News Archive
 
BIOS change announcement (11/11/2002)
 
A new BIOS structure has been created for PCChips motherboards that will be able to support auto-detection of LAN and IEEE 1394 features. Under the new structure, one BIOS file will support all models in a series, e.g. M930U, M930LU, M930FLU. 

However, on some series' boards with early BIOS date codes, an error message will appear saying " Error 9 - The BIOS tag is incorrect." This message will appear if trying to flash the BIOS on the following series boards with BIOS date codes earlier than the dates stated below:

LAN
M830/M831 series with chipset SiS735 Issue date: 1st October 2002
M920/M921/M922/M925/M927 series with south bridge VT8233/VT8235 Issue date: 2nd July 2002

1394 and LAN
M841 series with south bridge SiS962: Issue date: 28th August 2002
M930/M935 series with south bridge SiS962: Issue date: 13th September 2002

Should the error message appear, ignore it as there is NO PROBLEM and continue the BIOS flashing procedure as normal.

For BIOS date codes with later dates than these, the error message will not appear.
 
AG400T8-D64 Highly Recommended by OC Workbench Editor
 
Taipei -- July 21, 2002

AG400T8-D64, powered by Xabre 400, supporting AGP8X and DirectX 8.1, is highly recommended by OC Workbench. AG400T8-D64 is rated as 4.6 of the OC Workbench’s 5-star scale. The editor especially highly values the performance of the cards, their easy installation and handy documentation. In the benchmark test, the editor found that AG400T8-D64 performs much better than the MX440 graphics card and on par or even better than the GF3 Ti200 in most test items. The editor recommends the AG400T8-D64 is probably one of the cards that achieves the same performance level as the GF3 Ti200, but at a fraction of the price......(more)
AG400 Highly Recommended by VR-Zone Editor (07/12/2002) 
 
Taipei -- July 12, 2002

AG400, the specs of hardware Pixel Shader and AGP8X support, makes it a promising look and impressing performance. In VR-Zone’s review, the performance of AG400 is much better than GeForce4 MX440 graphics card, even overwhelming GeForce3 Ti200. Most of all, the performance comes with very good price.......(more)
PCCHIPS launches M810L V7.1C mainboard with SiS730S chipset and Duron CPU onboard (07/03/2002) 
 
Taipei -- July 03, 2002

PC CHIPS is pleased to launch M810L V7.1C mainboard with Duron processor onboard. M810L has been one of the best selling mainboards since the first version was released. Now we add a powerful processor—Duron onboard and make the mainboard even more valuable.

M810L V7.1C incorporates Duron processor and the single chipset SiS730S with 3D graphics engine embedded. There are 2 SDRAM DIMM sockets supporting up to 1GB memory, 1 AGP4X slots, 2 PCI slots and 1 AMR slots for AMR fax/modem card. 4- channel audio is ready onboard and LAN is provided as an optional function. 

If you are tired of bargaining for the expensive processor and want something more valuable than what you have to pay for, M810L V7.1C will be your best choice. 

Latest Product News Release
 
Taipei -- July 03, 2002

Here is the latest product news for your reference: 

1.M930DLR, V5.1: Northbridge SiS645 + Southbridge SiS961
 • Supports CPU FSB: 400 MHz, Ultra DMA ATA-100
M930DALR, V5.1: Northbridge SiS645DX + Southbridge SiS961B
• Supports CPU FSB: 533 MHz, Ultra DMA ATA-133
These models are ready now.

2. M935DLR, V5.0: Northbridge SiS650 + Southbridge SiS961

• Supports CPU FSB: 400 MHz, Ultra DMA ATA-100

• This model is ready now.

3. M935DELR, V5.0: Northbridge SiS650L + Southbridge SiS961

• Supports CPU FSB: 400 MHz, Ultra DMA ATA-100, without AGP4X slot.

This model is a new project under processing. Samples is estimated to be ready around the end of March or the beginning of April .

4.  M935DAULR, V5.0: Northbridge SiS651 + Southbridge SiS962
• Supports CPU FSB: 533 MHz, Ultra DMA ATA-133; SiS962 supports USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394. This model is a new project under processing. Samples is estimated to be readyaround the end of March or the beginning of April.

5.  We are pending the shipment of M825ULR and M929ULR for Marketing issue.

6.  M922ULR supports USB 2.0 as the optional function. 
USB2.0 is going to be a standard feature on our motherboards (01/28/2002)  
 
Taipei -- Jan 28, 2002

More and more South Bridges such as ICH4, SiS962, VIA8235 incorporate USB2.0 function in it, and we predict that this protocol will be very popular in the near future. Therefore, Marketing department decide that USB2.0 is going to be a standard feature, instead of an optional item like modem or LAN, on our motherboards showing “U” in the model name.   

AG315 4X mode issue on VIA chipset main board (01/11/2002)
 
Taipei -- Jan 11, 2002

According to SiS FAQ document, Ref. No.: 315-FAQ-003, Date: December 3, 2001, SiS315 has compatibility issue with some VIA chipset main boards and it would cause AGP access fail in 4X mode. But it works fine in 2X mode. SiS declares that it is timing issue rather than functional issue and it could be solve in chipset side rather than VGA side. Please check the SiS’s file 315-FAQ-003 for detail.
Since we are both VGA card maker and main board manufacturer, we can guarantee that AG315 is able to support 4X mode on all our VIA chipset main boards base on the verification of our RD. However, we cannot ensure that other NON-ECS/PCCHIPS VIA chipset main boards are also fully compatible with AG315.  

Chipset in M756 and M758 (01/08/2002)
 
Taipei -- Jan 08, 2002

To simplify the product lines, we are going to implement SiS630E only on M756 and SiS630ET only on M758. Therefore, all M756 do not support Tualatin, and all M758 support Tualatin.
The following table shows the differences in feature between M758 and M756.

 

Chipset

Audio

Socket

IDE

M756LRT+ v5.3

SiS630E

AC 97, 4 channels

Slot1/ Socket370

ATA66

M758LRT+ v5.1

SiS630ET

8738-6, 6 channels

Socket370 Tualatin

ATA100

 

P4X266A replace P4X266 (12/14/2001)
 
Taipei -- Dec 14, 2001

VIA is not going to produce P4X266, they provide P4X266A instead. They are pin-to-pin compatible, therefore, no need to change PCB version. The performance of P4X266A is slightly better than P4X266, and the new BIOS that we are using can be used on both P4X266 and P4X266A.
Our main boards M921 and M920 will phase in P4X266A by running change. M922 use the new chipset, P4X266A, since the very beginning of MP.