPUs and up to 12 SATA drives, connect to your home wireless, and I can imagine you would have a nice and happy system at your fingertips. For that, I'd have to at least give the board a recommendation, and at the rebate price, an Anandtech Bronze Award.
ECS X79R-AX (Black Extreme)
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connor4312 - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
Good mobo, great price (relatively). Now if only the 3930k would come back in stock...Ratman6161 - Monday, January 16, 2012 - link
That may not be true if you want a 32 GB memory configuration. With 4 Dimm slots you need 8 GB modules where with the boards with 8 slots you can use cheaper 4 GB modules. Checked NE and saw 4x8 kits going for about $100 more than 8x4. If 16 GB is enough for you (and honestly, how many people really NEED more than 16 GB) then this won't matter. But if you want to go for 32 it may actually come out cheaper to buy a more expensive mother board with 8 slots.gw33dz - Friday, January 20, 2012 - link
That's a good point, on the other hand, if your going the way of 2011 then your going for performance, and i believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that 4 populated ram slots will perform better than 8, in quad channel. I've based this on the principals of dual channel, and I would actually appreciate confirmation either way if my assumption is correct. Those 8GB module kits are pricey at the moment, but another benefit (if you need the 32GB) will be lower power consumption and therefore less heat generation.It's interesting to note with this mobo the dual GB Network adapters, I really wonder why most other x79's are neglecting this feature.
flipmode - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
There are some golden rules to follow once it comes to building your own computer. One of those golden rules is:Do *NOT* buy ECS.
ECS sucks. I don't care if they accidentally did an "OK" job this time. Surely their BIOS support will be a total disappointment just as it is already clear that they cut a bunch of corners on this board to begin with.
Do *NOT* buy ECS.
AssBall - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
I dunno if you had some bad experiences or what, but I have done a few builds with ECS and thought the quality and reliability were pretty good. Also always an excellent value.I never tried one of their enthusiast boards though.
futurepastnow - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
Years ago, ECS merged with another company, PC Chips, which many years earlier infamously sold 486 motherboards with fake caches and counterfeit chipsets.Some geeks never forget.
estover - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
futurepastnow said:"Years ago, ECS merged with another company, PC Chips, which many years earlier infamously sold 486 motherboards with fake caches and counterfeit chipsets.
Some geeks never forget."
Yep I'm one of them. When I think of ECS, I think shit!
iamkyle - Saturday, January 14, 2012 - link
They're called 'Extreme Crap Systems' for a reason, you know.piroroadkill - Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - link
Yeah. PC Chips boards were absolute bottom of the rung, and so were ECS.I know about the fake cache chips on the boards too.
Wesleyrpg - Sunday, January 15, 2012 - link
i remember this, im fact im sure i switched boards from VLB to PCI, and still ended up with a board with fake cache (on both boards).Was around August 1995 if i remember correctly! (i was in uni at the time and didn't have alot of money for an expensive board)
Maybe i should send ECS an invoice for two motherboards...... :)