The lustre on the 200-series is wearing a bit thin, however, with Intel wooing consumers with the next-gen CPUs and chipset, so I'm not surprised to see some manufacturers trying to drum up a bit of business to move some inventory.
I've always been a bit confused as to why motherboard manufacturers appear to cheap out on their mITX offerings (since mATX and mITX would seem to be better suited to the capabilities of the Z-series chipsets with the inherent limitations on PCI lanes than full ATX or E-ATX boards).
Notes to mobo manufacturers and designers, here are some ideas on how to differentiate your product to consumers (other than price): 1) Don't cheap out on the audio codec. Use the latest and greatest. 2) If you're offering a Z-series chipset, include the power phases and connectors requires to overclock the top-of the line CPU SKU for the chipset, and choose heatsinks based on performance rather than looks. 3) Consider dropping the number of SATA connections to 2: mITX systems generally don't run more than 2 SATA drives, and many these days just run a NVMe drive. Of the SATA connections you do offer, make them RAID-able. Use the freed-up HSIO lanes for more the latest I/O connectors. 4) Especially for mITX, use the physically smallest I/O connectors practical and locate them, or at least 1 of each type, where a full-length PCIe card won't obstruct them. 5) Include diagnostic LEDs (or even a separate diagnostic PCB that connects to a header on your board?) (to save space). 6) Shamelessly copy (and, by all means, improve on) the best and most innovative features of your competitors' boards and BIOS. 7) Read your product's reviews. Especially the critical ones.
You joke but i'd love to see that. Maybe name the new Raven Ridge APU's with failed GPU's Durons instead of athlons? Probably not, since sempron took Durons place, but i wouldnt mind it :).
Eh, I know it's interesting and sometimes fun to overclock, but the performance benefit is typically insignificant without water cooling or a very large air cooler. Both of those cooling setups demand physical space so they increase the size of the system and that takes away some of the point in getting a Mini-ITX motherboard in the first place. ECS might be touting it as a feature, but I can't see it being a key selling point to even the small form factor gamer audience targeted by this motherboard. It probably doesn't matter much that its a rather limited capability of the board.
As I've observed before, the MITX mobo form factor is trying to serve two masters with different needs, desires, and general system configurations.
The first - and who the form factor was originally created for - are people who want as small of a system as possible (but who don't find the NUC/etc compelling for whatever reason). For these people, you're right that any OC feature is likely to be unused. However they're not who it's being intended for.
The second group of people building mITX are conventional gamers who've decided that other than a single GPU they have zero need of PCIe expansion slots, and thus no need for a larger mATX/ATX motherboard. They're still building conventional gamer type systems with a large enough PSU and sufficient cooling to consider an OC because they're using cases only a few inches smaller than what would be normal with an mATX build.
Im surprised ECS is still around. I haven't used one of their products since the G45/intel pentium dual core system I put together for my dad way back when.
As for the overclocking options, I could see them possibly being useful in an undervolting/underclocking scenario (say a passive build) or paired with a pentium g3258-like processor (please intel! the i3 7350k is overpriced for what it is)
Why would you not test temperatures and power usage of an ITX board? Instead performance benchmarks that always only show how useless they really are...
I have that board for my HTPC - it's pretty much the only board that combines Mini-ITX, Display Port out (for HDMI 2.0 since the HDMI on Kaby Lake is still only 1.4) and can be powered with just one (instead of 2) 4-Pin 12V connectors (for owners of some HTPC cases with power supplies that weren't made for higher end systems).
The BIOS is pretty bare bones, but for the price, it's a great HTPC board, combined with a Celeron G3930 and 4 Gigs of RAM it's a good package.
You can plugin a 4 pin power cable into an 8 pin motherboard connector, you'll just have less power at your disposal. Not that it's a problem with a Celeron G3930. You'd be better off with an Asus Strix B250 board. It has DisplayPort, built-in wifi so you don't have to pay even more, retails for the same price as this ECS board, and is from a much more reputable manufacturer with higher quality parts. Losing out on the Z270 chipset doesn't matter because of your CPU choice and the lack of an 8 pin power connector.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
19 Comments
Back to Article
jabbadap - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
Erhm Your spec table says "Onboard M.2 none", yet there is one m.2 slot behind the motherboard if I'm not mistaken.Interesting little guy, though I would not OC with that tiny vrm heatsinks it has.
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
Thanks!(There are actually 2, one on top and one on the underside of the board)
jtd871 - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
Thanks for the review.The lustre on the 200-series is wearing a bit thin, however, with Intel wooing consumers with the next-gen CPUs and chipset, so I'm not surprised to see some manufacturers trying to drum up a bit of business to move some inventory.
I've always been a bit confused as to why motherboard manufacturers appear to cheap out on their mITX offerings (since mATX and mITX would seem to be better suited to the capabilities of the Z-series chipsets with the inherent limitations on PCI lanes than full ATX or E-ATX boards).
Notes to mobo manufacturers and designers, here are some ideas on how to differentiate your product to consumers (other than price):
1) Don't cheap out on the audio codec. Use the latest and greatest.
