Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
how feasible would it be to mod this board for dual ROM chips?
I can't say without more photos. It would be interesting to see the bottom of the board.
The SOIC8 chip below the SuperI/O here http://techgage.com/reviews/gigabyte/ga_ma69gm_s2h/ga_ma69gm_09.jpg is unmarked (except a green spot),
Seems to be exactly what we're looking for.
Yes, that's the flash chip. The color dot is used to mark chips that are programmed (sometimes different colors for different contents) and the surrounding components are the "right" ones. There are some unpopulated transistor and resistor pads similar to the circuits on m57sli, but I see no pads for a second flash chip on the 20 photos at techgage.com. They weren't looking for flash chips so maybe the pads are there, but I actually do think the bottom is more likely since GIGABYTE insist on through holes for flash chip (or programmer) positioning, and those holes cost a little board space.
Oh, and there is surely some marking on the chip, but the etching on SO-8 is usually rather fine so light has to shine from just the right angle for anything to be visible.
The IT8176F performs SPI translation, though it is a mystery to me why board designers would do that since the SB600 already can do SPI.
They reuse a once-verified schematic block for sio+flash and there is no manufacturing cost benefit possible so no motivation for change.
//Peter