ECS NFORCE4-A939 - any good?

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

I'm considering upgrading my PC to an AMD64 with PCI-E based system. Support
for PCI-E and AMD64 only really arrived just before Christmas so it's still
early days.

I've been watching the topics in alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus about the
new Asus A8N-SLi motherboard which looks like a great board for about £95
here in the UK. However, after been burnt (tee hee, a joke) with buying a
useless AOpen DVD burner recently before checking the reviews, I've been
interested in the problems people have been having. There have been quite a
few BIOS upgrades and problems reported over there which has made me hang on
for a while. Lots of BIOS upgrades can be taken one of both ways - the
manufacturer is keen to support and resolve issues or they didn't test it
enough 🙂

Anyway, I happened to wander over to www.pcnextday.co.uk to check prices and
came across the ECS NFORCE4-A939 motherboard. What caught my eye was the
price tag of £66 which is a lot cheaper.

The ECS web site has the following post:

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/NewsRoom/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=185&MENUID=14&LanID=0

And there's a link to the Computer Shopper article - short but sweet.

I've never come across ECS before - anyone got anything to say about them
and in particular this board?

Thanks, Rob.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:13:43 GMT, "Rob Nicholson"
<rob.nicholson@nospam-unforgettable.com> wrote:

>>Anyway, I happened to wander over to www.pcnextday.co.uk to check prices and
>>came across the ECS NFORCE4-A939 motherboard. What caught my eye was the
>>price tag of £66 which is a lot cheaper.
>>
>>The ECS web site has the following post:
>>
>>http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/NewsRoom/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=185&MENUID=14&LanID=0
>>
>>And there's a link to the Computer Shopper article - short but sweet.
>>
>>I've never come across ECS before - anyone got anything to say about them
>>and in particular this board?
In my mind, ECS stands for Extremely Cheap Stuff :)

I know two people whose ECS boards just up and died for no apparent
reason. Those boards were replaced with Asus boards.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> Anyway, I happened to wander over to www.pcnextday.co.uk to check prices
> and came across the ECS NFORCE4-A939 motherboard. What caught my eye was
> the price tag of £66 which is a lot cheaper.

PS. I know this this the Asus website but I thought readers who have been
looking at the A8N might have also thought about the new ECS board.

Cheers, Rob.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> In my mind, ECS stands for Extremely Cheap Stuff :)

I can understand that especially when the motherboards are so much cheaper
🙂 But although I'd never heard of ECS, they're not exactly a small outfit.
Quote "ECS is one of the world's largest motherboard manufacturers":

http://www.crn.vnunet.com/news/1158378

> I know two people whose ECS boards just up and died for no apparent
> reason. Those boards were replaced with Asus boards.

Equally, I've also had Gigabyte boards blow up as well. But hear what you're
saying...

Cheers, Rob.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

"Rob Nicholson" <rob.nicholson@nospam-unforgettable.com> wrote in message
news:7XDYd.17279$3A6.8182@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
>> In my mind, ECS stands for Extremely Cheap Stuff :)
>
> I can understand that especially when the motherboards are so much cheaper
> 🙂 But although I'd never heard of ECS, they're not exactly a small
> outfit. Quote "ECS is one of the world's largest motherboard
> manufacturers":
>
> http://www.crn.vnunet.com/news/1158378
>
> > I know two people whose ECS boards just up and died for no apparent
>> reason. Those boards were replaced with Asus boards.
>
> Equally, I've also had Gigabyte boards blow up as well. But hear what
> you're saying...
>
> Cheers, Rob.
Had nothing but trouble with ECS - Never agin!

SteveH
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:44:17 GMT, "SteveH"
<steve.hough@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>"Rob Nicholson" <rob.nicholson@nospam-unforgettable.com> wrote in message
>news:7XDYd.17279$3A6.8182@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
>>> In my mind, ECS stands for Extremely Cheap Stuff :)
>>
>> I can understand that especially when the motherboards are so much cheaper
>> 🙂 But although I'd never heard of ECS, they're not exactly a small
>> outfit. Quote "ECS is one of the world's largest motherboard
>> manufacturers":
>>
>> http://www.crn.vnunet.com/news/1158378
>>
>> > I know two people whose ECS boards just up and died for no apparent
>>> reason. Those boards were replaced with Asus boards.
>>
>> Equally, I've also had Gigabyte boards blow up as well. But hear what
>> you're saying...
>>
>> Cheers, Rob.
>Had nothing but trouble with ECS - Never agin!
>
>SteveH
>

I have one ECS I bought in summer of 2000, it still works fine (stable)
but has some weirdness to it, like AGP 4X will only run @ 2X, changing
ram timings doesn't do anything, making a backup image under Ghost 2003
(DOS) is super slow (80MB/Min.), so all in all it works but doesn't
perform very well. I doubt I ever buy an ECS again, my favorite boards
are still Asus and MSI.

Good Luck,
Ed
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> I know two people whose ECS boards just up and died for no apparent
> reason. Those boards were replaced with Asus boards.

The same goes for Matsonic.

