Test System

Initial Setup

Initial boot-up with the ECS GANK MACHINE was quick and simple, and installing device drivers off the CD was quick and painless. There is not a lot for me to say here because everything worked exactly as expected; and I noticed that the ECS GANK MACHINE runs with a stock Turbo profile.

Some boards have custom Turbo profiles that boost performance at "stock" settings, giving the appearance of having more performance than they actually do. A boosted Turbo profile becomes available when XMP is enabled or via a switch in the BIOS, but can also simply be disabled via the same option in the BIOS. I personally feel that a coupon for Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan should be included in the box to protect against CPU failures if boards use a Turbo profile without giving the end user a way to turn it off, or don't explicitly state doing so on the box. For more information on Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan, check their site found HERE.



I am sure a few of you know that I love the colors black and red for my rigs, and ECS's GANK MACHINE matches that appeal in spades. Stuffed full with my standard testing equipment, the GANK MACHINE really shows its true colors.


I did have an issue of sorts with the USB 3.0 header for the front panel of a chassis as it was located on the board's bottom edge. I instead found a measure point in its usual spot, within easy reach in my test bench.


I was rather impressed to see that all the buttons and such were easily accessible as well, even though I had two VGAs installed. The attention to detail here is very clear, and I love that the triple-digit LED POST display shows the letters “E-C-S” when you first power up the board.

Power Consumption

We measure CPU power consumption since one of our first tasks is to truly verify system stability. I isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings, and total wattage passed through. While this may not prove to isolate CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. Total system power consumption is no longer reported as this figure can change depending on what VGA is installed. The sole board-only power measurements possible without physically modifying a motherboard are those taken via the 8-pin CPU connector, making it the only figure of value worth reporting. I use wPrime with eight threads selected in its options since it provides a consistently high workload throughout the full length of the test and runs long enough for the VRM and CPU to produce a fair bit of heat. Most average workloads will draw far less than this, although distributed computing applications are quite similar. This is not supposed to test stability since I use several other applications to do so, but merely to provide repeatable power draw numbers that anyone can replicate. The meter used is an off-the-shelf Zalman unit that has been on the market for some time. It provides quite similar results in my test environment when compared to a FLUKE 337 clamp meter.


Power consumption of the ECS GANK MACHINE was good at both "stock" and when overclocked. The total draw is a bit higher than what I have seen on some other boards, but only by a couple watts, well within acceptable limits. The board's specialized VRM design pays off here.