Abit has a long and storied history as a top manufacturer of enthusiast level boards that catered to the overclocking community. Abit found itself in trouble over the past couple of years and for all intents and purposes, it was close to ceasing business operations. Fortunately, they entered into a long-term partnership with USI this past January that should ensure their financial health for the foreseeable future. This strategic partnership also signals a return of Abit to their roots as a company driven to provide the computer enthusiast and extreme overclocker with the highest performance solutions available. Although Abit just recently announced the AT8 32X motherboard based on the ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 Northbridge (RD580) and ULi M1575 Southbridge, we will be looking at the AT8 motherboard based on the ATI CrossFire Xpress 200 Northbridge (RD480) and ULi M1575 Southbridge solution. More information about the entire line of Abit products can be found here.

Our initial impression of the AT8 upon opening the box was one of pleasant surprise in regards to the general layout of the board and the quality of components utilized by Abit. The accessory kit and documentation included in the package is extensive for a board in the US $115 range.

During our testing and general usage of the Abit AT8, we found the board's stability to be excellent and it delivered top results in the latest synthetic and game benchmarks once we were provided with an updated BIOS. However, our initial tests with the current 1.0 BIOS were not positive as the board suffered memory capability issues with our BH5/UTT chip based memory modules. The board refused to hold a CAS latency setting of 2 after reboot with the BH5 memory modules and would fail to post if the CAS latency setting was set to 3. The board also showed some post and incompatibility issues during testing with 1GB memory modules based upon Samsung UCCC chips.

However, the board worked fine with our Infineon based memory modules. We also noticed a disk corruption issue during RAID 0 operation with the stripe size set at 16k. We did not have this issue with the stripe size set at 64k.

We reported our issues to Abit and they promptly provided an updated BIOS, version 1.1, to use for our testing. We noticed our memory incompatibility issues were resolved for the most part and updated microcode for the ULi M1575 chipset solved our RAID setup issues. We have still witnessed a few memory issues that occur when switching memory modules without having set the DRAM setting in the BIOS to SPD. Also, the board requires a CMOS clear when extending the memory settings beyond the capability of the board or memory. The system will gracefully recover from errant CPU settings, but is still reluctant to recover from memory issues. We generally found that setting the memory settings manually or utilizing the SPD option had worked well as the Auto setting seemed to have the majority of issues when setting up the board or during overclocking.

However, the current iteration of the 1.1 BIOS introduced an issue that Abit is still trying to solve at this time. The board is an excellent overclocker when utilizing the stock multiplier. Our testing has revealed an issue with the beta 1.1 BIOS where the HTT setting does not like to be raised past the maximum HTT setting utilized with the stock multiplier. As an example we had no issue overclocking our AMD Athlon 64 4000+ to a 322 HTT setting at a 9x multiplier with the version 1.0 BIOS but could not reliably exceed a 256 HTT setting with the 1.1 BIOS which was the maximum setting at the stock 12x multiplier. We tried four different AMD processors and witnessed the same results in our testing. We tried various combinations of memory, video card, and power supplies along with numerous system settings without success. Abit is working on this issue currently and we expect to have an updated BIOS for further testing shortly. We would like to commend the engineers at Abit for their cooperation and diligence in working with us on these issues, but we sincerely hope that an optimized BIOS is released shortly for the existing users of this board.

The Abit AT8 offers a full complement of options including two physical PCI Express x16 connections (x8 operation in dual card or CrossFire mode), two PCI Express x1 connections, and two 32-bit PCI 2.3 connections. The board also offers HD audio via the Realtek ALC882D HD 7.1 codec featuring Dolby Digital Live, PCI Gigabit Ethernet via the Realtek RT8110SB LAN controller, eight USB 2.0 ports (utilizing two USB 2.0 headers), four SATA 3Gb/s connectors, two ATA133 Ultra-DMA IDE connectors, and IEEE 1394 support via the TI TSB43AB22 1394A capable chipset.

Let's see how the Abit AT8 compares to the competition.



