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Comment [7] Email to Friend Printable Version

Abit AW9D Max socket 775 Motherboard

I/O and BIOS

Published: 12th October 2006 | Source: Abit | Price: | Author: Matt Kemp

Also added is the e-SATA (external SATA) port for those of you embracing the new technology. abit are still including legacy mouse and keyboard options which is good as occasionally legacy keyboards and mice are needed for the ultra-high overclocks.

The card has almost everything you need on a sound card including Optical SP-DIF and full 7.1 surround sound. The only think that could be added would be coaxial, but this is not necessarily something that is standard on soundcards.

Specifications

CPU

* Designed for Intel® LGA775 processors with1066/800MHz FSB
* Supports Intel® Core^TM 2 Duo(Extreme Edition) & Pentium® Extreme Edition & Pentium® D & Pentium® 4 Processors
* Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading / XD-bit / EM64T / EIST Technology / Virtualization Technology
* Intel® Quad Core ready.

Chipset

* Intel® 975X / Intel® ICH7R Express Chipset

Memory

* 4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 8GB
* Supports Dual channel DDR2 800/667 Un-buffered / Non-ECC memory

Graphics

* Supports Dual PCI-Express X16 slots (dual ATI® CrossFire^TM Graphics)

LAN

* On-board Dual PCI-E Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/ 1000M Ethernet

Audio

* abit AudioMAX^TM HD 7.1 CH
* Supports Jack Sensing and S/PDIF In/Out
* Dolby® Master Studio Certificated

Expansion Slots

* 2xPCI-EX16,2xPCI-EX1,1 xPCI, 1x AudioMAX^TM

Internal I/O Connectors

* 1 x Floppy port, 1 x UDMA 100/66/33 connector,
* 7 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
* 2 x USB 2.0 headers, 2 x IEEE1394 headers
* 1 x FP-Audio header, 1 x CD-IN

Back Panel I/O

* 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
* 4 x USB 2.0, 2 x RJ-45 LAN,
* 1 x eSATA

Serial ATA

* ICH7R: 4 x SATA 3Gb/s supports Intel® Matrix Storage SATA RAID 0/1/0+1/5
* ICH7R: Support SATA AHCI, providing native command queuing and native hot plug & play
* Silicon Image:3132: 4 x SATA 3Gb/s, two SATA connectors of the same area can support SATA RAID 0/1

IEEE 1394

* 2 ports IEEE1394a at 400 Mb/s transfer rate

RoHS

* RoHS Compliancy

Form Factor

* ATX form factor 305 x 245mm
* PCB Color: Black & Blue

abit Engineered

* abit µGuru^TM Technology
* abit AudioMAX^TM HD 7.1 CH
* abit Silent OTES^TM 2 Technology
* Quick Power & Reset Buttons
* Back-light Blue LED's
* Low ESR and high ripple conductive polymer aluminum solid capacitors

BIOS

Once again abit have opted for Pheonix Award BIOS on their motherboard. I like the layout of Phoenix BIOS and it's a good solid BIOS. I found that it was necessary to update the BIOS to do my testing as the newer BIOS revision gave me the option to adjust the multiplier and also changed the lowest possible CPU voltage from 1.375v to the proper 1.3v. It seems abit are producing BIOS updates on a regular basis so it may well be worth taking a look at their site for updates.

abit use the µGuru™ Utility in the BIOS to overclock from. Let's see what this provides you with:

The µGuru™ part of the BIOS offers the overclocker all of the options they should want. Notice that the CPU Multiplier is available for change after I flashed the BIOS.

Here we see the multiplier is downwards adjustable from 6 to 10. This is a definite improvement from the AB9 and the Asus P5W DH Deluxe that I use in my own PC. The CPU voltage adjusts from 1.3v to 1.725v in 0.025v increments. The original BIOS that I had been sent had the default voltage as 1.375v, which is rather too high. I hope abit will change this in the shipping versions as this overvolts the CPU at stock speeds. A BIOS flash sorted this for me though.

As you can see the FSB is adjustable from 133MHz to 600MHz. We'll see how the board fares later on.

The Timings options are in the chipset features. Unlike many 939 platforms it seems Intel platforms do not require as much timings tweaking.

RAM voltage is given a respectable 1.8v to 2.65v and there is four selectable sets of speed that are associated with the CPU. I feel that Intel platforms should provide more divider options than these, to help those with RAM that just won't run above its rated speed. This is not a criticism of the AW9D, but rather inherent in the platform itself.

The MCH & PCI 1.5 voltage is adjustable in 0.01 increments from 1.5v all the way up to 2.0v. This is a very good range of adjustability and I was happy when I saw this.

Most Recent Comments

14-09-2006, 04:44:45

PV5150

There's nothing like competition from an established manufacturer, to cause HDD prices to fall; especially with relatively new, but evolving technology. What are your thoughts on WD's foray into the world of perpendicular recording? Let us know

Linky to the article here

14-09-2006, 06:16:37

FragTek

I'm surprised that Seagate didn't patent this technology! Looks good though, I wonder who the first to make a 2gb drive will be

14-09-2006, 06:22:01

FarFarAway

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='FragTek' I'm surprised that Seagate didn't patent this technology! Looks good though, I wonder who the first to make a 2gb drive will be

I thought Hitachi were the ones who invented it??

14-09-2006, 06:31:11

FragTek

I'm pretty sure it was Seagate

14-09-2006, 07:48:04

FarFarAway

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='FragTek' I'm pretty sure it was Seagate

Seagate were the first to get a drive out but I know Hitachi were heavily involved in the development

14-09-2006, 10:34:51

Phnom_Penh

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Kempez' Seagate were the first to get a drive out but I know Hitachi were heavily involved in the development

Nah, twas Toshiba who got a perp drive out first .

14-09-2006, 13:38:04

nathan

just like to mention i hate WD!

14-09-2006, 21:51:13

PV5150

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='nathan' just like to mention i hate WD!

Why's that mate? WD make some insanely fast drives! Have you had a bad run with them?

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