ECS GANK MACHINE Z87H3-A2X EXTREME (Intel LGA 1150)

cadaveca · Sep 3, 2013

Like a mad rush of level 60 rogues, the ECS GANK MACHINE launches its assault on the Intel Haswell platform in a way no other would even attempt, going straight for the kill. Built with gaming in mind, and a bit of overclocking, too, the ECS GANK MACHINE not only surprised me, but left me feeling helpless, and under-skilled.

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hero1 · Dec 18, 2013

They need to step it up with the colour scheme here. An all black board would have been better.

eidairaman1 · Dec 18, 2013

cough boring at that, The board is a major step up from their boards in the past, I had a few ECS- good stock boards- better than Intels offering at the time. I want to see this in Skt 2011 and AM3+, FM2+

Delta6326 · Dec 18, 2013

Crappy name, but good performance. I'm still waiting for that ASUS MAXIMUS VI GENE review...

MxPhenom 216 · Dec 18, 2013

The name of this board alone deserves are 10.

ensabrenoir · Dec 18, 2013

.....been looking to try something different found some cases for cheap..... next its either this or giga. or maybe both

FreedomEclipse · Dec 19, 2013

Am i the only one that seems to think the overclocking bench results were kind of a mixed bag?? They seem to be all over the place.

I love the inclusion of the Msata/Mini-Pcie slot though. Be nice to get some SSD caching going on.... but not that it matters now since Samsung have Rapid Mode on their 840 drives which caches data to any ram you may have spare and ram is almost infinitely faster. Anandtech did an article/review on Samsungs 840 Evo with Rapid mode and speeds hit 3.8Gbits

Imagine using rapid mode if you had 3100mhz ram!!

erocker · Dec 19, 2013

They need to find an urban dictionary and find out what "gank" means.

Thanks for the review Dave!

FreedomEclipse · Dec 19, 2013

erocker said:
They need to find an urban dictionary and find out what "gank" means.

Buy 6 ECS motherboards, build 6 machines - Gank other nubs on F@H/WCG or bitcoin farms

cadaveca · Dec 19, 2013

erocker said:
They need to find an urban dictionary and find out what "gank" means.

Thanks for the review Dave!

Gank means to attack with overwhelming power, by surprise.

Example:

"I thought I was ready to fight, but instead, I just got ganked by a horde of goblins"

FreedomEclipse said:
Am i the only one that seems to think the overclocking bench results were kind of a mixed bag?? They seem to be all over the place.

They are, a bit, but there's nothing really out of place...the BIOS is tuned(timings and Turbo adjusted) for specific use, which leads to that behavior. It also doesn't use all cores @ the same multi where many boards in those results do, since I report "out-of-the-box" performance for stock. That's why I have that little paragraph about how I feel about boards enabling the same multi out of the box, and about Intel's Tuning Plan."

FreedomEclipse said:
Imagine using rapid mode if you had 3100mhz ram!!

Hmm. Not sure how to take this, since I got that 3100 MHz Avexir kit....are you mailing me a Samsung SSD?

FreedomEclipse · Dec 19, 2013

cadaveca said:
Hmm. Not sure how to take this, since I got that 3100 MHz Avexir kit....are you mailing me a Samsung SSD?

On the contrary - I thought you were gonna mail me the 3100mhz kit!! Ive had a few days to test Rapid Mode with my dads new build though Hes only got some LP Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz sticks. I do want a samsung 840 but my Plextor M5 Pro is less than 8 months old. I think Rapid Mode would benefit me quite a bit as I have BF3 & 4 installed on my ssd (boot) drive.

It also makes more sense because i have 16Gigs of Kingston Hyper X Beast - 8Gigs of which are probably doing nothing at all but its all about dat quad channel yo

micropage7 · Dec 19, 2013

erocker said:
They need to find an urban dictionary and find out what "gank" means.

Thanks for the review Dave!

yeah, thats weird name
why dont they use something like "G-Level"

FreedomEclipse · Dec 19, 2013

micropage7 said:
yeah, thats weird name
why dont they use something like "G-Level"

Because it sounds shit? (I wanted to say cuz it sounded gay but that would be a tad immature)

cadaveca · Dec 19, 2013

micropage7 said:
yeah, thats weird name
why dont they use something like "G-Level"

DRONE, GANK and DOMINATION are the board names in this series. I have the other two sitting here. Those names are very much gaming-oriented, where as G-level...or whatever, might not be as recognizable.

micropage7 · Dec 19, 2013

cadaveca said:
DRONE, GANK and DOMINATION are the board names in this series. I have the other two sitting here. Those names are very much gaming-oriented, where as G-level...or whatever, might not be as recognizable.

yep, name could give some image about the hardware, like gaming, workstation, for oc, and like that
drone and domination sounds good
i hope ECS would give us better alternative board since ECS is old player

erixx · Dec 19, 2013

just out of linguistical interest. gank, does it come from gang-ed (i.e. overtaken by a gang)?

cokker · Dec 19, 2013

"GANK MACHINE" "L337 GAMING" ugh sounds like a COD player gave them a bunch of buzz words....

