ECS Golden Board Z77H2-AX LGA 1155

[cadaveca]

A rare Golden weapon, forged to defeat one of the twin dragons, AMD and Intel, has emerged! The ECS Golden Board Z77H2-AX is a limited edition, highly rare sample sent to us directly from ECS, the first in a series that showcases the potential and new outlook ECS has adopted for 2012, and the future. And like any other rare weapon, the damage it inflicts is immense!

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[TheMailMan78]

Needs more gold!

 

[dj-electric]

At least they have finally updated their BIOS after 2 months

and guess what? ECS haven't even bothered to mention what they have changed in the new BIOS

If it wasn't for the looks, this board is a 7.5 IMO.

 

[TheMailMan78]

At least they have finally updated their BIOS after 2 months

and guess what? ECS haven't even bothered to mention what they have changed in the new BIOS

If it wasn't for the looks, this board is a 7.5 IMO.

Well the bios might have issues but it performs pretty damn good.

 

[Athlon2K15]

dave did you have issues with the 1866 memory divider on your board?

 

[dj-electric]

I have problems with the memory voltage here. A kit of 1.5V but works either on 1.42V or 1.55V, god knows why...

 

[cadaveca]

dave did you have issues with the 1866 memory divider on your board?

Nope. If you do, it's probably a combination of the board's BIOS, and the DIMMs. Also, as noted, BIOS-listed votlages are false, so when it says 1.65 V, it might actually be just 1.55 V.

I have problems with the memory voltage here. A kit of 1.5V but works either on 1.42V or 1.55V, god knows why...

Your board didn't have the gold card in it, i think it's a second-hand sample.


Should be 1.55 V, not 1.42 V, that's an odd one. Lowest mine goes is 1.55 V, perhaps this is something to do with memory instlled, and how the board reads SPD values. Hopefully new BIOS will fix these problems, because otherwise, the board is pretty good for an ECS!


I'll have a build log for rig with this board in the coming months, just need to tighten up the final details of the other parts!

 

[brandonwh64]

I could imagine this board with a gold PCB

 

[TheMailMan78]

I'll have a build log for rig with this board in the coming months, just need to tighten up the final details of the other parts!

Looking forward to the "PIMP MY RIG" pics!

 

[Major_A]

Its BIOS is broken, and overclocking isn't easy at all, but....

You still give it a 9.5? The BIOS is the most fundamental piece of the hardware. Without good software (BIOS) the board can't be good (see ABIT uGuru). The scores you guys give out continues to baffle me.

 

[dj-electric]

Major_A, i tried believe me. Dave insist that this board is a 9.5er, god knows why. As soon as im getting a new ASRock board... you know the rest.

 

[cadaveca]

You still give it a 9.5? The BIOS is the most fundamental piece of the hardware. Without good software (BIOS) the board can't be good (see ABIT uGuru). The scores you guys give out continues to baffle me.

It's just the voltage monitoring that is broken. Everything else worked just fine for me, and no aspect of that "broken" feature affected the board's ability to overclock, or the stability.

If it affected functionality, then OK, there'd be a big issue, but I found no other problems, even when running triple 6950's(barring AMD driver issues), and that's with both a 2600K and a 3770K.

As to scoring, market segment is considered. I don't compare mATX products to full ATX, and vice versa. I actually like that this board is a bit harder to overclock with...as the end result is the same.

 

[reverze]

for such an expensive board on a limited run they could at least include intel onboard nic and the best realtek onboard soundchip

 

[pokazene_maslo]

Typo: There are jsut three fna headers total, and only one can be controlled from within the BIOS.

...and still no mention about fan headers in specification table.

But thanks for a nice review!

 

[cadaveca]

Typo: There are jsut three fna headers total, and only one can be controlled from within the BIOS.

...and still no mention about fan headers in specification table.

But thanks for a nice review!

Thanks. Look for number of fan headers a few reviews from now, maybe the next one. The best info I can provide, while keeping things looking neat is the number and type( 3- or 4-pin).

 

[Maxforcess]

Nope. If you do, it's probably a combination of the board's BIOS, and the DIMMs. Also, as noted, BIOS-listed votlages are false, so when it says 1.65 V, it might actually be just 1.55 V.



Your board didn't have the gold card in it, i think it's a second-hand sample.

Mine has

How Do I fell?? Like number 3 Disappointed I wasn't the first

Looking forward to the "PIMP MY RIG" pics!

My is finished.

NIce motherboard. No problem to overclock 2600K@ 5Ghz+ 24/7 4.8GHz with offset

 

[dj-electric]

I see what you did there, very similar to what im building now

 

[Maxforcess]

all pictures
http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/3378.html
I use this board from April 15, stable like rock.Better than Gigabyte Z68 UD5 and Asus P67 PRO

 

[cadaveca]

all pictures
http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/3378.html
I use this board from April 15, stable like rock.Better than Gigabyte Z68 UD5 and Asus P67 PRO

Thanks for sharing. Mine is A004. Good to hear you got a good one as well.

 

[Maxforcess]

I'm just curious who got 001/002 to review motherboard.Mine 003 yours 004.
In new bios they disabled spread spectrum option. Now there is no choice.Always is on.

 

[cadaveca]

I'm just curious who got 001/002 to review motherboard.Mine 003 yours 004.
In new bios they disabled spread spectrum option. Now there is no choice.Always is on.

Yeah, I am curious too!!!

I leave that one option on always anyway. I try to not disable anything when overclocking, which means that my clocks might be a bit lower than some others might get with the same hardware, slightly, but I am not one to give up a feature for an extra 100 MHz.


I don't use "PLL overvoltage" option either. That can kill "sleep".

What memory are you using with the board?

 

[Maxforcess]

Now I'm using AMD Entertainment Edition PC3-12800 8GB previously I had 4GB of g.skill eco 1600 cl7 @ 2133 CL9
I have no need to use PLL overvoltage up to 51x multiplier for 24/7 is 48x

fast memory is only needed in synthetics benchmark

 

[dj-electric]

Thats some high voltage though... (1.43-1.44V~)

 

[Maxforcess]

1.344V isn't high

 

[dj-electric]

Use the multimeter to read the actual voltages and you might be disappointed