Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboard Preview

LAS VEGAS--When he isn't winning tournaments, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel has found the time to advise Abit on new ultra high-end motherboards intended to enable unprecedented levels of performance. The AA8XE is the product of teamwork between the manufacturer and celebrity gamer, featuring a host of unique features that either directly impact performance or make it easier to overclock (increase default clock speeds). Some of them, such as OTES RamFlow, appear to be largely gimmicks.

The AA8XE centers on an Intel 925XE chipset, which supports both Pentium 4 and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors on an 800 or 1066MHz front-side bus. It features four memory slots that accept 240-pin DDR2 memory modules at speeds of 400 or 533MHz for up to 4GB of capacity. As with all other motherboards employing an Intel 900-series chipset, the AA8XE's PCI Express support for graphics cards is limited to a single x16 slot.

A second component of the 925XE chipset, Intel's ICH6-R I/O controller, contributes additional PCI Express connectivity in the form of two x1 slots for an add-in Gigabit Ethernet controller or TV tuner. It also enables four Serial ATA ports which work in concert with Intel's Application Accelerator software to support NCQ (native command queuing) and hot-swappable drives. Further, Abit includes one Gigabit Ethernet controller and one 10/100 LAN chip.

Some of the more distinguishing design characteristics include a ducted cooling system that draws air away from the host processor and voltage regulation circuitry. The air pulling it away through two small cooling fans, a thermal management system for installed memory modules, and specially designed copper strips that Abit claims help dissipate heat. There's also LED lighting around the periphery intended to mimic automotive ground effects.

Fatl1ty says he didn't want the AA8XE to feature an integrated audio controller at all, due to gamer concerns that the feature draws on CPU performance. Abit compromised by moving the 7.1-channel high-definition codec to a riser card that interfaces with an AMR slot. According to Scott Thirwell, Abit's director of marketing, this design results in superior clarity. It's also the first certified implementation of Dolby Digital Live real-time 5.1 encoding.

Abit's AA8XE is said to be a work in progress, with continual input from Fatal1ty and his advisory team. In fact, an upcoming BIOS will add uninhibited voltage control over the board's various subsystems for those interested in extreme tweaking. This naturally may prompt some safety concerns by removing standard limits, but Abit has firm plans to make the update available.

The Fatal1ty AA8XE motherboard is currently available for a suggested price of $245.

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