Thoughts, awards, where2buy, right2reply
We've demonstrated that the performance of the ECS PN2 SLI2+ is directly in line with another reference nForce 680i SLI board from eVGA, just as it should be. We still believe the '680i SLI offers the optimum feature-set to the enthusiast looking for LGA775 fun, so the buying advice will rest on which company's board offers the best package.The question is how does ECS differentiate its SKU from others offering an identical board that's manufactured by Flextronics? At the time of writing, the ECS PN2 SLI2+ retails for around £185, which is similar pricing to other NVIDIA partner boards. The bundle offers a couple of nice touches that eVGA doesn't but, really, there's no clear distinction that can be made between the ECS or eVGA offerings, in terms of price, availability, bundle and warranty.
If you're shopping for a high-end LGA775 motherboard with an excellent core logic that is able to support a couple of GeForce 8800-series cards in SLI, there is but one current choice: the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI. ECS has opted to release a board to market quickly and has therefore run with the reference design. What our review has shown is that it is no better/worse than the competition that have employed a similar approach.
It's expensive, yes, and you should only seriously consider it if pushing your system to the limit, but if that's you, we see no viable reason in not recommending it; the reference design is that good. For everyone else, and that should be the majority, we'd recommend waiting a short while for the cheaper nForce 650i SLI chipset-based mainboards. They should perform similarly but undercut the premium SKUs by up to £75.
HEXUS Awards
The ECS PN2 SLI2+ is awarded the HEXUS Extreme Recommended gong for offering an excellent layout, BIOS and overclocking potential
ECS PN2 SLI2+
