Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI
Abit's release of the Fatal1ty line started out pretty well. It overclocked to great speeds and was stacked with cool features. The only thing bad about the Fatal1ty AN8 was the lack of VDIMM options. 2.8v to memory simply wasn't enough. Enthusiasts with TCCD based memory can get away with just 2.8v but sometimes 2.8v won't be enough. Then there are the Winbond based memory that just screams for increased voltages. A measly 2.8v simply won't unleash the power behind Winbond memory. Hardware enthusiasts and overclockers have submitted many complaints to Abit and they've heard it and finally responded. The new Fatal1ty AN8 SLI not only brings increased voltage options for memory, but also uses the Nvidia nForce4 SLI chipset for SLI capability. The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is not the only motherboard to see VDIMM changes. The regular AN8 SLI and AN8 Ultra both will have better VDIMM options as well. However, because the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is the new Abit flagship motherboard, it will be the motherboard to go through our testing procedures and overclocking tortures. I continue to use the Fatal1ty AN8 in one of my gaming systems. If the additional changes to the Fatal1ty SLI version is for the better, then I'll be forced to build another great gaming system.
Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI Package
Abit's
Fatal1ty line of motherboards cater towards gamers who need cutting edge
performance. One of the main things that gamers worry about is
heat, whether they're overclocking or not. Because computer parts
are so advanced nowadays, the BIOS of the motherboard can be adjusted to
force the CPU to slow down the clock speed when temperatures are getting
too hot. With that in mind, the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI comes with a nice
bundle to help keep the airflow abundant to help keep things cool.
Included are rounded cables to help reduce airflow restriction to a
minimum. The usual accessories like the SATA cables, instruction
manuals, SATA to 4pin Molex connector, and I/O backplate are all
included. The one unique inclusion is the SLIpstream cooler.
Since the board is SLI capable, running two video cards will cause
the system heat to rise at a rapid rate, especially if you're using two high
end video cards. The SLIpstream will direct airflow right over the
video cards for immediate cooling assistance. The SLI bridge and
SLI switch key are included and come with red PCB to match the fiery red
of the Fatal1ty motherboard.
Another
great accessory included with the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is the new uGuru
panel, which installs into a free 5.25" drive bay. The uGuru panel
allows front connections for USB and IEEE 1394. There is also an
audio jack and microphone jack for headphones. The uGuru panel
provides information about your CPU speed, voltages, fan speeds, and
temperatures. Personally, I find the great thing about the uGuru
panel to be the CMOS clear button. Overclockers no longer have to
open up the side panel to clear the CMOS whenever the system is pushed
too far. Who likes getting on their knees to open theirz side
panel, just to clear CMOS? All the cables are easy to
connect and very straightforward. To make sure that the clear CMOS
button works, connect the CMOS cable with the red cable connected to pin
1.
One cool
thing that Abit started doing with their Fatal1ty series is they added a separate
daughter sound card. According to Abit, this reduces noise
interference and provides better system performance. The daughter
sound card is powered by the ever popular Realtek ALC850 chipset.
The sound card provides 8 channel surround sound and delivers great
sound quality for typical gaming, music, or movies. For
audiophiles, you'll want to upgrade to a better solution.
Motherboard Layout
The
Fatal1ty AN8 was a great motherboard with great physical layout.
The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is no different. One thing that cannot be
helped is the placement of the motherboard chipset. There is just
no better place than the lower right corner of the motherboard.
The sad thing about that is that enthusiasts can't replace the chipset
cooler for a better aftermarket solution. Then again they don't
really have to worry about it since it's an all copper heatsink and does
a great job at keeping the chipset cool. Next to the chipset are
the IDE ports and 4 SATA connectors. The SATA connectors are well
placed vertically so that the SATA cables can be easily managed and tied
up.
The DIMM
slots are color coded black and red to allow users to know which slots to
use to enable dual channel--installing memory in both black or both red
or all 4 DIMM slots will enable dual channel. The ATX power
connector is conveniently located at the edge of the motherboard so that
the large power connector can be easily tucked out of the way. The
4pin power connector is located above the CPU socket area, a little to
the left side of the motherboard. There seems to be plenty of
space around the CPU socket area for large aftermarket coolers.
Motherboard Layout Continued
Obviously,
the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI comes with two PCI-E x16 slots for dual video card
action. There are two PCI-E x1 slots available for future add-on
cards. Currently, there's no need for these, but it's always good to
have it if you plan to keep the motherboard for a long time. There
are two regular PCI slots for those of you who need to install add-on
cards like a wireless NIC. Below the PCI slots is the 4pin Molex
connector. You must be wondering what this power connector is used
for. With dual video cards running in SLI mode, the video cards
will need extra power. This is where the power connector comes
into play. In between the two PCI-E x16 slots is the location of
the SLI key switch. When running SLI mode, the key must be
inserted with the "SLI Mode" showing. If you're using a single
video card, the "Normal Mode" must be showing.
