Editor's Choice Awarded to ABIT AA8 DuraMAX board.
"The King is Dead. Long Live the King!" PC Enthusiast Magazine

September 2, 2004
PC Enthusiast Magazine recently reviewed the ABIT AA8DuraMAX and gave it an Enthusiasts' Choice.

Here is what the editor Edward Kobayashi had to say about the board: "ABIT's IC7 series of motherboards were the yardsticks by which all Canterwood motherboards were measured. The IC7's last iteration, the MAX3, proved to be the object of desire for many PC enthusiasts. The MAX3's combination of performance, engineering, and features made for an uncompromising solution for even the most discerning of enthusiasts. But alas, the golden age of the Canterwood is over, and the torch has been passed. The Alderwood (925X) is the spiritual successor of the highly regarded 875 series chipset, and knowing the IC7's track record, ABIT's AA8 DuraMAX has especially large shoes to fill.

The DuraMAX shares many of the same features found on the AG8 board. Notable differences are the 925X Northbridge, DDR2 memory support, and Intel's eight-channel High Definition Audio solution. While it's hard to fault the layout of the AA8, the location of the floppy connector may cause problems for those with taller cases. Like the AG8, the real estate around the LGA775 socket is clear of obstruction, but the two small capacitors will not allow the use of cooling solutions, which require the older P4 brackets.

ABIT's µGuru suite is for more than just overclocking. The ABIT EQ allows for the monitoring of temperatures, voltages, and fan RPMs. The EQ can be set to shut down the PC if any of the customizable parameters are met. FlashMenu allows for BIOS updates to be installed from within Windows. And finally, BlackBox can be set to deliver system info via email to ABIT's tech support when it senses system instability.

The AA8 ran stably at 3.84GHz/960MHz FSB for the duration of benchmarking. The use of non-enthusiast memory may have affected overclockability and bandwidth scores, but the AA8 kicked back impressive numbers even without low-latency memory. Using µGuru to overclock was a godsend…

All things considered, the AA8 is an excellent board with plenty of potential. Unless the crafty engineers at ABIT can pull off an amazing sleight of hand, I believe that the AA8 will become the yardstick by which all Alderwood motherboards are measured."

Rating: 9 out of 10

Check out the full article in August 2004 issues, Version 2.6.

	ABIT's Advanced Durability brings greater responsibility to the motherboard manufacturers in creating durable products with quality, reliability and stability engineered for long-term, problem-free use. All of ABIT motherboards are Advanced Durability tested and approved. ABIT looks to all motherboard makers to make a similar durability commitment to the end-user.

For more information about AA8-DuraMAX, please visit:
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=199

For more on µGuru, go here:
http://www.abit-usa.com/technology/uguru.php

For more on GuruClock, go here:
http://www.abit-usa.com/technology/3rd-eye.php

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