Basic Features: Abit AT8

Specification	Abit AT8
CPU Interface	939-Pin Socket supporting AMD Athlon 64 / 64FX / 64X2
Chipset	ATI CrossFire Xpress 200 (RD480) - North Bridge ULi M1575 - South Bridge
HTT Speeds	200MHz ~ 400MHz in 1MHz increments
CPU Clock Multiplier	Auto, 4x ~ 12x in 1x increments (4000+ CPU setting, maximum multiplier dependent upon processor utilized)
Memory Speeds	Auto, 200MHz, 266MHz, 333MHz, 400MHz, 433MHz, 466MHz, 500MHz
PCI Bus Speeds	Fixed at 33.33MHz
PCI Express Bus Speeds	Auto, 90MHz ~ 140MHz in 1MHz increments
LDT Multipliers	Auto, 200MHz, 400MHZ, 600MHz, 800MHz, 1GHz
LDT Link Speed	Auto, 8-bit, 16-bit
Core Voltage	Auto, 1.4000V ~ 1.8000V (AMD 64 4000+) (settings in 0.0250V increments, base +.4000V for max voltage), (base / max voltage dependent upon CPU)
DRAM Voltage	Auto, 2.50V ~ 3.20V
NB 1.8V Setting	1.50V ~ 2.00V, in .05V or .10V increments
NB 1.2V Setting	1.00V ~ 1.80V, in .10V increments
HT Voltage	1.20V ~ 1.40V, in .05 increments
DDR Reference	Default, +10mV ~ +60mV, -10mV ~ -60mV, in .10mV increments
Memory Slots	(4) x DIMM, max. 4GB, DDR 400/333/200, non-ECC, un-buffered memory, Dual Channel Operation supported.
Expansion Slots	(2) x PCI-E x16 (each slot operates in 1x8 mode for CrossFire operation) (2) x PCI-E x1 (2) x PCI 2.3
Onboard SATA	ULi M1575: (4) x SATA II (3.0Gb/s, NCQ, Hot Plug)
Onboard IDE	ULi M1575: (2) x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
SATA/IDE RAID	ULi M1575: (4) x SATA II 3Gb/s - RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5
Onboard USB 2.0	(8) USB2.0 ports (four ports, two headers for four more ports)
Onboard LAN	Realtek RTL8110SB PCI 10/100/1000Mb/s LAN - LOM Controller
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC-882D - 7.1 channel capable HD Audio Codec, Dolby Digital Live capable
Onboard Firewire	TI TSB43AB22 IEEE 1394 chipset - 1394A capable
Power Connectors	24-pin ATX 4-pin ATX 12V 4-pin 12V
Back Panel I/O Ports	1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x S/PDIF Optical Out 1 x S/PDIF Optical In 1 x Audio I/O Panel 1 x RJ45 LAN 4 x USB 2.0 1 x IEEE 1394
Other Features	Silent OTES Technology µGuru Technology - Abit EQ - hardware monitoring system - OC Guru - overclocking utility - Fan EQ - fan monitoring utility Flash Menu - windows based flash utility BlackBox - windows based diagnostic utility
BIOS	Award 1.1 (2/15/06, in final testing for public release)

The Abit AT8 is a value-based performance board targeted towards the enthusiast user. The board ships with an extensive accessory package that includes the standard assortment of IDE/SATA cables, power connectors, and USB header cables. Abit also includes an extensive driver CD along with their desktop µGuru utilities.

This is the BIOS setup utility screen and it displays the change configuration categories available on the board. The BIOS features the ability to save and load individual profiles, which can be a time saver based upon whether you want to quickly overclock the system at various settings or operate at stock settings. This feature worked superbly during our overclocking tests.

The OC Guru Configuration section allows the user to manually set the CPU multiplier, HTT speeds, PCI-E clock speed, and multiple voltage selections.

The Advanced Chipset Features section allows the user to manually set individual parameters for LDT multipliers, Video configuration, and DRAM frequency settings.

The DRAM Configuration section allows the user to control memory timing adjustments and dividers. The BIOS allows for an Auto setting that will determine the best timing attributes based upon memory type, divider, and bus speeds. The SPD setting will adjust the memory automatically to the manufacturer's setting or you can adjust the multitude of memory timings manually. We found in our testing that the system would typically adjust the memory clock settings incorrectly when utilizing the Auto setting and would leave the system in a non-post state or unstable state due to the 1.0 BIOS incompatibility issues with several types of memory modules.

