ODwilly wrote on 2020-11-29, 08:43:

I made the mistake of installing a socket a cooler on my m577. It ended up flexing the cpu socket and killing the mobo.

Was it a Thermaltake by any chance? I used a Thermalright SK6 years ago on a TXPro board, and it was fine.

Dmetsys wrote on 2020-11-29, 18:15:

ODwilly wrote on 2020-11-29, 08:43:

I made the mistake of installing a socket a cooler on my m577. It ended up flexing the cpu socket and killing the mobo.

Was it a Thermaltake by any chance? I used a Thermalright SK6 years ago on a TXPro board, and it was fine.

Just a copper bottomed stock AMD HSF. In hindsight if Id have just bent the retention bracket a bit into shape it would have worked perfectly.

Thank you for your answers. Really appreciate that. Unfortunately, I was too slow, the owner sold the noname supersocket 7. Yeah, should took it directly. So I've ended up only with that PCchips M577. It is working, I've tested it with AMD k6-2 300, it posted, also was running it like 15 minutes in BIOS. So at least one super socket 7, as it was for 22$, it's not bad, considering there was also Matrox Mystique 220 VGA PCI inside.

Anyway, the owner offered me four socket 7 boards instead of that supersocket 7, to pick up from, with Via chipsets (basicaly most of them are "VX Pro something"). I have already Intel 430TX and Intel 430VX board for socket 7, so I thought I take one with VIA chipset, just for benchmarks/comparsions, how much slower it is from Intel chipsets. (and to have more realistic build from that era, as most of us, at least here, could not afford Intel TX chipset, I was only teenager in that era, so basicaly father bought some socket 7 and Pentium 133 combo, and it was probably some cheaper board, so I want to have also one, that is like one I used to have in 1997-1998, which was probably some cheap Via chipset one)
For 15$, seems it's not so bad deal, even to take PCchips or some noname OEM brand ones, right?

Out of these four, which one to take? Which one of them is best option (and why)? All of them are for 15$.
I removed one option, that doesn't have SDRAM, only SIMMs, but it is only my assumption, that ones with SDRAM would be better take, so mobo is more versatile.

Socket 7 one https://ibb.co/KhgwF3p
Socket 7 two https://ibb.co/pfQfYBj
Socket 7 three https://ibb.co/zRbpjyb
Socket 7 four https://ibb.co/bF8tgTM

Chipsets closeups:
one https://ibb.co/RC4qMzb
two https://ibb.co/9WkvC4D
three https://ibb.co/Tt3VrnS
four https://ibb.co/BwJtFBq

hyoenmadan wrote on 2020-11-29, 04:50:

I would like to know if PCChips/Hsing is the manufacturer of modern Crapple boards...

Nope..... PC Chips eventually got absorbed into ECS Elitegroup... whose boards landed up in the same segments as PC Chips in the modern era.

These boards were a pain when I was a tech back in the day. They almost always showed up in machines that I called "Computer Show Specials". We used to have weekend shows at the local convention centers where all the local computer hardware dealers would peddle their wares. They always had CPU+RAM+Mobo combos that involved the latest and greatest crap from PC Chips/Amptron/Elpina (its all the same company). Throw in the cheapest sharpest edged case+PSU from some seller an aisle over and you got yourself a computer. Some offered upgrades to the base package with a name brand board from Asus or Abit...... but do you think anyone took that option?

Thing is, PC Chips had really poor quality control and often used knockoff components....even after the fact cache fiasco. Debugging the crashing problems these machines had was tiring, always transient issues that were impossible to pin down. I've seen problems with BIOS defaults (the M590 with software CPU select is notorious for this, the default vcore voltage is too high form some CPUs!), RAM slots, etc.

I saw Lucky Star mentioned here. The shop I worked for sold a ton of their Socket 7 boards with very few issues and were a solid product. We later switched to Fordlian boards branded Red Fox that worked well too. Our system builder that we sourced pre-built machines from (Pionex Elite) used Fordlian boards in their machines too.

NJRoadfan wrote on 2020-11-30, 18:04:

Thing is, PC Chips had really poor quality control and often used knockoff components...

Heh, that's part of the joke.
I know Apple board manufacturer is Foxconn... But damn hell, the "quality" of Apple (Crapple) boards is terrible as PCChips ones used to be back then (flimsy, poorly coated (?, i wouldn't even call what they do there coating at all), bad wiring decisions (like putting low voltage datalines near high voltage power lines, without even a small ground line between them), etc, etc, etc). And maybe they don't use "knockoff" components, but they put all the "special" parts behind a manufacturer wall... So let alone the microcontrollers, is impossible to get replacements even for things like the voltage regulators, or the mosfet packs.

Similars can be said on iPhone and iPad boards btw.

I have several PCs with MB PCChips, I try to make a list.
A 486VLB with fake cache, in memory should be M912.
An M549 i430VX, this I think is among the best, I fixed the RTC Chip and a track on the back, but I still have a problem with the cache, when POST is active it freezes, while deactivating it the PC starts.
It has switching regulators for the CPU power supply (2.5V-3.5V), so I was thinking of putting on a K6-2CXT setting 2X (= 6X) and FSB 50 to 75.
I have another (older) single-voltage M5XX S.7, working with a Cyrix 6x86 P166 + (133MHz).
Moving on to the S.370-Slot1 I have an M766 i810, initially with a Celeron 400 (used for about 10 years), then up to the Celeron 533, and later with the PIII 700 900 and 1000/100.
The maximum of RAM I have on is 192MB, putting 256MB crashes at the boot post.
I also have an M741 and an M747 to test.
Finally I have a 462 socket with integrated VGA and PC133 RAM, I don't remember the model, with Athlon 800.

I booted the PCChips M747 with a Celeron 300A (Slot1) 128MB (PC133), it booted up and displayed the BIOS screens.
The motherboard has 8MB SIS 6326 integrated VGA (without AGP slot), the chipset is SIS branded BXPRO (5600-5595), the integrated audio is a CMI8330 branded as Sound Pro.
As HD I used a 512MB IDE-CF adapter, and as OS I put Win98SE. The impression by installing WIN98 was positive, perhaps thanks to the IDE-CF adapter it starts up in a short time.
The installation was completed in 20 minutes, instead of the 30 displayed.

Today I have restored an interrupted track on a PCChips M810LR, this abbreviation must not be misleading it has no Intel chipset, the chipset is a T-Bird alias SiS730, and the socket is therefore an SKT 462 (A).
The interrupt didn't make the first bank of RAM work, now they both work.
I expanded the total memory from 256MB to 512MB, using two PC133 banks of 256MB each.
As a CPU I have an Athlon 800, but if I wanted I could also replace it with an Athlon XP.

Lately I have been dealing only with old PCs, soon I will restart the M747 to try some diagnostic software and bench.
I recovered the additional ATX card from another similar, non-working MB, so I can connect anything via USB.

I just got a computer with a PC Chips M748LMRT (Xcel 2000) tiny motherboard (the one with one PCI slot and one ISA slot), do I need any drivers to install Win 98SE from scratch?
It came with Windows ME (yuck!) in this dying 1GB hard drive

A PC100 M726 board arrived today, the chipset is branded BXcel, it is actually an ALi, it uses CPU Slot1 and SDRAM memories, the format is Baby AT, if you want you can use an ATX power supply, the BIOS is AMI, there is integrated audio (SoundPro), I should try it in the next few days, I hope it works.!?!
This is the latest arrival, but as I wrote previously I have others from the same manufacturer, in the future I will try to make a detailed list of the models I have in my collection.