2) If you're offering a Z-series chipset, include the power phases and connectors requires to overclock the top-of the line CPU SKU for the chipset, and choose heatsinks based on performance rather than looks.
3) Consider dropping the number of SATA connections to 2: mITX systems generally don't run more than 2 SATA drives, and many these days just run a NVMe drive. Of the SATA connections you do offer, make them RAID-able. Use the freed-up HSIO lanes for more the latest I/O connectors.
4) Especially for mITX, use the physically smallest I/O connectors practical and locate them, or at least 1 of each type, where a full-length PCIe card won't obstruct them.
5) Include diagnostic LEDs (or even a separate diagnostic PCB that connects to a header on your board?) (to save space).
6) Shamelessly copy (and, by all means, improve on) the best and most innovative features of your competitors' boards and BIOS.
7) Read your product's reviews. Especially the critical ones.
Brianmmm - Monday, September 18, 2017 - link
Maybe you're thinking of something like this? I have one, it rocks.http://www.anandtech.com/show/9854/asus-maximus-vi...
nathanddrews - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
I got really excited when I saw "Durathon" because I thought it was some new AMD chip I didn't know about.MajGenRelativity - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
Return of the Duron?artk2219 - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
You joke but i'd love to see that. Maybe name the new Raven Ridge APU's with failed GPU's Durons instead of athlons? Probably not, since sempron took Durons place, but i wouldnt mind it :).BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
Eh, I know it's interesting and sometimes fun to overclock, but the performance benefit is typically insignificant without water cooling or a very large air cooler. Both of those cooling setups demand physical space so they increase the size of the system and that takes away some of the point in getting a Mini-ITX motherboard in the first place. ECS might be touting it as a feature, but I can't see it being a key selling point to even the small form factor gamer audience targeted by this motherboard. It probably doesn't matter much that its a rather limited capability of the board.DanNeely - Tuesday, September 5, 2017 - link
As I've observed before, the MITX mobo form factor is trying to serve two masters with different needs, desires, and general system configurations.The first - and who the form factor was originally created for - are people who want as small of a system as possible (but who don't find the NUC/etc compelling for whatever reason). For these people, you're right that any OC feature is likely to be unused. However they're not who it's being intended for.
The second group of people building mITX are conventional gamers who've decided that other than a single GPU they have zero need of PCIe expansion slots, and thus no need for a larger mATX/ATX motherboard. They're still building conventional gamer type systems with a large enough PSU and sufficient cooling to consider an OC because they're using cases only a few inches smaller than what would be normal with an mATX build.
btmedic04 - Wednesday, September 6, 2017 - link
Im surprised ECS is still around. I haven't used one of their products since the G45/intel pentium dual core system I put together for my dad way back when.As for the overclocking options, I could see them possibly being useful in an undervolting/underclocking scenario (say a passive build) or paired with a pentium g3258-like processor (please intel! the i3 7350k is overpriced for what it is)
Hixbot - Wednesday, September 6, 2017 - link
Audiophilos are not going to use the DAC on a motherboard. They're going to use HDMI to their own DAC in the AVR.petteyg359 - Thursday, September 7, 2017 - link
With a name like that, I'm expecting a 462-pin socket for my old Durons and Athlons :)zodiacfml - Friday, September 8, 2017 - link
Nice enough for me. Are there any competing boards versus this one?Beaver M. - Friday, September 8, 2017 - link
Why would you not test temperatures and power usage of an ITX board?Instead performance benchmarks that always only show how useless they really are...
Beaver M. - Friday, September 8, 2017 - link
Nevermind, Im stupid. Theres power usage at least.Brianmmm - Monday, September 18, 2017 - link
This one is most assuredly NOT useless...http://www.anandtech.com/show/9854/asus-maximus-vi...
MenhirMike - Friday, September 8, 2017 - link
I have that board for my HTPC - it's pretty much the only board that combines Mini-ITX, Display Port out (for HDMI 2.0 since the HDMI on Kaby Lake is still only 1.4) and can be powered with just one (instead of 2) 4-Pin 12V connectors (for owners of some HTPC cases with power supplies that weren't made for higher end systems).The BIOS is pretty bare bones, but for the price, it's a great HTPC board, combined with a Celeron G3930 and 4 Gigs of RAM it's a good package.
MenhirMike - Friday, September 8, 2017 - link
(Also, since Antennas are part of the package, a $20 Intel 8260 WiFi/BT card is all that's needed to avoid having to use a PCIe or USB WiFi solution)EnFission - Friday, September 8, 2017 - link
You can plugin a 4 pin power cable into an 8 pin motherboard connector, you'll just have less power at your disposal. Not that it's a problem with a Celeron G3930. You'd be better off with an Asus Strix B250 board. It has DisplayPort, built-in wifi so you don't have to pay even more, retails for the same price as this ECS board, and is from a much more reputable manufacturer with higher quality parts. Losing out on the Z270 chipset doesn't matter because of your CPU choice and the lack of an 8 pin power connector.