The LDT and PCI Bus Control section allows the user to adjust the upstream and downstream LDT bus width bit rate along with the LDT bus frequency. Although the description describes the ability to control the PCI bus, it is actually not available, although the frequency is fixed at 33.33MHz.

The Abit EQ configuration section allows the user to monitor and set parameters for temperature, voltage, fan speed, and fan control (up to six fans). This feature set is extensive and allows monitoring and control of several board features either from the BIOS or the windows based EQ monitoring system.

Abit includes their excellent µGuru windows utility that allows the user to overclock the HTT speed, change certain voltages, and monitor hardware settings in real time without the need for rebooting. The OC Guru worked very well during our overclock testing.



Abit AT8: Features

Abit designed a well laid out board with all major connections easily reached except for the floppy drive connector. The Abit layout provides excellent clearance for cards and components and it was simple to install in a mid-size ATX case. Although the board features a 3-phase voltage regulator power design, it provided excellent stability and allowed for an impressive level of overclocking at the stock multiplier setting.

The DIMM module slots' are not color coordinated for dual channel setup. The memory modules are easy to install with a full size video card placed in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The 24-pin ATX power connector is conveniently placed along the edge of the board with two fan headers.

The ULi IDE port connectors are located along the edge of the board beneath the BIOS chip and ULi SATA ports. The IDE port connectors did not present any connection issues when utilizing the board in CrossFire operation. The ULi M1575 chipset is located above the BIOS chip and below the first PCI Express x16 slot. The ULi M1575 chipset is passively cooled with a low rise heat sink that did not interfere with cards installed in the PCI Express slots. The ULi USB connectors are color-coded blue and are located to the upper right of the M1575 chipset. This is an unusual location for the USB connectors as it almost ensures that the case slot above the first PCI Express x16 slot is required for the USB cable header panel.

The ULi SATA ports are conveniently located above the number two IDE port connector and to the right of the CP80P post port debug LED. The SATA ports feature the new clamp and latch design, but are not color-coded. The chassis panel is located on the bottom left edge of the board below the CP80P LED. We do miss the power on and reset buttons from previous Abit boards.

The µGuru chipset is located above the ULi SATA ports and independently controls the µGuru functions . The TI TSB43AB22 IEEE 1394 chipset is located above the µGuru chipset. The IEEE 1394 connector is color-coded red and is located directly to the left of the TI IEEE 1394 chipset. The yellow clear CMOS jumper block is a traditional jumper design located to the left of the IEEE 1394 connector and along the edge of the motherboard. The red GURU connector is located below the CMOS jumper and also along the edge of the motherboard.

The board comes with (2) physical PCI Express x16 connectors, (2) PCI Express x1 connectors, and (2) 32-bit PCI 2.3 connectors. The layout of this design offers a very good balance of expansion slots for a mainstream board.

The first PCI Express x1 connector is located below the 4-pin power connector that must be used if two video cards are installed. The first physical PCI Express x16 connector is located next, followed by the second PCI Express x1 connector, second PCI Express x16 connector, and the two PCI 2.3 slots. The floppy drive connector is located below the second PCI slot and is inconveniently located for most case designs. The third of six fan headers located on the board is located to the right of the floppy drive connector.

We did not have any issues installing our ATI X1900XT video cards in the first and second x16 PCI Express slots. These dual slot configuration cards will physically render the second PCI Express x1 and first 32-bit PCI slot useless. We did not have any issues utilizing these slots with video cards containing single slot cooling systems.

The first PCI Express x16 connector is considered to be the secondary slot and the second PCI Express x16 connector is considered to be the primary slot. If you utilize one video card, it must be installed in the primary slot. Abit ships a shadow card to use in the secondary slot in single video card configurations, but we found that it was not necessary to use the card. When we installed our EVGA 7800GTX 512MB card in the primary slot, it blocked the first three SATA ports.

The Winbond W83627 Super I/O chipset is located in front of the second PCI connector. The Realtek ALC-882D audio codec is located to the left of the Winbond chipset. The internal CD audio and front audio panel header is located in front of the second PCI Express x1 connector. The Realtek RTL8110SB PCI 10/100/1000Mb/s LAN controller chipset is located in front of the first PCI Express x1 connector.

