batgirl writes "ECS has taken advantage of their recent merger with PC Chips and released an interesting take on motherboards. Using the highly portable SiS chipsets, they were able to create a motherboard that supports all kinds of processors across all platforms. The PF88 starts as an Intel socket 775 motherboard, but different expansion cards can be purchased to add support for everything from a Socket 939 Athlon64 to a Socket 479 Pentium-M. The price is right, and performance is as good as can be expected. But how many people would make use of this?" AMD / Intel Hybrid Motherboard Log in/Create an Account | Top | 139 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 139 comments 0: 134 comments 1: 107 comments 2: 69 comments 3: 25 comments 4: 15 comments 5: 7 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Not me (Score:5, Insightful) by fuzzy12345 (745891) on Sunday October 16, @02:30AM (#13801506) I generally find that by the time upgrading the CPU is cost effective, a new motherboard makes sense as part of the package. YMMV [ Reply to This Re:Not me; Oh but it is (Score:5, Insightful) by wondafucka (621502) on Sunday October 16, @02:43AM (#13801590) (http://www.pomosideshow.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday December 11, @05:18PM) I generally find that by the time upgrading the CPU is cost effective, a new motherboard makes sense as part of the package. YMMVIf this company has done it's job right, this should reduce the overall cost of the board. If vendors have to keep fewer types of boards around then they are buying fewer types, giving them a price break.By having one mainboard that is common to all daughterboards, the total cost of delivering the motherboard is cheaper (one hopes).My two cents. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Not me; Oh but it is by TheWanderingHermit (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @02:58AMRe:Not me; Oh but it is by moro_666 (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @03:21AMRe:Not me; Oh but it is by MentalMooMan (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @07:00AMRe:Not me; Oh but it is by JazzCrazed (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @11:26AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:Not me; Oh but it is (Score:4, Informative) by Limecron (206141) on Sunday October 16, @03:24AM (#13801775) Ditto on this for me as well. One PCChips (later coined PCShits) that I had for a Duron 600 was a nightmare. Two friends also got the same board and their experiences were none the better. After two years of BIOS updates, I finally had something that seemed stable, but I was wary of touching it. It was a releif once it stablized since I built the system for my parents and I got calls every few days tell me what the blue screen was saying this time.I do have a more recent PCChips board, and it is not as bad. A merger with ECS doesn't bolster my confidence in them, though my experience with ECS is limited.For now I stick to the mid-range Asus, Abit and BioStars and have had good luck. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Not me; Oh but it is by Slack3r78 (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @10:35AMRe:Not me; Oh but it is by mrbcs (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @11:12AMRe:Not me; Oh but it is by pigeon (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @07:13AMRemember ALR? by Anonymous Coward (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @03:34AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:Not me (Score:4, Insightful) by gbulmash (688770) * <semi_famous&yahoo,com> on Sunday October 16, @03:03AM (#13801685) (http://www.funnybutsick.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday May 22, @04:48AM) I generally find that by the time upgrading the CPU is cost effective, a new motherboard makes sense as part of the package. YMMV So much is built onto the mainboard now... USB, firewire, support for various forms of DDR, sound, LAN... These don't change as often as CPUs, but they change.Of course, this is meant to be a budget board, or at least they're using budget chipsets. The best I can see is that it provides whitebox manufacturers more flexibility. Use whatever CPU is on hand.- Greg [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Not me by NotBorg (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @03:11AMRe:Not me by stienman (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @10:30AMRe:Not me by Drakino (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @12:30PMRe:Not me by biryokumaru (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @10:29PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. OS Support? (Score:1, Interesting) by TehNSA (905740) <naehva@gmail.com> on Sunday October 16, @02:32AM (#13801519) How good would the OS support be with this? Could an operating system be installed with multiple chipset support? [ Reply to ThisRe:OS Support? by Captain Lobotomy (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @03:08AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Same as... (Score:4, Interesting) by axonal (732578) on Sunday October 16, @02:33AM (#13801529) Same people who put new engines in their VW Bugs. If the rest of the car is still good, then just upgrade the engine to keep up with the times. [ Reply to This Re:Same as... (Score:4, Funny) by scsirob (246572) on Sunday October 16, @02:50AM (#13801625) Have you talked to both of them?? [ Reply to This | Parent Re:Same as... (Score:5, Funny) by toddbu (748790) on Sunday October 16, @03:00AM (#13801678) AFAIK, only one of them has had to replace the factory-original rubber band. