ECS A960M-M3 AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: great for a cheap gaming build

Cons: no usb 3.0 or sata 3 but what do you expect its so cheap

Pros: Works as it should. You have to locate all your adjustments but their there, even a little overclocking (not a lot). Bought on sale for $39 a steal. Athlon 630 2.8, Asus 7750, 8 gb Gskill 1600, hooked to a 55 in Visio runs Netflix, Hulu, great for four months and light gaming. Plan to upgrade the CPU to FX6300 shortly.

Cons: None for what it is it works great. 95 watt max tdp, just make sure you know all about the board before purchase and you won't be sorry.

Pros: Runs Windows 7 and Windows 8
Up-to-date features - A good replacement motherboard
IDE expansion slot for use with an older hard drive and DVD/CD drive
Boot menu brought up with F7 key

Cons: Only two RAM slots

Other Thoughts: This is my 7th build and I am pleased with the motherboard.
My system is:
AMD Athlon II x4 640 3.0 GHz processor
XMX3 Corsair DDR3 8GB 1600 MHz memory
MSI R6450-MD1GD3/LP Radeon HD 6450 1GB video card
Thermaltake TR2 430 W Power Supply

I use this for general computing and for home theater in
a multiboot system.

Pros: worked right out of the box like it was supposed to. great budget board.

Cons: none

Pros: Price

Cons: No GigaLAN
95W CPU support

Manufacturer Response:

If you are running Windows, please double check your device manager. Under Network adapters you should "Realtek PCIe GBE Family" or similar listed for GigaLAN. If you do not, please contact us and we will find a solution for you.

When contacting us, you can refer to case #ECD13042510007

I or any of my team members here at technical support will be able to help you.
Our hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm PST.

Thank you,
Andy
Phone# 1-510-456-9836
Email: andy_K@ecsusa.com

External Link(s):

Elite Member 99-hour service|

Pros: Cheap board.

Cons: Arrived Doa. Tested it at the PC repair shop I work at and it was indeed dead.

Manufacturer Response:

We are sorry to hear about the issues you are experiencing with your motherboard. Prior to shipping from our factory, all motherboards are tested to ensure that they are working properly. A DOA issue can be caused by any of the main components, including CPU, memory, power supply and motherboard. If possible we would recommend testing the motherboard in the following fashion.

Remove the motherboard from the case, with only CPU, CPU fan, memory and power supply connected. Place on a flat non static surface. Reseat the CPU. Ensure that the CPU is found on the CPU support list. You can find the CPU support list at the included link. Test with only one memory at a time and reseat memory. Ensure that both the 24 pin and 4 pin (ATX12V) connections are connected from the power supply. Connect the power button from the case or short the power pins (6 and 8) to power on the system. If still have any issues or questions, please contact us and we can work with you to find a solution.

When contacting us, you can refer to case #ECD13041810002

I or any of my team members here at technical support will be able to help you.
Our hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm PST.

Thank you,
Andy
Phone# 1- 510-456-9836
Email: andy_K@ecsusa.com

External Link(s):

Elite Member 99-hour service|

A960M-M3|

Pros: Inexpensive

Cons: 1st board, no sound. 2nd board: bad drive controller would not recognize SSD boot drive. Went back to use 1st board (without sound) and now it will not recognize mouse or keyboard! Very poor quality control. I would go for a 3rd one, but I don't think I have the stamina

Other Thoughts: Don't waste your time on this piece of junk

Manufacturer Response:

We are sorry to hear about the issues you have experienced so far. Make sure the power supply has the capacity to power all the devices used in your system. Inadequate power to your components can cause the entire system to lock up at worst, or just cause certain components to malfunction or stop working. A power supply does not have to be dead to be faulty. If you continue to have issue, please contact us as we would like to find out more about your configuration and work with you in finding a solution.

When contacting us, you can refer to case #ECD13041510009

I or any of my team members here at technical support will be able to help you.
Our hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm PST.

Thank you,
Andy
Phone# 1-510-456-9836
Email: andy_K@ecsusa.com

External Link(s):

Elite Member 99-hour service|

Pros: Inexpensive, More Capability Than Average Users Will Ever Need, Printed Manual, Driver CD, Good Tech Support.

Cons: Very few overclocking or advanced features
Not For Power Users or Gamers
Only Handles Up To 95W AMD 8 Core FX Series

Other Thoughts: This mother cost me $40 on sale and coupled with an unlocked FX=8120 ($140 on sale) and 8GB of memory ($35 on sale) gave me an overclocked 8 core 3.5ghz workstation upgrade for $215 bucks. Really Can't beat that.

Pros: It's a cool board am3+ support with IDE connections never know when you'll need one.

Cons: ECS boards have audio issues static so use a sound card.

Manufacturer Response:

We are sorry to hear about the static sound you are experiencing. Static noise can be generated from many different sources, including poor grounding, bad connections, interference from other PC components, other devices that are running nearby, etc... Due to the multiple possible causes it can be hard to narrow done. If you do require assistance please contact us and we can work with you to find a possible solution.

When contacting us, you can refer to case #ECD13041110010

I or any of my team members here at technical support will be able to help you.
Our hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm PST.

Thank you,
Andy
Phone# 1-510-456-9836
Email: andy_K@ecsusa.com

External Link(s):

Elite Member 99-hour service|

Pros: Decent low cost board, SATA + IDE ports making it ideal for upgrades with older equipment.

Cons: Small board, with can also be considered a pro, labeling could be a little more clear, but not an issue with an experienced installer. We purchased 36 boards for an upgrade of 35 computers in a lab environment. Out of the 36 boards 1 board showed graphics artifacting on the lab image of Windows 7. A lockup would follow soon after. The system ran fine fine for a about an hour with an external PCI-e video card, but soon exhibited the lockups followed by a non post. I swapped in the one spare we ordered and all is well. Not sure if a replacement is even worth the time or cost in shipping.

Other Thoughts: Installed in 35 systems with Windows 7, FX6100, and 2GB DDR3 Ram. A decent budget board, but I am still concerned about long term quality control issues.

Manufacturer Response:

We are sorry to hear about the issues you experienced with one of your motherboards. If an RMA is necessary, please do contact us. We would like to help you get a woking motherboard as soon as possible.

When contacting us, you can refer to case #ECD13040910022

I or any of my team members here at technical support will be able to help you.
Our hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm PST.

Thank you,
Andy
Phone# 1-510-456-9836
Email: andy_K@ecsusa.com

External Link(s):

Elite Member 99-hour service|