Returning to the CPU socket area, we find ample room for alternative cooling solutions. We utilized the stock AMD heat sink, but also verified that several aftermarket cooling systems such as the Thermaltake Big Typhoon would fit in this area during our tests. Due to the low rise heat sink covering the ATI Crossfire Xpress 200 chipset, the installation of larger air or water-cooling solutions should not be an issue.

The ATI Crossfire Xpress 200 chipset is passively cooled with a small heat sink unit that did not interfere with any installed peripherals. This unit along with the heatpipe running to the large PVM heat sink kept the chipsets cooled well during overclock testing.

Abit places the ATX12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area. This connector is located in an unusual position and could hamper airflow with cabling that crosses directly over the CPU heat sink/fan; although, we did not have any issues in our case.

The rear panel contains the standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, LAN port, and 4 USB ports. Located to the right of the keyboard and mouse ports are the two optical S/PDIF ports. Next to the optical ports is the audio panel with 6 ports that can be configured for 2, 4, 5.1, and 7.1 channel audio connections. To the right of the audio panel are two USB 2.0 ports with the IEEE 1394 connector on top. Located next to this series of ports are two USB 2.0 ports with the RJ-45 LAN port on top. The LAN (RJ-45) port has two LED indicators representing Activity and Speed of the connection.



FSB Overclocking Results

Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed
Processor:	AMD Athlon 64 4000+ ( San Diego) AMD Opteron 170 ( Toledo)
CPU Voltage: AMD Athlon 64 4000+ AMD Opteron 170	1.5250V (1.4000V default) 1.4500V (1.3500V default)
Memory Settings:	2.5-3-3-7 1T - (12x) 2.5-3-3-7 1T - (10x)
Memory Voltage:	2.9V +.30mV
NB 1.2V Setting:	1.60V
HT Voltage:	1.35V
LDT Multiplier:	5x up to 250HTT, 4x up to 285HTT
Memory:	OCZ PC4800 Platinum Edition
Cooling:	Zalman CNPS9500
Power Supply:	OCZ Power Stream 520
Maximum CPU OverClock: (AMD Athlon 64 4000+)	256HTT x 12 (3072MHz) +28%
Maximum HTT OverClock: (AMD Athlon 64 4000+)	256HTT x 9 (2304MHz) +28%
Maximum CPU OverClock: (AMD Opteron 170)	285HTT x 10 (2850MHz) +42%
Maximum HTT OverClock: (AMD Opteron 170)	285HTT x 9 (2565MHz) +42%

Our 4000+ CPU posted excellent results in the stock multiplier overclocking test. The board is definitely a very good overclocker, but the issue with the 1.1 BIOS not allowing effective overclocking past the maximum HTT setting at stock multipliers is not acceptable. As an example we had no issue overclocking our AMD Athlon 64 4000+ to a 322 HTT setting at a 9x multiplier with the version 1.0 BIOS but could not reliably exceed a 256 HTT setting with the 1.1 BIOS. At these overclock settings, the system was able to complete all of our benchmark test suites three consecutive times and run Prime95 and SuperPI without issue. While the results do not match those of the AMD Athlon X2 based systems, the board produced top results in the 3DMark05 overclocking results for an AMD Athlon 64 CPU and X1900 CrossFire combination. In fact, this test combination exceeded our Asus A8R-MVP results by almost 400 3DMarks at similar settings.

Our Opteron 170 posted excellent results at the stock multiplier settings. However, this CPU has reached 2.95GHz on 1.450V in past testing. Once again, the issue with the 1.1 BIOS not allowing effective overclocking past the maximum HTT setting at stock multipliers is not acceptable. At the 10x285 overclock settings, the system was able to complete all of our benchmark test suites three consecutive times and run Prime95 and SuperPI without issue. Overall, the board would make an excellent platform for overclocking with BIOS corrections.


Memory Stress Testing

Memory stress tests look at the ability of the Abit AT8 to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of DDR-400, at the best performing memory timings that the OCZ PC4800 Platinum Edition will support.

