UEFI Features
ECS included the latest revision of their UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) EZ BIOS with the the Z97-PK motherboard. The UEFI offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages with enhanced mouse navigation supported by right clicking the mouse – goes back to previous view if inside a settings pop-up or on a sub-menu page. ECS did not include any type of screen capture utility in the BIOS.
While much simpler when compared with other motherboard manufacturer's UEFI implementations, the ECS implementation is clean and masterfully designed. I found the mouse and keyboard responsiveness within the BIOS to be usable with no noticeable lag.
UEFI Notable Features
The ECS UEFI implementation contains no fancy interfaces or ground-breaking designs, but it functions well and has an intuitive layout. As long as you can find the settings you're looking for and the interface is responsive, any other additions are little more than glitz and window dressing. The UEFI has two operation modes – Basic and Advanced.
Basic Mode
The Basic mode page houses a graphical interface with high level board, temperature, voltage, and fan speed information shown.
Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X section
The Advanced Mode interface houses the more advanced board related setting with all overclocking and performance related settings centralized under the M.I.B. X tab. M.I.B. X stands for MB Intelligent BIOS X, designed with a series of sub-menus containing logically divided performance settings.
UEFI Walk through – Performance-related Settings, Advanced Mode
Main tab
M.I.B. X tab
M.I.B. X tab, CPU OverClocking Configuration page
M.I.B. X tab, Memory Configuration page, XMP mode active
M.I.B. X tab, Memory Configuration page, Manual mode active
M.I.B. X tab, Memory Configuration page continued
M.I.B. X tab, Over Voltage Configuration page
M.I.B. X tab, Profile Configuration page
M.I.B. X tab, Profile Configuration, Profile Select list popup
Advanced tab
Advanced tab, PC Health Status page
Advanced tab, PC Health Status page, Smart Fan Function, Smart Fan Mode popup
Advanced tab, CPU Configuration page
$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. 😆