Derrick
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The GF7100PVT is the perfect motherboard for the home theatre user who needs a no frills board that has all the right features such as HDMI and 8-channel audio support, which complement the very capable digital video accelerator integrated into the chipset.
ECS has always been a manufacturer better suited to the lower end boards and those geared towards the home theatre crowd more than high end enthusiast solutions. As a result of that however, ECS has gained vast experience in making such motherboards and has managed to produce a good product in the GF 7100PVT.
At the heart of this motherboard is the NVIDIA MCP73PV which is a single chip solution. That is, everything that would traditionally be handled by the South Bridge is integrated into the North Bridge, which also happens to handle all the graphics capabilities of the motherboard.
This integration of components lends itself to a N orth Bridge that runs very warm when making use of the video playback or 3D capabilities. The provided cooling by ECS is bordering on inadequate as it just manages to keep the chip from melting itself. Despite the heat, the motherboard stayed fully functionally even after numerous stress tests.
With that said, those are about the only faults to be found on this ECS motherboard. The ability to output an HD CP encoded digital signal via DVI is still not as common as one may think, however it is available on the motherboard.
ECS has included a DVI to HD MI adapter which will allow you to carry both your video and audio signal via a single cable to your chosen display device. With just those two features the motherboard should be an instant winner for the HT PC user who isn’t looking for paying too much for a micro-ATX board but does not want to be left wanting for a board that will support most video playback formats out the box, including high definition signals.
As a result of the motherboard housing most of its features in a single chip, the motherboard while in theory can support up to 8GB of memory, is practically limited to single channel operation with a maximum of 4GB of memory from DDR 2 533 to DDR 2 800.
Given the person this board is positioned at, there is very little if any need for dual channel memory performance, so while it may not score well in the memory transaction tests, in practical terms the scores make no difference at all.
Overall the ECS GF 7100PVT is an above average HT PC targeted Micro-ATX motherboard which has all the features from 8-channel audio to accelerated high definition video playback integrated into the motherboard.
ECS has always been a manufacturer better suited to the lower end boards and those geared towards the home theatre crowd more than high end enthusiast solutions. As a result of that however, ECS has gained vast experience in making such motherboards and has managed to produce a good product in the GF 7100PVT.
At the heart of this motherboard is the NVIDIA MCP73PV which is a single chip solution. That is, everything that would traditionally be handled by the South Bridge is integrated into the North Bridge, which also happens to handle all the graphics capabilities of the motherboard.
This integration of components lends itself to a N orth Bridge that runs very warm when making use of the video playback or 3D capabilities. The provided cooling by ECS is bordering on inadequate as it just manages to keep the chip from melting itself. Despite the heat, the motherboard stayed fully functionally even after numerous stress tests.
With that said, those are about the only faults to be found on this ECS motherboard. The ability to output an HD CP encoded digital signal via DVI is still not as common as one may think, however it is available on the motherboard.
ECS has included a DVI to HD MI adapter which will allow you to carry both your video and audio signal via a single cable to your chosen display device. With just those two features the motherboard should be an instant winner for the HT PC user who isn’t looking for paying too much for a micro-ATX board but does not want to be left wanting for a board that will support most video playback formats out the box, including high definition signals.
As a result of the motherboard housing most of its features in a single chip, the motherboard while in theory can support up to 8GB of memory, is practically limited to single channel operation with a maximum of 4GB of memory from DDR 2 533 to DDR 2 800.
Given the person this board is positioned at, there is very little if any need for dual channel memory performance, so while it may not score well in the memory transaction tests, in practical terms the scores make no difference at all.
Overall the ECS GF 7100PVT is an above average HT PC targeted Micro-ATX motherboard which has all the features from 8-channel audio to accelerated high definition video playback integrated into the motherboard.