PCChips M841LMR Any opinions or suggestions?

antmanbee

Member
Dec 31, 2000
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I want to build some cheap integrated systems with XP1600+ processors and sdram.
Does anyone have any suggestions or opinions and why? I am looking at the PCChips M841LMR.
I have heard the onboard video is pretty good for an all in one board.
Also the sis740 chipset is basically the same as the sis735 but with the additiion of the onboard video.
I have been happy with several systems that I have built with ECS K7S5A with both DDR and sdram.
I want to save a few more bucks with the addition of the onboard video and modem which the K7S5A does not have.
Thanks in advance.

PCChips M841LMR
SiS740 Chipset
Supports AMD Duron / AthlonXP processors
Supports 266/200MHz Front-Side Bus
DDR266 & SDRAM support
Supports up to 2GB of main memory
On-board AGP 4X graphics accelerator with 64MB frame buffer
AMR slot for modem module
Embedded SiS 900 LAN chip support 10BaseT /100BaseTX Ethernet LAN
Built-in hardware monitoring IC
Onboard 18bit sound compliant AC97 2.1 specification
2MB AMI modular BIOS Flash ROM, Automatic CPU and board configuration.
Provides ATX power connector and support for ATX power management features including Suspend switch, Wake on Alarm, Wake on LAN, Wake on Modem, Wake on Ring, Keyboard Power On/Off
Micro ATX form factor
DETAILED FEATURES:

Main Chipset

SiS 740 chipset
Supports AMD AthlonXP/ Athlon / Duron processors
Supports AMD AthlonXP processors up to 2000+ @ 266 FSB
Memory

2 DDR DIMM Sockets and 2 DIMM sockets support (CAN NOT be used at the same time)
Two 184-pin 2.5V DDR* (Double Date Rate) SDRAM (DDR266/DDR200) or
Two 168-pin 3.3V SDRAM (PC133/PC100)
Maximum installed memory is 2GB
* DDR SDRAM provides 800MBps or 1 GBps data transfer depending on whether the bus is 100MHz or 133MHz. It doubles the rate to 1.6 GBps and 2.1 GBps by transferring data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock. DDR SDRAM uses additional power and ground lines and requires 184-pin 2.5V unbuffered DIMM module rather than the 168-pin 3.3V unbuffered DIMMs used by SDRAM.

On-board VGA

Embeded 256-bit 3D AGP Graphics Accelerator with 64MB frame buffer (Shared)
Supports AGP 4X 266MHz mode up to 2GB/s bandwidth
Supports 333MHz true-color RAMDAC, resolution up to 2048 x1536 x 16bpp NI
Supports AGP Rev.2.0 Spec. Compliant
Expansion Slots

Includeds one AMR Fax Modem
Three 32-bit PCI slots for PCI 2.2 compliant bus interface
Enhanced IDE Controller

Primary and Secondary IDE channels
Supports PIO (programmable input/output) modes 0 - 4
Supports Multiword DMA modes
Supports UltraDMA 33/66/100 and BUS mastering
SiS900 LAN chip

Built-in 10 BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet LAN
LAN controller integrates Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY compliant with IEEE802.3u 100BASE-TX, 10BASE-T and ANSI X3.263 TP-PMD standards
Compliant with ACPI 1.0 and the Network Device class Power Management 1.0
High Performance provided by 100Mbps clock generator and data recovery circuit for 100Mbps receiver
AMR Slot

Audio Modem Riser slot supports 56K V.90 HSP AMR FAX/Modem module Included
Power Supply and Power Management

ATX power connector
ACPI and legacy PMU support
Supports Suspend switch, keyboard power on/off
Supports Wake on LAN, Wake on Modem, and Wake on Alarm, Wake-up from Keyboard/Mouse
Onboard Sound System

SiS 7012 chipset
AC97 2.1 specification compliant
Support 18-bit ADC (Analog Digital Converter) and DAC (Digital analog Converter) as well as 18-bit stereo full-duplex codec
Onboard I/O Ports

Provides PC'99 color-coded connectors for easy peripheral connection
Floppy disk controller with 1Mb/s transfer rate
One 16550 UART fast serial ports
One EPP and ECP parallel port
One VGA port
One MIDI/Game port
Two USB ports and two additional USB ports on an optional module
PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
One infrared port connector for the optional module
Hardware Monitoring

Built-in hardware monitoring for CPU & system temperature, fan speeds and main board voltages
Onboard Flash ROM (BIOS)

AMI 2MB BIOS flash ROM
Automatic CPU and board configuration
Supports Plug and Play configuration of peripheral devices and expansion cards
Built-in virus protection using Trend's Chip Away Virus provides boot process virus protection
Bundled Software

PC-Cillin 2000 provides automatic virus protection under windows 95/98/NT/2000
MediaRing Talk Provides PC to PC or PC to Phone internet phone communication
3Deep delivers the precise imagery and displays accurate color in your monitor
WinDVD 2000 is a DVD playback application (optional)
Recovery Genius 21st V5.0 provides the function to recover, reserve and transfer hard disk data
CD Ghost is the software stimulating a real CD-ROM to perform equivalent function
Language Genius 21st is the software to provides learning tools of language and singing
Dimensions

MicroATX form factor 8 3/4 x 8 3/4" (24.4cm x 24.4cm)
Package Contents

M841LMR Mainboard
User's Manual
ALL cables Included
Driver CD V8.00c
AMR Fax Modem
Onboard LAN, VGA, AUDIO



 

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
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SiS 740 is an alright chipset, two things to know: One, performance is MASSIVELY better with DDR RAM, unlike on VGAless chipsets. 3D performance in particular differs quite dramatically. The other thing is that this chipset does not have an AGP bus at all, so no AGP slot for you.

Otherwise, you get the same stuff on M841 as on K7S5A aka M830, chipset integrated LAN, sound and modem (use with AMR card). Sound is 4-channel usually. M841 seems to be re-spun as M810D at the moment.

regards, Peter
 

antmanbee

Member
Dec 31, 2000
197
0
71
Peter,
Thanks for the reply.
Would you recommend going with a board with the sis730 if I will be using sdram?
I have lots of sdram 256M sticks that I would like to use.
Or should I look to other motherboards with VIA integrated chipsets?
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
31,350
12,844
136
I think the m810lmr rev 7.x boards are great for what they are. AGP slot for upgrades and decent video. Rev 7.x has support up to XP2100+..

Granted they are PC133 boards only but they work fine with that limitation.

I used an Amptron K7-810XLM board, same as PCchips m810lmr. Stable and quite fast with an XP1800+..

I say go for it. It has better video than the VIA based boards.