ECS Z370 Lightsaber Motherboard Review

UEFI Features

ECS included the latest revision of their UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) EZ BIOS. 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. By default, the user sees the EZ Mode screen when entering the UEFI. The Advanced mode screens is accessible via the Advanced Mode button at the upper right corner of the screen. The EZ Mode screen can be access via the Back to EZ Mode link on the Exit tab.

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 to be well maintained 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.

EZ Mode

The EZ Mode page houses a graphical interface with high level board, temperature, voltage, and fan speed information shown.

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab

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.

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab, LED Light Configuration page

In the LED Light Configuration page (accessed from a link in the M.I.B. X tab), ECS integrated settings to configure the color of the LEDs integrated into the audio PCB line and LED attached to the integrated headers.

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab, Profile configuration page

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab, Profile configuration page, Select Profile popup

The Profile Configuration page allows the user to store or restore up to eight full UEFI settings profiles. Further, profiles can be saved or retrieved from attached USB devices.

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab, CPU OverClocking Configuration page

The CPU OverClocking Configuration page houses the CPU ratio settings and Turbo mode settings. Additionally, the processor’s Ring bus speed can be configured via the Ring Max OC ratio setting.

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab, Memory Configuration page

The Memory Configuration page houses the normal memory settings, organized by subsections using the normal scrolling fashion.

Advanced Mode, M.I.B. X tab, Over Voltage Configuration page

The Over Voltage Configuration page contains the board voltage settings, including those for the processor and memory settings. The voltages can be configured with a mix of override, adaptive, and additive settings.