Layout
The packaging of the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 is no different from the Intel counterpart. It comes in a black box with the Fatal1ty logo emblazoned in the center. Opening the fliptop box cover, you will find the “BUILT TO KILL” trademark and windowed cutouts showcasing some of the unique features of the board. The motherboard itself is encased in a shockproof, antistatic, clear plastic container for further protection from accidental damage on the box during transit.
The motherboard also follows the same red and black color coding as the first one that we find very attractive and appealing to a gamer. It’s a safe choice of colors for most tastes.
This nForce 4 Ultra chipset uses a socket 939 platform. There are capacitors around the socket area but should not post as a problem to whatever cooling solution you may use. This ensures that those using extra large heatsinks or waterblocks won’t have any space restrictions placed on them.
Just like its old brother, the ATX power supply header is located on the bottom center of the PCB and is directly below the DIMM slots. This means less clutter caused by power cables resulting in better airflow inside the case. Note that it also uses the new ATX 2.0 standard, thus, the 24 pin configuration. Do note though that it is backward compatible to old PSUs, thus, there is no need to upgrade at the present just so you can use this board. We used an old 20-pin PSU on ours and it showed no faults or errors whatsoever. It also has a +12v connector situated on the right side of the board just beside the DIMM slots.
The ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 uses the NF4 Ultra chipset which supports four DDR DIMMs up to 4Gb maximum. The DIMM slots are also color coded for easy Dual Channel configuration. The memory DIMMs also employ an ABIT first integrated memory cooling system called OTES RAMFlow. This unit has an overhead fan that actively cools the modules and their heatspreaders from the above. Finally, there is a fan header located just below the DIMM slots to power the fans. In the first Fatal1ty board, you have to run the fan cable to the other side of the board to power it.
Clearance between the PCI-Express card and the DIMM slots is excellent. There is heaps of room to add and remove RAM without having to remove the graphics card. It also comes equipped with a PCI-E lock which is quite handy when moving your rig from place to place as in the case of LANs.
There are 3 PCI slots, 2 PCI-E x1 slots and one PCI-E x16 slot. The PCI-E graphics slot delivers up to 8GB/s per direction for 3.5 times more bandwidth than AGP8X. There is also the presence of an Audio Riser port for the included audio riser card.
The board supports 2 Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133 connectors which is really good especially for those who are still using IDE HDDs. It also has 4 x SATA II connectors that supports up to 3Gbps data transfer rate. NV SATA RAID is also supported- SATA RAID 0/1/0+1 JBOD.
Firewire is provided by Texas Instrument's TSB43AB22a chip. This IEEE1394 chip provides up to 400Mbps transfer rate. A total of 3 firewire ports is supported with this board. Included in the package is a USB/Firewire bracket.
The Fatal1ty AN8 board of course features ABIT’s uGURU technology. µGuru integrates a hardware microchip which interacts with Windows-based software applications to maximize PC performance and stability, while allowing for zero CPU usage. µGuru features ABIT AutoDrive™ overclocking, advanced audio features, auto FAN speed control, self-diagnostic H/W monitoring, one click BIOS updating, and 24 hours e-service. µGuru combines ABIT EQ, OC Guru, FlashMenu and BlackBox applications with a user-friendly interface, providing users perfect environment for performance and stability. For a full understanding of the uGURU technology, go here.
Audio performance is also top-notch with 5.1 channel audio backed by ABIT's AudioMAX technology. By using a separate daughter card for audio connectors, ABIT Engineers have greatly reduced the amount of noise caused by high frequencies generated from the motherboard.
There is a total of 5 fan headers which all strategically positioned on the motherboard. 2 headers are exclusively used by the northbridge fan and the OTES fans leaving 3 available fan headers. Place the cpu fan and the OTES RAMFlow fan and you are still left with one free fan header.
This board also features on-board ultra-bright red LEDs integrated underneath the PCB that lights up the board’s surroundings. LEDs are also located around the inners of the OTES cooling system. Great light effect for those with windowed cases.
You will also find a 2 digit LED display attached to the board. It is a diagnostic tool aimed at providing vital information on what’s happening to your board. It is located just above the IDE connectors. Enthusiasts will find this tool very helpful when subjecting the board to extreme overclocking. The LED displays a corresponding number, hex code, for every task and error that will occur on the board. There is a list of the meanings of each number on the user's manual as reference.
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