FX-3000 © 199? Elitegroup Computer Systems
The FX-3000 is a classic Baby AT motherboard designed for the 80386DX processor. It is built around the UMC UM82C480 chipset, which was highly favored for its integration and reliability in the early 386 ecosystem. While not as "high-performance" as the OPTi-based boards we’ve discussed, it was an incredibly cost-effective workhorse that powered millions of entry-level business and home computers.
Chipset: UMC UM82C480 (a robust, integrated 386 chipset).
CPU Support: Socket PGA168 (typically supporting 386DX-25 or 386DX-33).
Expansion: 6x 16-bit ISA slots + 1x 8-bit ISA slot (often with an additional "ECS Local Bus" connector, an early, non-standardized precursor to VLB).
Memory: 8x 30-pin SIMM sockets (supporting a broad range of FPM SIMM configurations).
Form Factor: Baby AT.
The "ECS Local Bus" Mystery: The board features an "ECS Local Bus" slot—an early, proprietary attempt at a high-speed peripheral connection. Before VESA Local Bus (VLB) became the industry standard, many manufacturers like ECS tried to create their own local bus interfaces to bypass the bottleneck of the ISA bus for graphics cards. These are now extremely rare and almost impossible to find add-on cards for.
Maintenance Note: If you happen to encounter an original board, the barrel-style NiCd battery is notoriously prone to leaking. It is the number one cause of "dead" FX-3000 boards today, as the electrolyte often corrodes the traces leading to the keyboard controller and the ISA bus slots nearby.