Elitegroup Computer has become one of the biggest mainboard supplier in the industry for the last couple of years. As a result, their market influence is quite high and every announcement of a new platform is always joined by this company. AMD’s ClawHammer launch held later this year is not an exception: ECS will offer numerous mainboards based on different chipsets for the upcoming processor. Today we have received an interesting piece of information about the planning line of Socket 754 products and now I am going to share it with you.

As always, expect ECS to launch a big series of devices in order to address its solutions for various customers with different needs and demands.

The first product to be launched in the fourth quarter this year is the K8ALA, based on AMD8151 + AMD8111 core-logic. The mainboard is equipped with 2 184-pin DIMM slots for PC2700 DDR SDRAM, 1 AGP and 6 PCI slots. Of course, ECS is going to follow the latest traditions and implement 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet adapter, Serial ATA-150 controller and also 6 USB2.0 ports.

Another mainboard that is set to come in the fourth quarter 2002 is the K8VTA2 powered by VIA K8T400M North Bridge and VT8235 South Bridge. As the x86-64 processors have an integrated memory controller, almost all the mainboards for the ClawHammer CPUs will feature 2 DIMM slots for PC2700 memory, this very one is not an exception. The board also has an AGP 8x, 5 PCI and a CNR slots.

A bit later, sometimes during the first quarter 2003, ECS will unveil their integrated mainboard called K8VMA. Based on VIA K8M400 AGP bridge with a built-in CastleRock (presumably the Savage XP) graphics core and VT8235 I/O controller, this novelty has an AGP 8x port, 3 PCI slots and a CNR connector. Both VIA based solutions will comply with all the modern standards, such as USB 2.0, ATA-133, 100Mb Ethernet and 6-channel AC’97 sound.

ECS will also introduce two new mainboards powered by the chipsets from their beloved Silicon Integrated Systems. The first one is the K8S5A based on SiS755 and SiS964 chips, featuring all the latest technologies including Serial ATA-150, USB 2.0 and AGP 8x. You will also find 5 PCI and 1 CNR slots accompanied by an Ethernet connector on this board. The product will be available by the year end.

The second mainboard based on SiS’s core-logic is the K8S5MG powered by SiS760 + SiS963 set. The board is an ordinary cheap device for system integrators and PC-vendors. The newcomer utilises Ultra256 integrated graphics core, but also has an additional AGP 8x connector. Expected to reach the market in the first quarter of 2003, the novelty will have 2 PCI, 1 CNR, USB 2.0 and a LAN adapter onboard.

Although we have no information about the exact launch date or pricing details, we believe that the mainboards mentioned above will be quite cheap, as all the other products from ECS.