What can be expected from this board?

[Rpg2]

My bro is getting a cheap gaming build off of newegg and got this mobo, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135233, paired with an AMD 7850 BE in a combo purchase.

What are the chances that it can OC the proc to 3.2-3.4Ghz?

If it can't manage those OCs, should he RMA the mobo (unopened) back to Newegg and grab some other board that can OC or should he just keep it? If yes, which board do you guys recommend for good OC performance on the cheap (less than $80-90, the cheaper the better)?

[Ladiesman101]

3.1 should b there w a decent cooler
dont know how much more tho

[kz26]

Erm..well...it's an ECS board. I generally haven't seen them regarded very highly. It seems they have been cutting corners lately. Note that this board has only 2 DIMM slots, which is rare even for a micro ATX board. Onboard audio is limited to 3 ports/5.1 only, and you can definitely get 6-port/7.1 on a 780G board. But all these are nitpicks compared to its biggest limitation: it can only take a 95W cpu (http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pro...ID=123&LanID=0). Though the 7850 is a 95W part, the very basic power circuitry is gonna limit both overclocking and any upgrade options. You get what you pay for - this is a no-frills board.

[Rpg2]

Originally Posted by Ladiesman101

3.1 should b there w a decent cooler
dont know how much more tho

Thanks for the estimate. Might RMA it for a better board.

Originally Posted by kz26

Erm..well...it's an ECS board. I generally haven't seen them regarded very highly. It seems they have been cutting corners lately. Note that this board has only 2 DIMM slots, which is rare even for a micro ATX board. Onboard audio is limited to 3 ports/5.1 only, and you can definitely get 6-port/7.1 on a 780G board. But all these are nitpicks compared to its biggest limitation: it can only take a 95W cpu (http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pro...ID=123&LanID=0). Though the 7850 is a 95W part, the very basic power circuitry is gonna limit both overclocking and any upgrade options. You get what you pay for - this is a no-frills board.

Should of got something else.... Never knew ECS boards could cut so many bits and pieces off.

Anyone got cheap OCable recommendations priced less than $90 before rebates? It doesn't matter if it's ATX or mATX. I don't know anything about AMD boards, so any help will be appreciated.

+Rep to you guys.

[eclipseaudio4]

From my experience RMA it. The one I got for my mother/father-in law could not OC to save a baby's life. That being said it would and still does run stock perfectly and quite cheaply.

[Rpg2]

Originally Posted by eclipseaudio4

From my experience RMA it. The one I got for my mother/father-in law could not OC to save a baby's life. That being said it would and still does run stock perfectly and quite cheaply.

For 20$ more and when I can get this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.190737, I expect the ECS mobo to do more than stock.

I'm shocked at the jump in board quality compared to the ECS for 20$ more.

[kz26]

The Biostar you mentioned is an excellent entry-level 790GX board. Apparently though, you need to use a PCI-E paddle card to achieve full x16 speed with a single video card configuration. Not a biggie, though. Anandtech recently recommended this ASRock second-gen 780G board - it's a micro board that features the new SB710 southbridge which is supposed to be much better for OCing (supports ACC). Priced at $71.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157154

[Rpg2]

Originally Posted by kz26

The Biostar you mentioned is an excellent entry-level 790GX board. Apparently though, you need to use a PCI-E paddle card to achieve full x16 speed with a single video card configuration. Not a biggie, though. Anandtech recently recommended this ASRock second-gen 780G board - it's a micro board that features the new SB710 southbridge which is supposed to be much better for OCing (supports ACC). Priced at $71.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157154

Can you elaborate more about the paddle part? Is it like one of those two sided PCI-e lane cards where you need to flip around? I looked on the pics of the Biostar board, but I don't see anything like that on there.

I already got an RMA for the ECS+ Kuma 7850 combo, so I'll probably pick up the Biostar and same cpu combo for just a smidge more than what I paid for the ECS.