Intel 925X Roundup: Creative Engineering 101
by Wesley Fink on August 12, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Abit AA8: Features and Layout
| Abit AA8 Motherboard Specifications | |
| CPU Interface | Socket 775 Pentium 4 (Prescott) |
| Chipset | Intel 925X/ICH6R |
| Bus Speeds | 200MHz to 336MHz (in 1MHz increments) |
| DDR2 Speeds | Auto, 400, 533 |
| PCI Speeds | 33.33, 36.36, 40.00 |
| Core Voltage | 1.4375V to 1.7875V in 0.0125V increments |
| DRAM Voltage | 1.80V to 2.25V in 0.05V increments |
| NB (Northbridge) Voltage | 1.50V-2.05V in 0.05V increments |
| Memory Slots | Four 240-pin DDR2 533 Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered Memory to 4GB |
| Expansion Slots | 1 PCIe x16 Slot 3 PCIe x1 slot 2 PCI Slots |
| Onboard SATA/IDE RAID | 4 SATA 150 drives by ICH6R Can be combined in RAID 0, 1, Intel Matrix |
| Onboard IDE | One Standard ATA100/66 (2 drives) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394 | 8 USB 2.0 ports 3 IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports by TI 4200R7T |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit Ethernet by Realtek 8110S-32 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC880 (HD Audio) 8-Channel with SPDIF in/out |
| Tested BIOS | 1.3 |
The AA8 DuraMAX is Abit's flagship board for the Pentium 4 LGA 775. This is reflected in the feature set, but the AA8 was also designed to sell at a rational price point compared to other 925X boards. Abit does include 3 Firewire ports for those who need firewire connections, but the feature set is otherwise straight Intel 925X. There is nothing wrong with this approach as the 925X/ICH6R includes 8 USB 2.0 ports, PCI Express, 4-port SATA RAID with Intel Matrix options, and support for Intel High Definition (Azalia) audio.
Abit has included their typical wide selection of voltages and frequencies to get the most from the AA8 and the Pentium 4 Prescott. Abit was also one of the first motherboard makers to significantly break through the overclocking limitations of the 925X chipset. So, there are some additional automatic manipulations being made by µGuru at boot, where the PCIe frequency is adjusted dynamically in relation to the CPU frequency prior to boot. The overclocking controls are typically Abit, but perhaps the range is a little more limited than we see on other Abit boards. Abit decided not to include PCI Express speed adjustments in the BIOS - they are being manipulated in µGuru instead.
The voltage adjustments that are included in the BIOS have a wider range than you will see on most 925X boards, which will please overclockers who intend to use water or phase-change cooling on the AA8. The important Northbridge adjustments extend from the default 1.5V all the way to 2.05V, which is a wider range than you find on any other board. Abit has added a pretty hefty heatsink with a side-blowing fan to the northbridge to handle the voltage range that they have built into the AA8.
Abit uses a flat edge connector for the single IDE connection provided by the 925X chipset. In most mid-tower cases, we suggest that you connect the IDE cable before you mount the board, since the connector falls under the hard drives in many case designs and is difficult to reach after the board is screwed down. We like the idea of edge connectors, but some case designs make it very difficult to connect the edge-connectors. The floppy connector will not matter to some, but if you use a floppy, you will find the location a real problem, at the very bottom center of the motherboard. When you try to route the floppy cable to clear the 4 SATA connectors, it tends to hide the diagnostic LEDs and interfere with the front-panel connectors. The bulky 24-pin power connector is on the right board edge and 4-pin 12V connector are on the top board edge. Both these locations are excellent in that they will not force you to fish cables over or around the CPU. The Abit trademark 2-digit diagnostic LEDs are also found on the AA8, and we have found that they can be very useful for troubleshooting.
Abit uses the Realtek ALC880 codec with the Intel HD audio on the AA8. This is the same High-Definition audio codec that we see used in most motherboards in the roundup. Realtek says that their 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio features four 24-bit two-channel DACs and three stereo 20-bit ADCs. "The ALC880(D) also achieves 100dB sound quality; easily meeting PC2001 requirements and also bringing PC sound quality closer to consumer electronic devices." You can find more information on the features and specifications of the Realtek 880 at the Realtek website.
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johnsonx - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
What is it with you people griping about CPU choices? This is a review of current top-end 925X boards, not a CPU review! The FX-53 scores are there only for a point of reference. Added to that, Wesley's point is VERY valid: the 560 and FX-53 ARE the top CPU's from each camp.If you really want to know how a 3800+ would perform, refer to past Socket-939 reviews, or just mentally subtract about 3% or so.
STOP WHINING!
Wesley Fink - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
#17 - Since we were trying to determine the maximum overclocking ability of the boards tested, we used a 3.6 ES LGA 775 Prescott at a 14 multiplier (2.8Ghz). The 14x280 is close to 3.9GHz speed. We also checked with a retail 540 (3.2GHz) and reached 250FSB (4.0GHz) at 1.45V.These results lead us to believe that many 775 Prescotts will top out at 3.9 to 4.0GHz on boards that will support those overclock levels. That means that there are likely some 2.8 Prescotts out there that can reach 280FSB.
As always, overclocking is variable, and you need a really great power supply and decent cooling to support the power requirements at these kinds of overclocks.
Carfax - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
Wesley, is it possible to do a review of Prescott which focuses on the upcoming 1ghz FSB? I've heard that Prescott scales better than N.W with a higher FSB and greater clockspeed..To do the review correctly, you'd need an engineering sample with an unlocked multiplier, so you can see the benefit of the increased FSB, without raising the clockspeed.
I think Prescott would do pretty well on 1066FSB and with fast DDR2 memory..
danidentity - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
Wes,When you say you hit 280 FSB with the Asus P5AD2, was that with a retail chip, multiplier locked? Or were you using an ES chip. If you were using a retail, that is an absolutely insane overclock.
danidentity - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
>> Better than comparing a 3500+ to a 3.6F anyway :PHow would a 3500+ compare with a Intel 3.6? Could it hang? :)
RyanVM - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
I have no problem with the 3.6E and FX53 being shown together since both platforms will end up costing about the same (factoring in CPU, mobo, and memory costs). Prices fluctuate, yes, but both companies (OK, mainly AMD) tend to adjust prices to stay in line with performance levels (if Intel drops the 3.6E price, I'd put money on AMD dropping prices at the high end within a day or two).Better than comparing a 3500+ to a 3.6F anyway :P
Creig - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
#12/#13 Given the way pricing can fluctuate, it would be futile to compare Intel $$$ to AMD $$$. A couple of days after the article was published, pricing could change to make the monetary comparison useless and therefore misleading.I think they're doing it the correct way. It's up to the end user to find his/her best balance between performance and price.
mjz5 - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
man, i should of read #12 first before posting it.. why not have an edit button?anyhow, u all know what i'm saying!!!
mjz5 - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
the way i see it is that CPUs should be compared by price. If an AMD FX-53 cost as much as a Celeron 2.4 GHz, why not compare the two? If someone is going to looking at these products because they cost X dollars, they aren't interested in seeing that an Intel CPU that cost (X*2) may or not surpass it the competitor at only X dollars.Wesley Fink - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
#9 & #10 - Corrected