ECS H55 mini-ITX cheap

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MtnHermit
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ECS H55 mini-ITX cheap

Post by MtnHermit » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:52 am


ces
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Re: ECS H55 mini-ITX cheap

Post by ces » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:15 am

MtnHermit wrote: buyer beware.
Why?

ilovejedd
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Re: ECS H55 mini-ITX cheap

Post by ilovejedd » Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:17 am

ces wrote:
MtnHermit wrote: buyer beware.
Why?
It's ECS. They're not really known for high quality.

frostedflakes
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Post by frostedflakes » Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:19 am

ECS makes decent products actually. They're just not popular among enthusiasts because they traditionally haven't had a lot of tweaking options to appeal to overclockers, most of their boards are pretty basic and barebones. The Black series are trying to change this perception, though, and are more overclocker/enthusiast oriented boards.

That's a really good price for an H55 mini ITX board. Looking over the manual, though, it doesn't appear to have CPU undervolting options, which might be a deal killer for some. The manual suggests you can overclock and overvolt, though.

croddie
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Post by croddie » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:28 am

D-Sub + DVI.
No displayport, so you are limited in modern monitors/multiple monitors.
But can connect to old CRTs just fine.
A typical backward-looking PC product.

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:47 am

croddie wrote:D-Sub + DVI.
No displayport, so you are limited in modern monitors/multiple monitors.
But can connect to old CRTs just fine.
A typical backward-looking PC product.
Don't forget that HDMI port.

Better photos in Guru3D's review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-h55hi-review/3

croddie
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Post by croddie » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:51 am

Jay_S wrote:
croddie wrote:D-Sub + DVI.
No displayport, so you are limited in modern monitors/multiple monitors.
But can connect to old CRTs just fine.
A typical backward-looking PC product.
Don't forget that HDMI port.

Better photos in Guru3D's review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-h55hi-review/3
hdmi generally doesn't work with large LCD monitors that require dual link DVI or displayport. Of course it should be there because it dominates in consumer electronics.
DVI + hdmi + displayport is the best choice for a modern motherboard.

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Thu May 06, 2010 7:39 am

Review at Anandtech: ECS H55H-I – Mini-ITX at a Sensible Price...

From the limited BIOS shots, looks like voltage is only adjustable upward. And this BS:
Anandtech wrote:An option to change CPU multiplier ratios is present, but does not work; the board won’t POST if you use anything other than the stock multiplier. We saw this issue on the H55H-M we reviewed a couple of months ago, so are not sure if ECS will ever bother to fix it.

swivelguy2
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Post by swivelguy2 » Thu May 06, 2010 8:10 am

croddie wrote: hdmi generally doesn't work with large LCD monitors that require dual link DVI or displayport. Of course it should be there because it dominates in consumer electronics.
DVI + hdmi + displayport is the best choice for a modern motherboard.
I guess you're talking about resolutions higher than 1920x1200? HDMI is working flawlessly for 1080p and 1920x1200 for millions of people this very minute.

I was worried that maybe dual digital displays weren't going to be supported on so cheap a motherboard, so I asked in the Anandtech comments, and the reviewer replied very promptly:
Hi,

Just checked for you quickly. No problems here. I'm using DVI out and HDMI out simultaneously and both displays are active.

-Raja
Sure, the BIOS options for over/under-clock/volting aren't that great, but how much do you expect from a mini-ITX motherboard that's $45 cheaper than even Intel's version, and cheaper than every micro-ATX H55 motherboard, except a couple also from ECS?

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