BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

[BigTroll]

Okay I built this last year and put alot of thought into it, I wanted to build a system with a really crappy chinese motherboard and see how it would run. for the case I started with the CUK Axiom which is a rebaged realan case and has a 200w psu with cheap caps and really can do about 160w.

Next the motherboard I chose I found on gearbest, its a generic B75 1155 matx board that has USB3 and 6gb/s Sata. This board does not support TurboBoost so I chose a Core i3 3225 that has the Better HD4000 and no turbo.

It has a Titan low profile heatsink for the cooling.

The I/O sheild for the motherboard was also poorly cut so I used a dremel to make sure the USB ports aligned better.

Now the best part this motherboard has bad caps straight from the factory, NJCON polymers and ChengX eletrolytics never before have I seen such amazing quality.

I did put in 8GB of crucial DDR3 1600 and a 240GB crucial BX500 so it boots Windows 10 extremely fast. I also have had no stability problems with the unit yet.

So the real question can the Chinese build a cheap motherboard that works and the answer is YES!

[stj]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

you do realise that dell (foxconn) and most other big names are made in china too?

[BigTroll]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

you do realise that dell (foxconn) and most other big names are made in china too?

Of course but this is a home grown board, probably out of a Shenzhen startup!
https://www.gearbest.com/motherboards/pp_1715558.html

here is the board was only $40 when i got it last year, who makes it though is a mystery.

[lti]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

That ATX power cable is ridiculously long. It looks like it could reach all the way to the expansion slot.

I also see that they spared no expense on the PSU fan guard - no stamped grill.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

ChengX eletrolytics never before have I seen such amazing quality.

errr yea... by chinese standards yea... the quality is indeed amazing.

I also have had no stability problems with the unit yet.

really...? have u tried superpi, prime95 and intel linpack? i stress test my systems very rigorously...

So the real question can the Chinese build a cheap motherboard that works and the answer is YES!

nope the real question is whether the chinese can build a cheap motherboard that lasts and the answer is still debatable! so thanks for posting. i shall take note of this date and start counting the days on how long it lasts...

[Uranium-235]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

Of course but this is a home grown board, probably out of a Shenzhen startup!
https://www.gearbest.com/motherboards/pp_1715558.html

here is the board was only $40 when i got it last year, who makes it though is a mystery.

probably a failed startup years ago if they were releasing them with that chipset (sandy/ivy bridge) era, ~2012

[stj]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

actually there are a lot of chinese motherboard makers that simply dont export - the home market is big enough for them!

you often see their boards sold used online though because the internet-cafe's and gaming centers upgrade the boards and not the entire machines.
so there are shitloads of used motherboard/cpu combo's for sale.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

Okay I built this last year and put alot of thought into it, I wanted to build a system with a really crappy chinese motherboard and see how it would run. for the case I started with the CUK Axiom which is a rebaged realan case and has a 200w psu with cheap caps and really can do about 160w.

Next the motherboard I chose I found on gearbest, its a generic B75 1155 matx board that has USB3 and 6gb/s Sata. This board does not support TurboBoost so I chose a Core i3 3225 that has the Better HD4000 and no turbo.

It has a Titan low profile heatsink for the cooling.

The I/O sheild for the motherboard was also poorly cut so I used a dremel to make sure the USB ports aligned better.

Now the best part this motherboard has bad caps straight from the factory, NJCON polymers and ChengX eletrolytics never before have I seen such amazing quality.

I did put in 8GB of crucial DDR3 1600 and a 240GB crucial BX500 so it boots Windows 10 extremely fast. I also have had no stability problems with the unit yet.

So the real question can the Chinese build a cheap motherboard that works and the answer is YES!

Have you torcher tested this mother board yet to see how it really works and how well

[momaka]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

Despite using a no-name Chinese board, I think this is still a pretty cool build.

for the case I started with the CUK Axiom which is a rebaged realan case and has a 200w psu with cheap caps and really can do about 160w.

Should be plenty for the system.
Just make sure it has good caps - especially if it has APFC and has a cheap input cap there, as that is really likely to go out after a few years of use.

Now the best part this motherboard has bad caps straight from the factory, NJCON polymers and ChengX eletrolytics never before have I seen such amazing quality.

Lol
I wouldn't actually worry about the NJcon polymers, because they are polymers caps after all, and a lot less likely to fail.

But ChengX.... yeah, they gotta go - at least the bigger ones or ones that filter any important rails.
IDK, maybe the Chinese have improved their quality over the years, but I still don't think they can make reliable caps in the long run. Better stick to the known Japanese brands.

So the real question can the Chinese build a cheap motherboard that works and the answer is YES!

Linus tech Tips had a video not too long ago on buying a Chinese X58 board and using it OC an old 1366 CPU. The results were pretty interesting, actually. While the board wasn't a great OC'er, it did support USB 3.0 and m.2 slots - something that IIRC didn't exist on any X58 boards back in the day (well, at least m.2 anyways.)

