ECS A990FXM-A AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: Lots of features and has the 990FX chipset, 3 vid card slots and is ati and nvidia compatible. the bios reminded me of the old mobo i had before this and that scared me... but the board despite that works fine! i was shocked to see this work as well as it does

Cons: I cant shut off cores. this bugs me because even the bargain boards have that feature. a simple bios update to ad that feature would be nice


i have not tried all ram slots, but like the other board if you do not use 1 and 3 you will have a problem of some sort

Other Thoughts: this is a big improvement on the board i had, the a970m-a .... that board was bad....

for dual channel ram, use 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.... i have not tried all 4 slots yet. may not have to and would not fault board for that because all slots work better that the other board.

i had my doubts for this board because of the a970m-a, and the bios at first appearance was just like the other board but i was very happy to see that this board is actually functioning as it should.

it was really a shame that it took so long for me to get this board and all the return shipping came out to about $30 so i did not really gain anything by getting this board over a refund. the return policy on here makes you pay no matter what. and in the case of the other crummy board it made me mad to pay the return shipping to get a replacement for the other board hated it so i then got this. not buying from this sight again, because when you get skunked here, you really get hit hard. the motherboard upgrade was really the only way to rectify, even at that though i am out the time it took to get what i needed. the other site i normally shop at does not charge return shipping for bad items. whether bad design or defect.

Pros: x16 are evenly spaced, cpu core lights, ram lights, has their own bios software. easy to navigate. black pcb, Love it!

Cons: none.

Other Thoughts: awesome motherboard for the price!

Pros: Nice beefy heatsinks, durable solid capacitors, triple SLI/CFX capability, great price for 990 chipset, plenty of USB ports, muted gray color scheme allows for more diversified color options in my build without the board dictating the usual blue or red. Very solidly built board overall.

Cons: BIOS is a little quirky. I did manage a pretty easy 4GHz OC of my FX-6300, but there are options in the BIOS that I haven't seen on other bios' and the manual isn't much help as far as explaining. ECS' site and a google search were negative for explanations as well. Some of the original options to this board were removed, such as the on-board power and reset buttons as well as the digital code display. I would have deducted more than one egg for the removal of these functions had it not been for such a great price reduction (I bought this board on sale for $113)!

Other Thoughts: I have read the other reviews with RAM issues. I have not experienced any of these issues myself, but I have yet to run more than 8GB. I have used both the Patriot Viper 3 (2 x 4GB) 1600MHz and the Crucial Ballistix Sport (4 x 2GB) 1600MHz without issue.

Pros: Good on Paper

Cons: BIOS layout is horrible.
- now the actual issue - I installed 16 GB RAM (4x4GB) on system properties, it shows 16, but says only 7.96 or so usable.
I tried http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978610 but didn't fix anything. I resit the RAM, didn't help, now the BIOS, you can't see the 4 slots, it just says 16GB RAM there. It's a GUI BIOS, and it sucks.
If you're wondering, I have Win7 x64 Pro.
see other thoughts for more.

Other Thoughts: Review for the item i bought initially - Hello_World http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135272

I was able to RMA this, and got this MB for some extra money. Last one had issues with RAM. and this one has issues with RAM as well.
First, I emailed them, they asked for some hardware info, i sent them that with screenshot of 16 GB but only 7.~GB usable.
Finally, I called them for help, and they said, "We tried to replicate the issue at our end and we got all 16 GB (on their own Mother board) so there is nothing they can do to help."
I asked the Rep, if he's seen this in other Motherboards, and he said yes, but those solutions won't apply and there is nothing they can do to help. I asked for solution, because he mentioned that there were twicks to registry but wouldn't even give me example.
He ended up suggesting it's my fault that the MB doesn't read 16gb and there is nothing they can do so stop calling.
Bottom line, ECS Motherboards have RAM issues, and I will not be buying them in future.

Manufacturer Response:

We sincerely apologize for any miscommunication that you may have encountered and will look into your concerns. For reference, we did try 4 x 4GB memory (Team memory TXD316G1866HC9KQC-D, Corsair CMD16GX3M4A1866C9) with a nVidia G210 and AMD Phenom II 840T and all 16GB was detected. Ensure that the maximum memory is not limited. You can check this with MSCONFIG under Boot-Advanced Options. Maximum memory should be unchecked. I will attempt to contact you so we can work on getting this issue resolved.

When contacting us, you can refer to case #ECE13011110016

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: Price isn't bad, considering some of the features. The BIOS is just amazing, it really blew me away.

Cons: - The SATA ports are all facing the front of the case, which can make connecting devices tricky, especially if you have rather large hands.

- You HAVE to use a ps2 keyboard the first time you boot up to get into the BIOS and set it to default settings, or else you will be stuck on a screen that says "CMOS settings wrong". And no, using a USB keyboard with a ps2 adapter will not work, you need an actual ps2 KB.

- The board has USB 3.0 ports on the back, but there are no internals ports for 3.0 front side headers. Need to buy an add on card for that.

- And maybe just nitpicking, but there are some empty spots on the board, like a spot labeled for an IDE channel but has no connector, and a spot for a "clear CMOS settings" that also isn't there. Neither really amount to a hill of beans, though.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I am very pleased with the board. Part of a budget build to replace my 5 year old box. Using my Antec Kilowatt PS and 1TB RAID 0 array from previous build. I've done no OCing yet, but the BIOS leads me to believe that it will not be a problem at all to manage that.

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154110
Video - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130718
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
Boot Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226337
Optical - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136259

I know a lot of cons are listed, moreso than pros, but this really is a tight little board, and I am very happy with the purchase.