Abit AT8 Stable DDR-400 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 slots populated - 1 Dual-Channel Bank)
Clock Speed:	200MHz
CAS Latency:	2
RAS to CAS Delay:	2
RAS Precharge:	2
RAS Cycle Time:	5
Command Rate:	1T
Voltage:	2.7V

The Abit AT8 was very stable with 2 DDR modules in Dual-Channel mode at the settings of 2-2-2-5 at 2.7V provided that we used the OCZ PC4800 memory and 1.1 BIOS. We will now install all four available memory slots, which will result in more strenuous requirements on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR modules on a motherboard.

Abit AT8 Stable DDR-400 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 slots populated - 2 Dual-Channel Banks)
Clock Speed:	200MHz (800FSB)
CAS Latency:	2
RAS to CAS Delay:	2
RAS Precharge:	2
RAS Cycle Time:	7
Command Rate:	2T
Voltage:	2.8V

The Abit AT8 was very stable with 4 DDR modules in Dual-Channel operation at the settings of 2-2-2-7, but required the command rate to be increased to 2T along with a voltage increase to 2.8. Once again, we had to utilize our OCZ PC4800 memory and BIOS 1.1 in order to achieve these settings. Although other memory types were fully compatible, they required the 1.1 BIOS and memory settings adjusted to SPD values in the BIOS for one reboot sequence before changing the memory settings manually.



Test Setup

The ATI CrossFire Xpress 200 chipset fully supports all AMD Athlon 64 processors in both stock and overclocked conditions.

Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s):	AMD Athlon 64 4000+ utilized for all tests
RAM:	2 x 512MB OCZ Technology PC4800 Platinum Edition Settings- DDR-400 at (CL2-2-2-5, 1T)
Hard Drive(s):	2 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM SATA (16MB Buffer) 1 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300R0 300GB 7200 RPM IDE (16MB Buffer)
System Platform Drivers:	ULi SATA Driver - 1059
Video Cards:	1 x MSI 7800GTX (PCI Express) for all non-CrossFire tests 2 x ATI X1900XT (PCI Express) for CrossFire tests
Video Drivers:	NVIDIA nForce 81.98 WHQL ATI Catalyst 6.2 CCC
Cooling:	Zalman CNPS9500
Power Supply:	OCZ Power Stream 520
Operating System(s):	Windows XP Professional SP2
Motherboards:	ASRock 939SLI32-eSATA2 Asus A8N-SLI Premium Albatron K8SLI Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8KRS Asus A8R-MVP (ATI RD480/ULi1575) Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe

We tested our 7800GTX video cards using NVIDIA 81.98 WHQL drivers and ATI X1900XT cards with Catalyst 6.2 to provide recent performance results. Resolution in all benchmarks is 1280x1024x32 unless CrossFire is enabled. Resolution in CrossFire benchmarks is 1600x1200x32 with 4XAA and 8xAF where applicable. 3DMark and Aquamark3 benchmarks use a "Standard Score" setup at the 1024x768 video resolution for both CrossFire and non-CrossFire testing. We did not retest the Asus A8R32-MVP for this article due to utilization of the board for other testing at the time of publication.



General Performance & Encoding

The Abit AT8 is extremely competitive in the synthetic benchmarks with scores consistently in the top range. The Abit AT8 board outperforms the Asus A8R-MVP in the encoding tests although the measure of difference in this benchmark is negligible and highly dependent upon CPU and disk choices. Our encoding tests will soon change to the DivX 6.1 codec along with additional multimedia tasks.



Memory Performance

We recently switched to version 2.50 of Everest, so these scores are not comparable to previous tests with version 2.20. The memory latency test shows a slight advantage to the Asus A8N32-SLI, but the read and write performance of the Abit AT8 is impressive and accounts for its performance in our benchmark tests.


Overclocking Performance

The overclocking performance graphs have been added to the standard benchmark test suite and should allow for a better comparison on the overclocking capabilities of tested boards. For more details on the specific overclocking abilities of this board, please refer to the Overclocking and Memory Stress Test sections on page 4.

