Browsing the local parts store I noticed a shelf full of ECS brand cards in a few shapes and sizes and a price tag that really attracted attention with cheap promises of high definition nVidia graphics that also came recommended by the salesman.
"You'll never have a problem with this card", knowing well about my tendencies to push videos cards and CPU's to the overclocking limits. I managed to talk down to what must have been near wholesale prices for the major brands and I walked out with a content smile and a lighter bank balance.
The card itself is a GDDR3 1024 MB, 256 bit PCI-E 2.0 with dual DVI ports, the chunky fan cooler with the usual wires, cardboard insert and connectors inside the box. The nVidia logo is splashed all around with a rather small 'ECS Elitegroup' logo at the top left side.
I fit the card in the test machine, connected the card and the power supplies PCI-E cable. Power up like a dream, until I got to the desktop. The windows desktop was using a small portion of the screen so I pulled out the CD ready to install the drivers as usual. This is where I encountered a problem. The disk was unable to tell what operating system I was using and politely told me that it won't work with Windows 98/200 or earlier. It would be a different story if this was 10 years ago, however I had a copy of Vista X64 SP1 installed. 64 bit users once did get quite the run around when it came to drivers, but surely with a card this recent there shouldn't be any problems. A quick google for the ECS website quickly leads to the driver section. Sure enough, no 64 bit software is available. This means a complete reinstall and letting go of a few gigs of ram to get the card working correctly.
A short while later, windows Vista X86 ready to go, the driver CD worked fine and the slider was moved to 1920 X 1080. Fallout 3 auto settings adjusted to High Quality a quick look at GTA IV and high settings selected. Both ran very smooth and comfortably at a constant 60fps.
It's a big inconvenience having to reinstall the whole operating system, thus downgrading the ram but somewhat worth it for the high quality TV and gamin at the cheapest available price.
Having left the card alone for 3 weeks while on holiday, I was surprised to find that there was only one week left in the life of this card. A few short games and normal everyday use proved to be too much for this card. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Back in the anti-static sleeve with receipt attached, this card is heading back for an RMA that is rightly deserved.
Unfortunately, no temps or benchmarks other than the smooth 60 FPS with FRAPS are available.
When running, the card was great, but the 5 weeks of life (with only two weeks of use) is unacceptable. Lack of 64 bit driver support is also unacceptable these days. Sure, the price was cheap, but in hindsight, too cheap. Stick with the trusted brand names that stay around with one quality card after another. An obvious lesson learnt.
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