Bundled Applications
- ECS Intelligent EZ Utility
- eBLU
- eDLU
- eOC
- eSF
- Norton Internet Security
- CyberLink PowerDVD
- CyberLink PowerDirector 9
- Muzee with trial version
ECS includes a streamlined set of windows applets for configuring and monitoring the board, collectively called the ECS Intelligent EZ Utility. This collection is made up of four applets – eSF, eDLU, eBLU, and eOC. eSF is a smart fan utility from which you can configure the operation of fans connected to any of the on board fan headers. eDLU is a driver update utility and eBLU is a BIOS update utility. eOC can be used for configuration and monitoring of board voltage and bus speed settings for windows-based overclocking.
eOC
The e0C applet provides rudimentary controls for temperature and voltage monitoring as well as in-Windows voltage manipulation.
Easy Tuning page
Advanced Tuning page
Options page
eSF
The eSF applet allows for setup of BIOS control or user control of system and CPU fans attached to the system using voltage based on configured temperature thresholds.
$80 for a Z97 board is
$80 for a Z97 board is killer. Don’t really need H97 boards if Z97 can be so cheap (and it’s not alone, with the PCMate from MSI being a nicer board for $20 more). The layout is weird, though – what’s with the Ghost of PCI Past? If they were going to leave any of the slots without an actual slot, it should have been the one below the primary x16 slot, since it’s always blocked by a dual-wide cooler anyway.
Also, typo on page 2 – you identified the CMOS battery as being to the left of the primary slot when it’s to the right.
Thanks for pointing out that
Thanks for pointing out that oversight. Fixed…
Lack of M.2 or Sata-express
Lack of M.2 or Sata-express on a value oriented Z97 motherboard cannot be a con at all. Most of the people purchasing these motherboards dont really care for the additional connectivity of storage devices in form of m.2 or Sata express. They are more than happy with 6 Sata ports available to connect 1SSD/HDD they will be using in their PC.
Lol i7@4.7GHz with that vrm,
Lol i7@4.7GHz with that vrm, I don’t think that would work very long before those fets are fried(what is that 2 or 3-phase anyway?)… maybe decent mobo for pentium g3258, but I would not oc i5 or i7 on that.
Nice review but honestly,
Nice review but honestly, who’s gonna buy this? 3 Phase power and a 4 pin? No heatsink for mosfets?
Yeah price is nice but for who?
You want to overclock the G3258, you grab something like the H81M-P33 which is 45 bucks. You want to overclock an i5 or i7, you grab something more suitable.
This is honestly a garbage product. I don’t care how inexpensive it is. There is a limit to how much you can skimp. I would pay 20 dollars more for something like the Gigabyte Z97-HD3 for piece of mind.
I wouldn’t put an I-7 on this
I wouldn’t put an I-7 on this board, no sirree!
At the most I’d put in an I-5, but not a K series as overclocking makes the TDP go higher than what the bare minimum VRM can handle.
Probably ideal for a budget gamer who wants intel over AMD and wants a z97 chipset…
I agree, but a $330 CPU on an
I agree, but a $330 CPU on an $80 mobo doesn’t make much sense anyway. The motherboard is like the cardiac system. Too big a brain (CPU) would result in cardiac arrest. 😆