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Same as... by Urusai (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @01:36PMRe:Same as... by pipingguy (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @05:50PMRe:Same as... by misleb (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @03:35AMRe:Same as... by jordie (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @05:09AMRe:Same as... by misleb (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @06:03AMRe:Same as... by jordie (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @12:51PMRe:Same as... by tzanger (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @09:38AMRe:Same as... by Queer Boy (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @03:52PMRe:Same as... by misleb (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @07:03PMRe:Same as... by heson (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @06:08AMRe:Same as... by Robocoastie (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @07:02AMRe:Same as... by SecretAsianMan (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @05:48PMRe:Same as... by Dun Malg (Score:2) Monday October 17, @12:09AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. What's the point? (Score:4, Insightful) by scsirob (246572) on Sunday October 16, @02:36AM (#13801544) This has been done before, and even today you can buy adapters to get next-generation CPU's working on older motherboards. However, most of these hybrids have to make trade-offs that do not benefit the end-user. It would benefit ECS for economy of scale, but end-users would always be stuck with proprietary expansion modules that may or may not be available anymore by the time they want to change CPU.IMO you're better off selecting the mobo+CPU that fits your needs today, and by the time you need to upgrade just select a new mobo+CPU du jour.. [ Reply to ThisRe:What's the point? by zakezuke (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @03:40AMRe:What's the point? by springbox (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @10:08AM Hybrid (Score:2, Funny) by sloths (909607) on Sunday October 16, @02:37AM (#13801555) Can I drive it in carpool lanes though? [ Reply to This Maybe (Score:2, Insightful) by JayDot (920899) on Sunday October 16, @02:37AM (#13801557) But only if the Intel and AMD chips that provided the features I want were close to the same price. By the time that I needed a new proc, though, I would probably want a new mobo to take advantage of 6 months to a year of new development. [ Reply to ThisRe:Maybe by EraserMouseMan (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @01:13PM Mark? (Score:5, Interesting) by BrynM (217883) * on Sunday October 16, @02:42AM (#13801577) (http://www.networkoftheapes.net/ | Last Journal: Sunday May 22, @06:09AM) Despite eveyone talking smack, I can see this being a valuable benchmark board. How well do these CPU/Chipset combos work? How well does this ATI card do with an AMD CPU? Okay now how about an Intel CPU? It's not a new idea to expand the CPU, but doing it across vendors like this is interesting. [ Reply to ThisRe:Mark? by JayDot (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @02:48AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Mark? by squoozer (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @06:43AMRe:Mark? by rabel (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @09:30AMRe:Mark? by Chaoticmass (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @10:24AM The article stated it well (Score:4, Insightful) by Gactaculon (709191) on Sunday October 16, @02:42AM (#13801582) The article summarized this idea well by calling it "a solution without a problem". The whole thing is just so amazingly ill-considered that it's very hard to take it seriously. The only need I could see for something like this is if someone with a P4 needed PCI-E now, and _also_ knew that they wanted to go AMD later. Even then, would they put up with buying a $50 expansion board and running their expensive new processor on that hacked solution??If PCChips/ECS want to be ambitious, why not endeavor to bring affordable SMP to the masses? Even if the server-classed chips required are expensive, many people must be put off by $300, server-oriented mainboards. This way, they could grab some serious attention in the high-end market and gain credibility. What they're doing now is only going to leave people scratching their heads... [ Reply to ThisRe:The article stated it well by Halfbaked Plan (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @02:56AMRe:The article stated it well by Gactaculon (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @03:59AMRe:The article stated it well by Halfbaked Plan (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @10:21AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:The article stated it well by Jeff DeMaagd (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @03:03AMRe:The article stated it well by Slack3r78 (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @10:25AMRe:The article stated it well by SirDaShadow (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @01:02PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Its...Its...Its....like a ...^^rainbow^^^ (Score:5, Funny) by eclectro (227083) on Sunday October 16, @02:42AM (#13801586) Forget that it can handle all those processors. Look at all the pretty colors.Maybe it was built by unicorns.... [ Reply to ThisRe:Its...Its...Its....like a ...