[section_title title=”Conclusion”]
Conclusion
The ECS GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X has certainly had its ups and its downs but it’s time to deliver a final verdict to determine if it is one worth buying if you’re on a budget, or if the MSI Z87 G43 Gaming is worth the extra £10 to £30 or so depending on where you shop? This motherboard was never designed with breaking any form of speed records in mind but let’s discuss its performance aspect anyway.
Right off of the bat, the Z87H3-A3X was besting most of our scores which were previously set using a variety of different motherboards and at the stock frequency of my i7-4770K processor too. However, when it comes to overclocking, the GANK DRONE falls horribly short and often delivers worse performance than than with a lower clock speed. I’ve detailed my overclocking experiences in the relevant section of this review, and I think that pretty much sums it all up but I will give you a brief summary nonetheless. Basically, the CPU never holds its true speed, but rather it dynamically switches between the various clock speeds which can range from anywhere as low as 800MHz (power saving) to as high as the turbo ratio you’ve set in the BIOS and anything in between. Due to the unpredictability, it was hard to get scores that correctly displayed its performance at a speed at which it should have been operating. I feel that the motherboard should at least be able to hold a stable multiplier, after all, it is all entirely CPU limited until you start pushing high overclocks and you require a beefed up VRM circuitry to drive it. However, as I said, it is a minor BIOS issue and I will be working with ECS to iron out whatever we can.
The board didn’t give me any issues or hassles and it did its job perfectly. The motherboard is designed with budget in mind and it came out on top in nearly all of our benchmarks at stock speeds. It’s worth remembering that the targeted audience for this motherboard may not be on a very big budget, but they still want an Intel system. Surprisingly, at stock speeds, it performs incredibly well and beats motherboards that are double and nearly triple its value. That’s an accomplishment that ECS should be proud of as they delivered a product that will not cost a fortune and still perform brilliantly. If it’s a simple plug and play system you’re after, and you’re not looking to overclock at all, this motherboard won’t let you down.
Touching on the aesthetics of the motherboard now and I do question the ADS ‘dust shields’ as I’ve never seen them before. Presumably they do help against dust build up over long periods of time but I can only see them being effective when a stock Intel cooler is used as that seems like the only one that would blow dust everywhere, other than your average top-down coolers. The gold design is something I talked about earlier and I do think that it is something that may be here for a generation or two to come, perhaps longer. I’m not one for flashy gold colours and all that jazz, I like the subtle colouring such as on a ROG board or GIGABYTE Z87X-OC with the black and orange schemes but they of course come with a price tag for which you could purchase two of these for.
Overall, the motherboard does what it is designed to do and not an awful lot more. The accessories are extremely limited, but that is completely understandable as it is a cheaper product and you do see this from other manufacturers such as ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI too. While it will not be picking up any awards from me today, it is a start and I really do hope that ECS manage to get their game up to standard to become one of the leading and competing manufacturers. Even though the ECS GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X is so incredibly cut down, and offers nothing more than standard Intel features, it is not a terrible motherboard if you are just intending to do casual gaming or want to get yourself on to the LGA 1150 ladder with scope to upgrade to something better in the future. It is also worth remembering that the MSI Z87 G43 Gaming, which we reviewed recently, is effectively the direct competitor to this motherboard and offers a wealth of features such as the Killer E2200 network card for only an extra few pounds. If the Z87H3-A3X was £10 – £15 cheaper, it would be beyond a steal. However, with all of that being said, it is still a great motherboard to run your basic LGA 1150 system if you are on a tight budget but still want an Intel based rig. ECS are currently not available in the UK and are (as far as I understand) relatively difficult to find in the EU but that is all set to change soon.
I would like to thank ECS for providing me a sample of the GANK DRONE Z87H3-A3X and I look forward to seeing more from them in the near future.
[ratings”]
