I've built several systems with ECS boards in the past and the failure rate seems to be the same as Gigabyte, MSI, etc.  I'm just curious, what are your perceptions of the quality of ECS motherboards?  Fry's ALWAYS includes them in their CPU/MOBO combo deals, is it just because ECS skimps on the features of the boards to cut costs or is the quality substandard?

I had one (frys combo)... failed after 4 months.
I wont buy one of those again

I have had great results from ECS boards. They work great for budget systems. Everyone I have had overclocks decently (no vcore control though) and have all lasted. I have one that is going on 7 months and one that is going on 2 years, both overclocked.  
 
I have had to RMA one of them through newegg due to a power surge, but that went smoothly and wasn't really the board's fault. I have not actually had to deal with ECS directly, but their website is easy to navigate.

I have noticed the lack of vcore control on the ECS boards I have used as well.  I was thinking about a $299.00 Q6600/ECS combo at Fry's but I might just spend the extra cash for an ASUS or GA-P35-DS3L.

If you want serious overclocking, obviously, they are not the way to go. They weren't built for that. ECS boards are great in the right applications which is why it is important to research and pick the right board.

I built my mother a system about 5 years ago with a ECS board to save some money it died after about 3 months, got a replacement from ecs second one lasted about 10 months and died again(and it was a pain in the butt to get ECS to replace it) Paid like $30 to ship it back to ecs for a replacement and the board was only worth $60. My brother also used one about 5 years back to save some money and his died after about 4 months. I had one in a system i built for myself about 5 years ago and it too died after about 4 months, which i replaced with a asus which im still currently using. My asus board that i got after the ecs has been problem free for close to 5 years.
 
 
I my self will never own/buy/or recommend another ECS board to anyone ever. there are nothing but junk. And dealing with ECS to get boards replaced under warranty is a pain in the butt.

K7S5A had it for 3 years no problems at all sold to make place for an upgrade. NF4-754A coming up on 3 years no problems at all and over clocks.

I have owned a few, no problems with them. They are for the budget minded. If you plan on overclocking, building to game, etc. you are probably better off not starting your build with an ECS board.  
When you go to Frys to buy an ECS combo, just tell them that the combo is a great deal, but you want a better board with more features.
I have done this a few times and every single time they have let me pick out whatever board I wanted, and gave me a pretty good discount on it.

They are okay unless you start doing something fancy. A friend of mine fried his during normal operation though. The 20 pin atx connector caught fire, the CPU fried and the RAM, well, it didn't look pretty.

Curently own a KA3 MVP 1.0a, no problems yet and no areas of concern except one of my own demise, I have had several socket A mobos and all seem fine even one that is really old can't remember the model. I have had several K7S5A mobo's and only one had a bios issue.

My origional build (9 months ago) had one.  I had three seperate problems with it, ended up begging tigerdirect to exchange it for a 680i.  Even if it worked, it looked and felt cheap.  If you have any other option, take it.

ECS's tech support is not the best in the market, and their bios updates are questionable, but the mobos from ESC look like just about every other PCB that past through my hands.
 
My main complaint on the KA3 is the fact the bios is soldered in place and not socketed what is up with that. If I ever have to replace the chip I will have to bring it to work and use my SMT tools.
 
I have a wide share of problems with other MoBo manufactures as well.

ECS boards dont like it when you drop screws on them when they are running...  
 
Just a reminder...

I have a K7S5A that has been great for the past 5 years, and I built a AMD 1000 with an ECS board sometime around 2000 it it is still running. Everything has some lemons, but I have had good luck with ECS.

I have to throw my hat in to the mix Ecs is a matter of luck I have had a ecs board free from frys that lasted 2 years and then one that didnt even boot up. Its a shot in the dark but they are cheap budget boards some work some dont you take the chance, sometimes it will pay off sometimes it wont.

Sorry I had to quote this and almost not laugh at you but at the quote itself, the people at the frys in california are freakin evil and dont want to help you. Their customer service sucks but they have good prices what can you do, you need your computer stuff. They would never let you choose another board like that in the frys in cali, in fact I tried to return a ecs board and they said I had to also return the cpu because it was a combo, but I paid for both so why do I have to return one to get the other ones money back. Frys is shady they also sell alot of returned motherboards as new without the discount sticker on it. They either claim that one of the employees opened it and its still good or that the box is just a little smashed beware.

Back in 2001 or 2002 (cant remember well) I had an ECS k7s5a and the socket clip that holded the cooler just broke while the system was running, nearly destroying my highend (at the time) geforce 3 that was underneath. The cpu, an athlon xp 2000 died one week later even with new cooler (triple clip support) on it, so i dont know if the board damaged it somehow. Btw the cpu thermal sensor on the board died right after the clip broke.
Then i put on it a thunderbird 1.2 ghz and did crash all the time, but worked like wonders if it had overclock to 1.3ghz.  
Weird board from ECS that was.
Oh, 512 Sdram did crash if used with athlon xp 2000, in contrary to what was told to me at the time.
 
Today im using a sk478 ECS mobo in my living room for my media center.
Works like wonders.
 
Confused now ?

I haven't had the same experience, but then again, there are many different Fry's stores and many different employees at each store.  I had a problem with the motherboard that came with the combo, and they took it back no questions asked (well, they did ask if I wanted to tell them why I was returning it, but that no answer was necessary) for store credit.  I'd assume if you talk to a manager (or just some higher-level employee), you can get a CPU at the combo price (cheaper than buying the CPU alone) and a motherboard of your choice.  If not, you can always return the motherboard back for store credit.  Fry's has always been good to me when it came to returns.

I will admit that the lone Fry's store in Washington (state) had employees who were more helpful...

I've own one ECS board and I will never buy another one again. Within a few months of owning it, it gave me tons of different issues (problems with the integrated LAN/sound, power issues, PCI issues). When I called their tech support to report the problems and hopefully get it RMAed. They offered little assistance and refused to RMA it. It ended up dying about a month or so later. I will absolutely NEVER buy another ECS product.

Yeah frys in California is definately different. They treat their employess kind of mean I hear them yelling all the time at them. Washington people are less crazy than here in cali.

Yeah but sometimes you are tempted to build for a budget build and save some money but at the end of the day it might not be worth it like you say. But sometimes they will build a good board like the K5 and if you get a good ecs board on a cpu combo deal it will save you lots of cash. Its really a shot in the dark but sometime sit will pay off.