Product 985G Review by Maximo PC (3/14/2005)
Translated from "PCCHIPS 985G" (Spanish)

The PCCHIPS M985G is a very stable and well designed motherboard. Compared to other motherboards that have similar chipset; this beauty delivers great results that would meet the expectations of any consumer.

This Micro ATX motherboard contains standard components only, but it has the DDR and DDR2 capabilities which are great solutions for those who are in need of an update or upgrade to their system. The motherboard also supports “dual channel” for both type of memories, it is a big plus.

Regarding the appearance of the motherboard, it is an improvement, and the colors inside have not only made the product more colorful but useful to identify inputs and components, allowing for an easier set up.

The product does contain VGA on board (Intel gma400) which is not the most adequate graphic chipset for video games, but more effective for an office or corporate use. Nevertheless, the VGA is the perfect solution for anyone who wants to combine great use of video presentations, and enough performance to run general applications.

Strong Points:

• Design, layout. Proper location of all components, easier to install, and perfect location for the ATX connectors.
• DDR2 available, can be transferred to Dual Channel mode, and allows install of a VGA PCIe board
• The motherboard is very stable, even through the entire testing process.
• The board has good performance; it obtained good results in the “Sandra 05” test for CPU and Memory
• Compatibility, the board supports PCIe without any inconvenience, unlike other Motherboards

Weak Points:

• The performance of this product is not suitable for video games such as, GMA400; nevertheless, Intel indicates otherwise on their website.

With PCI-E Pro, the PCChips motherboard can overcome original design limitations to support the PCI-E x16 slot for upgrading the expansion of a PCI-E x16 graphic card and supports the multi-monitor display.

The M985G’s multi-monitor display enables the connection of a second monitor, increasing user productivity by expanding the desktop area for multitasking. With the expanded desktop, a user can simultaneously work on more than one task by moving items from one monitor to another or stretching a single screen across two monitors.

Powered by the Intel® 915GV chipset and the latest LGA775 Intel® Pentium 4/Celeron D processors, the M985G has the muscle required for the most demanding current applications plus the power to accommodate future technological innovations. The Intel® 915GV chipset uses an 800-MHz front-side bus and includes integrated graphics and graphics engine. The chipset supports DirectX 9.0, OpenGL 1.4, Pixel Shader version 2.0 and up to 128 Mbytes of frame buffer memory. Ready to deliver outstanding performance from CRT, flat panel and wide-screen display devices, the chipset core is optimized for low power and dynamically adjusts display resolution to match a monitor’s type and aspect ratio.

The M985G motherboard 800MHz FSB, Dual DDR2 533/DDR400 architecture, PCI-E Pro and Hyper-Threading Technology combine to provide a potential framework for excellent performance while its Hyper Streaming Engine (HSE) powered by Intel enhances overall system performance and stability.

Thanks to smart integration of future and current technologies, the M985G can be easily upgraded with memory modules. With both Dual DDR2 and DDR 1 engineered in, a M985G user can enjoy the stability of Dual DDR1 and also experience the latest DDR2 architecture, all on one board. Better yet, with an onboard LAN, four Serial ATA and eight USB 2.0 ports, make the M985G a convenient solution for networking and fast peripheral connections.

In addition to providing improved performance compared to current standards, motherboards with PCI-E Pro provide scalability and investment protection for the future.
Key Specifications:
- LGA775 socket for latest Intel® Pentium 4/Celeron D processors
- FSB: 800/533 MHz
- Intel 915GV+ ICH6 chipset
- Dual-channel DDR and DDR2 memory architecture
- Two 184-pin DDR DIMM or two 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets support up to 2GB
- DDR400/333 2.5 V DDR SDRAM or DDR2 533/400 1.8V DDR2 SDRAM support
- One PCI-E Pro slot, one PCI Express slot, two PCI slots, one CNR slot
- Realtek RTL8110C 10/100 Mbps fast Ethernet controller
- Audio-AC’97 Codec
- Ultra DMA 100/66
- Supports 4 USB 2.0 ports
- Supports 4 SATA devices
- Micro-ATX Form Factor, 244*244mm

Once again, the industry of PC assembly parts dominated the exhibition of IT Brazil Comdex Sucesu-SP. Full of suppliers of cabinets, keyboards and mouses, the exhibition unveiled either curious and innovating products that soon will be on the stores’ shelves. The event, which was held at the Anhembi Park, São Paulo, ended Friday.
One of the innovations that drew the attention was the Tablett (www.tablett.com.br) Virtual Keyboard, which the company promises to bring to Brazil till the end of the year. The device is little larger than a lighter and projects on the table, with laser light, a true keyboard, which can be connected to PC’s or palmtops. The suggested price is about R$600.
Those who enjoy customizing their PC can already check CPU cooling solutions of Thermaltake, imported by Via Brasil (www.viabrasil.net). The company demonstrated its Tower 112 (R$ 310), a very large copper tower that accelerates the heat exchange between the chip and the environment. At the exhibition, the device could reduce the temperature of a Pentium 4/ 3,2 GHz Extreme Edition from the traditional 70ºC to 36ºC.
Another outstanding component was Bigwater, a water cooler for PC’s. The kit has not a suggested price yet. But it will be cheaper than the Aquarius 3 model, which costs R$1,200.

