Third-party mobo offers flip-chip FICs

The lack of motherboards for Coppermine Pentium III chips using the FC PGA flip chip packaging is beginning to ease as third party manufacturers announce products supporting the platform. First International Computer (FIC) today formally announced its FA31 board, which uses the Via Apollo Pro 133A chipset and both 100MHz and 133MHz front side buses. The board includes Sound Blaster Pro compatible audio built into the South Bridge, support for AGP 4X, and 1.5GB of 133MHz synchronous DRAM, supported in three sockets. According to FIC, the board also supports VCM (virtual channel memory) and ATA 66. FIC also includes its Novus software feature, which lets system builders tweak machines' BIOS features and uses Windows software to interactively overclock the mobo. The BIOS (basic input output system) can also be adjusted to include personalised logo at system start up and Novus also has anti-virus features. The chips supported by the mobo include FC PGA Pentium IIIs at speeds between 500MHz and 1GHz and at 66/100/133 bus speeds, as well as 433MHz and 533MHz Celerons. The Via Joshua chip is also supported. ® Related Stories FIC's motherboard roadmap Leak! Intel's desktop mobo plans slip out... and slip