Advantages: Cooling, Upgrades, BIOS updates, Stability Disadvantages: ASUS website is cumbersome at times
I have now owned this motherboard for over a year. I have upgraded the CPU from a dual core to a quad core pentium, I have doubled the ram from 2 to 4Gb, I am currently running 4 SATA HDD's 2 in a RAID0 configuration and I am about to upgrade the graphics card to a dual crossfire X1900.
All in all this PC runs everything I have ever thrown at it and has never failed me. It has been a joy to setup, easy to configure and simple to run and update.
Don't listen to people who complain about unstable bios. The bios on my PC has been faultless.
I am seriously considering getting another of these and building a second PC with the bits from my first, then upgrading my main PC again.
All in all, the perfect motherboard for gamers and graphic designers alike.
The only negative I have about it is ASUS themselves. Their website is ...
Advantages: Relatively cheap, on board sound, on board VGA, reliable and fast Disadvantages: Not many over-clocking option, no firewire
Interface (DMI).
Write-Protect Anti-Virus function by AWARD BIOS.
VIA VT6103 On board 10/100Mb LAN.
Internal I/O Connectors 1 x AGP, 3 x PCI slots.
1 x IrDA.
1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88MB.
2 x Ultra DMA 66/100/133 Connectors.
1 x USB 2.0 headers (Each header support two USB 2.0 devices).
1 x CD-IN, 1 x AUX-IN.
Back Panel I/O 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse. 1 x Printer Port, 1 x COM port. 1 x VGA Port. 1 x Audio connectors Center/Sub, Surround Speaker, SPDIF OUT).
1 x Audio connectors (Mic-in, Line-in, Line out).
2 x USB 2.0. 1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector, 2 x USB 2.0.
Micro ATX Form Factor: dimension: 9.6" x9.2".
The motherboard is very reliable. I can run my AMD atlon XP trouble free. The board front side bus is 333 MHz, which is fast enough. Besides, the BIOS is very simple and clear cut ...
Advantages: Dual Channel Memory Controller, Sound-Storm with digital output, Serial ATA support, Great Overclocking Disadvantages: South-bridge can sometimes get a little warm
system stability and also overclocking.
CPU support is fantastic on this motherboard. Gone are the days where you had to sit there with a magnifying glass flicking jumpers to the on and off settings to match the frequency and multipliers. Now its a case of install the CPU and relevant parts, power on the system and press F10 to access the bios and configure the CPU speed in here. Abit call this feature their "softmenu" setup. Now heres the fun bit, some AMD processors are known to be unlocked i.e they have been made without the restrictions on the CPU's so you can run them on settings that are not default. For example, my 2500+ is "supposed" to have a 333 Mhz FSB (166 x 2 - DDR mode ), yet its sat happily running along with a FSB of 425 Mhz which is rather a quite nice upgrade for "free".
Memory-wise, this motherboard supports 266 ...
Product Information for "ABIT AW9D - motherboard - ATX - i975X" »
Audio
Audio Output
Sound card
Sound Output Mode
7.1 channel surround
Compliant Standards
High Definition Audio
Telecom / networking
Networking
Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
Features
BIOS Features
Hyper-Threading Technology
Hardware Features
µGuru, ABIT SilentOTES, ATI CrossFire technology support
Manufacturer's product description
The Shadow Warrior: With Stealth and Force to win any campaign. Living in the shadow of a Max board can be intimidating to say the least. With abit's flagship flying high above you, how can you possibly shine? The AW9D, a true shadow warrior fights the good fight and comes out trumps. Supporting Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs and sporting dual graphics options, with solid-state capacitors in all the essential places; the motherboard exudes true quality. For HDD options, the 4 SATA 3G connectors with RAID 0,1 & 5 give you plenty of scope for expansion and the Silent OTES patented technology shields your way, giving you stealth and reliability. Additionally, the traditional µGuru system is integrated onto the motherboard to give you the precision tools to fine-tune your equipment as no other can. The integrated ethernet controller and typical features such as FireWire headers and USB connectors gives you the options you would expect from the supreme warrior. If you are looking for a good solid, reliable motherboard, then the AW9D is a fantastic choice.
Related tags for ABIT AW9D - motherboard - ATX - i975X »
