Doom 3	Source: id Software

Doom 3 is the most advanced game to date. it takes advantage of the latest videocard technology and pushes the processing power of the CPU to its absolute limit. At its highest setting, Ultra quality, texture sizes pass the 500MB mark which means even tomorrow's videocards will have a hard time running everything. The frame rates in the game itself are locked at 60 fps so anything above that point is wasted. Each test is run three times with the third run being recorded.

Doom3
LQ 640x480:	FPS	Ranking
Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 (955X 200/667)	96.9
Foxconn 945P7AA-8EKRS2 (945P 200/667)	94.3
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX Single)	97.3
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	96.2
Epox 5NVA+ SLI (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX Single)	96.2
Epox 5NVA+ SLI (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	94.4
Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 (NF4 SLI 200/800 7800GTX Single)	95.9
Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 (NF4 SLI 200/800 7800GTX SLI)	94.4
ECS C19-A SLI (NF4 SLI XE 200/800 7800GTX Single)	97.8
ECS C19-A SLI (NF4 SLI XE 200/800 7800GTX SLI)	114.3

Doom 3 numbers are very good for the ECS C19-A SLI. Running the board in SLI mode makes a big difference here. Please note that a different driver version (84.21) was used which might make up for the discrepancy.

Quake 4	Source: id Software

Quake 4 is the latest shooter from ID and is based on the Doom 3 engine. Tweaked to for more eye candy, Quake 4 promises to be tougher on videocards and systems than its predecessor was. Quake 4 also does not have a 60 fps limiter like Doom 3, with the Ultra setting, graphic textures can surpass the 500MB mark! Each test is run three times and with the third run being recorded.

Quake 4
LQ 640x480	FPS	Ranking
ECS C19-A SLI (NF4 SLI XE 200/800 7800GTX Single)	116.4
ECS C19-A SLI (NF4 SLI XE 200/800 7800GTX SLI)	120.5

Quake 4 framerates are very good, and it's nice to see that SLI does impact performance even with these low quality image settings.

Conclusions on the ECS C19-A SLI: A worthy budget motherboard?

The ECS C19-A SLI motherboard we've shown you today is a fine example of what users can expect from this nForce4 SLI XE chipset. With a retail price of $105 CDN ($90 USD/£52 GBP), the ECS C19-A SLI motherboard goes for half what regular nVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition boards retail at. Despite its entry level status, ECS has done an excellent job with the layout of the motherboard and on the whole the board is easy to work with.

As you could see with the benchmarks, the ECS C19-A SLI motherboard is pretty quick and will hold its own against motherboards twice the price. The nVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE is no slouch and can compete with the regular nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset and Intel's high end 955X in everything from SYSMark2004, to Super Pi and even the game Doom 3.

Overclocking is traditionally not one of ECS's strong suits, but the C19-A SLI managed to push out a speed of 250 MHz before hitting the wall. Or you can think abou it this way, that's an Intel Pentium D 840 processor running at 4 GHz!

Ultimately, the ECS C19-A SLI motherboard is a great budget board that gives users the flexibility of assembling a speedster without shelling out a lot of cash. The nVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE chipset is exactly what nVIDIA needs to get into the lucrative entry level market, and if you've been toying with the idea of going SLI you'' no doubt like what you've seen here.

Find out about this and many other reviews by joining the Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today! Catch all of PCSTATS latest reviews right here.

Related Articles
Here are a few other articles that you might enjoy as well...
- ABIT AN8-32X nForce4 SLI x16 Motherboard Review
- Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS Motherboard Review
- ASRock 939NF4G-SATA2 Geforce 6100 Motherboard Review
- Asus A8N-VM CSM GeForce 6150 Motherboard Review
- Gigabyte GV-K8N51PVMT-9 Geforce 6150 Motherboard Review