Upgrade Biostar iDeq 210V motherboard. Options?

[Omertron]

Hi All,

I have an old Biostar iDeq 210V barebones system that I would like to upgrade the motherboard & CPU on. I'm fairly confident in being able to replace the motherboard myself, but I have no idea if this system uses a standard motherboard (microATX, etc) or a custom Biostar one. The motherboard is marked as a M7VBA.

Can anyone shed any light on what I could replace the board with?

Thanks!

 

[the_taker]

Hi, I would suggest typing that model number of the motherboard into google or yahoo search and see what comes back. most likely you'll be able to find the specs that way. I could do the same thing and give you what I find, but you may find out more info that is meaningful to you. you can do this type of search for basically any computer component and if you know the manufacturer, you could always find their website to find the same info.

good luck, let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

[Omertron]

I have looked on google for it, but couldn't find much about it's specs, even downloaded the 18Mb PDF manual from biostar to try and determine the form factor of the motherboard, but no real luck :roll:

 

[Anoobis]

It would appear to me that the board is in fact a microATX board because you seem to be talking about either the Biostar iDEQ 210V or the Biostar iDEQ 200V. Both are small form factor barebones PCs. My best guess would be that the motherboard is actually the M7VIZ-SATA, which is in fact a microATX board. These are just guesses.

Biostar's website is a bit odd. I don't think that M7VBA is the actual motherboard's model number. Biostar classifies M7VBA as both the iDEQ200V and the iDEQ210V model name. The iDEQ###V is classified as the system name. Weird. One way to be certain is to download CPU-Z and see what it tells which model of motherboard it has in it.

Regardless, a small for factor PC will almost always have a microATX board in it.

As far as upgrading, what do you plan to do with it?

 

[Omertron]

It is indeed a Biostar iDEQ 210V

SiSoftware Sandra reckons the following:

System
Manufacturer : VIA Technologies, Inc.
Model : KM400A-8237
ID : FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF

Mainboard
Manufacturer : Biostar
MP Support : 1 Processor(s)
MPS Version : 1.40
Model : KM400A-8237
System BIOS : 10/20/2004-KM400A-8237-6A6LYB09C-00
Chipset : VIA KT400/A, KT600

A google search doesn't pull up much as the VIA KM400 chipset is reasonable common :?

Picture of MB

I want to upgrade the system as the AMD Athlon XP 3000 I had in there expired :roll: and I had to replace it with a low speed Sempron. Now I cannot get any new Athlons (Don't trust ebay!) to put in there so want to add some speed.

 

[Anoobis]

Like I said, CPU-Z should pull the exact model number of the board. Sandra gave you the board's chipset. That board looks very narrow. If you cannot identify the board, you will probably have to open it up and physically measure it. It will give you an idea of what you can put in it. You might also see a model number on the board itself. The Biostar board I linked to in my earlier post is very narrow. This could lead to problems if the case you have doesn't allow more room for slightly larger boards.

And please, let us know what you want to do with this machine. Gaming, office, overclocking (very unlikely), etc...

 

[the_taker]

It's a barebones huh? I haven't really worked with SFF's, and It seems to me, you're looking at building a new computer. Is something wrong with your current mobo? or just the old processor?

I don't know about upgrading these things, it seems they aren't really advertised as something you can swap motherboards on. If any of the links to information shows the actual dimensions of the mobo, you can translate that to a form-factor nano-ATX, micro-ATX, etc.

if you're looking at "upgrading", maybe you're better off building a complete new one. Depending on your budget for an "upgrade" that may be the way to go. If the old Athlon is what died, I'm curious as to what you are going to do if you upgrade the motherboard.

 

[Omertron]

Thanks for the responses. The reason I posted the Sandra information was because it gave a little more information than CPU-Z. CPU-Z gave the motherboard id as KM400A-8237 as well. KM400 is the VIA chipset that is used, and 8237 is the VIA Southbridge.

The PC is currently used by my GF for general office duties (MS Office, IE, MSN, etc) Nothing too strenuous. It's just that the Sempron chip that's in there is underpowered to what she's used to, hence why I wanted to upgrade the PC. I'm loathed to replace the whole PC as it's a great form factor for where she uses it and I couldn't get anything similar with out spending more than £100 which was what I was hoping I could replace the MB and CPU for.

It does sound like this MB is custom built for Biostar, but they don't offer any replacements for it. Thanks for all your help anyway!

 

[Anoobis]

Honestly, then your best bet is eBay. There are tons of Bartons for sale and I'm sure you can find one at a very reasonable price from a trusted seller. I've used eBay for selling and purchases before. Most people are honestly really just trying to get rid of stuff. Stick to sellers with high approval ratings and you should be good to go.

 

[Omertron]

Thanks for all the help