Printable View
Hi. I'm putting together an Athalon system. I'm pretty clear on everything I want except the brands of mb. Is anyone familiar w/ECS? Is it a good product? They have some good prices on PriceWatch.
Or any suggestions for other good MB brands would be appreciated.
Hal
[quote]Originally posted by Hal Courtney:
<strong>Hi. I'm putting together an Athalon system. I'm pretty clear on everything I want except the brands of mb. Is anyone familiar w/ECS? Is it a good product? They have some good prices on PriceWatch.
Or any suggestions for other good MB brands would be appreciated.
Hal</strong><hr></blockquote>
LOL for my opion go back and look at my posting in Motherboards called ECS=Evil. My dislike of ECS is because they use PCChips motherboards, which is the true evil. Others here say they swear by ECS.
My suggestion is this. Think about what you plan to do with the computer. Say you decide it's to be a gaming machine. Now find a review site that caters to gamers, such as Thresh's Firing Squad. Remember, Thresh, AKA Dennis Fong, bitch slapped John Carmak in a quake turnney, winning Carmack's Ferrari in the process. Anyhoo, their reviews are geard towords gamers. But don't just stop there an take Firing Squads word, go other places. Compare what these sites have to say against what the users here have to say..
By the way, my suggestion for a very stable, but not extremely fast (read STABLE) motherboard, is MSI (MicroStar Int.)
i have an ecs k7vza 3.x and to this day i have not had a problem. aside from the fact that when i first had the motherboard i had some crappy ram and xp kept crashing. but once i got some better ram all my problems when away.
My ECS K7AMA rocks! Quite fast and stable.
Athlon 1700XP.
K75SA is stable and is like hmmm. FAST! good boards.
I'd recommend them,
The only problems I've seen with ECS boards can be put down to user error. As I've said before, I've built PCs for gamers using this board and not had any complaints. A lot of people on this forum seem to look down their noses at cheap mobos (I used to as well!), but the K7S5A pleasantly surprised me. The fact that you can use your old PC133 SDRAM is an added bonus.
ECS has been decent for me in system builds...no major complaints from anyone that had one.
I had an Abit KT7A and it was nice but I have just gotten my MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU mobo and it is the best I have ever had. For about $135, you really can't go wrong especially with on board RAID and USB 2.0 support.
If you're on a budget also consider the Epox 8k7a. I have the RAID version of this board and it has been great.
6 PCI, 2 DDR. excellent overclocker.
only $75 at Pricewatch, last time i checked.
[quote]Originally posted by Chipzilla:
<strong>The only problems I've seen with ECS boards can be put down to user error. As I've said before, I've built PCs for gamers using this board and not had any complaints. A lot of people on this forum seem to look down their noses at cheap mobos (I used to as well!), but the K7S5A pleasantly surprised me. The fact that you can use your old PC133 SDRAM is an added bonus.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Sigh, yeah ECS using crappy PCChips motherboards is user error. Stupid users. Uh does any one actually thumb their nose at anything? I just kind of turn my head and nod no when some one mentions a cheap motherboard. I mean, if I wouldn't use one in my pc, why would I recommend it to some one else.
A little analogy..so bear with me. I used to race bikes. I still have my Bianchi racing bike which I put together myself. I love it. Celeste. Campagnolo. Dura-Ace..sigh..Anyway, in my family, I am the bike person. Anyone has a question about buying, they're referred to me. So my Aunt comes to me and wants advice on which bike to buy. I tell her for a good cheap road, go with Trek or Cannondale, money no object go Bianchi or Cinelli. For Mt. go Gary Fisher or Specialized. She blinks at me...Huh? They sell those at K-Mart??? WTH?? K-Mart? You're not buying your kid a K-mart Bike! She says But he'll ougrow it. I say not if you buy the right bike. Those pieces of crap aren't meant to last over a few months!! Why spend $150 on that when you can spend at least $250 on a Specialized?? Finally, since she refused to budge on the K-Mart I stopped talking. She asked for recommendation on what K-Mart bike to buy. I refused to answer.
The same holds true with pc parts. I use well known parts for my pc, so I wouldn't recommend an Imac to anyone. Nor would I recommend PCChips motherboards. It's just wrong!!
Again, ECS may make some kick *** boards, but the company sucks in my eyes for using PCChips...
