There are several motherboards that are not manufactured, rather they are bought from another manufacturer and have their tag sticked to them, as it happens to those from Amptron, Alton, Aristo and Matsonic. Matsonic used to sell their board under the brand “Eurone. All those “manufacturers” buy boards from ECS (EliteGroup Systems), which is one of the largest motherboard manufacturers in the world and is also the owner of the brand PCChips, one of the most popular motherboard manufacturer in developing countries because of their low prices.
ECS says they use the brand PCChips for their boards for the low-end PC market, while the boards sold under the brand ECS have better quality control. However, several ECS and PCChips motherboards are simply identical.
For example, if you buy an ECS K7SOM+ motherboard in the belief you are making a better deal than buying one from PCChips you are mistaken, for that motherboard is actually the M810DLU from PCChips. Similarly, if you an MS9138E from Matsonic you will be really taking home an M925 from PCChips.
We compiled two tables showing the correspondence of the most popular cloned motherboards on the market today. Notice that that table is far from being thorough, being just a fast guide to be used when buying a low cost motherboard.
Socket 478 (Intel Processors)
|
ECS |
PCChips |
Matsonic |
Amptron |
Chipset |
|
P4IBASD V3.X |
M902LU v3.0 |
MS9047C |
Intel 845D |
|
|
P4S5A |
M930LMR |
SiS 645 |
||
|
P4S5A/DX |
M930ALU v5.x |
SiS 645DX |
||
|
P4S5MG/651+ |
M935ALU v5.1B |
SiS 651 |
||
|
P4S5MG/GL |
M935LU v5.1B (M935DELR) |
SiS 650GL |
||
|
P4S5MG/GL+ |
M935MLU5 |
SiS 650GL |
||
|
P4S8AG |
M947 |
SiS 648 |
||
|
P4VMM2 |
MS9138D |
VIA P4M266 |
||
|
P4VMM2 v3.1 |
M925 ALMU (M925LU v3.x) |
MS9138E |
XP4-925ALU |
VIA P4M266 |
|
P4VXAS2 v2.X |
MS9107C |
VIA P4X266A |
||
|
P4VXASD2 v5.X |
M922 v5.0 |
VIA P4X333 |
||
|
P4VXASD2+ |
M922LU v5.0 |
MS9147C |
XP4-922LU |
VIA P4X333 |
Socket A (AMD Processors)
|
ECS |
PCChips |
Matsonic |
Amptron |
Chipset |
|
M825LU v3.x |
K7-825LU v.3.1 |
VIA KM266 |
||
|
K7S7AG |
M847 |
SiS 746 |
||
|
K7SEM v3.0 |
M810L v7.1C |
K7-810CLM4 |
SiS 730S |
|
|
K7SOM+ |
M810DLU |
K7-810DLM4 |
SiS 730D |
|
|
K7VMM |
M825LMU |
VIA KM266 |
||
|
K7VTA3 V2.X |
MS8137C+ |
KT266A |
||
|
K7VTA3 V7.0 |
MS8167C |
KT333CF |