At the back
I/O are the two 40mm fans, one IEEE 1394 port, four USB ports, PS2
keyboard and mouse ports, and a single RJ45 jack. The two 40mm
fans can be adjusted in the BIOS. Don't think that disabling it
will cause the fans to turn off; it actually forces the fans to run at
full speed. Underneath the shroud, you can see that the MOSFET's
have heatsinks attached. This is to further help the MOSFET's
release heat. At the bottom right corner are the front I/O
connectors. All the jumpers are nicely color coded and labeled to
allow easy installations of appropriate cables. To the right of
the front I/O connectors is the uGuru panel connector. To the left
of the front I/O connectors are the motherboard diagnostic LED's, three
additional USB headers for six additional USB ports, and a single IEEE
1394 connector.
BIOS
Abit is one
of the few motherboard companies that provide great BIOS options for
overclocking enthusiasts. The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI came with pretty
much the same exact BIOS layout and options as the Fatal1ty AN8.
The two are almost twins.
Abit
continues to provide memory timing adjustments to satisfy the
overclocker's itch for tweaking memory speeds. The great thing
about the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is that it now comes with higher VDIMM
options. Abit has heard the cries of overclockers and they are now
supplying VDIMM up to 3.4v. It is not as high as what DFI offers, but
it sure beats out the rest of the competition. 3.4v is good enough
for Winbond UTT memory and sure is more than enough for TCCD memory.
One addition
made in the BIOS is the higher memory dividers. With a higher
memory divider, you can run your memory at faster speeds without having
to overclock the HTT megahertz. I find these dividers to be quite
useless. If you are planning on overclocking your memory speeds,
why wouldn't you want to overclock the HTT speeds? I guess someone
out there will find a use for these dividers.
Software
Abit's
software bundle is not known to provide numerous programs that you will
never use. Instead, Abit includes useful utilities that
enthusiasts can use to monitor their system and keep their system
up-to-date.
There is only one CD provided, and that's for the motherboard drivers
and the Abit uGuru utility. The uGuru utility includes, Abit EQ,
FlashMenu, BlackBox, and OC Guru. Abit EQ is Abit's hardware monitoring
utility. It provides temperature readouts, voltage lines, and fan RPM
speeds. The BlackBox utility is Abit's technical support feature. If you
have something wrong with your system and can't figure it out, let
BlackBox detect your hardware and send it in to Abit for support. Within
24 hours, Abit will send you a response. The FlashMenu is an in-Windows
BIOS flash utility. I generally don't like to use Windows based flashing
utilities. If the system becomes unstable under Windows, you're screwed.
DOS is still my preferred method. Lastly, the OC Guru is Abit's
overclocking on the fly utility.
Test Setup and Overclocking
Test
Setup:
Overclocking: The regular Fatal1ty AN8 was a pretty good overclocker and continues to be a great performing motherboard. The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is no different from the previous board. I proceeded to find the highest HTT allowed with dual sticks of memory installed. The first test will be conducted with the memory divider at 1:1. The second test will be with a divider, so that the RAM wouldn't pose as a bottleneck. All memory timings were left at 3-4-4-8 2T and the LDT multiplier at 1x and CPU multiplier at 6x. I made sure that nothing would bottleneck the chipset and motherboard potential.
The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI overclocked rather well with the use of a divider. 315HTT seems to be the max when it comes to 1:1 ratio, even when the memory is capable of much more. Compatibility Issue: There is one problem with the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI that many enthusiasts have been encountering. The sample I received also has this problem. It seems to vary from board to board, depending on your luck. As usual, my bad luck punched me in the face and refused to let me run 2x512MB memory at 1T command rate. This seems to ONLY happen with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice core CPU. At first I thought it was the BIOS, but I quickly found out that it was not the cause. I went through four different versions before concluding that it was my CPU. I figured that it might be my old date/week CPU since there have been enthusiasts who were able to run a 3000+ Venice without a problem. I switched my week 04 Venice to a week 17 Venice. The problem was still there. This compatibility issue is very specific to AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice core CPUs and using 2x512MB memory and a command rate of 1T. I tried different kits of memory, both TCCD and Winbond UTT and they all refused to run 1T. The strange thing is that running 2x256MB solved the problem. I was able to push well beyond 300HTT with 2x256MB and 1T, but who runs 2x256MB nowadays? This compatibility issue is extremely annoying, yet minor. The problem is very specific to a certain CPU and the use of 2x512MB memory. Unfortunately, the specific CPU is an extremely popular processor. Many enthusiasts purchase a 3000+ Venice for the low price and the high overclocking potential. Just make sure that you keep this problem in mind when you make your purchase decision. If you're not using a 3000+ Venice, no need to sweat bricks. You will certainly not have a problem with the board. The funny thing is that I have the regular AN8 SLI sitting here and it does not have this problem. The boards are identical in design, layout, and BIOS. There is no difference other than the Fatal1ty name and the chipset cooling. Perhaps Abit can fix this problem in the near future. It is very disappointing. UPDATE: We just received word from a fellow enthusiast in Australia who reported that he encountered similar problems. The CPU he was using was an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+. The memory he was using was 2x512MB of Corsair's PC3200 XL TCCD. He was forced to run the command rate at 2T and loosening his timings to 2.5-4-3-7 in order to run a stock 200HTT. This further extends the problem with the motherboard. It just goes to show that the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI has problems with more than just a specific CPU. I hope Abit realizes this problem and quickly fixes it, because quite frankly, it has angered many loyal Abit fans, myself included.