So I wouldn't discredit the Chinese boards in terms of reliability. As long as they followed the Intel design specs, they are probably fine. In terms of reliability, it will be just down to the components they used for the board. Pretty sure MOSFETs and other ICs are fine. Probably only the shoddy electrolytic (and possibly polymer) caps are the ones to beware of.
And of course possibly buggy BIOS and lack of long-term support for it.

really...? have u tried superpi, prime95 and intel linpack? i stress test my systems very rigorously...

Those "stress-tests" aren't always good in determining if a system is stable.
Take for example my Q6600 / EVGA 780i-SLI build: it can run Intel Linpack and Prime95 for hours. I used these to check the cooling performance of my system. But when it comes to stability, I found that certain video-decoding programs (YouTube/Firefox included) will make the system halt to a BSOD in a matter of minutes, if even that. Seems like the varying CPU/GPU load is causing instability, no matter what BIOS options I tried (in regards to voltage control and spread-spectrum) or what video cards I tried (both AMD/ATI and nVidia.)

Also found the above mentioned issue is not specific to that system. The build I put together with an MSI MS-7778 board and A4-5300 APU had the same problem with video decoding when I used certain RAM on that system (would crash Hynix, Nanya, and certain Samsung sticks.) Yet, it would never crash under harsh CPU or GPU stress-tests.

nope the real question is whether the chinese can build a cheap motherboard that lasts and the answer is still debatable!

Well, doesn't that apply for any modern motherboard today?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

Those "stress-tests" aren't always good in determining if a system is stable.
Take for example my Q6600 / EVGA 780i-SLI build: it can run Intel Linpack and Prime95 for hours. I used these to check the cooling performance of my system. But when it comes to stability, I found that certain video-decoding programs (YouTube/Firefox included) will make the system halt to a BSOD in a matter of minutes, if even that.

Especially Kentsfield processors, there's a good chance you got WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR BSOD (STOP: 0x00000124) for a bus/interconnect error. You must check the event log for the error type thrown by the Kentsfield CPU.

It's likely that you need a bit more FSB termination voltage, with a Kentsfield!

And in my experience, relating to bus issues, Linpack is likely to pass, while you can expect blend Prime 95 to reveal the issue!

And for video encoding, if you suddenly receive "0x00000124" for "internal timer error", then shut off all the "green" options!-> That means disabling EIST, C1E and "turbo".

(For my socket 1366 rig: I never had the dreaded internal-timer-error-related-BSOD again with my Core i7 "Bloomfield" Extreme 965 with my Asus P6T Deluxe, after shutting off all the "green" options.)

And with new builds of Windows 10, there is a report of Microsoft changing the BSOD to GSOD!

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

IDK, maybe the Chinese have improved their quality over the years, but I still don't think they can make reliable caps in the long run. Better stick to the known Japanese brands.

as a side joke, its heresy to use japanese caps on a chinese board according to the chinese. hehehe...!

[lti]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

Well, doesn't that apply for any modern motherboard today?

I think it applies to the "gamer" or "creator" boards. I feel like the board manufacturers care more about appearance than making something that works, even on the boards for "workstation-class" CPUs like Threadripper.

[Scenic]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

Looks like the same noname china mobo I bought just for fun a couple years back, except yours actually has USB 3.0. Mine was advertised as having it and I asked the seller on ebay if it actually has USB 3.0 and he confirmed that. Ended up receiving a version without it, contacted the seller and they just immediately refunded the whole price no questions asked O.o

Not gonna complain about a free brand new mobo

Mine works fine, has a 2018 dated BIOS, H61 chipset and has been running stable with a random old i5 (3340 I think it was?) I had lying around in a SFF Acer XC-105 case. Worlds better than the useless E2-6110 APU that was in there originally.

Mainly bought it because I was curious about the quality and if it would be stable or turn out to be a nightmare of random problems. And because it was the only available DTX mobo that didn't cost an arm and a leg (DTX = ITX with one more expansion slot)

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

I wonder what China design and made mother board are any good I would not mind trying one out on a “I7 CPU but I do not know which one to buy and even where to look ( but I would be looking for some type quality I do not want to buy something that there is no quality at all)

And then are all the drivers available and easy to find

I like to use the SFF computer style ( because I want to be able to put the monitor on top of it ) for some thing that I not going to stress the hell out of it

If I going to stress the hell out of it I want a full size computer case with several cooling fans in it

[stj]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

drivers are not board-based, you just need to go to the chipset makers site.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

drivers are not board-based, you just need to go to the chipset makers site.

This might sound like a real stupid question but I am still going to ask it

Where do you find this information on the chip it self and how do you know if you are looking at the right chip

[stj]

Re: BigTrolls Tiny Chinese System!

just look at what they are close too - or post a picture here.
anything with realtek or a crab printed on it is going to probably be audio or network for example,
the biggest chips are the bridge chip(s) and maybe gpu - probably intel chips.