The first thing you may notice about this board is it's name, Fatal1ty. This don't make the board any more special just that the world class gamer Fatal1ty has teamed up with some companies to put his name on it.
Due to the fact I don't like spending much on motherboards I bought this 2nd ... Read review
Advantages: Many over normal boards Disadvantages: price above average
The first thing you may notice about this board is it's name, Fatal1ty. This don't make the board any more special just that the world class gamer Fatal1ty has teamed up with some companies to put his name on it.
Due to the fact I don't like spending much on motherboards I bought this 2nd hand and very impressed by it so far.
What’s in the box ?
You should obviously get the motherboard itself and all the ... ...control panel is a basically a panel that fits in one of your CDROM bays and has functions on it to allow you to ..
Monitor system
Monitor overclock features
Reset CMOS
Connect earphones and mic
Connect 2 USB 2.0 devices
Connect 1 IEEE 1394 device
It has an LCD display which you can monitor CPU speed, current time, temperature, fan speed, notification(blinks icons for email etc) and ... more
The first thing you may notice about this board is it's name, Fatal1ty. This don't make the board any more special just that the world class gamer Fatal1ty has teamed up with some companies to put his name on it.
Due to the fact I don't like spending much on motherboards I bought this 2nd hand and very impressed by it so far.
What’s in the box ?
You should obviously get the motherboard itself and all the usual cables/manuals/cd's and a guru control panel. The guru control panel is a basically a panel that fits in one of your CDROM bays and has functions on it to allow you to ..
Monitor system Monitor overclock features Reset CMOS Connect earphones and mic Connect 2 USB 2.0 devices Connect 1 IEEE 1394 device
It has an LCD display which you can monitor CPU speed, current time, temperature, fan speed, notification(blinks icons for email etc) and displays frequency and voltage.
So what you think !! - Well the difference with this is that you can overclock your pc while in game by using preset overclock features and monitor system performance while doing so, if it's struggling you can then switch back.
~ The motherboard ~
As stated in the specification it's a socket 939 with 1 PCI Express x16, 2 PCI Express x1, 3 32-bit/33MHz, 4 184pin DIMMs or PC3200 memory, 4 USB 2.0 ports, gigabit Lan port, 1 firewire port and a separate sound card.
Don't be fooled by some reviews stating this has ATA - 150 support only, it actually supports Sata II on 4 channels which is ATA-150 compatible, the other 2 ports are ATA-133.
The motherboard uses Nforce Ultra chipset with a 6-channel audio via nForce4 integrated audio and ALC658 codec PCIE sound card.
The board itself should be bright red and lined with red led's that make it glow nicely if you are into that kind of thing in your case. It uses outside thermal exhaust system or OTES for short which is 2 fans and a casing around the port cluster to expel hot air.
~ Installation and Setup ~
Installation is straight forward as with any motherboard and the only tricky thing with this was setting up the Sata II HDD I bought. Apparently you have to use a floppy disk to setup Sata II but after fiddling about I managed to get passed and boot up without a floppy disk, I don't even have a floppy drive installed.
After that it was plain sailing, everything went smoothly unlike some other boards I've installed in the past. The bios is a little more tricky to setup than most as you can overclock a lot of options and mess your machine up if you don't know what you're doing.
One thing to note is that I thought the board is pretty well laid out, everything seems to be in a good place so installation of cables or add-on parts are easy to do.
You will notice that on the board itself there is a little counter that will flash with numbers and letters, these are boot up/running codes and if there is a problem at all it will display an error code. You can use the manual to find what the error code is and fix it
~ Usage ~
Been using this board for 5 months now and not a single problem with it, infact I don't it has even crashed. Being a bit of a gamer this board has proved to be of high quality but to be honest I have not over clocked anything yet. One thing that might be worth noting is that since installing this board my HDD failed and it didn't like my new HDD, it picked it up and installed Windows on it but reduced my pc to a 386 pace. It appears that the CMOS needed clearing in order for me to fit a new Sata II drive. ~ Price ~
Not wanting to spend much on a motherboard I bought mine 2nd hand for £50, looking around these boards seem to be selling for around £100.
