ECS G45T-M2 Motherboard Conclusion
Submitted by jwhitakr on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 19:08
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Click here for the Newegg.com lowest price on the ECS G45T-M2 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard! |
Usage and Performance
The onboard Realtek ALC888 HD audio sounds fantastic with a good set of 7.1 surround speakers and is capable of a full 8 channel surround. The onboard video supports HDCP and has both D-Sub and DVI output; keep in mind that in order to view Blu-Ray movies need the HDCP support. So you can install a Blu-Ray drive and watch Blu-Ray movies without having to spend any extra money on a DX10 compatible video card. However, as far as 3D gaming goes, we were not as impressed with the onboard video. It is sufficient for day-to-day tasks, but does not cut it for gaming. There is a PCI-Express 16X slot for installing a good graphics card and that is exactly what we did. We installed the EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB and then the system played 3D games extremely well.
The gigabit LAN interface came in handy for downloading the massive amount of Windows updates and Avast antivirus software that we installed. The 10/100/1000 network also allows you to connect with older computers using the slower network interfaces so there is no compatibility issues regardless of your network speed. The fast LAN connection also makes a great deal of difference when gaming on a gigabit network; there is virtually no lag at all.
One of the nicest features of the board is the potential for 12 USB 2.0 ports. You have four ports on the I/O panel and 4 internal headers that give you the option of having eight more ports, all of which can be front panel ports if your case allows it. Unfortunately, as with the ECS P43T-A2, there are no IEEE 1394 FireWire ports on this board. If you want to connect a camcorder that uses FireWire, you will need to install a PCI FireWire card and that will only leave one PCI slot free. You will still have a PCI-Express 1X slot for upgrading as well.
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Test Setup
- Operating System: Vista Home Premium x64
- Motherboard: ECS G45T-M2
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad E6600 @ 2.40GHz
- Memory: 4GB G-Skill DDR2 6400
- CPU Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P
- Video card: EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
- Hard drive: Hitachi 500GB SATA
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ECS G45T-M2 Motherboard
The ECS G45T-M2 motherboard is a relatively inexpensive, decent performing motherboard for a HTPC, home office or personal computer system. It sports some of the latest technologies without completely severing ties with legacy devices. Floppy drives and parallel printers aside, the rest is pretty much current technology making this a fairly decent motherboard to use as a base for a home computer system. With a pretty inexpensive price and rock-solid stability, this motherboard is definitely recommended.
Pros: HDCP compatible onboard video, 8 channel surround, floppy and parallel support, completely stable.
Cons: No 40-pin ATA controller, no FireWire, no stand-off screws included.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