^^rainbow^^^ by Stevyn (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @12:40PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. 2 in 1 (Score:1) by VincenzoRomano (881055) on Sunday October 16, @02:53AM (#13801642) Is like partitioning the hard drive to have your two favourite operating systems in the same machine.Untill there will be a way to have both of them running my programs at the same time (hybrid SMP), that solution would look like a trick.Users that are concerned with CPUs and chipsets would like to have the real best, not the best of breeds. [ Reply to This PC Chips will never have my trust (Score:5, Informative) by Mancat (831487) on Sunday October 16, @02:59AM (#13801672) (http://extremecode.org/) I'm not buying anything from PC Chips, ever. Anyone else remember when they were making 486 boards with fake L2 cache? Yes, FAKE CACHE. The cache chips were empty, and the board had a modified BIOS that reported whatever cache size the motherboard was jumpered for.Screw this company, even if it has somehow evolved. [ Reply to ThisRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by cr3ative (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @03:13AM Re:PC Chips will never have my trust (Score:4, Interesting) by zakezuke (229119) on Sunday October 16, @03:46AM (#13801859) I'm not buying anything from PC Chips, ever.I bought into PC Chips in the pentium age... under the Matsonic label IIRC. IBM/Cyrix and motherboard for under $100. I had issues with the motherboard catching fire somewhere around the PC speaker circuity. I had to return a few of those boards. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by greg1104 (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @08:59AMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by Penguinoflight (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @10:35PMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by mcrbids (Score:3) Sunday October 16, @04:25AMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by Telvin_3d (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @04:26AMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by Mancat (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @02:12PMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by Telvin_3d (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @11:17PMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by Digital Pizza (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @04:58AMRe:PC Chips will never have my trust by zakezuke (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @05:39AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. There is more to motherboards than proc slots (Score:1) by cgenman (325138) on Sunday October 16, @03:10AM (#13801716) (http://www.chriscanfield.net/) On the one hand, the technology could develop into something very cool. If you could use multiple cards and have a separate, different proc running on each one, it could be the coolest multiprocessor system around. Or simply using the motherboard as support for separate running systems in a system-on-a-card configuration (these are already available, but expensive). It currently could be a very useful little test bed if someone wanted to check performance across different processors. It could also be useful for large system builders like Dell who could simplify their parts management and support costs by having one motherboard used across all of their lineup.That having been said, there is a lot on a motherboard that gets upgraded each generation: RAM style, upgrade card slots, video card slots, small device connectivity, HD connections, bus... I would guess that these are ultimately more important to the overall speed of the system than the processor. Can you imagine hamstringing an Athalon 64 with a 66mhz bus and an AGPx1 graphics card? I doubt this will ultimately be beneficial to the end consumer... they might get one upgrade generation for a nice little last speed boost, but as the motherboard needs to support more than just a processor, upgrading just a processor isn't as much help as it could be. [ Reply to ThisRe:There is more to motherboards than proc slots by noc_man (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @03:56AM SIS chipset? Uh, no thank you... (Score:1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 16, @03:17AM (#13801746) Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. [ Reply to This it would be more interesting if... (Score:2, Insightful) by unfunk (804468) on Sunday October 16, @03:23AM (#13801772) ...this board allowed you to use AMD and Intel CPUs at the same time... [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. Who Would Use: Schools (Score:1, Insightful) by sarge apone (918461) on Sunday October 16, @03:25AM (#13801779) Upgradable, budget boards that will support a wide range of CPUs and memory would be useful in urban elementary and secondary schools where money for technology is limited, especially when administration considers 7-year old iMacs cutting-edge.With Intel-based Windows/MacOSX dual-boot computers on their way to the masses, the ability to cheaply upgrade certain hardware to extend the life of these systems would be welcome. It would take years anyway for school officials to adapt (e.g., NYC Dept of Ed has a deal with Dell), but the future of the technology is interesting. [ Reply to This By the time I upgrade (Score:2) by misleb (129952) on Sunday October 16, @03:26AM (#13801784) By the time I get around to upgrading to a new CPU, a new motherboard (and RAM) is required. I have never taken advantage of generic sockets/slots. If you are going to buy an Athlon 64, why not just buy a MB that specifically supports only it? My only guess is that ECS is just trying to cater to poential buyers with various different preferences for CPUs. I doubt that they expect many people will actually take advantage of the flexability. It is probably cheaper to manufacture a single design that will support many CPUs than to make boards that specialize in specific CPUs.