High-End Intel Z87 Motherboard Shootout
ECS Gank Domination Z87H3-A2X Golden
ECS Gank Domination Z87H3-A2X Golden
This board hails from the Gank motherboard series by ECS. It marks the company's effort to capture some market share in the high-end motherboard segment. The ECS Gank Domination Z87H3-A2X Golden is an ATX-sized board with a slew of distinguishing features. For starters, we can see why the board's name has the word "golden" in it. A number of components have been gilded, much like the previous generation ECS Z77H2-AX. However, this is where the similarity ends as the newer ECS board is based on the Intel Z87 chipset, with support for Intel Haswell processors in LGA 1150 packages.
Like the earlier ASRock counterpart, this ECS board also has a 12-phase power delivery system. Its VRM components are made of "Ice Chokes", dual-cooling MOSFETs, and golden solid capacitors. From the layout, it was rather strange as the typical arrangement of MOSFETs of a contemporary mother is L-shaped, along the two adjacent sides of the CPU socket. However, it appears ECS has decided to cramp a majority of the board's MOSFETs under the larger heatsink that has the words "QoolTech V" emblazoned on it.
Peeking under that very heatsink, we noticed a small fan nested below the larger VRM heatsink. Therefore, it makes sense to do park more MOSFETs under this actively-cooled heatsink.
This VRM is also connected to the chipset's heatsink by a U-shaped heatpipe. On top of that, the VRM and chipset heatsinks have thermochromic technology that will allow the heatsinks to change their colors based on operating temperatures. This will provide visual cues to the user when the heatsinks become too hot to be handled with bare hands; useful when you've just finished an overclocking run and you need to meddle with the board.
Next, let's take a look at the board's expansion slots. It has three PCIe x16 physical expansion slots and they can be easily identified by their white latches. Depending on how many graphics cards you use with the board, the slot configuration is as follows: x16 or dual x8 or x8/x4/x4. Further to the three main PEG slots, there is a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot, and a legacy PCI slot that stem from the board's Intel Z87 chipset.
Beyond the PEG slots, at the bottom edge of the board, we have the usual headers and connector, with a cluster of onboard buttons at the right side. From the left, there is a front panel audio header, a S/PDIF out header, COM port header, a fan connector, a pair of USB 2.0 headers, a USB 3.0 header, and a system panel header.
The onboard buttons are grouped together, with the exception of the lone ROM backup button that is near the PEG slots. According to the board's manual, activating this button will restore the main BIOS from a backup ROM. This is only necessary when the main BIOS is corrupted.
The other buttons are the the reset and power buttons in a vertical row. The BIOS set button, with the figure of an arrow and a gear, allows you to enter the BIOS utility quickly. The middle button is the Quick OC that allows you to overclock the system. Last of all, the 80P switch controls the information displayed by the debug LEDs. Besides the usual POST error codes, it is capable of displaying the temperature, voltage, and power of the CPU, as well as the MOSFETs' operating temperature. The 80P switch has to be depressed each time to cycle through the information.
Next up, there are five black SATA 6Gbps connectors that are driven by the board's Intel Z87 chipset; four of them are on the right; while the fifth is in vertical orientation (refer to below photo). The remaining pair of SATA 6Gbps connectors are connected to the Asmedia ASM1061 controller, which also drives a pair of eSATA 6Gbps connectors at the rear I/O panel. Due to the controller's ability to drive only two ports, you can't use both sets of ports simultaneously.
The DIMM slots, located to the right of the SATA connector stack, are black, and they support DDR3 memory modules that have been rated for up to 3000MHz.
The ECS board has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules at its rear I/O panel. There is also a bundled antenna for the wireless module. In addition, there are a pair of RJ-45 ports that allow for "teaming functions." It is the only board to feature eSATA 6Gpbs ports, courtesy of its ASM1061 controller. For its video connectivity options, there is a DisplayPort port, and an HDMI interface. We do find the four USB 3.0 ports a tad lacking as the Intel Z87 chipset supports up to six such ports with a third-party controller (which the ECS doesn't have). Note that there's a clear CMOS button located next to the red USB 2.0/eSATA port.