Introduction

Abit has just unleashed their first "Fatal1ty" motherboard. For those who don't know, Fatal1ty is the name used by 19-year old Jonathan Wendel, one of the most respected gamers in the world.

Early in his gaming career, Fatal1ty became the number 1 ranked Quake 3 player in the world. This was followed by wins 3 years in a row at CPL competing in Quake 3, Alien vs. Predator 2, and Unreal Tournament 2003. Fatal1ty also won Quakecon 2002 and became the world's first Doom 3 champion at Quakecon 2004.

Abit has partnered with Fatal1ty "to develop PC gaming hardware with no equal". The Fatal1ty boards and graphics cards are "Built to Kill" according to Abit - they are designed to be the "best of the best" for gaming. There is no doubt that Abit knows enthusiasts, gaming, and overclocking as they are the brand most mentioned when computer users are asked to name a good board for overclocking. Over their years of catering to the Enthusiast, Abit has also been an innovator in overclocking, introducing features like Soft Menu that became the standard for the industry. Abit understands this market, so the launch of the Fatal1ty series seems an ideal fit with Abit strengths.

The Fatal1ty AA8XE is built with the just released Intel 925XE chipset, which sports a 1066FSB, DDR2 memory, and a PCI Express x16 slot for a graphics card. There is no doubt - in the look of Fatal1ty or in the specifications - that Abit has thrown all their best Enthusiast features at Fatality. The list of Abit Engineered features include:

• ABIT uGuru^TM Technology (ABIT OC Guru/ABIT EQ/ABIT Flash Menu/ABIT Black Box)
• ABIT ThermalGuard^TM Technology
• ABIT TweakGuard^TM Technology
• ABIT Dual OTES^TM cooling Technology (Enhanced Version)
• ABIT OC strip Technology
• ABIT PWM cooling Technology
• ABIT Aero OTES Technology
• ABIT Audio Purification Technology for Dolby Digital Live
• ABIT MB LED back-light
• ABIT MB color management system for easy installation

In addition, Abit emphasizes that the Fatal1ty series was built for rock-solid stability, both at stock speed and in overclocking.

Our own recent tests of the 925XE/3.46EE have shown the AMD Athlon 64 to be a much better gaming platform than Intel at the present time. However, there is no doubt that Fatal1ty and Abit have the gaming credentials to put together the best gaming platform available. We will reserve judgment until we have had a chance to compare the Fatal1ty AA8XE benchmarks to other gaming rigs.

Features and Overclocking

Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboard Specifications
CPU Interface	Socket 775 Pentium 4 (Prescott)
Chipset	Intel 925XE/ICH6R
Bus Speeds	200MHz to 400MHz (in 1MHz steps)
DDR2 Speeds	Auto, 400, 533
N/B Strap	By CPU, PSB533, PSB800, PSB1066
PCI Express Speeds	99MHz to 255MHz (in 1MHz intervals)
PCI Speeds	33.33, 36.36, 40.00
Core Voltage	CPU Default (1.575V) to 1.925V in 0.025V increments
FSB VTT Voltage	1.0V to 1.8V in .05V steps
DRAM Voltage	1.6V to 2.55V in 0.05V increments
DDR VTT Voltage	0.8V to 1.8V in .05V increments
Northbridge Voltage	1.3V to 2.1V in 005V increments
NB 2.5V	2.3V to 3.0V in .05V steps
Memory Slots	Four 184-pin DDR2-533/400 Slots Dual-Channel Unbuffered DDR2 to 4GB
Expansion Slots	1 PCIe x16 slot 2 PCIe x1 slots 2 PCI slots Dedicated Audio Daughter Card slot
Onboard SATA/RAID	4 SATA 150 drives by ICH6R Intel Matrix Raid 0,1
Onboard IDE	One ATA100/66 (ICH6) - 2 Drives
Onboard USB 2.0	8 USB 2.0 ports
Onboard Firewire	3 IEEE1394A FireWire Ports by TI 43CR30T
Onboard LAN	Dual Intel Ethernet - Gigabit + 10/100
Onboard Audio	High Definition Realtek ALC880D 8-Channel HD, Dolby Digital Live AudioMAX connectors for reduced noise
Tested BIOS	M408_10.B07 10/15/2004

The Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE was designed for top gaming performance and overclocking. This is reflected in the very complete selection of tweaking controls and the extended adjustment ranges. The BIOS controls with wide adjustment ranges will allow overclockers to push the Fatal1ty to wherever the processor can go.