Sasqui · Dec 19, 2013

Nice review Dave...

Look up "Keibane Airport" ICAO name... then look up the definition in the urban dictionary:

The term gank has several meanings, but often implies an overwhelmingly large group or much higher leveled player killing you and/or your group. ("A 60 Hordie ganked me"" or "Alliance players are ganking lowbies") It frequently carries the implication the attack is overwhelming or otherwise clearly biased against the individual, either being substantial lower in level or having been previously weakened by an unrelated threat.

Successful ganks usually consist of very short fights and depend on tactics like high burst DPS and the ability to hide; Rogues are the prototypical ganker. Areas such as "Ganklethorn Vale" and Hillsbrad Foothills are infamous for ganking, as they are locations that naturally overlap differently-leveled characters of opposing factions.

FreedomEclipse · Dec 19, 2013

cokker said:
"GANK MACHINE" "L337 GAMING" ugh sounds like a COD player gave them a bunch of buzz words....

Actually GANK is more of an mmorpg term... I played guildwars for 7years, i should know

Ja.KooLit · Dec 19, 2013

getting off topic now from the previous post...

well I was surprised that it perform good. I know ECS has done some boards but they are not really well known here in korea....

I was searching for z87 boards online earlier and this board has caught my attention..

I then immediately search and dave has a review. I started reading and I was amazed by the performance. It is not the best but it is not the worst. Some of the benchmarks, they are between 2nd to 4th.

One reason caught my attention is the PCI E allocation. At most new boards now, they have PCI E 1.0 as first slot (excluded boards with PLX and x79) and then PCI E 3.0. But this board has PCI 3.0 as first slot. I like it like this..... :peace:

anyway, i will keep an eye on their upcoming boards, :clap:

fullinfusion · Dec 19, 2013

Nice review man!

I say the bios is easy on the eyes, and also love the bios back up feature!

What the hell is that big ass chip top right of the memory slots?

Ja.KooLit · Dec 19, 2013

fullinfusion said:
Nice review man!

I say the bios is easy on the eyes, and also love the bios back up feature!

What the hell is that big ass chip top right of the memory slots?

AMI bios? but I could be wrong.....

but i saw this close up pics

http://www.pcper.com/image/view/30026?return=node/58284

further searching:

http://www.ami.com/Products/BIOSandEFIFirmware/Aptio/

cadaveca · Dec 20, 2013

fullinfusion said:
Nice review man!

I say the bios is easy on the eyes, and also love the bios back up feature!

What the hell is that big ass chip top right of the memory slots?

It's an ITE Super I/O chip. night.fox is reading the sticker on top, but that's not exactly what's under the sticker....ECS does that fairly regularly, putting the BIOS sticker on the SuperI/O chip..

micropage7 · Dec 20, 2013

night.fox said:
getting off topic now from the previous post...

well I was surprised that it perform good. I know ECS has done some boards but they are not really well known here in korea....

I was searching for z87 boards online earlier and this board has caught my attention..

I then immediately search and dave has a review. I started reading and I was amazed by the performance. It is not the best but it is not the worst. Some of the benchmarks, they are between 2nd to 4th.

One reason caught my attention is the PCI E allocation. At most new boards now, they have PCI E 1.0 as first slot (excluded boards with PLX and x79) and then PCI E 3.0. But this board has PCI 3.0 as first slot. I like it like this.....

anyway, i will keep an eye on their upcoming boards,

yep in here most people know ECS as just value board
although not on the top of the line so far ECS gives good performance and their price is good too

fullinfusion · Dec 20, 2013

cadaveca said:
It's an ITE Super I/O chip. night.fox is reading the sticker on top, but that's not exactly what's under the sticker....ECS does that fairly regularly, putting the BIOS sticker on the SuperI/O chip..

Bios chip? wth man?

I see two soldered chips on the lower board for the bios!