Notebook GSM – Leadership (www.leadership.com.br), through its Unicell division, announced a PCMCIA card for connection to GSM telephony networks. The card, called GPRS Unicell, costs approximately R$1,200 and connects to the Internet at a maximum nominal speed of 115 Kbps (in the field, the average performance is 47 Kbps). For the end of the year, the company promises a card that will be able to use GSM operators Edge data service.
With its own booth, Taiwanese PC Chips showed products that soon will be available in Brazil. It’s the case of EZ Watcher 2, a sophisticated barebone-type micro with autodiagnosis display and thumbwheel that increases the speed, in clock, of the processor. Or the G320 and A530+, two low cost notebooks that use Via C3 1.2 GHz and Transmeta 5800 chips, respectively. Nave Informática (www.navenet.com), distributors of PC Chips products in Brazil, said that the A530+ notebook shall cost about R$3,000.
(R.N.S.)

The COMPUCHANNEL Awards(9/9/2004)

The COMPUCHANNEL Awards is organized by the Compudata and Compuchannel magazine that is distributed all over Central America and Miami.

On September 2nd 2004, the awards dinner ceremony was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Guatemala City; there, the industry's top distributors, retailers, and other companies were amongst the many invited to be part of such event, even the Vice-President of Guatemala was an honorary present.

Prior to the ceremony, all of the companies had to each submit and present their products in front of the judges in a private room in the Hotel. After each presentation the judges would evaluate the product and review key facts that were mentioned throughout the presentation. PCCHIPS submitted three products, The TidalWave T12 (for Intel Version), the TidalWave W32 (for AMD Version), and the 9600SE Radeon (for Graphics Card).

This type of presence is extremely good for PCCHIPS, in fact it marks the beginning of a new era for PCCHIPS USA INC. A great way to celebrate our 10th year anniversary.

Congratulations PCCHIPS USA INC!!!

AMAX joined PCCHIPS USA, Inc. as authorized distirbutor(3/3/2004)

With the celebration of 10th anniversary of PCCHIPS USA, Inc., we proudly announce AMAX Engineered Corporation to join us as authorized distributor.

AMAX Engineering Corporation, founded in the heart of Silicon Valley in 1979, is an ISO-9001 Certified company as well as a leading national distributor of computer components, peripherals, and systems. Also, AMAX is one of the fastest growing rack server manufacturers in the United States. For convenient shipping and expedient service, we have 6 distribution centers located in Northern California, Southern California, Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

For more detail information about AMAX, please visit www.amax.com

Putting a new twist on PC Design - Over clocking a CPU has never been so easy. Just turn a dial to increase the CPU speed. (5/13/2003)

Fremont, California- May 13rdth, 2003 - PCWave, Inc. today announces its’ EZ-Watcher technology that puts the consumer in control of the power. Users can squeeze every ounce of performance out of the processor and monitor the system on the easy to read LED management window.

The LED display window on the PC chassis has the patented EZ-Watcher technology for monitoring both CPU and system performance. The user can now monitor the frequency of the CPU as they increase the speed by simply rotating a dial on the front of the chassis. The motherboard, system memory, hard drive and CD/DVD drives are also constantly monitored, with warning lights indicating any potential problems.

The EZ-Watcher technology makes hardware monitoring as easy as knowing when to service a car. When the Memory Warning light is on, a consumer knows it’s time to replace a $20 memory module, rather than spending $800 on a new system. System integrators can also save time on diagnosing problems during the assembly process.

“With our EZ-Watcher technology, everyone can now enhance and monitor their PC performance at a glance”, says See See Lo, CEO of PCWave, Inc. “This new platform gives the white box PC makers a boost over their Tier-1 competitors.”

The PCChips EZW-3060 is the first product to be released with the EZ-Watcher technology. This system platform consists of a compact aluminum chassis, measuring 162mmx263mmx310mm, a choice of motherboards with 5 USB ports supporting Intel or AMD CPUs, a 6 in 1 Flash card reader and an external power supply that reduces fan noise. The low noise, and the 5.1 audio output make this an ideal platform for digital media applications. Prices start from $169.00.

for more information about EZW-3060, click here.

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The reviews, posted January 14 at http://www.clubedohardware.com.br/m947.html ; 
http://www.clubedohardware.com.br/m847.html praise the M947 and M847 video motherboards for their performance and good cost/benefit ratios. 

The M947 is designed for Intel Pentium 4 processors; the M847 is designed to work with Athlon or Duron processors.

The site's recommendation:

"If you are looking to buy a motherboard with an on-board video with good performance for your Pentium 4, the best choice is PCChips M947." Clubedohardware displayed similar enthusiasm for the M847."

"We were (also) really impressed by M847. Unlike most on-board video motherboards that have flooded the market, its 3D performance is very good and is the first motherboard with on-board video that can run 3D games like Quake III and Counter Strike with good performance."

"Besides its good performance, this motherboard has an excellent overclocking capability, editors noted."

"If you are looking for a motherboard with on-board video with good performance for your Athlon or Duron processor, the best choice is PCChips M847."

" Game Demonio is a very appropriate name for this series, the review concluded."

"Believe us: You won't regret buying (either of these) motherboards."

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