-matthew [ Reply to This obvious 'hidden' cost (Score:1) by cuteintern (643644) on Sunday October 16, @03:32AM (#13801807) (Last Journal: Tuesday November 30, @01:56AM) Ah yes, but when you upgrade from, say, an Athlon XP to a P4EE, how much is it going to cost you to get yourself a new 'SIMA' board? [ Reply to This good for OEMs (Score:4, Insightful) by smash (1351) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <esor.orhtej>> on Sunday October 16, @03:33AM (#13801809) (http://allyour.net/ | Last Journal: Thursday September 09, @04:43AM) Worried about the competition between Intel/AMD leaving one of the product lines un-fashionable?Buy bulk in motherboards that will support both.No dead stock you can't shift anymore.Regardless of the performance, the words "AMD" or "Intel" is enough to sell things to most of the Joe public...smash. [ Reply to ThisRe:good for OEMs by petermgreen (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @08:56AM Hybrid Motherboard? (Score:2) by iamdrscience (541136) <iamdrscience.hotmail@com> on Sunday October 16, @03:42AM (#13801851) (http://itsbeenconfirmed.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday May 04, @03:33AM) AMD / Intel Hybrid Motherboard, eh? So what, it gets awesome gas mileage or something? [ Reply to This Interesting but forgot one feature (Score:2, Interesting) by layer3switch (783864) on Sunday October 16, @03:52AM (#13801883) I was doing packaging arch builds on x86 and x86_64 EM64T and ponder if it could be easier to have two types of processor on same board for regression testing and QA. Since cross compile is just a pain in the ass, it would be some what useful if I could flip a BIOS setting to switch between Intel P4 and AMD64 without swapping parts.For my purpose, I think, if there was a BIOS flip switch, it would have been worth investment. However there isn't (if I'm wrong on this, correction is welcome), so it's just a fancy board with swappable processor which is fairly easy with any ATX casing with swappable motherboard plane without unscrewing bolts and wire works if such thing exists. [ Reply to This Better watch for cut corners and check the cache! (Score:5, Interesting) by cdn-programmer (468978) <terr@NOSPAM.terralogic.net> on Sunday October 16, @03:54AM (#13801888) As I recall it was PC chips who produced the fake cache on the 486 motherboards. Look here:http://www.redhill.net.au/b/b-bad.html [redhill.net.au] "PC Chips fake cache 486"I do have an ecs board but it was before the merger. It was stable for years.nevertheless - there are reputable manufacturers out their so why would I care about ECS/PC CHIPS? [ Reply to This Bigger Fish (Score:1) by unixbugs (654234) on Sunday October 16, @04:00AM (#13801911) If this idea has a place in any shop its the big ones, and I would be willing to bet that is what the product is aimed at. Think about those crappy web hosting outfits that will slap whatever the hell they can find into a server. This would be great for those kinds of places because it might cut down on them having to buy newer shit. I worked at one where having boards like these would have been NICE considering how under-staffed we were - I would have drank alot less back then if I had the convenience of replacing just the board, or the chip, with whatever I could find in the mess. Man I hated covering for NOC duty... anyway, any bigger organization with a puckered asshole for management will find this useful in giving themself a raise. Just a shitty company making a shitty product for other shitty companies. Nothing to see here folks, move along...As a side note I found a great place to work where things like this are out of the question. We buy top of the line parts for our devices and compromise nothing but our own effort to further the business. [ Reply to ThisRe:Bigger Fish by dbIII (Score:2) Sunday October 16, @05:17AM Um... (Score:1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 16, @04:06AM (#13801931) I don't know if anyone else here has had experience with ECS boards, but they suck. Sure maybe they perform decently right now, but what good is that when the board is dead in 6 months. ECS, and PC Chips for that matter, will never be a company i purchase from in the future, no matter how innovative their products become.-Psy [ Reply to This The first Pent-Athlon? (Score:2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 16, @04:09AM (#13801941) Darn, and I was hoping I could have both CPUs at the same time and call it a Pentathlon. :-) [ Reply to ThisRe:The first Pent-Athlon? by 1000baseFX (Score:1) Sunday October 16, @05:42AM But what if it could ... (Score:2, Funny) by asfaltboy (858493) <friedmylittlebrains@yahoo.com> on Sunday October 16, @04:35AM (#13802017) (http://robobee.tripod.com/) Support Apple G5 processors ? And both G5 and Intel or AMD on the same board ? And i could by hitting a switch tranfer to my Mac and Whatever :P ... that would be yumm.. and and and... [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. how about 1 of each? (Score:1) by drewxhawaii (922388)