Introduction

Last week we took a look at our first Intel Z77 Express sample, and today we have another, this time from ECS. The ECS Golden Board Z77H2-AX is ECS's top-tier Intel Z77 Express offering, a limited-edition release with just 200 boards globally, and ECS sent me number 004. ECS is amidst a big change in the way they do things and market their products, and the Golden Board Z77H2-AX is the first of what might become a very successful product line. ECS's Black Extreme boards carry a tale of dual dragons tormenting humanity time and again, and the products themselves serve as weapons against the dual terrors named AMD and Intel. Of course, with a name like "Golden Board" attached to the Z77H2-AX, it's not just any Black Extreme product either, and serves as a "rare weapon", and those of you that play RPG games know all rare items are Golden!!

Specifications

Intel Z77 Express Chipset

Intel launched their latest desktop platform in the first half of April 2012, just a little while ago, beginning with board products. The Intel Z77 Express platform is an incremental upgrade from previous platforms, adding additional features and providing a wider level of functionality, while adding full support for the 3rd Generation Core i5/i7 family of CPUs, commonly called IvyBridge in enthusiast circles.


The IvyBridge CPUs are made using a new 28nm process technology that lowers power consumption as well as offering a bit more performance-per-clock than previous Intel 2nd Generation Core i5/i7 products. Also changed is the onboard GPU that's part of the Ivybridge silicon, which now takes up more of that slice of silicon that sits under the integrated heatspreader.


The integrated PCIe bus on the CPU is also upgraded, and can be split differently than with SandyBridge CPUs, with IvyBridge natively supporting three devices over a single bus with 16 lanes of PCIe 3.0 connectivity, compared to the two devices and PCIe 2.0 link that is found inside SandyBridge products. Taking advantage of that added PCIe functionality requires a motherboard design change from previous Sandybridge-supporting motherboards, yet backwards and forwards component compatibility for both SandyBridge and IvyBridge platform products including CPUs and chipsets is possible with updated firmware for older SKT 1155 board products. Using a new IvyBridge CPU with an older P67 Express or Z68 Express motherboard may limit PCIe functionality, and naturally, with SandyBridge only supporting two devices, the tertiary slot provided on some Z77 Express boards will not work on some products when a SandyBridge CPU is installed.

The ECS Z77H2-AX Golden board is ECS's top-level Intel Z77 Express product, that offers many things other Intel Z77 Express products do not. First and foremost is a PCIe configuration that supports triple VGA configurations in SLI or CrossfireX, with a minimum of a PCIe 3.0 x8 link for each card, even when a SandyBridge CPU is installed. This means that the ECS Z77H2-AX offers PCIe bandwidth seen on Intel X79 Epxress products, very nearly making this the ultimate solution for Multi-GPU SKT 1155 builds. Not only that, ECS's new-found confidence is partly due to thier new "Non-Stop" technology, which provides far more rigourous quality screening and testing than ever before.

Packaging

I received my samples from the US ECS offices a few weeks ago, and like everyone else, I was expecting a gold and black motherboard thanks to pre-release information that came out after CeBIT. That said, I was completely blown away when I opened the shipping container and found the gold box you see above. There's not alot of stuff on the box itself, other than the ECS logo on the top left, and "Black Extreme" in the middle, with the words "Golden Board" just below. There's also the board's name shown just below that, but it proved nearly impossible to capture in pictures properly. There's also a flap on the front, shown in the second image above, behind which we find a window that lets us peer into the inside of the box, and on the other side has a bunch of logos and such depicting the technology the ECS Z77H2-AX features. I did also see a little gold card sitting inside the window, too.


The rear of the box is a mirror image of the front, including also having a flap that contains more product info. I really like this package design, as on the shelf, it's impossible to miss, and the lack of details across the front and back, and hidden in the flaps instead, really pushes the idea that this board is something special. I lost count of the number of times I said "WOW!" when I was taking these pictures, and I was so impressed I wanted to break out the white cotton gloves!


I slide the top open, as you can see in the first image above, and found that there was a whole other black box inside, and at the bottom sat the gold card I mentioned earlier, with what appeared to be a number of some sort.


I pulled out the card to find that it's a Certificate of Quality, and my "Golden Ticket" was numbered #004 of 200! I felt like Charlie opening a candy bar, and so I flipped the card over to see if it had directions on how to visit the ECS motherboard factory! Instead, I found a hand-signed note from the ECS USA General Manager letting me know that ECS assembled this product with the idea of the very best in quality in mind, just in case the packaging wasn't enough, or was wrongly interpreted as being overly "blingy" like a gold-plated Bugatti Veyron.


I opened the box to find the motherboard resting in a cardboard tray, with the included accessories in their own box below. The accessories box is pretty much as large and as deep as the motherboard tray, and is stuffed to the brim with goodies to help you get the most out of the ECS Z77H2-AX.