The Abit AT8 is an excellent overclocking platform when utilizing stock multipliers, but it has overclocking issues when changing the HTT multiplier in the 1.1 BIOS, which is required to ensure widespread memory compatibility. Abit is currently working on this issue and expects to have a solution shortly. We had no issue overclocking our AMD Athlon 64 4000+ to a 322 HTT setting at the 9x multiplier with the version 1.0 BIOS although it limited our choice of memory modules for consistent test results. Although the Asus A8R-MVP has reached a 325 HTT setting in our test results, we had to change the DRAM Command Rate setting to 2 after reaching the 262 HTT level. The Abit board was able to utilize a DRAM Command Rate setting of 1 up to the HTT setting of 285 in our Opteron 170 overclock testing.





Gaming Performance

The overall gaming performance of the Abit AT8 is outstanding in all titles. In actual game play, the board exhibited excellent manners and we did not witness anomalies or issues in our on-line or individual game sessions, which sometimes lasted up to seven hours. We feel very confident about the board's ability to provide an excellent gaming platform provided the bios issues are corrected.



CrossFire Performance

The performance of the Abit AT8 in our CrossFire gaming benchmarks is very competitive and exceeded that of the Asus A8R-MVP. This board continues to show excellent throughput results in the more demanding titles like Call of Duty II and F.E.A.R.

The performance pattern continues in the synthetic benchmarks with the Abit board leading the Asus A8R-MVP. We did not provide comparative NVIDIA SLI tests against the X1900 CrossFire solution as our 7900GTX cards had not been delivered before our publication deadline.



Disk Controller Performance

With the variety of disk drive benchmarks available, we needed a means of comparing the true performance of the wide selection of controllers. The logical choice was Anand's storage benchmark first described in Q2 2004 Desktop Hard Drive Comparison: WD Raptor vs. the World. The iPeak test was designed to measure "pure" hard disk performance, and in this case, we kept the hard drive as consistent as possible while varying the hard drive controller. The idea is to measure the performance of a hard drive controller with a consistent hard drive.

We played back Anand's raw files that recorded I/O operations when running a real world benchmark - the entire Winstone 2004 suite. Intel's iPEAK utility was then used to play back the trace file of all IO operations that took place during a single run of Business Winstone 2004 and MCC Winstone 2004. To try to isolate performance differences to the controllers that we were testing, we used the Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM SATA drive in all tests . The drive was formatted before each test run and a composite average of 5 tests on each controller interface was tabulated in order to ensure consistency in the benchmark.

iPeak gives a mean service time in milliseconds; in other words, the average time that each drive took to fulfill each IO operation. In order to make the data more understandable, we report the scores as an average number of IO operations per second so that higher scores translate into better performance. This number is meaningless as far as hard disk performance is concerned, as it is just the number of IO operations completed in a second. However, the scores are useful for comparing "pure" performance of the storage controllers in this case.

The performance patterns hold steady across both Multimedia Content IO and Business IO, with the ULi based disk controllers providing the fastest IO operations followed by the on-board NVIDIA nForce4 SATA controllers. I n particular is the excellent performance generated by the ULi IDE controller logic while the SATA performance is up to 12% better when compared to the nForce4 chipset.



Firewire and USB Performance

After looking at many options for Firewire and USB testing, we finally determined that an external USB 2.0, Firewire 400, and Firewire 800 hard disk would be a sensible way to look at USB and Firewire throughput.

Our first efforts at testing with an IDE or SATA drive as the "server" yielded very inconsistent results, since Windows XP sets up cache schemes to improve performance. Finally, we decided to try a RAM disk as our "server", since memory removed almost all overhead from the serving end. We also managed to turn off disk caching on the USB and Firewire side by setting up the drives for "quick disconnect" and our results were then consistent over many test runs.

We used 1GB of fast 2-2-2-5 system memory set up as a 450MB RAM disk and 550MB of system memory. Our standard file is the SPECviewPerf install file, which measures 432,533,504 bytes (412.4961MB). After copying this file to our RAM disk, we measured the time for writing from the RAM disk to our external USB 2.0, Firewire 400, or Firewire 800 drive using our Windows bases timing program. The copy times in seconds were then converted into Megabits per second (Mb) to provide a convenient means of comparing throughput. Higher Rates therefore mean better performance in this particular test.

Possibly the most interesting finding in our Firewire and USB throughput tests is the continued performance of an external hard drive connected to Firewire 800. Our benchmarks show Firewire 800 is up to 46% faster than a drive connected to the more common Firewire 400, and about 29% faster than USB 2.0.