Weird but ok I trust ya :peace:

System Name	Redemption(Fractal DD XL R2 mod)
Processor	Intel Core i7 4770K
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z97X-G1 Gaming BLK WIFI
Cooling	Water Cooled
Memory	G. Skill Ripjaws Z 16 GB 1866 MHz
Video Card(s)	2 x Gigabyte R9 290X with EK blocks
Storage	256 GB Samsung 830 SSD
Display(s)	Dell U2713HM
Case	Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Modified)
Audio Device(s)	Creative SB Z
Power Supply	Silverstone Stider Evolution 1000 Watt Gold with individual MDPC sleeves
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64

System Name	THE CUBE 2.0
Processor	Intel i5 13600k
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z690 EDGE DDR4
Cooling	Phanteks PH-TC14PE BK 2x T30-120 Fan mod mount
Memory	G.Skill TridentZ 3200 MT/s C15 32GB 2x16GB
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Aorus 1080 Ti 11GB OC: Core 2GHz, Mem 5.7GHz
Storage	WD SN770 250GB / 3x WD SN850X 2TB / Toshiba X300 4TB / 2x RAID1 Toshiba P300 3TB
Display(s)	Samsung 49" Odyssey OLED G95SC 240Hz 5120 x 1440
Case	"THE CUBE" Custom built, pure Red Alder wood
Audio Device(s)	Beyerdynamic DT 880
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000X
Mouse	Logitech G700
Keyboard	Logitech G910
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	Ryzen Reflection
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling	2x EK PE360 \| TechN AM4 AMD Block Black \| EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory	Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s)	Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G \| 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage	WD SN850 500GB (OS) \| Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) \| Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s)	Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS \| Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS \| Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case	Lian Li PC-011D XL \| Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s)	FiiO K7 \| Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse	Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard	Corsair K65 Plus 75% Wireless - USB Mode
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit

System Name	iJayo
Processor	i7 14700k
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX z790-E wifi
Cooling	Pearless Assasi
Memory	32 gigs Corsair Vengence
Video Card(s)	Nvidia RTX 2070 Super
Storage	1tb 840 evo, Itb samsung M.2 ssd 1 & 3 tb seagate hdd, 120 gig Hyper X ssd
Display(s)	42" Nec retail display monitor/ 34" Dell curved 165hz monitor
Case	O11 mini
Audio Device(s)	M-Audio monitors
Power Supply	LIan li 750 mini
Mouse	corsair Dark Saber
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121
Software	Window 11 pro
Benchmark Scores	meh... feel me on the battle field!

ECS GANK MACHINE Z87H3-A2X EXTREME (Intel LGA 1150)

cadaveca

My name is Dave

hero1

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

Delta6326

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

ensabrenoir

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

erocker

*

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

cadaveca

My name is Dave

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

micropage7

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

cadaveca

My name is Dave

micropage7

erixx

cokker

Sasqui

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

Ja.KooLit

fullinfusion

Vanguard Beta Tester

Ja.KooLit

cadaveca

My name is Dave

micropage7

fullinfusion

Vanguard Beta Tester

System Name	DarnGosh Edition
Processor	AMD 7800X3D
Motherboard	MSI X670E GAMING PLUS
Cooling	Thermalright AM5 Contact Frame + Phantom Spirit 120SE
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO DDR5 6000 CL32-38-38-96
Video Card(s)	Asus Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage	WD SN770 1TB (Boot)\| 2x 2TB WD SN770 (Gaming)\| 2x 2TB Crucial BX500\| 2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300
Display(s)	LG GP850-B
Case	Corsair 760T (White) {1xCorsair ML120 Pro\|5xML140 Pro}
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V573\|Speakers: JBL Control One\|Auna 300-CN\|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-850 80+ GOLD
Mouse	Logitech G502 X
Keyboard	Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software	Windows 11 Home
Benchmark Scores	ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD m.2
Display(s)	LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Tester84
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Dave
Processor	AMD R7 7700X
Motherboard	Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX
Cooling	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120
Memory	2x16GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 6000 Tuned
Video Card(s)	Pailt Nvidia RTX 4080 Gamerock Omniblack
Storage	2x 500GB 1x 1TB NVME's
Display(s)	iiyama ProLite XUB3493WQSU-B1
Case	Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact
Audio Device(s)	Couple of USB DAC's
Power Supply	Be Quiet Pure Power 12M 850w
Mouse	Logitech G305
Keyboard	Wooting 2
Software	Microshaft Winhoes 11
Benchmark Scores	NO BENCH! ONLY GAME!

System Name	Senile
Processor	I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard	MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling	Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory	16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage	Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s)	34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (34401440) FREE_SYNC*
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply	Corsair HX750
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software	Win 10

System Name	Gen2
Processor	Ryzen R9 5950X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair Viii Hero Wifi
Cooling	Lian Li 360 Galahad
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 64gb @ 3600 Mhz CL14-13-13-24 1T @ 1.45V
Video Card(s)	Sapphire RX 6900 XT Nitro+
Storage	Seagate 520 1TB + Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB + lots of HDD's
Display(s)	Samsung Odyssey G7
Case	Lian Li PC-O11D XL White
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex SE Platinum 1000W
Mouse	Xenics Titan GX Air Wireless
Keyboard	Kemove Snowfox 61
Software	Main: Gentoo+Arch + Windows 11
Benchmark Scores	Have tried but can't beat the leaders :)