Zaključak

Na test smo dobili novu ECS-ovu P55H-AK matičnu ploču iz njihove Black serije, s čijom opremljenošću ECS cilja na sam vrh ponude. Konkretno, testirana P55H-AK ulazi u cjenovni rang kojim vlada Asus i Maximus III Extreme, te Gigabyte i P55A-UD7, a taj je 300-330 USD – oba su žestoka konkurenta u svim područjima. Jedina prednost testirane ECS P55H-AK bila bi u podršci za 3-Way SLI te. Asus ju također ima, po istoj cijeni, dok ju Gigabyte nema, ali zato košta 80 USD manje. Dakle, jedina prednost nad konkurentima jest dvostruko veći broj SATA i USB3.0 portova, što nikako nije jedini i onaj dovoljan razlog za kupovinu ove ploče. Najveća boljka koju ECS trenutno ima je nezreo i nerazrađen BIOS, a samim time i takvo ponašanje prilikom overclockinga, koju glavni konkurenti nemaju. Dapače, BIOS te overclocking tih ploča je daleko ispred ECS-a. Što na kraju krajeva i nije nešto čudno.

Činjenica je da je ploča bogato opremljena dodatnim kontrolerima, te je kao takva pravo future-proof rješenje (koliko to može biti pred izlazak Sandy Bridge procesora te P67 čipseta), no ploča za 330 USD mora nuditi sve to, uz (barem solidan) overclocking. Na kraju krajeva, ploča se i reklamira kao dizajnirana za overclocking, ali se nadamo da će buduće revizije BIOS-a ipak riješiti problem. To bi bili minusi ove ploče, a bio bi red da se osvrnemo i na pozitivne stvari. P55H-AK dolazi sa jakom regulacijom napona, kvalitetnim hlađenjem, bogatim mogućnostima proširenja, odličnim layoutom te prosječnim softverskim paketom. Po pitanju bundlea ništa posebno, no svakako pozdravljamo ubacivanje dodatnog USB3.0 bracketa u isti. Uzevši sve pluseve i minuse u obzir, upitna je isplativost ove ploče pogotovo što je izašla ovako kasno kada je i Sandy Bridge/P67 pred vratima. Ipak, ploča je super opremljena, a u prednosti je i toliko jer još uvijek dozvoljava "igru" sa baseclockom.

Conclusion

ECS`s P55H-AK Black Series aims for the very top of its class, and it battles with the best of them – Asus`s Maximus III Extreme and Gigabyte`s P55A-UD7. Asus and ECS are in the 300 – 330 USD price range, and they both have 3-way SLI support, and Gigabyte which doesn`t have it costs about 80 USD less. P55H-AK does however have one advantage – more SATA and USB3.0 ports, which certainly isn`t reason enough for buying it. Especially if it’s weak BIOS comes into the picture, which caused somewhat poor overclocking capabilities and instability during it. Main competitors simply don`t have similar problems.

Fact is, that this board is loaded with future-proof technology (except for soon to come Sandy Bridge CPU˙s :) ), but for the money, overclocking should be better. Especially because it is advertised that way, but hopefully future BIOS revisions will solve the problem. All the other ingredients for a good OC potential are certainly here – strong voltage regulation, high quality cooling system and great layout. With that it has loads of expansion capabilities and a decent enough software package. Bundle is nothing special (for a 330 USD board), but one nice thing is additional USB 3.0 bracket. All on all it is questionable whether you should buy this board, especially that it came to market rather late and with the Sandy Bridge boards on the way. It is though a sweet package, and let’s not forget – it still lets you play with base clock.