The allure of the high-end has always been the bane of the enthusiast on a tight budget. While we all lust after the full-featured videocards and motherboards, we balk at the price point necessitating a wallet flatter than EDSA billboards. So, what most enthusiasts do is lower their own over-hyped high-end requirement and settle for a part that’s a little less meaty on the reputation – who needs reputation if it means a stable, fast-running computer?

                                             Black series with the black PCB for easy identification.

And that, my friends, is the mission in life of this motherboard by ECS – the A780GM-A Black Series. ECS historically peddles low-cost, entry level motherboards for the masses – it usually ends up in the systems of people who wouldn’t know what you’re talking about if you ask them for their CPU clock speed, all the more if asked what brand their motherboard is. ECS is still the same today, but in the intervening years it had no choice but to grow in areas far away from the mainstream – resulting in a motherboard that has a bit of kick, with the *wink-wink* cool name required of any aspiring enthusiast-level board.

                                             Full-ATX motherboard with an on-board GPU.

This ECS however still prioritizes cost over features, which is to say it does not sacrifice the prime requirement of practicality over putting in features that are only attractive to the disposable-income crowd anyways. Witness these specification: AM2+ socket compatible with quad-core Phenom CPU’s – even the latest and greatest Phenom 9850 Black Edition. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Memory support is at 1066 of Dual DDR2 – and if you’re asking why it’s only DDR 2 and not 3, the answer is that this feature will only be supported by AMD’s 45nm chips – to come out who knows when. A big underline must be placed under the next feature: On-board graphics of the ATI HD3200 persuasion is included in the board, and while we can expect the ho-humm performance of most any on-board graphics of this caliber, this particular flavor comes with Hybrid Crossfire capability, plus the fact that the HD3200 isn’t all that slow. These three items make up the most important components for the practical enthusiast, and anyone reading who wants an affordable board with some chops must close their browsers now and run off to your favorite PC haunts.

                                             Four-phase power delivery system for more stability.

For those of you who takes a bit more convincing, here are some more juicy details: the A780GM-A uses the 780G chipset (wow, I couldn’t have guessed that) coupled with the SB700 southbridge chip. This being an AMD chipset, it sets the stage for the Spider platform consisting of the Phenom processor, the ATI graphics, and the 700 series AMD chipset. Hybrid Crossfire added to the mix, as mentioned before, will give this same money-pinching enthusiast the chance to use the borderline game-capable on-board graphics even when upgrading to a new, discrete videocard. The technology combines the rendering power of both graphics chipsets through a version of Crossfire technology, netting the user the performance of a much more expensive piece of silicon than he or she would otherwise be capable of purchasing. The technology works with AMD’s  HD2400 or HD3400 graphics cards, and also incorporates power-saving technology in the form of deactivation of the discrete GPU when non graphics-intensive tasks are being performed.

                                             Odd numbered SATA slots is due to the sixth being booted to the rear of the board to serve as E-SATA.

After being sidetracked by the interesting Hybrid Crossfire technology, let me get back to the other juicy details: the board is currently the only full-ATX board with the 780G chipset, which means it offers the on-board video yet still has complete PCI connectivity of 3 legacy PCI slots, the single x16 PCI-E slot, and two x1 PCI-E slots. Three USB headers equate to 6 front or top mounted USB slots, while storage duties are handled by five SATA slots plus a single IDE channel, with the undying floppy channel accompanying it. The rear panel gives us a lot more to chew on: PS/2 for the mouse and keyboard is present, with a VGA, HDMI connector, four additional USB slots, a single external SATA, LAN and sound I/O right beside each other. HDMI on this board is the noteworthy feature; the DX10 capable and HD compliant on-board video fits well with this I/O option.

                                             For the uninitiated, this might be taken to mean x1 PCI-E Crossfire, which would be interesting.

Now if this was a review for an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink motherboard, we’d have two to three more paragraphs detailing what else you get for the price. Since the price of the A780GM is so palatable, no more “features” paragraphs will follow, concurrent with its price range. What remains then is the packaging and bundle – an easy roundup because it’s simply the SATA and IDE cables, the CD drivers, manual, and backplate. At this price point, a capable performer and a meaty compatibility list, as well as the elimination of features that’s just icing on the cake (and probably fattening, after all) makes up a good formula for our practical enthusiast who wants a little bit something left after his PC purchase to indulge in activities other than building a computer or other geeky stereotypes. It has a nice name too. If you’re a geek, but not too much of a geek, this board is for you.

                                              Be careful where you plug in; the slot third from the right is masquerading as a USB slot - it's actually E-SATA.

Watch out for the magazine review in an upcoming issue of HWM! More pictures to follow.

                                              Just the necessities.

                                              Both North and Southbridge can be seen from this shot.