New ATI A3 Motherbaord

**m3rdpwr** · 08-15-2002, 01:51 PM

This looks interesting.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/P-motherboard/M-A3-275.htm

http://www.plpc.com//product_details...Fid=CO02MB0277

All one would do for low power is unlock the multiplier on a Athlon and it could run pretty well.

Better yet, if you have money to blow, get a T-Bred on the new .13 core, unlock the multiplier, and lower the clock speed quite a bit. This should run cool and draw a hell of alot less power than the XP .18 chip.

If they were selling 1GHz Athlon (Not Duron) with 145watt supply's at microcenter, than an underclocked tbred should be awesome. Looks like the PCPower 100watt supply might do just fine after all...

$59 for the mobo, cheap shipping, built in VGA RADEON 7000 with S-VIDEO and COMPOSITE. Sounds temping. Even though it is a Micro ATX mobo...

-Mario

**mxxxxxm** · 08-15-2002, 02:56 PM

"Resolution up to 2048 x 1600 x 32bpp." Id like to see that on a 7" screen!

Its a little less then 3" (7cm) larger on L and W then the Eden/epia.

I like how its available now tho.

**m3rdpwr** · 08-15-2002, 04:00 PM

Yeah, but with a tbred underclocked, it's a lower power solution than before with AMD...

**MP3DUB** · 08-15-2002, 04:04 PM

You shouldn't even have to unlock an athlon to underclock it (if memory serves). Just drop the multiplier in the bios, and you should be good. The multiplier lock is really more of an upper limit, you can scale it down if you please.

**m3rdpwr** · 08-15-2002, 04:06 PM

Originally posted by MP3DUB
You shouldn't even have to unlock an athlon to underclock it (if memory serves). Just drop the multiplier in the bios, and you should be good. The multiplier lock is really more of an upper limit, you can scale it down if you please.

Strange, I remember when they did some benchmarks on a site to get high a FSB as possible, they unlocked the core and lowered the multiplier.

But, I guess we'll see...

-Mario

**MP3DUB** · 08-15-2002, 04:10 PM

Hmm, I can try when I head home today. Unlocking an AXP is a lot harder than an Athlon, but either way, you could halve the FSB and drop the speed that way as well. It'd hurt your performance more than just lowering the multiplier, but its a simple fix (133>66 or 100>66).

**m3rdpwr** · 08-16-2002, 07:52 AM

I tried with my AXP last night.

You can't change the multiplier without unlocking it.

One thing I did forget to check was whether or not my EPoX mobo would allow a 66MHz FSB.

Be interesting to see how it effects PCI and AGP doing it that way...

-Mario

**outragis** · 08-16-2002, 12:46 PM

Any ideas where I could buy one of these boards?
Looks like it is just what I am looking for!

**m3rdpwr** · 08-16-2002, 01:15 PM

I'll talk to my old boss to see if he can work something with them...

Please let us know what your experience is and quality of the motherboard if you do find it elsewhere first.

I'd also be curious if the mobo will post BIOS with S-Video and Composite!

-Mario