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Based in Taiwan, Transcend Information Inc. was founded in 1988 to provide both memory and mainboard solutions to the PC market.

Since that time, Transcend has grown to a level that generates over $200 million a year in global sales and their impact on the industry has been strong.

As 1999 comes to a close, Transcend is preparing to launch products based on Intel's high-end desktop core logic set, the i820, and to also mass produce the complicated Direct RAMBUS RIMM modules that propel the i820's memory architecture.

Today Sharky Extreme is taking a look at Transcend's cost-sensitive, value-orientated i810 mainboard, the TS-UWH31. With integrated sound and video as well as a small size and good overclocking potential, the UWH-31 may be the right board for users seeking more work potential than entertainment capacity from their PC.

Is this board right for your needs? Lets examine the UWH31 in more detail and attempt to answer that very question.

It's no secret that to the hardcore gamer, Intel's i810 integrated video/core-logic set is likely to be as appealing as sitting through a Pauly Shore film marathon.

Let's face it, the reason for this is the poor speed of the video accelerator that resides within the i810 chipset. It just doesn't have the power to handle today's 3D applications at any resolution above 640x480x16bpp.

But the i810 does have merits to other potential buyers and Intel has been pleasantly surprised by how well the new chipset has sold thus far.

From large offices to small businesses, the i810 has been just the ticket for providing a well-rounded PC foundation without the unnecessary costs of additional peripherals and components. This has allowed i810 board buyers to purchase a Celeron CPU, the i810 board with its included audio and video capabilities and included support for UDMA/66 disk transfers, all for under $140.