ECS L4S8A (SiS 648): Value P4 Performance

Final Words

All in all, ECS has done quite a fine job with the L4S8A. Let's list exactly what this board offers to the three areas we feel most of our users fall into:

1. For those users that are on a tight budget and simply need a fast and cheap motherboard, the ECS L4S8A isn't bad. Even with Serial ATA, this board isn't supposed to be more than $110 at debut, which is dirt cheap for what you get. Another model, the L4S8A2, is currently selling for just around $90 shipped in the U.S. from a couple of vendors. The only difference between the L4S8A and L4S8A2 is the SI 3112A Serial ATA RAID chip.

2. For those users that are simply interested in a feature-filled, fast, and reasonably priced motherboard, the ECS L4S8A is without a doubt a perfect candidate. You get a combination of Serial ATA RAID (no IDE RAID though), FireWire, sound, LAN, and room for expansion among other features. Besides not having integrated VGA, we would have to call the L4S8A one of the best all-in-one solutions on the market for Socket 478 users.

3. For those users that desire a flexible, feature-filled and overclockable motherboard no matter the price, the ECS L4S8A does a decent job. The overclocking options available in the Award BIOS were fair, but not acceptable for serious tweakers. The L4S8A didn't do too poorly as far as FSB overclocking was concerned (152MHz FSB), but this is nothing compared to the 845PE boards we've seen, even if this overclock was the best out of any SiS 648 motherboard we've tested. Although it's also worth noting that 152MHz FSB was only attainable at a 1:1 divider, meaning memory frequency (and therefore some performance) was sacrificed for a high FSB.

The price of the L4S8A's lower-cost brother, the L4S8A2, is currently around $90 shipped in the U.S. This makes the L4S8A2 one of the best Socket 478 value motherboards on the market. Albatron's PX845PEV Pro and the Epox 4G4A+ are probably the only other modern motherboards that can compete with the ECS L4S8A series in the value Socket 478 market as far as features, performance, price, and tweakability/overclockability are concerned.

We hope you enjoyed our coverage of ECS's L4S8A motherboard. Stay tuned for our SiS 648 roundup in December. Also, watch for our Granite Bay and nForce2 shootouts next week, it should be lots of fun. :)