The Abit board offers a TI based IEEE 1394 Firewire option with performance equal to that of other TI solutions. The USB 2.0 performance is consistent with other ULi based controllers and continues to lag behind the NVIDIA nForce4 chipset solutions in throughput.



Ethernet Performance

The current motherboard test suite includes LAN performance measurements. All of these boards utilize PCI Express controllers with the only difference being the supplier of the core logic.

The Windows 2000 Driver Development Kit (DDK) includes a useful LAN testing utility called NTttcp. We used the NTttcp tool to test Ethernet throughput and the CPU utilization of the various Ethernet Controllers used on the Intel motherboards.

We set up one machine as the server; in this test, an Intel system with an Intel CSA Gigabit LAN connection. Intel CSA has a reputation for providing fast throughput and this seemed to be a reasonable choice to serve our Gigabit LAN clients.

At the server side, we used the following Command Line as suggested by the VIA whitepaper on LAN testing:

Ntttcpr -m 4,0,‹server IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000

On the client side (the motherboard under test), we used the following Command Line:

Ntttcps -m 4,0,‹client IP› -a 4 -l 256000 -n 30000

At the conclusion of the test, we captured the throughput and CPU utilization figures from the client screen.

The M1575 natively supports 10/100Mb/s Ethernet operations so the choice of the PCI based Realtek RTL8110SB 10/100/1000Mb/s Ethernet controller is an upgrade on this board. However, we feel that a discreet PCI-E Gigabit solution would have been better considering the throughput performance of the PCI based Realtek solution.

All standard Ethernet tests were performed with standard frames and the NVIDIA Active Armor suite disabled unless otherwise noted. Gigabit Ethernet supports Jumbo frames as well and provides a further reduction in CPU overhead.



Audio Performance

We limited audio testing to the Rightmark 3D Sound version 2.2 CPU utilization test and tested with sound enabled to show the performance effects on several games. The Rightmark 3D Sound benchmark measures the overhead or CPU utilization required by a codec or hardware audio chip.

The Realtek ALC-882D HD audio codec was tested with the recently released 1.31 driver set. The Realtek DirectSound audio drivers do not support more than 32 hardware buffers and the OpenAL 1.1 drivers do not support more than 30 hardware buffers at this time, so the scores cannot be directly compared to the HDA Mystique 7.1 and Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI cards in the benchmarks. The Realtek OpenAL 1.1 driver increases CPU utilization up to 21% more than the Realtek DirectSound drivers in the 3D tests.

The Realtek ALC-882 HD audio codec generates acceptable CPU utilization rates with reductions of up to 28% in the 3D EAX test compared to the previous driver release. The HDA Mystique 7.1 Gold has the highest overall utilization rates of the audio solutions tested. The Realtek ALC-882D performance is equal to the ALC-850 (driver set 3.82) and offers significantly better audio quality. The Sound Blaster X-FI has the lowest overall rates as expected. Let's find out how these results translate into real world numbers.

The audio performance numbers remain consistent as the Realtek ALC-882D finishes behind the HDA Mystique 7.1 and SoundBlaster X-FI in several benchmarks. Serious Sam II suffers a loss of 45%, Splinter Cell at 2%, Battlefield 2 at 21%, Call of Duty 2 at 4%, and F.E.A.R. at 2%. The output quality of audio with the Realtek ALC-822D is probably the best of the on-board audio solutions that we have heard and continues to improve with each driver release. The vast majority of users should have no issues utilizing the ALC-882D as their primary audio solution, considering the overall quality of audio and performance at this time.

However, if you are a serious gamer, then a dedicated sound card is still a requirement to ensure consistent frame rate averages across a wide variety of games. We noticed in previous testing of our Battlefield 2 and Half Life 2 benchmarks, the Realtek HD audio codec would cause stuttering in intensive scenes. The 1.31 driver release has now eliminated all stuttering in our current benchmarks while improving performance across the board except in Serious Sam II. We did not notice the same performance degradation in Serious Sam II with the 1.31 driver set and the Realtek ALC-882 codec on the Intel chipset boards. We are still investigating this issue.



