We spent a couple of days with the ECS X79R-AX before beginning our review. The last ECS product we looked at didn't leave us very impressed, but the ECS X79R-AX was clearly cut from a different cloth. There were a few issues we encountered, but nothing that truly prevented us from getting the most out of the hardware we installed with the ECS X79R-AX. The accessory package is fantastic, with cabling for every drive plug, and speaking of drive plugs, the ECS X79R-AX is the only board that we are aware of that actually enabled the SAS-support that is inside all Intel X79 Express chipsets, but disabled in most instances. Combined with the ability to run four cards in either Crossfire or SLI mode, the ECS manages to pack in a fair bit of ability that nothing else in the same price range can lay claim to. The XMP v1.3 issue, and a lack of an extended Crossfire bridge did impact the final scoring a bit, as we had to see a high-end board miss out on optimal configurations without having to spend more money on something as simple as a Crossfire bridge, but because that particular issue isn't one that will affect all users, it's big, but still relatively minor, all things considered. That leaves us giving the ECS X79R-AX a big "Recommended" award. Good job, ECS! Don’t forget to hit us up in the forums to help you get your ECS X79R-AX running at the extreme edge of performance...the "Black Extreme"!