Product Listing

ECS C19-A SLI (NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE)

By Zachary Chan - 11 May 2006

Conclusion

Conclusion

The ECS C19-A SLI is another motherboard that joins the ever growing ranks of components that cater to performance mainstream users. What this means is that high-end technology and features are finally becoming more accessible and affordable for the masses and this can only be good news for end user. Stripping away all the fluff that is usually attributed to high-end boards, ECS delivers the very lean C19-A SLI that should appeal to all gamers who just want a stable platform to base their gaming rig on. The loss of two USB 2.0 ports will hardly send anyone crying towards a corner and we're quite sure that not many users will even miss the ActiveArmor Secure Networking Engine.

While the C19-A SLI cannot be considered as a feature-rich motherboard, the board will succeed the minimum standards for performance gaming with SLI capabilities, high-speed SATA 3.0Gbps support, Gigabit Ethernet and 8-channel HD Audio with S/PDIF. Also remember that if you're planning to go the Intel route, the regular nForce4 SLI Intel Edition will not support 65nm Presler core CPUs and users are more or less limited to building around the ultra high-end nForce4 SLI X16. The nForce4 SLI XE remedies this problem with full support for all LGA775 processor and comes in at a price point below the nForce4 SLI.

The modifications made to the chipset mostly affects functionality instead of performance, so the C19-A SLI wasn't expected to perform any less than the other nForce4 SLI Intel Edition boards we've tested before. True enough, the C19-A SLI managed to hold its ground in all our benchmarks and in one of those rare occasions, a low budget motherboard manages to outperform an enthusiast Intel 975X Express offering (MSI 975X Platinum). The C19-A SLI also exhibited a level of stability that really tells a lot about a board's build quality. Installation was a painless affair and its BIOS was stable.

SLI on a budget meets Pentium D and beyond. The ECS C19-A SLI is a truly compelling choice for all Intel fans.

ECS has really turned around over the past half a year and we're seeing a vast improvement in motherboard stability and performance. Most importantly, the past few ECS motherboards we've reviewed have been excellent and none of them were from the Extreme series (KA1 MVP and 945G-M3). The US$90 price tag for the C19-A SLI is a steal for the high-end features and performance that you'll be getting out of this budget board.

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