~ Summary ~
Fantastic board with fantastic features but unfortunately I cannot compare it to motherboards in the £100 range as I don't normally buy them. This easily beats any of the Asus motherboards I have had in the past.
lostsworld 26.04.2007 (26.04.2007)
Ciao members have rated this review on average:
very helpful
Review of ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLi - motherboard - ATX - nForce4 SLI
Advantages: Spectacular performance with fully integrated networking ports and excellent cooling Disadvantages: High power cunsumption
The AN8 is simply one of the fastest and most intuitive motherboads on the market today. It supports all of the new next generation components, allowing them to fullfill their potential. The integrated networking featured on the motherboard and advanced driver software allow you to easily network this board with another machine. The built in fan arrangement gives unprecidented cooling to both the processor and the bios chip. This motherboard is best ... ...gaming machine using the new PCi express graphics cards. For the best performance in this role, a high capacity power supply HAS to be used.
THe board is easy to install, and the accompanying instructions are thorough and simple to follow, and the components attach easily to the board.
In addition, the board comes with a mini PCi sound card, which offers excellent 7.1 surround sound. This addition easily saves the end user a substatial sum of money, ...
royrogers 05.02.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLi - motherboard - ATX - nForce4 SLI
Advantages: Great Looks and Performance Disadvantages: Bad Component placement, noisy cooling
This board has been hyped up for months, boasting unprecedented speed for 3d games etc etc. After using the board for just short of 3 months now, I can say I totally agree! Performance is amazing. The flashing LED's (lights) and radical colour scheme will look great in any clear case. The only problem that will be noticed with the board is that the chipset northbridge (controls the main processor) is equipped with a humungous cooling fan. This gets ... ...components. For example, installing a graphics card requires an unnerving amount of force due to space limitations and socket stiffness. Another problem, although minor, is the amount of noise produced by the cooling system. Whilst the system is efficient, it produces almost 20db at full load. This board overall is a fantastic component, if a little overpriced. ...
jumanji87 06.02.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLi - motherboard - ATX - nForce4 SLI
Exclusive ABIT Engineered motherboard technology designed for unprecedented power, convenience, and control over your PC. ABIT Engineers innovate yet again with the world's first memory thermal solution on a desktop motherboard. This special cooler adjusts according to system loading for automatic fan speed adjustment. Copper chipset cooler conducts and dissipates heat from the chipset three times more efficiently than aluminum. The industry's fastest Gigabit Ethernet performance eliminates network bottlenecks and improves overall system efficiency and performance. NVIDIA Firewall protects your PC from intruders by filtering unauthorized traffic. Integrated into NVIDIA nForce4 MCPs, it provides professional grade traffic inspection capabilities, instant on protection, advanced management features. NVIDIA Firewall will also utilize the NVIDIA ActiveArmor secure networking engine. With a special layout and heatsinks, this exclusive PWM design keeps all MOSFET < 50C and promotes rapid heat dissipation around the CPU. Exhaust heat from your PC like never before with Dual OTES cooling technology. Works with ABIT FanEQ to automatically adjust fan speeds for the optimal balance of thermal and acoustic performance. A godsend for case modders, ultra-bright LEDs surround the motherboard for a stunning futuristic look. Reduces noise interference from high frequency signals with an independent card for outstanding 5.1-channel audio quality. Uncompromising quality, stability and reliability for the end user. Top quality components such as 100% Japanese capacitors provide unmatched reliability. Each motherboard is painstakingly assembled, and then put through the Torture Test, ensuring a product that stands up to the heat of battle. With BulletProof Technology, the Fatal1ty AA8XE delivers advanced durability for the discerning gamer.
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