AMD790GX-based motherboards may seem expensive for a product with on-board video. But you have to keep in mind that it does not compete on the same segment as very low-end motherboards with integrated graphics. This happens because it is an ATX motherboard, not a microATX one, featuring two PCI Express x16 slots. Thus this motherboard can be an interesting option for users that are on budget at the moment but plan to upgrade their systems to a high-end gaming system with up to two video cards. Plus their gaming performance is higher than any other chipset with integrated graphics.

The highlights from ECS A790GXM-AD3 include the presence of an HDMI output and on-board optical SPDIF output, making it very easy for you to hook up the computer to your home theater system, and use of solid capacitors.

Places where ECS can improve (and this is valid for most of their products) include the voltage regulator (only four phases), the audio codec (low signal-to-noise ratio for the analog inputs) and the use of 300 different colors on the motherboard, making it to look like a parade float car. On the other hand, ECS usually brings the most affordable motherboards.