AnandTech reviews the ECS KA1 MVP Extreme (US$125), an AMD Socket 939 motherboard that features the ATI CrossFire Xpress 200 (RD480) / ATI SB450 chipsets, 4 x DDR 400 memory slots, 2 x PCI-E x16 (each slot operates in 1x8 mode in CrossFire mode), 4 x SATA 1.5Gb/s, 2 x SATA 3Gb/s (NCQ, Hot Plug), 2 x UltraDMA 133, SATA 1.5Gb/s - RAID 0, RAID 1, SATA 3Gb/s - RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, Gigabit LAN & 10/100 LAN, 8-channel capable HD Audio Codec, and 1394A capable Firewire.
While the performance of the SB450 is lacking in certain areas and peripheral performance is an issue, the SATA 1.5Gb/s and IDE performance along with availability is certainly not. The layout is a bit quirky but with the right components it works beautifully. The colors are a bit disjointed for our tastes but works well in modded cases for those looking to trip the lights fantastic. The US $125 price is high when compared to other solutions such as the Abit AT-8, EPoX EP-9U1697-GLI, or Asus A8R-MVP but is more than acceptable when comparing it to the DFI LANParty UT RDX200, Asus A8N-SLI Premium, or Asus A8R32-MVP. The benchmark, game, general application, and overclocking performance numbers that were average are now very good to excellent. In the end, this is what the board should be judged on and for those reasons we have gone from merely tolerating the board to really embracing it. [AnandTech]
In the review, the simple BIOS update boosted the motherboard's performance. This illustrates how it is important for users to be aware of the updates that manufacturers release for their products. Who knows, maybe the peripheral you are currently in your system can be turned from average to an excellent product; all that is needed is a simple BIOS update.
Technorati: ECS, Extreme, Crossfire, AMD, Motherboard, 939, PC, Hardware, Review
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