Final Words

The Abit AT8 offers a wide range of features along with very competitive performance at a price point around US $115. The overall performance of the board was excellent and led the other ATI and NVIDIA chipset offerings in the majority of benchmarks. The stability of the board was superb with the production BIOS and soon-to-be released 1.1 BIOS. However, the memory incompatibility issues with the current production BIOS are not acceptable, to which Abit will be providing a public release shortly.

The Abit Silent OTES cooling solution worked wonderfully during full load testing and we did not see any justification for adding active cooling to the Northbridge chipset. The combination of the Silent OTES system and the wonderful Abit EQ and FAN EQ utility, which allows extensive monitoring and full control over the system's six available fan headers, should satisfy most Silent PC users. The windows based µGuru utility program, which controls the Abit EQ, FAN EQ, and OC Guru applets, is the best that we have seen from any manufacturer. The OC Guru allowed real time changes to HTT speeds along with voltage levels while performing a test verification of the new settings. The Flash Menu and BlackBox applications are well rounded and further support Abit's commitment to customer service. Further details about the µGuru technology and applications can be found here.

With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding this board.

In the video area, the inclusion of dual PCI Express x16 connectors provides full CrossFire support with eight PCI Express lanes per graphics connector. The performance of the board under CrossFire testing was slightly better than our Asus A8R-MVP while maintaining excellent stability across a wide range of games and applications. The performance and stability with the current NVIDIA range of graphics cards was outstanding in both stock and overclocked settings.

In the on-board audio area, the Abit board offers the Realtek ALC-882D HD audio codec with full support for Dolby Digital Live, a real-time encoding technology, along with optical S/PDIF capability . The audio output of this codec in the music, video, and DVD areas is very good for an on-board solution. The audio quality in gaming was very good, but it did not match the output fidelity of the Sound Blaster X-FI. The Realtek ALC-882D offers DirectSound 3D, A3D, EAX 1, and EAX 2 compatibility along with OpenAL 1.1 compliance in games. If you plan on utilizing this board for online gaming, then our recommendation is to purchase an appropriate sound card for consistency in frame rates across a wide range of games. However, the Realtek ALC-882D is a recommended audio solution for the majority of users and is perfectly at home in a HTPC system.

In the storage area, the Abit board offers the full complement of storage options afforded by the ULi M1575 chipset. The board offers RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 capability, NCQ, Hot Plug, and 3Gb/s support along with dual channel ATA133 Ultra DMA capability. The board also offers eight ULi USB 2.0 ports when utilizing the two USB 2.0 headers and IEEE 1394 capability via the TI TSB43AB22 chipset. The performance of the ULi SATA and IDE controllers were excellent and easily exceeded the nForce4 solutions while matching the ULi M1697 based board.

In the performance area, the Abit AT8 generated outstanding benchmark scores across the board while maintaining very good stability during testing and general usage. The board's performance was consistently better than the other ATI, ULi, and NVIDIA chipset offerings in the majority of benchmarks and applications. However, the production release 1.0 BIOS has memory compatibility issues with the BH5/UTT and Samsung UCCC chips. We noticed that these issues were basically solved with the 1.1 BIOS; although, we still experienced some boot issues with the DRAM timing set to Auto instead of SPD or Manual. While our memory issues were being addressed, the overclocking ability of the board suffered when changing the CPU multiplier. We did not notice this overclocking issue with the production release 1.0 BIOS and would rather have improved memory compatibility than additional overclocking headroom if given the choice. Abit is fully aware of these issues and has been working diligently at providing a BIOS update to address these flaws.

The Abit AT8 is a board designed and marketed for the AMD enthusiast and it fulfills this promise in most categories. The performance of the board was stellar while providing exceptional stability under stress testing. However, the memory compatibility issues with the current BIOS are unacceptable, and otherwise, detracts from an outstanding effort by Abit. Until Abit has publicly releases a BIOS update that solves the memory compatibility issues and still allows the high clock settings present in the 1.0 bios, we are reluctant to recommend this motherboard.

Status Update - Revised 1.1 Bios

Abit provided us a revised 1.1 bios tonight (3-9-06) for additional testing and it will be available on Abit's website shortly. We will update the article after our regression testing is completed.