ECS P43T-A2 Motherboard

(4.0 star rating) Written by: William Ford

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The latest motherboard offering from ECS, the ECS P43T-A2, is a solid mid-range motherboard for the average PC user and typical PC gamer. It supports most of the latest LGA775 based Intel processors, and supports the latest graphics, memory and networking products as well. The person who is looking for this motherboard is going to be looking for the best mix of functionality versus price comparatively. Read on as we take a look at this bang-for-your-buck focused motherboard.

Design

When you take on the task of building a new computer (or rebuilding an old one) the most important part you have to decide on is the motherboard. First you have to decide what platform you want to go with (AMD, Intel, Cyrix, etc…) and then you need to find the right motherboard that offers everything you need to do what you want to do with this new computer. That is why each manufacturer makes so many different models of motherboards because what may be the most important task for my computer may not necessarily be the most important task for yours.

The P43T-A2 supports all LGA775 Intel processors including the 45nm Core 2 Quad. It supports DDR2 memory up to 16GB with dual channel configuration. It also supports gigabit LAN, 6 channel surround HD audio and PCI-Express graphics using a generation 2 16X PCI-e slot. The board does not support SLI graphics - but with a good graphics card it does not hinder gaming with this board at all.

In the Box

• ECS P43T-A2 Motherboard
• Users Guide
• Driver and application CD
• ATA133 ribbon data cable
• SATA data cable
• Rear I/O panel plate cover
• Quick start guide
• Bag of screws and stand-off screws and washers

Retail box	Box contents	Overhead View

Features

• Supports Intel LGA775 processors
• 4 DIMM slots supporting dual channel up to 16GB DDR2 800MHz
• Gigabit LAN
• North Bridge – Intel P43
• South Bridge – Intel ICH10
• 6 Channel HD audio
• 1 PCI-e 16x slot
• 2 PCI-e 1x slots
• 2 PCI slots
• 4 SATA channels supporting 4 3Gb/s drives
• RAID controller supporting 2 additional 3Gb/s drives
• Support for 2 ATA drives (ATA33, 66, 100, or 133)
• Front audio support
• Front USB support
• 2 rear USB ports
• 1 rear serial port
• Supports up to 3 case fans
• Uses 24-pin EATX power supply
• BIOS/Firmware: AMI

Setup and Installation

I installed a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3 GHz processor in the board along with a EVGA GeForce 8800GT graphics card. I used 4GB of G-Skill PC26400 memory and a Hitachi 500GB SATA 3Gb/s hard drive. I also installed Windows Vista Home Premium x64 for the operating system. The initial boot was extremely fast and it only took about 20 minutes to install Windows Vista. After installing the software and drivers, I ran 3DMark06 on the system for a gamer’s perspective of the system’s power and performance. The results were impressive enough and I will include the results of the game tests on the next page of this review, but the real test is using real world applications.

While this is not likely an issue for most users, there is no parallel port on this motherboard nor is there support for a traditional floppy drive. Both of those technologies have pretty much been laid to rest these days; however, if you need either you may want to consider a different motherboard. Only USB and LAN printers are supported on this baby (without additional upgrades of course). The only legacy port on this board is a single lonely serial port which most people will have absolutely no use for either.