AB-PV4 © 199? Abit
The AB-PV4 was one of Abit's most popular "retail" 486 motherboards. It was designed for the crowd that wanted Abit’s renowned build quality and jumper-flexibility, but preferred the widespread compatibility and software support associated with the SiS 496/497 chipset over the ALi chipset used in the PB4.
Chipset: SiS 85C496 (North) / 85C497 (South).
CPU Support: Socket 3. Like your other late-cycle boards, it offers jumper-selectable voltage and multiplier settings, making it highly compatible with the AMD Am5x86-P75 and Cyrix 5x86 processors.
Expansion: 3x PCI slots / 4x ISA slots.
Memory: 4x 72-pin SIMM sockets (EDO/FPM support).
Form Factor: Baby AT.
Cache: Supports 256KB or 512KB of L2 cache (DIP-style).
Abit's Jumper Philosophy: Abit was arguably the best manufacturer of the 90s for "tinkerer" boards. The AB-PV4 is laid out much better than the A-Trend boards you cataloged earlier; it’s much easier to configure the FSB speed (33 vs 40 MHz) without shorting out a trace.
The SiS Reliability: While the ALi-based PB4 was slightly faster in pure memory benchmarks, the PV4 with the SiS chipset is legendary for its rock-solid stability. It is often the board of choice for building a "daily driver" 486 system.