A friend had one of those in an el-cheapo 'Novatech Motherboard and
XP2500+' bundle. It caused him no end of troubles (instability, random
crashes, etc.). I told him to get an A7N8X-E and all the problems just
vanished (with a bit of a performance and sound quality boost into the
bargain).
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> I've never come across ECS before - anyone got anything to say about them
> and in particular this board?
>

ECS are the company behind PC Chips, they specialise in low budget
motherboards - used a few in the past, they're OK but nothing to write home
about. I'm in a similar position to yourself, and am currently leaning
towards either the A8N SLi Deluxe or the MSI equivalent. I wouldn't use
something cheap like an ECS in a machine for myself, I'd only use one if I
had to build down to a budget.

Hellraiser.........>
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> ram timings doesn't do anything, making a backup image under Ghost 2003
> (DOS) is super slow (80MB/Min.), so all in all it works but doesn't

Is that across the network or to another local hard disk? We usually expect
around 100MB/Min across 100MBit network so 80MB/Min doesn't sound too bad.

Cheers, Rob.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

In article <2k5631l7vcorfrs38ha813s8cnr6bd8msi@4ax.com>, Ed
<nomail@hotmail.com> writes

>making a backup image under Ghost 2003
>(DOS) is super slow (80MB/Min.)

hint: "ghost.exe /ide:yes"

--
..sigmonster on vacation
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

I have their pt800ce-a and just got a ati x800xt agp and it does not work in
it and I just got off the phone with a person that use to work for ecs in
teck support and he said that the problem is more then likely due to that
fact that they use cheap parts.but I have an asus p4c800 deluxe to change it
with.find out tomorrow.you get what you pay for.
"Hellraiser" <hellraiser1.nospam@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:39gklvF60adrnU1@individual.net...
>
> > I've never come across ECS before - anyone got anything to say about
them
> > and in particular this board?
> >
>
> ECS are the company behind PC Chips, they specialise in low budget
> motherboards - used a few in the past, they're OK but nothing to write
home
> about. I'm in a similar position to yourself, and am currently leaning
> towards either the A8N SLi Deluxe or the MSI equivalent. I wouldn't use
> something cheap like an ECS in a machine for myself, I'd only use one if I
> had to build down to a budget.
>
> Hellraiser.........>
>
>
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

In article <39gklvF60adrnU1@individual.net>, Hellraiser <hellraiser1.nos
pam@blueyonder.co.uk> writes

>ECS are the company behind PC Chips, they specialise in low budget
>motherboards - used a few in the past, they're OK but nothing to write home
>about. I'm in a similar position to yourself, and am currently leaning
>towards either the A8N SLi Deluxe or the MSI equivalent. I wouldn't use
>something cheap like an ECS in a machine for myself

Agreed. We're using Asus A8Vs in machines at work and they are very
good boards. If you're going to get a good CPU, it's worth using decent
hardware with it IMO.

--
..sigmonster on vacation
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

virtually no quality control and no dealer or customer support for RMA. I
know a dealer who threw out 50 boards in a year because ECS refused to
exchange or repair them. Of course, he doesn't sell any ECS products
anymore, I wonder why? Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, people who will actually create
BISO updates that work and replace or repair a defective board, I'd stick to
them. There are non-SLI NForce 4 Ultra boards coming from these companies,
wait for them. You'll likely regret it if you don't.

"Brad Clarke" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:lp0631thfeb9v34gk4i38jfi1n90837vqc@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 13:13:43 GMT, "Rob Nicholson"
> <rob.nicholson@nospam-unforgettable.com> wrote:
>
>>>Anyway, I happened to wander over to www.pcnextday.co.uk to check prices
>>>and
>>>came across the ECS NFORCE4-A939 motherboard. What caught my eye was the
>>>price tag of £66 which is a lot cheaper.
>>>
>>>The ECS web site has the following post:
>>>
>>>http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/NewsRoom/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=185&MENUID=14&LanID=0
>>>
>>>And there's a link to the Computer Shopper article - short but sweet.
>>>
>>>I've never come across ECS before - anyone got anything to say about them
>>>and in particular this board?
> In my mind, ECS stands for Extremely Cheap Stuff :)
>
> I know two people whose ECS boards just up and died for no apparent
> reason. Those boards were replaced with Asus boards.
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:53:05 GMT, "Rob Nicholson"
<rob.nicholson@nospam-unforgettable.com> wrote:

>> ram timings doesn't do anything, making a backup image under Ghost 2003
>> (DOS) is super slow (80MB/Min.), so all in all it works but doesn't
>
>Is that across the network or to another local hard disk? We usually expect
>around 100MB/Min across 100MBit network so 80MB/Min doesn't sound too bad.
>
>Cheers, Rob.
>

No network. The drive was fast under Windows just really slow in DOS, on
a Soyo board w/same VIA chipsets it was around 350MB/Min.
Ed
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> Agreed. We're using Asus A8Vs in machines at work and they are very
> good boards. If you're going to get a good CPU, it's worth using decent
> hardware with it IMO.

Bloody hell, people agreeing with me rather than flaming me - can't let this
continue, or my reputation may suffer :)

Hellraiser..........>
 
Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

> Bloody hell, people agreeing with me rather than flaming me - can't let
this
> continue, or my reputation may suffer :)

Okay, okay - I'll avoid ECS 🙂

Cheers, Rob.
 
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