ECS G43T-M3

The ECS G43T-M3 is slightly better off than most entry-level G41 chipset-based boards in terms of features—it offers DVI output, gigabit Ethernet

and six SATA ports.

Like most other motherboards based on the same chipset, the ECS G43T-M3 is well-designed keeping in mind good airflow and ease of installation. The areas around the core components are very tidy so that the air blown by the CPU cooler also cools the memory and northbridge.

The SATA ports and headers for USB, parallel port and front panel are placed very thoughtfully at the edge of the board. The only quirk in design is the lack of heatsink on the ICH10 southbridge. It’s placed between the PCIe x16 and PCI slot and tends to heat up with a graphics card installed.

The rear panel of the ECS G43T-M3 comprises eight USB ports and 5.1-channel audio jacks in addition to the gigabit Ethernet port and DVI output. However, it lacks a parallel port and PS/2 port for the mouse.

We tested this board with the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 2 GB DDR2-800 RAM and 500 GB hard drive. It didn’t give us any problems and the power was just sufficient handling home and office applications.

At Rs 4,925 the ECS G43T-M3 is slightly better off than an average G41 board.

Tech Specs:

• CPU socket: LGA 775
• Chipset: Intel G43 + ICH10
• Memory: Up to 8 GB DDR2-800
• LAN: Gigabit; SATA | USB: 6 | 8
• Expansion slots: 1x PCIe x16, 2x PCIe x1 and 1x PCI