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ECS Elitegroup PF21 Extreme Intel Socket 775 ATX P4 motherboard

Monday, November 14th, 2005 | Motherboards, Reviews

At a price tag of around $150, this board is not attempting to appeal to the entry level computer. With its array of features, some of which are quite unique, it puts up a good fight in a market segment that is dominated by big brands.

The ECS PF21 is designed for Socket 775 and P4 processors. It has very high ratings for its FSB which is able to be clocked up to 1200MHz. This is quite cool as it is designed to go that far, rather than being a push beyond its normal usage.

Here’s a general look at its features…

• Socket 775
• Intel 925XE Northbridge
• Intel ICH6R Southbridge
• DDR2 memory support up to DDR533
• PCI express
• IDE and SATA (6 headers)
• LAN and Audio

The board comes with the option of Wireless internet capability which is an added bonus for the board.

There is a neat little thing called “Top Hat Flash” which sits on the motherboard. After you have booted up the computer, you flick a switch and take it out, you then have a backup of your BIOS just in case something terrible should happen.

The general layout if fine, with a few points that could be worked on, but alright overall.

General extras include USB, LAN, firewire and audio.

One point to note is the noise of the Northbridge fan. It is a very big unit that produces a lot of noise. If you plan to keep your computer quiet, this will need to be upgraded as its noisier than any other fan.

A good inclusion is a special PCI slot which is colored yellow. It has a much smoother and lower noise connection to the computer which makes it perform better with parts such as wireless cards. It is designed for overclocking too, so use the yellow one if you want to overclock.

A good attempt at extra cooling is a little inlet that points at the CPU cooler. It looks good, makes little noise, but possibly does very little, especially when other cooling is installed.

So overall this board is a great one if you are looking for good board from a lesser known manufacturer. It has an extreme amount of headroom for overclocking with a good array of general feaures too.

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