FIRST LOOK: Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE
by Wesley Fink on November 9, 2004 8:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Features and Overclocking
| Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 775 Pentium 4 (Prescott) |
| Chipset | Intel 925XE/ICH6R |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 400MHz (in 1MHz steps) |
| DDR2 Speeds | Auto, 400, 533 |
| N/B Strap | By CPU, PSB533, PSB800, PSB1066 |
| PCI Express Speeds | 99MHz to 255MHz (in 1MHz intervals) |
| PCI Speeds | 33.33, 36.36, 40.00 |
| Core Voltage | CPU Default (1.575V) to 1.925V in 0.025V increments |
| FSB VTT Voltage | 1.0V to 1.8V in .05V steps |
| DRAM Voltage | 1.6V to 2.55V in 0.05V increments |
| DDR VTT Voltage | 0.8V to 1.8V in .05V increments |
| Northbridge Voltage | 1.3V to 2.1V in 005V increments |
| NB 2.5V | 2.3V to 3.0V in .05V steps |
| Memory Slots | Four 184-pin DDR2-533/400 Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered DDR2 to 4GB |
| Expansion Slots | 1 PCIe x16 slot 2 PCIe x1 slots 2 PCI slots Dedicated Audio Daughter Card slot |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 4 SATA 150 drives by ICH6R Intel Matrix Raid 0,1 |
| Onboard IDE | One ATA100/66 (ICH6) - 2 Drives |
| Onboard USB 2.0 | 8 USB 2.0 ports |
| Onboard Firewire | 3 IEEE1394A FireWire Ports by TI 43CR30T |
| Onboard LAN | Dual Intel Ethernet - Gigabit + 10/100 |
| Onboard Audio | High Definition Realtek ALC880D 8-Channel HD, Dolby Digital Live AudioMAX connectors for reduced noise |
| Tested BIOS | M408_10.B07 10/15/2004 |
The Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE was designed for top gaming performance and overclocking. This is reflected in the very complete selection of tweaking controls and the extended adjustment ranges. The BIOS controls with wide adjustment ranges will allow overclockers to push the Fatal1ty to wherever the processor can go.
One surprise was the lack of a higher DDR2 ram speed option in a board designed for performance. The 925XE Asus P5AD2-E, for example, has a speed option of DDR2 710 in BIOS.
The feature set is basic 915X/925XE without the additional features often seen on top-of-the-line Socket 775 motherboards. This means that the ports and options are those provided by the 925X/925XE chipset. This may not be a bad thing where stability is the primary goal, but the Fatal1ty really adds very little to the standard 925X/925XE feature set. There are provisions for Firewire and enhancements for noise reduction on the excellent Intel High Definition 8-channel audio, but you will be hard pressed to find any other new features on Fatal1ty. As with other 925X/XE boards there are provisions for just 2 IDE devices, which may be an issue if your gaming needs include several optical drives or IDE hard drives.
Sometimes gaming is as much about appearances as substance, and there is no doubt that Abit understands this. The Fatal1ty is back-lit with red LEDs, which will make the Fatal1ty stand out in any side window case.
Abit also concentrates on cooling with the AA8XE. You can see the shroud for the dual OTES cooling for the power transistors. It is carefully designed, so there is no issue with mounting a standard Intel Socket 775 cooling fan. However, if you plan to use a large custom heatsink, you are likely out of luck.
Overclocking
The Fatal1ty is designed for top performance, and top performance normally includes overclocking. We were extremely pleased to reach a stable 323x12 with our test 3.46EE. 12X is the lowest ratio available on this partially unlocked EE chip. This is a CPU speed of 3876MHZ at a bus speed of 1292. Apparently, this is the limit on air with modest voltage increases for this processor, since the stock 13X multiplier would only reach 299x13 - approximately the same speed.With water cooling or phase-change cooling, the Abit Fatal1ty would likely take this chip further, since heat was becoming a large problem with this Gallatin core CPU at nearly 3.9GHz speed. 323x12 is an outstanding overclock, but this needs to be kept in perspective. The starting point for the 3.46EE is 266, so the reach to 323 is just a 21% overclock of the FSB at the lower multiplier. If we consider the CPU is running at 3876MHz, the overclock is only 12% compared to the rated CPU speed.
Prescott core 800FSB processors will also work fine on the Abit Fatal1ty. We did a brief test with an unlocked 560 Prescott and managed to reach a stable 284x14, or a speed of about 4GHz on air. The FSB limitation here is likely the result of the 14 multiplier, which is the lowest available on the unlocked 3.6GHz processor. If lower ratios were available, it is likely that the Abit Fatal1ty could take you to the highest FSB the CPU could reach.
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LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Only two IDE devices? What were they thinking? I'd have to buy new SATA hard disks and spend more cash yet. This board is a real niche design, and I think while Abit's quality is there, there are few people who will buy into this one. I can get an Athlon 64 much more reasonably than a P4, and wipe the floor with the P4 system. I can build a quieter, better cooling setup with a good case so I don't need the fans of the OTES system, and can get a board that still has one serial port like I need and also doesn't take up as many slots with additions. With the money I save not going to this board, I can optimize my system even further with better components. Unless you're a die-hard Intel fan with deep pockets looking to build a system from scratch, I can't see you buying this board.TimTheEnchanter25 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Whoops, I read the firewire part wrong. I see one port in the picture now.TimTheEnchanter25 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
The AN8-Fatal1ty will be based on the Nforce4 Ultra. I think it will be released in the next 2 weeks.Until I read this, I was planning on the AN8-Fatal1ty. I would rather be able to cool my CPU better than the transistors and capcitors... I would also rather have firewire than 2 ethernet ports.
Maybe the AN8-Max will be a better choice.
smn198 - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
#4 AgreedDid some Excel math but unfortunately different ATI and nVidia graphics cards make the results from the 924XE article earlier useless to compare. For example, there is hardly any difference on this review between the FX55 and 4000+ cards with nVidia on Halo but with an ATI there is a pretty big gap!
OK its a first look but without the same chipset and CPU to compare against I am still not really much wiser.
Check:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/abit%20fatal1ty... and http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/intel%20pentium...
OzMowerman - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Gee, is the world so full of pubescent tools?. well, after reading the above posts, it seems so.mrdudesir - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
wow, aside from the fact that it is a poor choice of platform, the board looks like a simply poor design. As it was pointed out in the article you can't use a good air cooler. Plus with 3 40mm fans already on that thing its probably gonna be louder than a jet. not to mention losing a pci slot to the audio daughter card. Not to mention with all these "improvements" they left off some of the best little things, like on-board power and reset switches. Big thumbs down to abit and their sellout spokesman.j@cko - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
I don't get it... Why didn't you include another 925XE board for comparison?FinalFantasy - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Read #16.........
uhh...
that's all...
ksherman - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
if this is boad that 'Fatal1ty' uses, he's gonna start lagging behind everyone else with their AMD64's.... ;)knitecrow - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Something is wrong with the following.... a P4 extreme gamming moboOnly if you are a stupid gamer will you spend a premium to get a p4 Extreme Edition system.
Go figure...
buy a FX-55 system... people envy you
buy a p4-EE system and people call you a retart