One surprise was the lack of a higher DDR2 ram speed option in a board designed for performance. The 925XE Asus P5AD2-E, for example, has a speed option of DDR2 710 in BIOS.

The feature set is basic 915X/925XE without the additional features often seen on top-of-the-line Socket 775 motherboards. This means that the ports and options are those provided by the 925X/925XE chipset. This may not be a bad thing where stability is the primary goal, but the Fatal1ty really adds very little to the standard 925X/925XE feature set. There are provisions for Firewire and enhancements for noise reduction on the excellent Intel High Definition 8-channel audio, but you will be hard pressed to find any other new features on Fatal1ty. As with other 925X/XE boards there are provisions for just 2 IDE devices, which may be an issue if your gaming needs include several optical drives or IDE hard drives.

Sometimes gaming is as much about appearances as substance, and there is no doubt that Abit understands this. The Fatal1ty is back-lit with red LEDs, which will make the Fatal1ty stand out in any side window case.

Abit also concentrates on cooling with the AA8XE. You can see the shroud for the dual OTES cooling for the power transistors. It is carefully designed, so there is no issue with mounting a standard Intel Socket 775 cooling fan. However, if you plan to use a large custom heatsink, you are likely out of luck.

Overclocking

The Fatal1ty is designed for top performance, and top performance normally includes overclocking. We were extremely pleased to reach a stable 323x12 with our test 3.46EE. 12X is the lowest ratio available on this partially unlocked EE chip. This is a CPU speed of 3876MHZ at a bus speed of 1292. Apparently, this is the limit on air with modest voltage increases for this processor, since the stock 13X multiplier would only reach 299x13 - approximately the same speed.

With water cooling or phase-change cooling, the Abit Fatal1ty would likely take this chip further, since heat was becoming a large problem with this Gallatin core CPU at nearly 3.9GHz speed. 323x12 is an outstanding overclock, but this needs to be kept in perspective. The starting point for the 3.46EE is 266, so the reach to 323 is just a 21% overclock of the FSB at the lower multiplier. If we consider the CPU is running at 3876MHz, the overclock is only 12% compared to the rated CPU speed.

Prescott core 800FSB processors will also work fine on the Abit Fatal1ty. We did a brief test with an unlocked 560 Prescott and managed to reach a stable 284x14, or a speed of about 4GHz on air. The FSB limitation here is likely the result of the 14 multiplier, which is the lowest available on the unlocked 3.6GHz processor. If lower ratios were available, it is likely that the Abit Fatal1ty could take you to the highest FSB the CPU could reach.

Test Setup

We compared the performance of the Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE with the 1066 FSB 3.46EE to performance results with the Intel 925X motherboard. We tested the 925X with the fastest 800FSB processor available, which is the 560 at 3.6GHz. Since the fastest gaming performance we have tested is with the Athlon 64 processor, results were included for the fastest current A64 processors - the FX55 and the 4000+ on the nForce 4 PCI Express Reference board. To remove the video card as a performance factor, all benchmarks were run with the PCI Express nVidia 6800 Ultra.

The configuration was kept as close as possible between the 3 motherboards, but we are forced to compare apples to oranges in some cases. This means using DDR400 memory at 2-2-2-10 on the AMD systems and DDR2-533 at 3-3-3-10 on the Intel systems, but as we saw in the DDR vs. DDR2 review, the performance of fast DDR400 and DDR533 is very close.

Performance Test Configuration
Processor(s):	Intel 3.46EE (1066FSB) Socket 775 Intel 560 (3.6GHz) Socket 775 AMD FX55 (2.6Ghz) Socket 939 AMD 4000+ (2.4GHz) Socket 939
RAM:	2 x 512MB Crucial DDR2-533 2 x 512MB OCZ 3200 Platinum Rev. 2 DDR
Hard Drive(s):	Maxtor 250GB MaXLine III (16MB buffer)
Video Card(s):	nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra PCIe
Video Drivers:	nVidia 61.77 Graphics Drivers
Operating System(s):	Windows XP Professional SP1
Power Supply:	OCZ Power Stream 520 (520W)
Motherboards:	Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE (Intel 925XE) Intel 925XCV (Intel 925X) Socket 775 Intel 915GUX (Intel 915G) Socket 775

At stock settings, Fatal1ty is overclocked to 271 FSB. For a fairer comparison, the FSB was set to 267. Since most will want to see gaming benchmarks with this gaming board, the Game Accelerator was left to the default "Enabled" mode. Unfortunately, the only 1066 processor currently available is the $1000 3.46EE that we used for benchmarking.