[quote]Originally posted by Cobra:
<strong>ECS has been decent for me in system builds...no major complaints from anyone that had one.</strong><hr></blockquote>
[quote]Originally posted by Chipzilla:
<strong>The only problems I've seen with ECS boards can be put down to user error. As I've said before, I've built PCs for gamers using this board and not had any complaints. A lot of people on this forum seem to look down their noses at cheap mobos (I used to as well!), but the K7S5A pleasantly surprised me. The fact that you can use your old PC133 SDRAM is an added bonus.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree 100%
I have never had a problem with these boards,
furthermore, a customer of ours that tested amd cpu's, and was a known overclocker would buy lots ecs boards whenever we got a new shipment in.
He said something about the bios revisions of certain boards and how they left the trace circuits for the overclocking on the boards..
[quote]Originally posted by Lycia:
<strong>
so I wouldn't recommend an Imac to anyone. </strong><hr></blockquote>
THAT IS JUST PLAIN DOWN RIGHT LOW!!!!!!
I happen to own a Mac, only ever crashed once, I've seen PC's that crash more often then my best friend gets laid...
[quote]
<strong>
I want except the brands of mb. Is anyone familiar w/ECS? Is it a good product?
</strong>
<hr></blockquote>
ECS is the way to go is you have a budget, Read some reviews on the board before you buy it,
<a href="http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/01q3/010924/index.html" target="_blank">Here's</a> a review from Tom's Hardware Guide on the chipset and Board.
Good Luck picking your new board. :D
Hey Lycia, I don't know what you've been smoking, but pass some this way. A cheap board isn't a piece of crap just because it dies when someone forgets to switch the PC off before swapping cards. It would be nice if everyong could afford the nice things in life like you, but the sad fact is that not everyone can. I use an A7M266 in my main machine, but that doesn't mean I should put one in every machine I build (as your logic dictates). Now, nobody here has had a problem with this board except you - what does that tell you? I think I've pissed people off with my ranting in the past, but you're on course for a special award for your tedious posts...
[quote]Originally posted by Chipzilla:
<strong>Hey Lycia, I don't know what you've been smoking, but pass some this way. A cheap board isn't a piece of crap just because it dies when someone forgets to switch the PC off before swapping cards. It would be nice if everyong could afford the nice things in life like you, but the sad fact is that not everyone can. I use an A7M266 in my main machine, but that doesn't mean I should put one in every machine I build (as your logic dictates). Now, nobody here has had a problem with this board except you - what does that tell you? I think I've pissed people off with my ranting in the past, but you're on course for a special award for your tedious posts...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Bravo Chipzilla....
[quote]Originally posted by Chipzilla:
<strong>Hey Lycia, I don't know what you've been smoking, but pass some this way. A cheap board isn't a piece of crap just because it dies when someone forgets to switch the PC off before swapping cards. It would be nice if everyong could afford the nice things in life like you, but the sad fact is that not everyone can. I use an A7M266 in my main machine, but that doesn't mean I should put one in every machine I build (as your logic dictates). Now, nobody here has had a problem with this board except you - what does that tell you? I think I've pissed people off with my ranting in the past, but you're on course for a special award for your tedious posts...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Did you even bother to read what I posted before you "opened your mouth"?
Just highlighting the fact that your dislike of ECS seems to stem from the fact that you killed one swapping out cards with the power on. Why badmouth it at every opportunity? We've all heard you. Get over it.
Maybe she's badmouthing ECS not just because of that (I agree, pulling out a card while the system is on will damage any system) but because they use PC Chips crap...
[quote]Originally posted by Chipzilla:
<strong>Just highlighting the fact that your dislike of ECS seems to stem from the fact that you killed one swapping out cards with the power on. Why badmouth it at every opportunity? We've all heard you. Get over it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
OMG you really don't understand anything do you? Why do you bother to reply to anything? I'll say it slowly. I. do. not. like. ECS. as. a. company. because. they. use. PCChips. motherboards. Not. Becuase. I. Broke. the. AGP. slot. on. one. Why is it Jungleman is the only one who seems to understand this?
And if some one posts here asking about ECS motherboards, I will state my opinion. There's not a damn thing you can do about it. Oh wait, you can whine to the Mods "Lycia is posting about ECS boards again, and it's upsetting me!!" Just cut and past that...
O.k. This has deteriorated a bit too far off topic. Time to wrap it up.
BTW Lycia, I'm with you on this one. Some of us can read without inferring all kinds of extra interpretations....
To sum it all up: Buyer beware! If you buy the cheapest stuff you can find it may work just fine for you but you are flirting with increased odds for failure....
Topic Closed.