Ecs N2u400-a

nForce 2, budget style

It's no secret ECS targets the budget sector of computer users. While the likes of Asus and Abit appeal to the enthusiast crowd, this really is a niche market. ECS isn't as big as others in that respect, but they are one of the largest producers of motherboards overall. Asus has responded to this with their spin-off company ASrock, and other companies are developing budget-oriented lines to get a piece of the action. ECS is not a company that makes me jump up screaming "Woo-hoo!". They're lean on features and really don't attempt to offer much, if any, in the way of tweaks, much less overclocking. However, you'll be hard pressed to find something from a Tier 1 company for a cheaper price than ECS.

Today, I have ECS nForce 2 Ultra 400 board on tap. "Whoa, ECS has an nForce 2 board?" Yup. However, given that they don't target the overclocking crowd like Abit, DFI, and Epox, I'm not surprised when people don't know about it. The N2U400-A is a pretty bare board as far as features go, no SATA, Firewire, or Soundstorm here, but it is a dual-channel board, and is currently the cheapest nForce 2 Ultra 400 board on the market.

Specs:

• nForce 2 Ultra 400
  
• MCP southbridge
  
• 3x 184-pin DDR DIMMs
  
• 1x AGP 8x
  
• 5x PCI
  
• 2x PS/2
  
• 1x Serial
  
• 1x RJ45 jack
  
• 1x Floppy connector
  
• 2x IDE connector
  
• CMI 9739A 6-ch Codec
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  As I said: pretty lean in the features department. Still, let's have a look...shall we?