The VIA Apollo pro 133 693a chipset does not support 512Mb RAM sticks so max. is 3x 256Mb. Also, in my limited experience, motherboards with this chipset are somewhere between 10% and 20% slower than a fast 440BX. And AGP4x is often more wishful thinking than reality. Better look for a later board with Via Apollo Pro A chipset (North Bridge VT82C694) with Tualatin support - or something significantly faster altogether - imho.

PARKE wrote:

The VIA Apollo pro 133 693a chipset does not support 512Mb RAM sticks so max. is 3x 256Mb. Also, in my limited experience, motherboards with this chipset are somewhere between 10% and 20% slower than a fast 440BX. And AGP4x is often more wishful thinking than reality. Better look for a later board with Via Apollo Pro A chipset (North Bridge VT82C694) with Tualatin support - or something significantly faster altogether - imho.

Ok, I see...
The problem is that in my country is not so easy to find old motherboards and buying them from other countries becomes too expensive, so I think I will need to live with the slowdown.

I have doubts about the Ram because in the last version of the manual (I attached it) it's said that the CA61 supports 512mb modules (page 6), but It also says that the max total ram is 1GB. Do you think that It can handle the 1.5 GB ?

Another doubt: It is said, also on page 6, that " The system board is also equipped with a switching voltage regulator that supports 1.30V to 2.05V core voltage for various processors"'. So does that mean that if I put an modded Tualatin without a 'lin-lin" adapter (those are impossible to find nowadays) it will work without problems?

With 'significanty faster' I meant something like around 3Ghz Pentium4 or equivalent AMD setup - that is if you want to play later games (later than 1999). Those boards should be a lot easier to find than fast PIII boards.

Re the 520Mb RAM sticks - yes, that is what this manual indeed says -but- that contradicts the specification of the VIA Apollo Pro (without "A") chipset. You could try but I would not be surprized if if it does not work how it should - meaning that the sticks may work but are only recognized as 256Mb sticks.

Re a Tualatin adapter; as far as I know the korean modded Tualatins that can be ordered via Ebay do not need an adapter, the adapter is part of the mod. But there is a list with motherboards that support this mod at the Ebay page. Even if your board is in that list I would personally not consider it an option.
If your 440BX board can handle Tualatins it is a better choice for that upgrade imo.