ABIT Unleashes Fatal1ty AN8 Motherboard

[Apoptosis]

Good news for all you AMD fan boys and the hardcore gamers waiting for this board!

January 31, Fremont, CA. Engineered by ABIT. Game-tested by Fatal1ty. The Fatal1ty Hardware Series represents the culmination of ABIT Engineering with the gaming prowess and experience of the world’s most recognized professional gamer, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel. The result of this collaboration is a gaming platform with no equal, specifically engineered for the gamer that demands nothing less than the very best. Today, ABIT is proud to introduce the first AMD-based motherboard in the Fatal1ty Hardware Series - the Fatal1ty AN8.

At the core of the Fatal1ty AN8 is the NVIDIA® nForce4 Ultra chipset, which supports the latest and greatest 939-pin AMD Athlon 64/64FX CPUs. NVIDIA’s nForce4 Ultra offers gamers a bevy of advanced features that will help turn up their game. By integrating Ethernet capabilities onto the chipset, NVIDIA Gigabit Ethernet provides the highest network throughput with the lowest CPU utilization. Integrated NVIDIA SATA RAID delivers RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and JBOD for excellent storage flexibility, and a 3GBb/s transfer rate doubles bus bandwidth and provides blazingly high disk performance. NVIDIA Firewall protects your PC from intruders by filtering unauthorized traffic with instant-on capabilities. With the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra chipset as a base, the Fatal1ty AN8 gives gamers both performance and peace of mind.

The Fatal1ty AN8 also comes with ABIT’s exclusive µGuru™ technology, which integrates OC Guru™ overclocking, ABIT EQ™ hardware monitoring, FlashMenu™ 1-click BIOS updating, and BlackBox™ diagnostic technology into a user friendly Windows-based interface. Audio performance is also top-notch with 7.1 channel high-definition audio backed by ABIT’s AudioMAX technology. By using a separate daughter card for audio connectors, ABIT Engineers have greatly reduced the amount of noise caused by high frequencies generated from the motherboard.

Signature to the Fatal1ty Hardware Series is ABIT’s Dual OTES™ cooling technology. Originally found on the Intel-based Fatal1ty AA8XE, Dual OTES delivers twin fans and a heat duct that efficiently channels heat from the inside to the outside of the case. With OTES RAMFlow™, DDR memory is kept cool via two high-speed fans for unsurpassed system stability. The Fatal1ty AN8 also features an all-copper chipset cooler, which draws heat three times more efficiently than conventional aluminum coolers.

Case modders will love the Fatal1ty AN8. The Fatal1ty AN8 features distinctive styling with a striking red and black color theme and red LED backlights that outline the motherboard in a crimson glow.

PR on-line: http://www.abit-usa.com/news/2005/20050131.php
Fatal1ty AN8 specification and pictures: http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/pro ... &model=262
For more information about ABIT, go to: http://www.abit-usa.com

[Illuminati]

A few thoughts while looking at this board...

1. Nice to see a A64 Fatal1ty board
2. not sure about that OTES design
3. PCI-E slot is really low
4. Sound card PCI Express 1x for sound is all the way up by the network plugs.
5. uGuru chip is at the top of the board above the socket... which lowers the socket
6. Being an nForce "all-in-one" chipset, the chipset and socket seem closer than normal to eachother... but still looks like there should not be a big HSF/NB fan conflict
7. Instead of issue with long video cards and the memory slot, it looks like the issue will be with long video cards and SATA cables.

But the number one thing people will care about is performance.

[infinitevalence]

A few thoughts while looking at this board...

1. Nice to see a A64 Fatal1ty board
2. not sure about that OTES design
3. PCI-E slot is really low
4. Sound card PCI Express 1x for sound is all the way up by the network plugs.
5. uGuru chip is at the top of the board above the socket... which lowers the socket
6. Being an nForce "all-in-one" chipset, the chipset and socket seem closer than normal to eachother... but still looks like there should not be a big HSF/NB fan conflict
7. Instead of issue with long video cards and the memory slot, it looks like the issue will be with long video cards and SATA cables.

But the number one thing people will care about is performance.

1. agreed
2. any otes is better than none
3. that seems to be the norm now that way large coolers do not interfear with the 1x slots
4. yeah thats kinda a strange point and i hope abit starts making pcie audio cards soon because there are NONE
5. lower is not always a bad thing, in some of the inverted ATX cases i have seen Zelman coolers not fit because they contact the bottom of the case
6. not a big deal as the active cooler is low profile so large heat sinks should fit
7. even with a long vid card it looks like the sata cables are just above the center line of the pcie slot, so while it might be a small challenge to get them in and out with the graphics card installed i dont think its a big deal

8. my big problem is that its not an SLI mobo, Fatal1ty mobo are supposed to be the best. wouldent you expect it to be SLI then...

[Illuminati]

SLI is very cool and I see your point... however, I would like to see this list grow or a generic way to use SLI in all games before a "gamer's" motherboard supports the technology.

[Apoptosis]

Don't forget that SLI is pretty much a bad thing for board makers... I've personally seen the document that said the trademark licence fee is $50 per unit for every unit of an SLI system sold.

That SLI "FEE" is passed along to consumers along with a bigger price cushion for the mobo maker. Would you as a consumer like to know that $50-$75 of your motherboard price is a licence fee alone?

[infinitevalence]

i smell an editorial artical comming from that...