ECS Z77H2-AX

The Z77H2-AX is 1 seriously dope looking motherboard. Fit for a sultan, information technology's the kind of board we'd expect to find in a Burj Al Arab server room. Nosotros understand if you think the pattern a little tacky. For u.s.a., the gilded I/O panel connectors put the Z77H2-AX over the line. If cypher else, it's a unique choice amidst the conventional black, blue, blood-red and white-themed designs from other players.

Aesthetics aside, the Z77H2-AX seems well-equipped with features including wireless networking and Bluetooth support via the Atheros AR971L and AR3001 controllers which connect via USB 2.0. Networking is tackled past a Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit LAN controller, while audio is handled by a Realtek ALC892 8-Aqueduct Loftier Definition codec, a common solution among mid-range and high-end boards.

ECS employs a Texas Instruments USB 3.0 xHCI compliant host controller to further aggrandize USB 3.0 capabilities. The Z77'due south four USB 3.0 ports are located on the I/O panel, while the TUSB7320 adds two forepart ports via an onboard header. Ane ASmedia ASM1061 chip provides a pair of extra onboard SATA 6Gb/southward ports, while one of the four Z77'due south 3Gb/s ports is relocated to the I/O panel and 1 is removed.

ECS revives legacy PCI support with the ITE IT8893E which offers three ports, though just 2 are used. Thankfully, there are also ii PCIe x1 slots and a Mini PCIe x1 slot, besides as two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. ECS doesn't include a third PCIe x4 slot for triple graphics cards.

The first half hour playing with the ECS Z77H2-AX was spent in the BIOS considering we faced a frustrating error "System Boot Failed. Force into Setup." Even afterwards repeatedly clearing the CMOS, we couldn't get the lath working correctly. Nosotros connected tinkering and eventually the board started playing nicely, but we don't know how or why. A little while afterward, we tried overclocking and got the same error.

While the Z77H2-AX might have loads of bling on the outside, its software lacks the same flair. ECS needs to survey the competition and reevaluate its UEFI design as nosotros've yet to see a decent version from the company. The Z77H2-AX'south launch software is uncommonly bad and we hope ECS offers an overhaul.