Chaintech 5TTM Revision 1

Motherboard Specifications

The Good

The Chaintech 5TTM1, is essentially a 5TTM designed to function as a mirror image of the 5TTL.  There are no major differences between the 5TTM1 and its closely related brother except for the fact that it lacks an 83.3MHz bus speed option and features a full set of 4 SIMM and 2 DIMM slots.   The 5TTM1 is geared more towards the average user interested in a TX motherboard, you should note that the word average doesn't mean bad since this particular motherboard simply doesn't fall into that category. 

The 5TTM1's Socket-7 IC differs from that of many other motherboards in that the center of the physical socket is home to a thermal sensor, therefore enabling the 5TTM1's System Monitoring and Alert features for the CPU installed.   The easy to configure AWARD PnP BIOS Setup of the 5TTM1 allows the user to monitor the CPU's current temperature as well as set a warning alarm if the temperature exceeds a user defined limit.  The BIOS Setup is also home to Chaintech's patented SeePUTM technology which is a Jumperless CPU Configuration Utility much like ABIT's SoftMenuTM setup.  From the Chipset Features setup in the AWARD PnP BIOS utility the user is allowed to select from a list of pre-defined CPU settings in order to expedite the installation/configuration process.  However the user also has the option of enabling the User's Favorite setting in the SeePUTM setup which allows you to manually select the bus speed, clock multiplier, and core voltage settings for your configuration.  The Bus speeds available range from 50 - 83.3MHz including the turbo frequency of the 66MHz bus speed (68MHz) and the clock multipliers the user has to choose from cover the standard 1.5x - 3.5x.

Like the other two new Chaintech TX motherboards, the 5TTM1 allows you to switch among two different CPU settings on-the-fly!  If the user enters in the following keystroke combination while the computer is running: [CTRL][ALT][-] the motherboard will automatically put the CPU into a de-turbo mode, which is incredibly useful especially when running those old 286/386 programs on your new high speed Socket-7 system.  By striking [CTRL][ALT][+] the motherboard is placed back into the turbo mode so you can return to your computer to its normal operation state.  

Chaintech's manual is of course a first class manual, with its only major competitor being ABIT, naturally.  The strongpoint of Chaintech's manual happens to be its excellent description of the possible BIOS settings of the 5TTM1, the individual descriptions are aided greatly by accurate screen shots of the AWARD BIOS interface.  Since the motherboard is jumperless, and since the manual is a very well written document, initially setting up and using the 5TTM1 should be a breeze even for a first time system builder.  

Since the 5TTM1 doesn't support the 83.3MHz bus speed the 5TTM1 doesn't really have a problem at overclocked CPU speeds since the highest possible setting is 262.5MHz, an easily achievable setting with a Pentium MMX-233.  Performance wise the 5TTM1 is just about on par with the 5TTL with the performance difference being about 0.1 - 0.3 Winstone points in all tests, a margin just about the size of a standard Winstone margin of error.  As far as the end user is concerned, the 5TTM1 is just as fast as the 5TTL and the 5TDM2.

The Bad

The problems with the 5TTM1 are simply put:

• a lack of an 83.3MHz bus speed setting

• and fixed CPU core voltage settings in the BIOS

Why isn't a lack of high quality capacitors a downside to the 5TTM1?  Well since you can't really do any serious overclocking (any overclocking that would almost require large Sanyo caps.) on the 5TTM1, the 14 mid to small sized capacitors on board are more than enough for just about any type of situation you could possibly place this motherboard in.  Combine that with Chaintech's excellent manufacturing habits and the 5TTM1 turns out to be a much better motherboard than originally thought. 

IRQ Usage

• Auto-detects PnP Cards after HDD Detection

BIOS Settings

Recommended SDRAM

This little addition to my review layout was put in here just so you all can have an idea of what brand of SDRAM I recommend and have tested with the board, just to avoid problems in the future if you decide to purchase the board.

Recommended SDRAM: Advanced Megatrends SDRAM; Corsair SDRAM; SmarTech SDRAM
SDRAM Tested: 2 x 32MB Advanced Megatrends SDRAM DIMMs; 2 x 32MB SmarTech SDRAM DIMMs; 2 x 32MB Corsair SDRAM DIMMs

Manufacturer: Advanced Megatrends
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.megacom.com

Manufacturer: Corsair Microsystems
Purchase Web-Site: http://www.nf-ny.com/nfny/comp.html