Results
During testing, all HTT
are manually set to 200MHZ. Command rate was set at 1T and only
the normal CAS, TRCD, TRP, TRAS were adjusted to 2-2-2-5. Due to
the compatibility issue of the 3000+ Venice and 2x512MB memory and
command rate of 1T, all tests for the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI will be run at a
command rate of 2T.
Sysmark 2004
Sysmark2004
is a very common benchmark used to measure a system's potential in
performance. It goes through long and grueling tests that include
compression and decompression and office intensive programs.
3DMark2001SE
3DMark is
probably the overclocker's favorite benchmark. Unlike 3DMark2003,
which stresses mainly the video card, 3DMark2001SE tests all of the
system's main components. Increasing the CPU speed, memory speed,
and video card speeds will result in higher results in the final score.
PCMark2004
The
PCMark2004 system benchmark puts the entire system to work. It is
quite surprising that the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI won in this department with a
slower command rate of 2T.
PCMark2002
PCMark2002
is older than PCMark2004 but still very similar. Ouch! The
Fatal1ty AN8 SLI was badly beaten in the memory benchmark department.
It can't be helped though; the 2T command rate will lower your memory
bandwidth by quite a bit.
Results Continued
Everest Home Edition
Everest Home
Edition is a good benchmark for testing memory performance. Since the
motherboard's overclocking potential and memory bandwidth is closely
related, I find this benchmark to be trustable. With the slower
command rate of 2T, expect memory bandwidth performance to be a lot
slower.
SiSoft
Sandra
Like Everest
Home Edition, SiSoft Sandra memory bandwidth tests the motherboard's
memory bandwidth performance. Again, the slower command rate of 2T
just kills performance. This is the reason why I stay away from
the use of 2T.
Super
PI
Since the
value of PI is an infinite value, Super PI is a speed test to find the
digit you're looking for. In this case, we chose the millionth digit.
Super PI benefits greatly from higher FSB as well as low latencies.
PiFast
PiFast is
similar to Super PI and the results can be greatly affected by a slight
adjustment to the memory megahertz and latency.
Unreal
Tournament 2004
Unreal
Tournament 2004 is a very popular game that is highly effected by the
system's performance. Testing was done under the resolution of 640x480
to minimize the dependency of GPU and CPU power.
Conclusion and Thoughts The Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is a good SLI motherboard solution from a well known company, Abit. Like the rest of the Fatal1ty motherboards, the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI comes with pretty red LEDs that glow when the system is turned on. It adds a great look for cases with side panel windows. The motherboard has a great BIOS, with options to adjust fans speeds and voltage options to satisfy your overclocking needs. The motherboard does have some problems though. The mentioned compatibility issue with the use of a 3000+ Venice and 2x512MB and command rate of 1T can be a real huge turn-off. Perhaps the annoying part about that compatibility issue is the hit-or-miss probability. If you're using a CPU other than the 3000+ Venice, you will end up with one great system. While the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI provides great voltage options, especially VDIMM, the board does not seem to like Winbond UTT memory. I used the OCZ Gold PC3500 GX and was only able to get up to 230HTT with 2T. This is with the VDIMM varying from 2.8v to 3.4v. I tried 2x256MB of Winbond UTT memory and saw the same fate. The board just does not respond well to Winbond UTT memory. Abit seems to be encountering some motherboard issues that can be resolved with BIOS updates. The AW8 did not have a working 1:2 memory divider, the AL8 did not overclock well without playing with a lot of the settings and adjusting the PCI-E frequency and now the Fatal1ty AN8 SLI has a compatibility issue with a popular processor. All of these issues can be fixed with a simple BIOS update. Come on Abit engineers, help us help you! Pros:
Cons:
We would like to thank Abit for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.
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