2CPU.com » News » April 2001 » ECS D6VAA: Duallie for Cheap?

It wasn't long ago when dual boards were few and far between; manufactured by only a few companies. Demand was relatively low, prices were high. Now it seems like everyone has duallies on the market and in production. If someone told me two years ago that I would soon be able to pick up a decent dual board for 80 dollars I never would have believed. SysOpt is reviewing such a board, the ECS D6VAA.

The ECS D6VAA is an exciting solution for those seeking a reliable, yet cost effective, workstation solution. The D6VAA deserves the prestigious Editor's Choice award, as this motherboard offers solid stability and a well-engineered design for entry-level pricing.

I'd actually like to play with this board. Read the rest of their review.

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#8407 Posted on: 04/07/2001 09:06 PM One hell of board for the price. I've got the RAID version, and disregarding the overclocking features of the VP6 it's just as good a board. My only problems are: Certain heatsinks don't fit: Golden Orbs for one, Arctic Coolers for two. Seems to be running the voltages low, my 1Ghz chips are at 1.65 and 1.68 volts instead of 1.7. Firewire controller problems in the bottom 2 PCI slots. All three are easily remedied, got a pair of Coolermaster heatsinks, moved the firewire card to a higher PCI slot, and the voltage thing doesn't seem to affect stability at all. &E

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#8408 Posted on: 04/08/2001 09:45 AM I told you J, this board is tempting and sitting in my hands right now untouched and ready for you to review as soon as you say go i will send you the board With a better BIOS for interleaving i think we may see a new king on the block!

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#8409 Posted on: 04/08/2001 11:06 PM check the reviews and benchmarks over at digit life- it actually fares really well against the vp6 and 694d http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=29626 it even beats them in a few benchmarks as well, and it also won the roundup ^_^

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#8410 Posted on: 04/08/2001 11:09 PM ^

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#8411 Posted on: 04/09/2001 12:40 AM Sorry JORDAN, i just sold it in the 2cpufs forum i didn't think you even cared! maybe widefault will send you the board since i sold it to him

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#8412 Posted on: 04/09/2001 01:36 AM Hmm, am I feeling generous today? Not today, sorry. Got a couple chips looking for a good home. &E

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#8413 Posted on: 04/09/2001 02:42 AM Doh0r! :-(

Joe24 SMP Newbie Posts: 1 Joined: 2002-04-10

#8414 Posted on: 04/10/2002 10:19 AM Hey... i bought this board about 4 months ago. I got it off http://www.pricewatch.com i paid about $60USD for it. I then gifted it with two 1ghz cpus with stock heat sinks. I am currently running windows 2000 pro on it and i have tried Windows XP home and Pro on it... Not being real fond of XP yet i did not leave it on here. The Board is EXTREMELY stable and I have not had a crash yet. I have a gig of memory in it which just makes it scream... if your looking for a hardcore gaming machine, or something for CAD or other graphics i would recomend this board. I have read many reviews on it and from now on I will only buy ECS. I have a Gigabyte board that won't even compare to this with windows 2000 with a Athlon 1.4 ..... its more then worth the money i put into it.

JEC252 Too much time on my hands Posts: 3701 Joined: 2001-05-23

#8415 Posted on: 04/13/2002 06:30 PM Lol, little late, but yes, I have a very similar board, the Tyan Tiger 230T. Both the D6VAA and the Tiger 230T have their share of problems, mostly in the memory and AGP 4x department (doesn't everything Via have that), but are both extremely reliable boards. Difference is, for $40 more I got Tualatin support :-P Just a question for you Joe, what video card? I'm in the market for a new one, as it appears, and I'm debating between a Quadro 4/Geforce 4 or Radeon 8500 mostly, but also considering maybe something from Appian or Matrox, or a 3dLabs Oxygen. Once again we've saved civilization as we know it. And the good news is, they're not gonna prosecute!

pbrem SMP Newbie Posts: 1 Joined: 2002-05-23

#8416 Posted on: 04/18/2002 04:26 AM Hello, Just got my D6VAA... v1.0 w/o RAID. Installing my "old" AGP ATI RAGE 128 yielded no video output on startup. Swapped in a PCI card and everthing was fine. I care more about the PCI slot recovery that video performance (Linux server.) Anyone run into this and have a solution? - P

nipster NOT a WarMonger Posts: 1841 Joined: 2001-09-12

#8417 Posted on: 04/18/2002 05:12 AM bios set to "initial display" as pci card?

JEC252 Too much time on my hands Posts: 3701 Joined: 2001-05-23

#8418 Posted on: 04/19/2002 09:14 AM Dump in a Rage XL or whatever you can get cheap ... they're more stable than the pyramids. Once again we've saved civilization as we know it. And the good news is, they're not gonna prosecute!

pbrem SMP Newbie Posts: 1 Joined: 2002-05-23

#8419 Posted on: 04/22/2002 09:23 PM For once, the manufacturer came through. Searching their knowledge base on the D6VAA, I found a post on the exact same subject. The magic J1 "clear CMOS" was suggested... and it actually worked! I've now got a perfectly working AGP slot -- which was key, because my Linux install HATED the PCI based video. Seems that with this board... when in doubt, clear the CMOS! - P

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#8420 Posted on: 02/08/2003 11:07 PM "Special 370GU" is being made for this board...you can use a PIII 1.4 GIG with it in dual mode!!! http://www.upgradeware.com/english/product/370gu/compatibility.htm

2CPU.com » News » April 2001 » ECS D6VAA: Duallie for Cheap?