ECS Elitegroup P67H2-A2 (V1.0) Pro Reviews

When I look back on the ECS P67H2-A2, I see a mixed bag. On one hand, we have some really good fan control software, the eJiffy quick-boot subsystem, eSATA 6Gb/s ports, SATA 6Gb/s RAID, a full set of locking SATA connectors included, and power/reset/debug LED on the board. On the other hand, I see a relatively poor benchmark performance (even if we are talking less than 1% in most cases), a BIOS with very few options, higher power usage, poor overclocking options, and something that feels like it hasn’t been polished that well. There are issues (mainly in the BIOS) that with a little bit of testing would have been found.

I have to say that ECS P67H2-A and ECS P67H2-A2 mainboards look practically impeccable only in terms of exterior design and theoretical functionality. Among the minor drawbacks we only pointed out too few fan connectors, which is not a critical problem. However, the longer you work with a mainboard, the more issues you may uncover. Inconvenient BIOS with serious errors, not very useful or even completely non-operational software, increased power consumption of both mainboards… They took great care of users by providing additional connector brackets or USB 3.0 panel, but at the same time acted with great neglect by making the black cursor in the BIOS completely invisible against the dark background. As a result, the success of ECS P67H2-A and P67H2-A2 mainboards may be quite a challenge, although e sincerely wish Elitegroup not to stop at this point and keep up the good work in developing their very promising Black mainboard series.

We've deducted points for the BIOS, the power consumption, and the software, but the ECS P67H2-A2 is still a very good product, and at stock, does match or better the options offered by other products. It didn't manage to slay the Sandybridge dragon, but it did manage to mortally wound it, for sure. The ECS P67H2-A2 put up a good fight and while it lost the battle, with some minor improvements, it could very well win the war. ECS has done a good job with the P67H2-A2, and we look forward to seeing what else they have up their sleeves.

Aside from initial problems with this motherboard under Linux that seemed to cripple its performance, which were resolved by upgrading the BIOS when a new release was available and running the latest Linux kernel, the rest of the experience was smooth. This though is not extraordinary, as most Intel P67 motherboards should work just fine under Linux with zero difficulty. Most of the Sandy Bridge Linux issues are centered on using its integrated graphics and that really requiring the very latest development code for the most optimal experience.

The ECS P67H2-A2 is no doubt the heavyweight in this roundup. With the most features, especially more onboard controllers than any other board here, the ECS is close to matching the specs of enthusiast oriented P67 boards. The retail price unfortunately reflects this and it's the most costly too. We had no issues with its EFI BIOS or the layout, which was nicely done considering the amount of onboard components. Overall, it's a fine board, if a tad too rich for a board positioned for mainstream users.

Starting with the cheapest boards first, we have the MSI P67A-GD55 ($160) and ECS P67H2-A2 ($195). The ECS P67H2-A2 is going for about $35 more, which manifests in more features such as dual Gigabit LAN, eSATA and additional onboard SATA ports. It was also the second-best results in two out of three gaming benchmarks, power consumption and CPU temperature. Overclocking results were modest compared to the other boards. Meanwhile, its USB 3.0 performance was more consistent between front and rear ports, but it was still toward the bottom of the barrel with lousy writes.

ECS comes to the table with its P67H2-A that arrives fully loaded and ready to shine as bright as the box it is housed in. The board's layout is well done and is a major step away from the every color in the rainbow look that was used a few years back. The BlackX series has come of age. The large cooling solution may seem overdone but the VRM circuits on this batch of P67 based board do get a little toasty when pushed. The large dual heat pipe Qooltech III solution does the job of keeping the VRM circuits and P67 chipset cool.