Abit AT8: µGuru comes to the RD480
by Gary Key on March 10, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
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.
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.
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.
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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
42 Comments
View All Comments
CrystalBay - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
sorry, ;)Witchfire - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
I have to disagree that the reviewers do not follow up on comments or complaints from users. Gary has been communicating with me regularly about my concerns with the AT8 I've been having, and has been very helpful. I'm no eleite member, and haven't even managed triple digit postings, yet he took the time & trouble to listen to my concerns, attempt to recreate them on his mobo, and lend assistance.Thanks, Gary, your help and professionalism have been greatly appreciated.
bthjf1 - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
The problem with all these reviews is that they don't go back to check what's is going one with the board they just tested with normal users. A number of peoples (one being me) have been arguing (with their helpdesk) and waiting for 3 months now for Abit to provide a proper support for the intel Presller core on the AW8 motherboard series (i955) or proper support for different type of memory. All I can say Abit support is very very poor and I will strongly advice anybody thinking of purchasing a board from Abit to look elsewhere. Just poppin's into http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=102711">http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=102711 and have a read ...Gary Key - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
I cannot comment on other review sites, but I can assure you that Wes and I do go back and look at the history of the motherboards tested and take comments from users very seriously. I know I spend at least 10 hours a week assisting users with their issues and at times being an arbitrator for the customer with the supplier. We both spend a similar amount of hours each week if not more working directly with the suppliers on issues and trying to ensure problems are solved or at least corrected in the next product design. While we are not always successful, I do believe you would be surprised at the number of issues that are solved quickly. I will bring up your AW8 issue with Abit this weekend. :)
bthjf1 - Saturday, March 11, 2006 - link
Thanks for any help you can provide. The comment was not direct to Anandtech but to a couple of other review sites which didn't really care (ie: not my problem). The concern with Abit is since the takeover from USI the support have not been great ~ total of communication. I've been reading Anandtech for many years (too long !) and my post was more to get some help with Abit . They will listen to Anandtech since you can reach millions but not necessary a single user ;-)Jon
Plasmoid - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
I have to agree with you, Abit need to sort out their support.The benchmarks prove that this is a great motherboard, interestingly it outperforms all its rivals at stock just like the AN8, but the bios lets it down (interestingly just like the AN8)
If they can sort out these bios issues fast it should be a fantastic value motherboard. There were problems with the temperature reporting on the AN8 and incompatibility with XI-FI cards from creative that took much to long to address though. Im sad to say this kind of thing is what you can get with Abit. Hopefully it is a short term problem that they have had over the last 6 months.
All bad things said im really happy with my abit motherboard, and the OCGuru certainly is a godsend for overclockers. Havent seen such things as completly dynamic fan speed control in any other motherboard.
Patrese - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
Am I the only one who finds this kind of positioning of the IDE connectors crappy? Most people who are buying PCs now are using SATA HDs, so the connectors should be exactly where they are, on the low-right of the board. But the IDEs are used for CD-RW/DVD-RWs drives mostly, and would be much better suited to the top right of the board IMO. I got a good-old AN7 and I just hate tbe IDE cables crossing my case from top to bottom just to reach the connnectors...Besides that, great review and promising mobo, once the BIOS is fixed. It's great to see Abit back!
n7 - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
I think his comments were a tad harsh, but i am one of those users who read the Asus A8R-MVP review here, & got pretty excited.I actually starting spreading the praises on forums i visit of this great value mobo.
Then i got the mobo, & actually, i was quite happy with it.
For a few weeks, that is.
Then i started discovering all sorts of issues, the worst being the ethernet hanging/crashing, something which many others have also had issues..
I now hear there's a Marvell driver directly from their site that supposedly fixed the problem, but i've already bought an ethernet card, so i don't really care to try it, since both the driver from the CD & the driver from Windows update didn't work properly.
Another issue i've encountered is wildly fluctuating vcore. (1.31-1.41V, for example! - with overvoltage disabled)
Others have also reported this. I am using software to measure this, so it's possible that it is incorrectly reading it, but i'm guessing not.
Another problem is that even smaller overclocks aren't stable in games for me, whereas i had much higher OCs stable with my previous Neo2.
I cannot figure out why yet, but it seems to be either the fluctuating vcore, or it's been mentioned that the RAM isn't even stable even with a divider when using 1T.
It's one thing for OCs to vary between mobos, but going from 2.55 GHz to 2.2 GHz with the same hardware? No way.
I am going to test things this wknd with the RAM @ 2T, & see if that fixes the stability issues, but one shouldn't have to run RAM @ 2T on any good motherboard in the first place.
Anyway, what i'm trying to say is that while some many not have had trouble, a lot of people have, which is why there's negativity surround that A8R-MVP reviews.
As far as i am concerned, it seems like Asus used us who bought the A8R-MVP as beta testers so they could release the A8R32-MVP with the issues fixed...
Zoomer - Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - link
I get a similar problem with vCore on their A8N-E. Perhaps its due to Asus's choice of voltage regulator?Pete84 - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
With conroe ~6 months away, I wonder how badly AMD's FX and high end sales will suffer. Who is going to spend out for a brand new system when it will be destroyed by Conroe?