December 13, 2005 – The hardware veterans at AMDZone were so pleased with the ABIT AN8 SLI that they honored it with their much sought after Editors' Choice Award, and an almost perfect score of 96 out of 100!
While noting that in general "Abit has long lead the overclocking motherboard crowd that has kept pushing features year after year", they continue by giving specific acclaim to the feature-packed AN8 SLI: "Abit has a long list of good features on the board. Overclocking options are near the top, along with the OCGuru features, and the Q-OTES heatpipe."
The AMDZone editor adds: "The diagnostic LED will come in handy, and the 7.1 channel audio should be shielded from noise better on the separate card. We are also happy to see that Abit included Firewire as well. Abit does a great job on documentation, and they do one of the better jobs of BIOS updates."
They were equally satisfied with the incredible range of BIOS options and hardware control offered on this motherboard: "The AN8-SLIs DRAM configuration screen includes a wide range of timing configurations which is amongst the best we have seen for a nForce 4 SLI board … FanEQ allows for great control of all fans attached to the motherboard. You are able to select the temperature range, and voltages for each fan. It really is a powerful tool for controlling up to 6 fans."
AMDZone proceeds by commenting on the stability and overclocking potential of the AN8 SLI: "Abit clearly puts a priority on overclocking, and you can see that in the BIOS and with their OCGuru utility. With the heatpipe cooling system it enhances the overclockability. Abit has one of the top nForce 4 SLI overclocking boards for certain."
The editor at AMDZone concludes the review with some very encouraging words: "The SLI motherboard field is quite crowded, but Abit has been able to provide a board that rises above much of the pack. With great overclocking features, excellent cooling, 7.1 channel audio, Firewire, LED diagnostics, and nice utilities and documentation the AN8-SLI is one of the better nForce 4 SLI boards we have tested. Anyone looking to overclock should put this board near the top of their list. Score: 96"
For the full review, go to:
http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=199&page=1
For more information on AN8 SLI, go here: ABIT AN8 SLI |