Traditionally there is almost no performance difference between motherboards targeted to Athlon 64 CPUs, since processor based on AMD64 architecture have an embedded memory controller, so the chipset doesn’t play any drastic role on performance. Because of this the decision on what socket AM2 motherboard one should buy must be based on extra features, price and overclocking capability.

We are reviewing this motherboard before it reaches the market. If it keeps the tradition of other members from ECS Extreme series, it will be cheaper than its main competitors, bringing an excellent cost/benefit ratio – i.e. it will bring the same performance and the same features found on more expensive motherboards based on the same chipset, but costing less.

This motherboard brings several features that will prevent you from upgrading your PC for at least a couple of years, like six SATA-300 ports supporting port multiplier, eight-channel audio, digital audio outputs, Firewire ports, two LAN ports, including one Gigabit and CrossFire technology. Of course if you prefer SLI technology from nVidia, you will probably think of buying another motherboard.

ECS is trying hard to enter the high-end market and we have a lot to say to ECS as a constructive criticism. On the positive side, we can clearly see an evolution on overclocking capability and, of course, pricing, which makes ECS Extreme series probably the best cost/benefit motherboards for the enthusiast market.

But even then a lot of work still has to be done to improve overclocking. Just to give you an example, our CPU was running at 1.29 V and this motherboard brought only three voltage configurations above that (1.300 V, 1.325 V and 1.350 V).

As for the features, everything looks fine, but we think a better audio codec could be used. Even though it supports 24-bit resolution, an 85 dB for analog audio capture is simply not good for professional audio capture and editing.

And a lot of work needs to be done on the aesthetic side. The motherboards from Extreme series lack a decent visual design, especially on the color side. Maybe they think a colorful motherboard is great, but we don’t. Each plastic piece on the motherboard has a different color, making this motherboard one big carnival. On KA3 MVP Extreme, for example, they tried to make the CPU cooler holder, the DIMM sockets, the SATA ports, the second x16 PCI Express slot and the Firewire headers with the same color, orange, but each part is simply using a different shade of orange!

Doctor LED, which can be a very interesting feature to check if the motherboard busses are working, have the side effect of making your motherboard to look like a nightclub, as the LED’s blink in blue in a random order.

We think that if ECS improved the visual design of their motherboards (hiring a new designer that doesn’t pick colors at random would be a good start) they would achieve what they are looking for: a better image from the enthusiast community.

Don’t take us wrong. ECS KA3 MVP Extreme is a great product, should arrive the market with an unbeatable cost/benefit ratio and we see no reason of not buying it (especially if you don’t mind having a colorful motherboard)  and that's why we are giving it our Golden Award seal. We are giving ECS just some ideas on how they could improve their products.