PCCHIPS M789CLU-2000 platform on VIA C3 processor
It is nice to see the color coding of the F-panel. Nearby, there is the BIOS and system monitoring chip (by the way, the diligent Chinese accidentally mixed up the stickers, so the Winbond controller has an AMI BIOS sticker, and the BIOS chip is labeled Winbond. respectively).
As the audio codec, the manufacturer selected C-Media's CMI9761A. Apart from support for 5.1-channel acoustics, there is nothing else to say about the acoustics. The sound is standard - no induction or interference was noticed.
The board uses a VIA VT6103 LAN controller of 100 Mbit/s maximum data transmission speed.
The processor's power scheme uses a 1-phase scheme and includes four 3300 mkF with some more capacitors of smaller capacitance.
However strange that seems, the rear panel of the ports is standard - only the second COM-ports has been replaced with a VGA-connector.
BIOS capabilities
PCCHIPS M789CLU-2000 uses the AMI BIOS version. The firmware offers scanty options, so we note it straight that the board is absolutely free of any overclocking tools.
Let's look through the main sections
The first section - Standard SMOS Setup - is traditionally responsible for the system settings like system time, disk management, as well as setting up IDE-devices. Implementation of the latter feature is made in a somehow outdated form - in particular, the user has two options - either fix detected PATA devices to a certain data channel and skip the stage of detecting such when the board undergoes the POST checkup, or use the Auto mode when the BIOS automatically identifies ParallelATA hard disks, CD/DVD-ROM or other compatible equipment upon reboot/power-on.
The Advanced Setup section, apart from choosing the boot devices, also includes memory latency timings, but of all the available parameters, only the CAS# Latency and DDR Bank Interleave can be changed only.
Then we move on to the PCI/ Plug and Play Setup section which gathers the settings of the integrated graphics core. It includes the possibility to choose the memory type allocated for the integrated graphics (16,32, or 64 MB), as well as video devices which should be addressed first upon the PC power-on.
Finally, in the Feature Setup section you can set up integrated controllers, in particular, audio, LAN, and modem (the latter was missing on the board).
Performance and conclusions
As we already noted in the middle of the article, the results demonstrated by VIA C3 Samuel 2 and CLE266 can hardly be called performance, because even with all the possible optimization of the operating system and installed new drivers, the produced figures did not differ much from those in Pentium MMX tests. For a visual example, we chose a few random configurations and compared their readings with the results demonstrated by our today's "probationers".
But for a start we traditionally bring in the test bench configuration:
- CPU/Video/MoBo: VIA C3 2000+/UniChrome Pro/PCCHIPS M789CLU-2000;
- Memory: 1x512 MB DDR400@266 Hynix on D43 chips;
- HDD: WD 80GB PATA;
- PS: PowerMan 300W;
- MS Windows XP SP2.
So, here are tests from the SiSoftware Sandra 2005 benchmarking suite.
To make the comparison as impartial as possible, we bring in the memory subsystem test results.
Finally, we tried the system with Futuremark 3DMark 2001 SE. The results are lamentable - only 348 marks was achieved, and the average result for all the game scenes rarely exceeded 1-2 FPS, sometimes the counter showed 0 FPS.
Well, the figures are self-explanatory, which is no wonder because the architecture of the processor is extremely outdated. At the same time, we felt absolutely comfortable in all office applications like MS Office 2003, Abobe Photoshop, PROMT XT, Opera, The Bat!, and Winamp…
As was already said, with Crystal Player were able to watch films and clips and even play the popular Solitaire in between ... What else is needed to the office computer? Perhaps, at that the list could be finished of course if the boss is not a confirmed gamer into killing monsters after work with colleagues, but that is already a different story...
In fact, it is not mandatory to use the VIA C3 platform as the main computer. The small size and quiet operation favors to setting up a small home-based file server aimed at storing collections of films, music, game etc, as well as a portable car-based PC. A few years ago, they described a method of building a card-based PC for AUDI A6. The owner replaced the nominal computer system with the C3 platform, then not only upgraded the functionalities of the car to as high as A8 and even substantially improved the navigation capabilities of the car, and multimedia of course.
The list of C3 platform application can't be restricted by that - add some imagination and the so-called "thin client" may turn into your small assistant both in business and at home...
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