Final thoughts, HEXUS.awards & HEXUS.right2reply
ABIT isn't pulling any punches with the Fatal1ty line of motherboards. It is going squarely for the enthusiast who values performance and overclocking potential above all else. That's why, ABIT says, the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI isn't rammed with an extraordinary feature count. Rather, the design budget has been spent on developing a S939 motherboard that should offer greater tweaking/overclocking potential than any other.ABIT, in large part, succeeds in meeting this design brief. The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI has one of the best BIOSes that we've come across, replete with 3.55v VDIMM voltage. The layout is generally good, as is board-specific cooling, taking the form of OTES exhausting on the I/O section, explicit control over 6 fans, and the addition of SLIpstream (geddit?); ABIT's funky fan that keeps SLI cards cool. The inclusion of the µGuru Panel adds a bit of value to the £130 package, too. One point of concern and puzzlement centres around why ABIT hasn't included its OTES RAMFlow contraption in this bundle. 3.55v VDIMM requires active cooling, and RAMFlow seems to fit that role perfectly.
There are cheaper boards currently available that carry the same feature-set as the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI, but no other board, we feel, is designed to meet the needs of the enthusiast as well as the Fatal1ty line. The SLI version costs around £25 more than the standard S939 Fatal1ty. That extra outlay is compensated by, obviously, SLI compatibility, greater VDIMM, and more generous bundle.
Think carefully about what you want from a S939 board. If it's features above all else, look elsewhere, frankly. If it's the promise of sky-high overclocks and care and attention paid to cooling and tweaking, the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is hard to beat. Recommended to the enthusiast/gamer.
HEXUS Awards
HEXUS Right2Reply
Commenting Under the HEXUS Right2Reply initiative, ABIT provided HEXUS with the following feedback:The ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLI has been designed as an ultimate motherboard for a gaming rig, with NVIDIA SLI capability, and great overclocking potential thanks to the combination of generous cooling and advanced BIOS tweaks. We've also included the Guru Panel, which I'm pleased to see that HEXUS.net appreciate; it's really been designed to make overclocking and general system monitoring much more accessible for gamers. Once you have set up the profiles, it is so easy to switch between OC settings mid-game.
In addition to the additional BIOS options highlighted in the review, and of course the SLI capability, we've also added 8-channel sound to the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLI, and again included the AudioMAXä add-on card, which is designed to improve sound quality by seperating audio components from sources of electronic interference.
I know that some concern was expressed about the absence of the RAMFlow cooling module we included on the ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE; although we offer relatively high memory voltage options on the board, we decided that the module was not necessary on the nForce4 boards because DDR does not run as hot as DDR2.
Thankyou for looking carefully at the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLI and providing such a detailed review.
Michael Littler
Public Relations
ABIT Computer (UK) Corporation Ltd
