ECS P45T-A Intel P45 Express Motherboard Review There were something like 370 different variations of the Intel P45 motherboard introduced at Computex 2008 this year when Intel unveiled its 4-series chipset family. That's a lot of motherboard to choose from - pick the ECS P45T-A to save time and money.  75% Rating:    Table of Contents Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author:  External Mfg. Website: ECS Aug 19 2008   Max Page   Home > Reviews > Motherboards > ECS P45T-A

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.

ID Software Quake 4 1.04 LQ 640x480: Points Ranking Asus P5NT Deluxe (NF 780i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 221.4 Asrock Penryn1600SLIX3 Wifi (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 199.3 MSI P6N Diamond (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 213.7 Biostar TF7150V-M7 (GF 7150 333/1066 Onboard GF 7150) 23.3 MSI X48 Platinum (X48 333/1333) 217.5 ECS P45T-A (P45 333/800) 209 Biostar TPower I45 (P45 333/1066) 206.5 Asus Maximus Extreme (X38 333/1333) 221.6 Foxconn DigitaLife X38A (X38 333/800 DDR2) 227.6 Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 (X38 333/1066) 215.2 Asus BLITZ Formula (P35 333/1066) 224.5 Foxconn MARS (P35 333/1066) 207.1 MSI P35 Platinum Combo (P35 333/800 DDR2) 206.7 UQ 1024x768: Points Ranking Asus P5NT Deluxe (NF 780i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 205.6 Asrock Penryn1600SLIX3 Wifi (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 187.2 MSI P6N Diamond (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 191.6 Biostar TF7150V-M7 (GF 7150 333/1066 Onboard GF 7150) 52.7 MSI X48 Platinum (X48 333/1333) 223.6 ECS P45T-A (P45 333/800) 205 Biostar TPower I45 (P45 333/1066) 202.1 Asus Maximus Extreme (X38 333/1333) 208.5 Foxconn DigitaLife X38A (X38 333/800 DDR2) 208.9 Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 (X38 333/1066) 206.1 Asus BLITZ Formula (P35 333/1066) 207.9 Foxconn MARS (P35 333/1066) 183.7 MSI P35 Platinum Combo (P35 333/800 DDR2) 205.6

Quake 4 results are good, with Ultra Quality settings and at 1027x768 the ECS P45T-A pushes out 205FPS.

Sierra FEAR 1.08	Source: Sierra

FEAR is Sierra's latest first person shooter which relies heavily on DirectX 9 features. With its "Soft Shadows" feature enabled, even the fastest videocards run at a crawl, FEAR is definitely the new benchmark for future FPS games to follow.

Sierra FEAR 1.08 Minimum 640x480: Points Ranking Asus P5NT Deluxe (NF 780i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 568 Asrock Penryn1600SLIX3 Wifi (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 565 MSI P6N Diamond (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 545 Biostar TF7150V-M7 (GF 7150 333/1066 Onboard GF 7150) 145 MSI X48 Platinum (X48 333/1333) 567 ECS P45T-A (P45 333/800) 559 Biostar TPower I45 (P45 333/1066) 553 Asus Maximus Extreme (X38 333/1333) 563 Foxconn DigitaLife X38A (X38 333/800 DDR2) 575 Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 (X38 333/1066) 554 Asus BLITZ Formula (P35 333/1066) 572 Foxconn MARS (P35 333/1066) 551 MSI P35 Platinum Combo (P35 333/800 DDR2) 545 Maximum 1024x768: Points Ranking Asus P5NT Deluxe (NF 780i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 137 Asrock Penryn1600SLIX3 Wifi (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 137 MSI P6N Diamond (NF 680i 333/1066 GF 8800GTS 320MB) 134 Biostar TF7150V-M7 (GF 7150 333/1066 Onboard GF 7150) 3 MSI X48 Platinum (X48 333/1333) 134 ECS P45T-A (P45 333/800) 137 Biostar TPower I45 (P45 333/1066) 134 Asus Maximus Extreme (X38 333/1333) 124 Foxconn DigitaLife X38A (X38 333/800 DDR2) 130 Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 (X38 333/1066) 124 Asus BLITZ Formula (P35 333/1066) 125 Foxconn MARS (P35 333/1066) 126 MSI P35 Platinum Combo (P35 333/800 DDR2) 135

FEAR results also put the ECS P45T-A motherboard in a good light, if you're a gamer you'll definitely be pleased with its abilities.

Conclusions: ECS Makes an Affordable P45 Platform

Having experienced several generations of Intel chipsets in the last eight years, the one common thread seems to be consistency. Regardless of the motherboard model, manufacturer or the price tag, Intel P45 Express platforms are going handle the same at stock speeds with identical hardware.

The trick to buying a good motherboard then, is sorting out all the other fine points. Aspects like the bonus features external to the chipset, the overclocking performance engineered into the board and even the general usability. I hope PCSTATS' review of the ECS P45T-A motherboard has provided sufficient insight for you to answer those questions. If not, let us know how you think this review could be better.

Now we all know the P45 Express brings PCI Express 2.0 compliance into the fold for next generation videocards. We also know it offers a solid foundation of features for mainstream workstation PCs. The ECS P45T-A motherboard offers all of that of by nature, but it doesn't make much of an effort to extend the envelope any further...

The board is good, it has critical tools like RAID and sufficient SATA ports to meet demand, but other than a second PCI Express 2.0 x16 videocard slot there isn't much special going on. On the other hand, if you've been running a first generation PCI Express platform and now desire a PCI Express 2.0 system you'll find the ECS P45T-A an inexpensive ticket to dually-videocard gaming greatness. It will run the latest generation ATI videocards in CrossfireX after all.

With a retail price in the region of $120USD ($120CDN / £60GBP), the ECS P45T-A motherboard is nothing but affordable. You can certainly save a few dollars with the P45T-A, though be aware the included bundle is extremely light. It's a good board as the benchmarks have indicated, but you get what you pay for. In this case, a vanilla feature set and little to make it stand out from the crowd.

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