Performance Tests

DirectX 9 Gaming

Since Fatal1ty is targeted at gaming, we ran a much larger group of current DirectX 9 benchmarks than we would normally run in a First Look. The goal was to compare the Abit Fatal1ty performance on the most current games to 925X and nForce4.

The tweaks on the Fatal1ty board combined with the extra 2MB of L3 cache on the 3.46EE certainly allow the Abit to outperform the 925X with the faster 3.6GHz Prescott in most Direct X 9 games. The 1066FSB also contributes a very small amount to the increased performance as we found in the recent 925XE launch review. The Abit Fatal1ty is an outstanding performer compared to other Intel boards that we have tested. The improvement in Far Cry performance, in particular, is impressive.

However, all the outstanding tweaks and gaming enhancements just can't offset the gaming horsepower available with the FX55 and 4000+. In most DirectX 9 benchmarks at stock speed, the FX55 wipes the floor with the 3.46EE on the Fatal1ty.

Performance Tests (Continued)

DirectX 8 & OpenGL Gaming

Abit and Fatal1ty have some interesting optimizations going on in older Direct X8 and Open GL games. The increase in Quake 3 performance compared to the Intel 925X is astonishing. Comanche 4 sees a similar huge boost compared to 925X. Once again, however, FX55 is a huge winner compared to Fatal1ty/3.46EE.

General Performance

Measuring General Performance with PCMark 2004, we see that the huge cache in the 3.46EE doesn't make much difference. In this benchmark, the faster 3.6 tops the chart. We also see the familiar pattern with PCMark 2004 where Intel processors perform best with this benchmark. The difference is smaller with the FX55, but in most every other benchmark, the FX55 has a huge lead.

Our Take

Abit and Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel have partnered to produce what is arguably the fastest Intel gaming motherboard that you can buy. We say "arguably" because there are other 925XE boards in the lab that do offer additional features or capabilities. However, there is no denying the incredible array of tweaking controls with broad ranges that are available on Fatal1ty. For gaming and overclocking, the AA8XE was a joy to use. It is a fast Intel board that was also remarkably stable in every thing that we attempted in out tests.

It is hard also to not be impressed by the fact that we reached a new overclocking record FSB with the Fatal1ty board of 323X12. Keep this in perspective, however, as our starting point was 266 and the overclock was really 21%. Tests with the 800FSB Prescott were also impressive, although we could go no further with our 14 multiplier Prescott than we had achieved on the 925X Asus P5AD2 in the past. We are confident that the board can do it; we just couldn't find a Prescott with multipliers lower than 14.

We have already seen a few incredible overclocks with water and phase-change cooling with the new 3.46EE. For those inclined to use more exotic cooling, this board would be a great choice for your P4 system. But CPU blocks may be a challenge with the good-looking, but constricting, OTES cooling shroud.

In addition, the Abit Fatal1ty is undeniably impressive in the "looks" department. Owners will get lots of "wows" with the red backlighting. The board certainly looks the part of the best gaming board that you can buy. We would even be inclined to say that Fatal1ty could well be the best INTEL gaming board which you can currently buy, as it's extremely flexible and stable. If you insist on an Intel board for your gaming rig, this is certainly one you need to consider. But that is where our praise would end.

While we might agree that the Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE is possibly PC gaming hardware without equal among Intel boards, the claim that it is a gaming board without equal is laughable. The execution is impressive, but the choice of gaming platform is not. Frankly, the FX55 and 4000+ on the nForce4 wipe the floor with the Fatal1ty/3.46EE in gaming performance. Abit and Fatal1ty simply started with the wrong gaming platform. We'd love to see what they can do with an nForce4 or ATI RADEON Xpress 200 design, as it would probably be the best gaming rig that you can buy.

If your thoughts about gaming performance begin and end with Intel, then the Abit Fatal1ty is very easy to recommend. Many buyers will only consider Intel, and for them, this is a fantastic board. It is solid, stable, wonderfully flexible, and an outstanding performer compared to other Intel boards. But if you really want the best gaming performance that you can buy today, then a top Socket 939 Athlon 64 system should be your choice.

The Fatal1ty AA8XE is the first product in the Fatal1ty line. Abit tells us they will release an Athlon 64 Fatal1ty board called the AN8 in December. It will be very interesting to see what Fatal1ty and Abit can accomplish with that board!