Computerstunt.nl | Onderdelen: Moederborden (AMD) | PCCHIPS M789CLU (V3.0) + 2000+ VIA CPU ALLIN1 OPLOSSING incl. VGA superprijs!!

PCCHIPS M789CLU (V3.0) + 2000+ VIA CPU ALLIN1 OPLOSSING incl. VGA superprijs!!

Ook ideaal voor een file/homeserver!! Weer binnen een klein partijtje van ca. 20 stuks, refurbished, compleet met cd (waarop de drivers en de manual staat) en i/o caseshield... 6 maanden garantie... INCLUSIEF processor... en echt superzuinig.... Maar 15 euro op computerstunt.nl! SUPERLAGE PRIJS OP=OP!!

The Bottom Line:
Great, cheap board. Buy it if you can find it.

Author's Review
This flex-ATX motherboard is the followup rev in the line-up from PCChips that sports the VIA CLE266 chipset and includes cool-running VIA c3 cpu. Like its older and now retired cousin, the M789CLU board this is the the same board with just 2 PCI slots. As usual, a little bit crowded, it still supports the standard I/O ports, plus on-board keyed pinouts for front-audio, front USB, and even a USB card reader. My latest batch of boards are Rev 3.0A. And OS driver loads recognize the network chip as VIA Rhine-II, although specs say it's the same old VT6103 Rhine chip.

You get standard Unichrome graphics (formerly S3, CastleRock AGP) built in. Good 2D, not great for 3D. It's a shared memory chip configurable to 64MB in BIOS. It seems like the pathing and quality of the 2D graphics is even better than the VIA mini-ITX systems and older PCChips m789clu using the same chipset. The contrast and sharpness on the same LCD test screen flat panel I use at 1280x1024 is sharp and not as fuzzy as the others. Note, this isn't a gamer board for tweaking. Also the console text install problem with Solaris 10 x86 seems to have been fixed in this rev. It appears to have been a problem in chipset, and so all the lastest VIA CLE266 systems should work okay now.

It has an EBGA VIA c3 Samuel 2 core 800MHz processor. Lots of vendors will try to confuse folks with 2000+ cpu ratings, and socket 370. That's not the case here. The CPU is not fitted into a ZIF socket. It's actually soldered onto the mainboard. A relatively quiet fan (around 28dB by my reckonning is included).

I fit this small flexATX board into a relatively spacious and ultra-quiet Antec Aria case. The case might look like a shoebox, but since this board is so small and the VIA c3 is averaging just 7Watts, the actual backplate I/O panel is taller than anything else. So you don't need to worry about CPU/HS/Fan clearance.

The default BIOS settings are fairly standard, and the assumption here is for a plug-in-play OS. This works for Win32 installations, and FC3/4. I didn't try it on early versions. This board has an AMI BIOS and supports a Novell Netware/IPX netboot. It's not formal PXE boot.

Linux Fedora Core 3 and later will not see too many surprises here. Support is good. Everything plumbs correctly and you'll get network, audio, and graphics, USB subsystems all working. The system isn't a speed demon. Booting takes about 1 minute 40 sec. on Linux FC3 to Gnome Login window. It's about 1 minute on Solaris 10.

A power meter attached to this system, with 60 GB notebook IDE drive/adapter, 512 MB DDR memory, and all other drives removed after install brings the power consumption to under 30 Watts headless. That should qualify for EnergyStar. This brings cost of ownership down to around $32/yr here in California where electricity is $0.12/kW-hr, and this is with no power management. Consider that many faster x86 systems will require 3 - 5 times that amount in electricity to power continuously.

I love the price, the low-power, and the small form factor and level of integration. Plus it can certify with a supported commercial UNIX OS.

C3 CPU onboard Motherboard

M789CLU V3.0 motherboard is based on the CLE266/8235 chipset. Supporting VIA C3 Samuel 2 processor onboard, up to 133MHz FSB, DDR266 with UniChrome 3D Graphic engine, it shall deliver you both performance and great value!